This SAA-C03 practice question tests your understanding of design cost-optimized architectures. 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 marketing site has EC2 instances that are oversized based on CPU, memory, and network utilisation. Which AWS service should identify rightsizing recommendations?
AWS Shield
Why wrong: Shield protects against DDoS and does not analyse instance sizing.
AWS Compute Optimizer
Compute Optimizer analyses utilisation metrics and recommends rightsizing for supported resources.
AWS DataSync
Why wrong: DataSync transfers data and does not recommend compute sizes.
AWS Artifact
Why wrong: Artifact provides compliance reports and agreements, not rightsizing recommendations.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS Compute Optimizer
AWS Compute Optimizer analyzes historical utilization metrics (CPU, memory, network, and storage) from CloudWatch and uses machine learning to identify over-provisioned or under-provisioned EC2 instances. It generates actionable rightsizing recommendations, including instance type changes, to optimize cost and performance. This directly addresses the scenario of oversized EC2 instances.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS Shield
Why it's wrong here
Shield protects against DDoS and does not analyse instance sizing.
AWS Compute Optimizer
Why this is correct
Compute Optimizer analyses utilisation metrics and recommends rightsizing for supported resources.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS DataSync
Why it's wrong here
DataSync transfers data and does not recommend compute sizes.
AWS Artifact
Why it's wrong here
Artifact provides compliance reports and agreements, not rightsizing recommendations.
Common exam traps
The trap here is confusing AWS Compute Optimizer with AWS Trusted Advisor, which also provides cost optimization checks but does not offer the same ML-driven, granular rightsizing recommendations for EC2 instances.
Detailed technical explanation
Compute Optimizer ingests CloudWatch metrics at 5-minute or 1-minute granularity over the past 14 days (or longer with enhanced infrastructure metrics) and applies ML models to compare observed utilization against the performance characteristics of all available instance families. It also considers constraints like EBS-optimization, network bandwidth, and instance store availability, providing a 'reason code' (e.g., CPUOverProvisioned, MemoryUnderProvisioned) for each recommendation. In real-world scenarios, rightsizing with Compute Optimizer can reduce costs by 20-40% without degrading performance, especially for workloads with predictable utilization patterns.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — This question tests Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS Compute Optimizer — AWS Compute Optimizer analyzes historical utilization metrics (CPU, memory, network, and storage) from CloudWatch and uses machine learning to identify over-provisioned or under-provisioned EC2 instances. It generates actionable rightsizing recommendations, including instance type changes, to optimize cost and performance. This directly addresses the scenario of oversized EC2 instances.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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