- A
On-Demand Instances
Why wrong: On-Demand Instances provide no long-term commitment but also no discount. This option fails to meet the cost-savings objective the company seeks.
- B
Reserved Instances
Why wrong: Reserved Instances provide significant discounts but are tied to a specific instance family and Region. Changing instance families or Regions would require purchasing new reservations, forfeiting the discount on the original reservation. This does not offer the flexibility the company requires.
- C
Spot Instances
Why wrong: Spot Instances offer large discounts but can be interrupted with little notice. They are intended for fault-tolerant, flexible workloads, not for steady predictable workloads that must run continuously.
- D
Compute Savings Plans
Compute Savings Plans provide the same discounts as Reserved Instances but with greater flexibility. They apply to any EC2 instance usage regardless of instance family, size, or Region, as long as the usage is within the committed dollar-per-hour amount. This matches the company's need for both cost savings and flexibility.
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 a steady, predictable workload on a diverse mix of Amazon EC2 instances spanning multiple instance families (e.g., M5, C5, R5) and AWS Regions. The company wants to maximize cost savings while retaining the ability to freely change instance families and Regions during the commitment term without losing the discount. Which AWS pricing model should the company use?
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 (D) offer the highest flexibility by applying a discounted hourly commitment across any EC2 instance family, size, OS, tenancy, and region, automatically covering usage changes without losing the discount. This matches the requirement to freely change instance families and regions during the term while maximizing savings over On-Demand pricing.
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.
- ✗
On-Demand Instances
Why it's wrong here
On-Demand Instances provide no long-term commitment but also no discount. This option fails to meet the cost-savings objective the company seeks.
When this WOULD be correct
A company with an unpredictable, short-term workload that cannot commit to any term or upfront payment and needs maximum flexibility without any discount would choose On-Demand Instances.
- ✗
Reserved Instances
Why it's wrong here
Reserved Instances provide significant discounts but are tied to a specific instance family and Region. Changing instance families or Regions would require purchasing new reservations, forfeiting the discount on the original reservation. This does not offer the flexibility the company requires.
When this WOULD be correct
A company has a steady-state workload with predictable usage of a specific EC2 instance type (e.g., m5.large) in a single Region and wants the highest possible discount for that specific configuration, with no need to change instance families or Regions.
- ✗
Spot Instances
Why it's wrong here
Spot Instances offer large discounts but can be interrupted with little notice. They are intended for fault-tolerant, flexible workloads, not for steady predictable workloads that must run continuously.
- ✓
Compute Savings Plans
Why this is correct
Compute Savings Plans provide the same discounts as Reserved Instances but with greater flexibility. They apply to any EC2 instance usage regardless of instance family, size, or Region, as long as the usage is within the committed dollar-per-hour amount. This matches the company's need for both cost savings and flexibility.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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 provide the same discounts as Reserved Instances but with greater flexibility. They apply to any EC2 instance usage regardless of instance family, size, or Region, as long as the usage is within the committed dollar-per-hour amount. This matches the company's need for both cost savings and flexibility.
✗On-Demand InstancesWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
On-Demand Instances do not provide any discount; they charge full price per hour, so they cannot maximize cost savings for a steady, predictable workload.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company with an unpredictable, short-term workload that cannot commit to any term or upfront payment and needs maximum flexibility without any discount would choose On-Demand Instances.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think On-Demand offers flexibility to change instance families and regions, but they overlook that the question emphasizes cost savings, which On-Demand does not provide.
✗Reserved InstancesWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Reserved Instances require a commitment to a specific instance family and Region; they do not allow changing instance families or Regions without losing the discount, which contradicts the company's requirement for flexibility.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company has a steady-state workload with predictable usage of a specific EC2 instance type (e.g., m5.large) in a single Region and wants the highest possible discount for that specific configuration, with no need to change instance families or Regions.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think Reserved Instances are the best for steady workloads and cost savings, but they overlook the flexibility requirement, assuming Reserved Instances offer similar flexibility to Savings Plans.
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?”
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Reserved Instances with Savings Plans, assuming RIs offer similar flexibility, but RIs are region- and family-specific, whereas Compute Savings Plans provide full flexibility across families and regions.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Compute Savings Plans apply a per-hour spend commitment (e.g., $10/hour) and automatically discount any EC2 usage up to that commitment, including instances from M5, C5, R5 families across regions. Under the hood, AWS calculates the discounted rate based on the blended savings plan rate for each instance type, and any usage beyond the commitment is billed at On-Demand rates. This model is ideal for workloads with variable instance needs because it decouples the discount from specific instance attributes.
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.
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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 (D) offer the highest flexibility by applying a discounted hourly commitment across any EC2 instance family, size, OS, tenancy, and region, automatically covering usage changes without losing the discount. This matches the requirement to freely change instance families and regions during the term while maximizing savings over On-Demand pricing.
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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