SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures Practice Question
A financial services firm runs a containerized risk-analysis platform on Amazon EKS. The containers are stateless and the platform runs continuously, but the firm wants a pricing model that reduces compute cost for the steady baseline while still allowing occasional short bursts above the baseline. Which combination of actions best achieves this?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is sizing a commitment to peak load instead of the steady baseline, which overpays for capacity that is idle most of the time.
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 Compute Savings Plan sized to the steady baseline and run any burst capacity as On-Demand.
Matching a Compute Savings Plan to the steady baseline discounts the always-on portion of the container platform while letting short bursts run at On-Demand rates keeps costs aligned with actual usage. This avoids paying for peak capacity continuously, which is what reserving to peak would do. Spot capacity is cheaper but too unreliable for a production platform that must remain available.
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 Convertible Reserved Instance for peak capacity and let it automatically cover bursts.
Why it's wrong here
A Convertible Reserved Instance still reserves capacity for the entire term, so buying peak capacity means paying for bursts continuously. It also does not automatically scale its coverage to absorb short spikes beyond the reserved amount. This overprovisions and does not match the occasional burst pattern described.
- ✗
Purchase a Standard Reserved Instance sized to peak capacity for the entire platform.
Why it's wrong here
Sizing a reservation to peak capacity means paying for the full burst level around the clock, even though the bursts are occasional and short. That overcommits spend and wastes money on idle reserved capacity. Standard RIs also lock to a specific instance family, which is a poor match for a container platform that may change instance types.
- ✓
Purchase a Compute Savings Plan sized to the steady baseline and run any burst capacity as On-Demand.
Why this is correct
A Compute Savings Plan covers the predictable baseline at a discounted rate across EC2, Fargate, and Lambda, which suits a continuously running stateless container platform. Bursts above the committed hourly spend are simply billed at On-Demand rates, so the architecture absorbs short spikes without overcommitting. This balances savings with the flexibility the platform needs.
- ✗
Run the entire platform on Spot Instances to maximize the discount.
Why it's wrong here
Spot Instances can be reclaimed with a two-minute notice, which is risky for a continuously running production risk-analysis platform that must stay available. While Spot is cheap, relying on it for the whole steady baseline sacrifices reliability. Spot is better suited to interruption-tolerant or stateless burst capacity, not the critical baseline.
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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.