How to calculate AWS costs and avoid paying too much for cloud services
Business decision-makers need to know what cost savings are possible before committing funds to a cloud service provider and how to use the AWS calculator.
One of the purported benefits of cloud computing services like Amazon Web Services (AWS) is lower overall cost of ownership. This principle is that, by passing on the cost of purchasing hardware and software, hiring personnel, providing maintenance and security, and all the other things a has to do for on-premise systems, savings will be realized over time. But is this true?
Business decision makers need to know what cost savings are possible before committing funds to a provider, and that requires strategic planning and specialized cost calculation . AWS provides several calculation tools your business can use to accurately estimate how much your chosen services will cost over time; however, the key to successfully using these tools is knowing your business needs for cloud services first.
This tutorial shows you how to use the AWS cost calculator to estimate how much your business will spend in subscription costs over time for chosen cloud services.
To arrive at an accurate estimate for AWS services, it is vitally important to know exactly what services your business needs down to the most minute detail. Purchasing a server instance designed to handle enterprise-level traffic when you don’t need it would be a costly mistake. Likewise, subscribing to a service that is inadequate could hinder productivity and cost you even more. Know what your business needs and what services will fulfill those needs.
The AWS simple monthly cost calculator is available for free and does not require you to have an AWS account first. As you can see in Figure A, the initial screen can be a bit intimidating.
