CLF-C02 Billing, Pricing, and Support Practice Question
A company runs a mix of Amazon EC2 instances (different instance families) and AWS Fargate tasks across multiple AWS Regions. The cloud operations team wants to reduce costs while retaining maximum flexibility to change instance families, operating systems, and compute platforms (EC2 or Fargate) without losing the discount. They are willing to commit to a consistent amount of compute usage (measured in $/hour) for a 1-year term. Which AWS pricing model should they choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse EC2 Instance Savings Plans (which are family-specific) with Compute Savings Plans (which are fully flexible), leading them to choose the less flexible option when the question explicitly requires flexibility across instance families and platforms.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Compute Savings Plans
Compute Savings Plans provide the most flexibility, applying to any EC2 instance family, any operating system, and any compute platform (including Fargate) across any region, as long as the hourly spend commitment is met. This matches the team's requirement to retain maximum flexibility to change instance families, OS, and compute platforms without losing the discount, for a 1-year term.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
EC2 Instance Savings Plans
Why it's wrong here
EC2 Instance Savings Plans provide flexibility within a specific instance family (e.g., m5) in a chosen region, but they do not allow switching to a different instance family or between EC2 and Fargate. This does not meet the company's requirement for cross-family and cross-platform flexibility.
When this WOULD be correct
A company runs only EC2 instances (no Fargate) and wants to commit to a specific instance family in a single region, but needs flexibility to change instance size or OS within that family. EC2 Instance Savings Plans would then provide the best discount while allowing those changes.
- ✓
Compute Savings Plans
Why this is correct
Compute Savings Plans are the most flexible discount model. They apply to any Amazon EC2, Fargate, or Lambda usage, and automatically cover any instance family, region, operating system, or tenancy. The company can change workloads freely while still benefiting from the committed discount, making this the best choice.
- ✗
Reserved Instances (Standard)
Why it's wrong here
Standard Reserved Instances require a specific instance type, region, and platform. They cannot adapt to changes in instance family or compute platform (e.g., moving from EC2 to Fargate). This lack of flexibility makes them unsuitable for the company's needs.
When this WOULD be correct
A company runs a stable workload on a specific EC2 instance type (e.g., m5.large) in a single region, does not use Fargate, and wants the highest discount for a 1-year commitment without needing flexibility. They are willing to lock in the instance family and OS.
- ✗
Dedicated Hosts
Why it's wrong here
Dedicated Hosts provide physical servers for licensing or compliance requirements, not a discount model. They incur higher costs and do not offer the committed-use discounts that Savings Plans or Reserved Instances provide. They do not address the cost reduction objective.
When this WOULD be correct
A company requires dedicated physical servers for licensing or compliance reasons (e.g., Windows Server with per-socket licensing) and is willing to commit to a 1-year or 3-year term to reduce costs. The question would specify that the workload needs to run on a dedicated host and cannot use shared tenancy.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The CLF-C02 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Compute Savings PlansCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Compute Savings Plans are the most flexible discount model. They apply to any Amazon EC2, Fargate, or Lambda usage, and automatically cover any instance family, region, operating system, or tenancy. The company can change workloads freely while still benefiting from the committed discount, making this the best choice.
✗EC2 Instance Savings PlansWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
EC2 Instance Savings Plans apply only to EC2 instances and do not cover AWS Fargate usage, so they lack the cross-platform flexibility required in this scenario.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company runs only EC2 instances (no Fargate) and wants to commit to a specific instance family in a single region, but needs flexibility to change instance size or OS within that family. EC2 Instance Savings Plans would then provide the best discount while allowing those changes.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse EC2 Instance Savings Plans with Compute Savings Plans, assuming both cover all compute, or they may think 'Savings Plans' automatically includes Fargate without reading the specific type.
✗Reserved Instances (Standard)Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Reserved Instances (Standard) are tied to a specific instance family, operating system, and tenancy, and do not cover Fargate tasks. The question requires flexibility across instance families, OS, and compute platforms (EC2 or Fargate), which Reserved Instances cannot provide.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company runs a stable workload on a specific EC2 instance type (e.g., m5.large) in a single region, does not use Fargate, and wants the highest discount for a 1-year commitment without needing flexibility. They are willing to lock in the instance family and OS.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Reserved Instances with Savings Plans, thinking both offer similar discounts, but overlook that Reserved Instances lack the flexibility to change instance families or compute platforms like Fargate.
✗Dedicated HostsWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Dedicated Hosts provide physical servers dedicated for your use, but they do not offer a discount based on a consistent amount of compute usage ($/hour) and require commitment to specific host types, not flexible across instance families, operating systems, or compute platforms.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company requires dedicated physical servers for licensing or compliance reasons (e.g., Windows Server with per-socket licensing) and is willing to commit to a 1-year or 3-year term to reduce costs. The question would specify that the workload needs to run on a dedicated host and cannot use shared tenancy.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think Dedicated Hosts offer cost savings similar to Reserved Instances or Savings Plans, but they are primarily for licensing and compliance, not for flexible compute discounts across different instance families and platforms.
Analysis generated from the official CLF-C02blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.