- A
Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances (Standard)
Why wrong: Standard Reserved Instances are locked to a specific instance family, size, and Availability Zone within a region. They apply only to EC2, not Lambda or ECS tasks, and cannot be changed without incurring fees.
- B
Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances (Convertible)
Why wrong: Convertible Reserved Instances allow changes to instance families and sizes but still apply only to EC2 usage. They do not cover Lambda or ECS tasks, and the exchange process is manual and may involve value balancing.
- C
Compute Savings Plans
Compute Savings Plans automatically apply to EC2, AWS Lambda, and AWS Fargate usage. They offer significant discounts and allow flexibility across instance families, sizes, regions, and compute services without any modification to the commitment.
- D
AWS Savings Plans (EC2 Instance Savings Plans)
Why wrong: EC2 Instance Savings Plans apply only to EC2 usage and are restricted to a specific instance family within a region. They do not cover Lambda or ECS tasks, and lack the cross-service flexibility of Compute Savings Plans.
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 production web application that uses Amazon EC2 instances, AWS Lambda functions, and Amazon ECS tasks. The application runs 24/7 and the company expects steady usage for the next three years. The company wants to commit to a flexible pricing model that provides significant discounts compared to On-Demand and automatically applies to usage across all three compute services. The company also wants the flexibility to change instance families, regions, or even migrate between compute services (e.g., from EC2 to Lambda) without needing to modify the commitment. Which AWS pricing model should the company choose?
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 offer the required flexibility: they automatically apply to EC2 instances, Lambda functions, and ECS Fargate usage, provide significant discounts (up to 66%) compared to On-Demand, and allow changes to instance families, regions, or compute services without modifying the commitment. This model is ideal for steady 24/7 workloads over a three-year term, as it combines broad compute coverage with automatic discount application.
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.
- ✗
Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances (Standard)
Why it's wrong here
Standard Reserved Instances are locked to a specific instance family, size, and Availability Zone within a region. They apply only to EC2, not Lambda or ECS tasks, and cannot be changed without incurring fees.
When this WOULD be correct
A company runs only EC2 instances for a steady-state workload and wants the lowest possible cost with no need to change instance family, region, or compute service over the term. They are willing to commit to a specific instance configuration for 1 or 3 years.
- ✗
Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances (Convertible)
Why it's wrong here
Convertible Reserved Instances allow changes to instance families and sizes but still apply only to EC2 usage. They do not cover Lambda or ECS tasks, and the exchange process is manual and may involve value balancing.
When this WOULD be correct
A company runs only EC2 instances for a steady workload, wants flexibility to change instance families or regions, and is willing to accept a slightly lower discount than Standard RIs in exchange for that flexibility.
- ✓
Compute Savings Plans
Why this is correct
Compute Savings Plans automatically apply to EC2, AWS Lambda, and AWS Fargate usage. They offer significant discounts and allow flexibility across instance families, sizes, regions, and compute services without any modification to the commitment.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Savings Plans (EC2 Instance Savings Plans)
Why it's wrong here
EC2 Instance Savings Plans apply only to EC2 usage and are restricted to a specific instance family within a region. They do not cover Lambda or ECS tasks, and lack the cross-service flexibility of Compute Savings Plans.
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 automatically apply to EC2, AWS Lambda, and AWS Fargate usage. They offer significant discounts and allow flexibility across instance families, sizes, regions, and compute services without any modification to the commitment.
✗Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances (Standard)Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
EC2 Reserved Instances (Standard) apply only to EC2 instances, not to Lambda or ECS usage, and do not allow changing instance families or regions without modification. The question requires a plan that covers all three compute services and allows flexibility across services, regions, and instance families.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company runs only EC2 instances for a steady-state workload and wants the lowest possible cost with no need to change instance family, region, or compute service over the term. They are willing to commit to a specific instance configuration for 1 or 3 years.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think Reserved Instances are the standard way to get discounts for steady usage, overlooking that Savings Plans offer broader coverage and flexibility across multiple compute services.
✗Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances (Convertible)Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Convertible RIs allow changing instance families but are tied to EC2 only, not Lambda or ECS, and require manual modification of the commitment, lacking the automatic cross-service coverage of Compute Savings Plans.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company runs only EC2 instances for a steady workload, wants flexibility to change instance families or regions, and is willing to accept a slightly lower discount than Standard RIs in exchange for that flexibility.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'Convertible' with the flexibility to change services, not realizing it still applies only to EC2, and may overlook that Savings Plans offer broader coverage with less management overhead.
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 Compute Savings Plans with EC2 Instance Savings Plans, mistakenly thinking the latter also covers Lambda and ECS, but EC2 Instance Savings Plans are restricted to a specific instance family and region, and only apply to EC2 usage.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Compute Savings Plans operate at the hourly commitment level (e.g., $10/hour) and automatically discount eligible compute usage from EC2, Lambda, and ECS Fargate, regardless of instance family, region, or service migration. Under the hood, AWS applies the discount based on the On-Demand rate of the resource, with the plan covering up to 66% savings for a 3-year term, and any usage beyond the commitment is billed at standard On-Demand rates. A real-world scenario: a company migrating from EC2 m5 instances to Lambda functions for a microservice can keep the same Compute Savings Plan, and the discount automatically applies to the new Lambda usage without any renegotiation.
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.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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 offer the required flexibility: they automatically apply to EC2 instances, Lambda functions, and ECS Fargate usage, provide significant discounts (up to 66%) compared to On-Demand, and allow changes to instance families, regions, or compute services without modifying the commitment. This model is ideal for steady 24/7 workloads over a three-year term, as it combines broad compute coverage with automatic discount application.
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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