- A
AWS Budgets with a budget action to stop EC2 instances
Correct. AWS Budgets supports budget actions that can automatically stop EC2 instances when actual or forecasted costs exceed the budget threshold, eliminating the need for custom scripts.
- B
AWS Cost Explorer
Why wrong: Incorrect. AWS Cost Explorer is a tool for analyzing historical cost data and forecasting future spend, but it does not have the ability to take automated actions like stopping resources.
- C
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why wrong: Incorrect. AWS Trusted Advisor provides best-practice recommendations, including cost optimization checks, but it does not allow you to define actions that automatically stop resources based on cost thresholds.
- D
AWS Config
Why wrong: Incorrect. AWS Config is a service for evaluating resource configurations against compliance rules (e.g., ensuring security group rules are correct). It does not monitor cost or trigger actions based on spending.
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 non-production Amazon EC2 instances for development and testing. The finance team wants to automatically stop all non-production instances if the monthly spending exceeds $5,000. The team wants to set this up without writing custom scripts or using third-party tools. Which AWS feature should the finance team use to meet this requirement?
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
AWS Budgets with a budget action to stop EC2 instances
AWS Budgets allows you to set a cost budget (e.g., $5,000) and attach a budget action that triggers an AWS Systems Manager (SSM) automation document to stop EC2 instances when the actual or forecasted spend exceeds the threshold. This meets the requirement without custom scripts or third-party tools, as the budget action natively integrates with EC2 via SSM.
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.
- ✓
AWS Budgets with a budget action to stop EC2 instances
Why this is correct
Correct. AWS Budgets supports budget actions that can automatically stop EC2 instances when actual or forecasted costs exceed the budget threshold, eliminating the need for custom scripts.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Cost Explorer
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. AWS Cost Explorer is a tool for analyzing historical cost data and forecasting future spend, but it does not have the ability to take automated actions like stopping resources.
- ✗
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. AWS Trusted Advisor provides best-practice recommendations, including cost optimization checks, but it does not allow you to define actions that automatically stop resources based on cost thresholds.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. AWS Config is a service for evaluating resource configurations against compliance rules (e.g., ensuring security group rules are correct). It does not monitor cost or trigger actions based on spending.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse AWS Budgets (a cost management tool) with AWS Config (a compliance tool) or Trusted Advisor (a recommendation engine), assuming those can enforce actions, but only Budgets with budget actions provides the automated, threshold-based stop capability without custom code.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, AWS Budgets budget actions use AWS Systems Manager Automation runbooks (e.g., AWS-StopEC2Instance) to perform the stop operation. The action can be set to trigger on actual or forecasted spend, and it respects IAM permissions via a service-linked role (AWSServiceRoleForBudgetsAction). A real-world nuance: if instances are part of an Auto Scaling group, stopping them individually may cause the group to relaunch them, so the budget action should target the ASG's desired capacity or use a custom SSM document to suspend processes.
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
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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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: AWS Budgets with a budget action to stop EC2 instances — AWS Budgets allows you to set a cost budget (e.g., $5,000) and attach a budget action that triggers an AWS Systems Manager (SSM) automation document to stop EC2 instances when the actual or forecasted spend exceeds the threshold. This meets the requirement without custom scripts or third-party tools, as the budget action natively integrates with EC2 via SSM.
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
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.
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