A media company runs a fleet of EC2 instances using Auto Scaling across multiple instance families (for example, m-series and c-series) in a single region. The business wants to commit to steady usage for one year to reduce cost, but the application team must retain flexibility to switch instance families and scale up/down as demand changes. They need the cost-reduction approach that best matches this flexibility. Which option is the best fit?

Purchase Standard Reserved Instances tied to a specific instance family and region, so the application can only run on the selected family.

Standard Reserved Instances can be scoped to specific attributes (such as instance family/size depending on the RI type). This conflicts with the requirement to freely switch instance families because the discounted capacity primarily applies to the specific scope you purchase.

Purchase Spot Instances for all capacity and disable On-Demand fallback to guarantee the lowest cost.

Spot is not a commitment-based pricing model and cannot guarantee capacity availability. Disabling On-Demand fallback increases the risk of failed capacity during Spot interruptions or capacity shortages, which does not match the goal of stable one-year cost reduction for steady usage.

Rely only on On-Demand and reduce cost by using a CloudFront-only approach for all dynamic content.

CloudFront can reduce delivery costs for cached content, but it does not replace or discount EC2 compute pricing for dynamic workloads in the general case. This option also does not satisfy the requirement to commit for one year to reduce EC2 cost through a pricing commitment instrument.

What does this SAA-C03 question test?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Purchase Compute Savings Plans so the commitment applies regardless of instance family changes within the selected scope. — Compute Savings Plans are designed for cost optimization with committed usage (1-year or 3-year) while still allowing flexibility to change instance families. They discount qualifying compute usage based on a commitment expressed as a $/hour amount within a chosen scope (for example, region/account), rather than being tied to a single instance family. That matches the requirement: steady usage commitment for one year plus the ability to switch instance families and scale as demand changes. Reserved Instances are generally more tightly scoped, and Spot is not a commitment-based steady-usage model. Standard Reserved Instances are often scoped to specific instance attributes, which can restrict how you utilize capacity when you need to change instance families freely. Spot provides the lowest potential cost but does not guarantee capacity continuity, so it does not provide the “steady usage for one year” commitment intent. Relying on CloudFront does not directly address reducing EC2 compute cost through a one-year pricing commitment, and it typically requires architectural changes to move dynamic workloads out of EC2.

What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.