CLF-C02 Billing, Pricing, and Support Practice Question
A company wants to use AWS for a short-term proof-of-concept project lasting one month. They need EC2 instances and RDS databases but don't want any long-term commitment. Which pricing model is most appropriate?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates might choose Spot Instances thinking they are always the cheapest option, but they overlook the fact that Spot Instances can be interrupted and are not supported for RDS, making them inappropriate for a proof-of-concept that requires consistent database availability.
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
✓
On-Demand pricing
On-Demand pricing is the most appropriate for a short-term proof-of-concept lasting only one month because it requires no upfront payment or long-term commitment. You pay for compute and database capacity by the hour or second, and you can stop or terminate resources at any time without penalty. This aligns perfectly with the temporary, flexible nature of a one-month project.
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 (1-year, All Upfront)
Why it's wrong here
Reserved Instances with a 1-year, All Upfront term require you to pay the entire cost of EC2 capacity for the full year at purchase time. For a one-month proof-of-concept, this means you would be paying for 11 months of capacity you never use, and RIs cannot be canceled or refunded mid-term. Even if you were to resell the RI on the Reserved Instance Marketplace, it adds unnecessary complexity and does not align with the short, bounded nature of the project.
- ✓
On-Demand pricing
Why this is correct
On-Demand pricing lets you launch an RDS database instance with no upfront payment, no long-term commitment, and per-second billing, so you pay only for the hours the instance actually runs during the one-month PoC. You can terminate the instance at any time without penalties, giving you complete flexibility to scale, stop, or adjust the workload as the proof-of-concept evolves. This makes On-Demand the only sensible choice for a time-bounded project where future usage patterns are unknown.
- ✗
Savings Plans (3-year commitment)
Why it's wrong here
A 3-year Savings Plan requires you to commit to a consistent amount of compute usage measured in dollars per hour for three full years, and you must keep paying that amount every hour regardless of whether you are using the resources. For a one-month proof-of-concept, you would be contractually obligated to pay for 35 additional months of consumption you do not need, which is financially unjustifiable. Savings Plans are designed for stable, predictable production workloads, not for short-lived experiments or temporary testing.
- ✗
Spot Instances for all workloads
Why it's wrong here
Spot Instances can be terminated by AWS with only a two-minute warning when capacity is reclaimed, making them unsuitable for RDS databases that require persistent, uninterrupted operation for the one-month proof-of-concept. This option is tempting because Spot Instances offer significant cost savings for fault-tolerant, stateless workloads, and would be the correct choice for batch processing or data analysis jobs that can handle interruptions.
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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.