A startup expects steady compute usage around the clock for the next year. They want to reduce costs compared to On-Demand pricing, without tightly planning specific instance types. Which option best matches their goal?

Purchase a Reserved Instance that must be tied to exactly one specific instance size (no flexibility to switch instance families).

Reserved Instances typically require commitment to attributes like instance family/operating system/tenancy, which limits flexibility. The statement that they must be tied to exactly one instance size with no flexibility is not the key distinction; more importantly, Savings Plans are generally more flexible across instance types than many Reserved Instance choices.

Only use Spot Instances and set the workload to stop immediately if capacity is interrupted.

Spot can reduce cost, but it is not aligned with a steady 24/7 usage expectation if the workload cannot tolerate interruptions or forced stops.

Rely on On-Demand pricing and add more alarms to detect when costs spike.

Monitoring and alarms help detect cost changes, but they do not reduce the underlying On-Demand pricing charges.

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 a Compute Savings Plan to receive discounted rates for a usage amount over a 1-year term. — Compute Savings Plans are intended for sustained usage (for example, steady, around-the-clock workloads) and offer discounted rates compared to On-Demand for a 1- or 3-year term. They provide more flexibility than many instance-specific commitments because the commitment is based on an hourly usage amount rather than locking you to one fixed instance type. That makes them a strong fit when the team wants cost reduction without tight planning of exact instance types. Reserved Instances can offer discounts but are often more constrained by configuration attributes, which conflicts with the desire to avoid tight instance-type planning. Spot Instances may be cheaper but introduce interruption risk and don’t match a “steady around the clock” workload without interruption tolerance. Alarms do not change pricing; they only improve visibility.

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.