- A
Reserved Instances (Standard)
Why wrong: Standard Reserved Instances are tied to a specific instance family (e.g., M5) and region. Switching families would require purchasing new RIs and forfeiting the discount on the original RIs, so this does not provide the desired flexibility.
- B
Compute Savings Plans
Compute Savings Plans apply to any EC2 instance family, any size, in any region, and also cover Fargate and Lambda usage. This gives the company the flexibility to change instance families while still receiving a significant discount over On-Demand rates, making it the correct choice.
- C
EC2 Instance Savings Plans
Why wrong: EC2 Instance Savings Plans are similar to Standard Reserved Instances in that they are limited to a specific instance family within a region (e.g., M5 in US-East-1). They do not allow changing families, so they fail to meet the flexibility requirement.
- D
Spot Instances
Why wrong: Spot Instances offer large discounts but can be interrupted with short notice if AWS needs capacity back. They are designed for fault-tolerant, flexible workloads, not for consistent, long-term usage that requires guaranteed capacity.
CLF-C02 Billing, Pricing, and Support Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of billing, pricing, and support. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company runs multiple workloads on Amazon EC2 instances. They expect consistent usage for the next three years but want the flexibility to change instance families (for example, from M5 to C5) if performance requirements shift. Which AWS pricing model meets these requirements while providing a significant discount over On-Demand pricing?
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 (Option B) offer a significant discount (up to 66%) over On-Demand pricing in exchange for a commitment to a consistent amount of compute usage (measured in $/hour) for a 1- or 3-year term. Unlike Reserved Instances, Savings Plans are flexible across instance families (e.g., M5 to C5), regions, OS, and tenancy, making them ideal for workloads that may need to change instance types over time while still receiving a discounted rate.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reserved Instances (Standard)
Why it's wrong here
Standard Reserved Instances are tied to a specific instance family (e.g., M5) and region. Switching families would require purchasing new RIs and forfeiting the discount on the original RIs, so this does not provide the desired flexibility.
- ✓
Compute Savings Plans
Why this is correct
Compute Savings Plans apply to any EC2 instance family, any size, in any region, and also cover Fargate and Lambda usage. This gives the company the flexibility to change instance families while still receiving a significant discount over On-Demand rates, making it the correct choice.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
EC2 Instance Savings Plans
Why it's wrong here
EC2 Instance Savings Plans are similar to Standard Reserved Instances in that they are limited to a specific instance family within a region (e.g., M5 in US-East-1). They do not allow changing families, so they fail to meet the flexibility requirement.
- ✗
Spot Instances
Why it's wrong here
Spot Instances offer large discounts but can be interrupted with short notice if AWS needs capacity back. They are designed for fault-tolerant, flexible workloads, not for consistent, long-term usage that requires guaranteed capacity.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Compute Savings Plans with EC2 Instance Savings Plans, assuming both offer cross-family flexibility, but only Compute Savings Plans allow changing instance families (e.g., M5 to C5) while EC2 Instance Savings Plans are locked to a specific family.
Trap categories for this question
Similar concept trap
EC2 Instance Savings Plans are similar to Standard Reserved Instances in that they are limited to a specific instance family within a region (e.g., M5 in US-East-1). They do not allow changing families, so they fail to meet the flexibility requirement.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Compute Savings Plans apply to any EC2 instance usage (including Fargate and Lambda) up to the committed hourly spend, automatically applying the discounted rate to the most cost-effective instance family first. Under the hood, AWS calculates the discount based on the normalized instance hours (e.g., using the 'instance size flexibility' principle), so moving from a c5.xlarge to an m5.xlarge still benefits from the same plan as long as the hourly commitment is met. A real-world scenario: a company running a mix of compute-optimized and general-purpose instances over three years can use Compute Savings Plans to avoid the administrative overhead of managing multiple RI conversions.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Billing, Pricing, and Support — This question tests Billing, Pricing, and Support — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Compute Savings Plans — Compute Savings Plans (Option B) offer a significant discount (up to 66%) over On-Demand pricing in exchange for a commitment to a consistent amount of compute usage (measured in $/hour) for a 1- or 3-year term. Unlike Reserved Instances, Savings Plans are flexible across instance families (e.g., M5 to C5), regions, OS, and tenancy, making them ideal for workloads that may need to change instance types over time while still receiving a discounted rate.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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