SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures Practice Question
A company runs a steady-state web application on a fixed number of Amazon EC2 instances that have been running continuously for over a year. The workload is predictable and will remain in production for at least three more years. Management wants to reduce compute cost without changing the architecture. Which purchasing option should a solutions architect recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is choosing Spot because it has the deepest discount, while ignoring that a steady production web application cannot tolerate the interruptions Spot permits.
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
✓
Purchase a 3-year Compute Savings Plan with a partial upfront payment for the steady EC2 usage.
For predictable, long-running EC2 usage, a Compute Savings Plan provides a lower effective hourly rate in exchange for a term commitment. It is flexible across instance families and Regions, so it reduces cost without requiring the application to change. Spot risks interruption, On-Demand forgoes discounts, and Dedicated Instances raise cost rather than lower it.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Purchase a 3-year Compute Savings Plan with a partial upfront payment for the steady EC2 usage.
Why this is correct
A Compute Savings Plan applies to EC2 usage regardless of instance family, size, tenancy, or Region, and a 3-year term with partial upfront payment yields a significant discount over On-Demand. Because the workload is predictable and will run for at least three more years, this commitment matches the usage and reduces compute cost without architectural changes.
- ✗
Use On-Demand Instances and enable detailed monitoring to improve utilization visibility.
Why it's wrong here
Detailed monitoring improves metric granularity but does not reduce the hourly compute rate. For a steady, predictable workload running for years, paying On-Demand rates leaves the largest cost-saving opportunity unused. This option adds a small monitoring charge without addressing the core pricing decision.
- ✗
Move the application to Dedicated Instances to obtain volume discounts on the hourly rate.
Why it's wrong here
Dedicated Instances run on hardware dedicated to a single customer and typically cost more than shared tenancy, not less. They are used for compliance or licensing isolation, not for reducing cost on a standard steady-state web application. This choice would increase spend without providing the discount a Savings Plan offers.
- ✗
Convert the instances to Spot Instances to take advantage of unused EC2 capacity.
Why it's wrong here
Spot Instances offer deep discounts but can be interrupted with a two-minute warning, which is unsuitable for a steady-state production web application that must remain continuously available. The scenario does not state that the workload can tolerate interruption, so Spot would risk service disruption despite its lower price.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This SAA-C03 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 SAA-C03 exam.