- A
Buy a Compute Savings Plan for the steady web tier baseline.
A Compute Savings Plan reduces cost for the predictable baseline while preserving flexibility across instance families and Regions. That fits a 24/7 web tier that is expected to run continuously. It is cheaper than On-Demand for the committed portion and avoids overcommitting to a specific instance family.
- B
Buy Standard Reserved Instances only for the nightly analytics batch job.
Why wrong: Reserved Instances are a poor fit for interruptible batch jobs because the job may not run continuously enough to benefit from a reservation. The workload can tolerate interruption, so committing to fixed capacity usually wastes money compared with more flexible pricing.
- C
Run the batch job on Spot Instances and checkpoint progress frequently.
Spot Instances are ideal when interruptions are acceptable and the application can resume from checkpoints. The nightly batch job explicitly supports restart, so Spot lowers compute cost significantly without threatening business continuity for the stable web tier.
- D
Move the entire workload to On-Demand Instances for maximum flexibility.
Why wrong: On-Demand offers flexibility, but it is not the lowest-cost option for a steady baseline or for interruption-tolerant processing. The scenario specifically asks to minimize monthly cost, so paying full On-Demand rates for everything is unnecessary.
- E
Use Dedicated Hosts for the batch job so the fleet is isolated.
Why wrong: Dedicated Hosts are typically chosen for licensing or compliance isolation requirements, not for minimizing cost. They are usually more expensive than other EC2 purchase options and do not add value to a checkpointed batch workload.
Quick Answer
The answer is to run the batch job on Spot Instances with frequent checkpointing and to purchase a Compute Savings Plan for the stable web tier. This combination directly minimizes EC2 compute costs because Spot Instances offer up to 90% discounts for fault-tolerant, interruptible workloads like your nightly analytics, while a Compute Savings Plan provides the largest discount (up to 66%) for the predictable 24/7 baseline of eight instances, automatically applying across any instance family or region. On the SAA-C03 exam, this scenario tests your ability to separate workloads by resilience—always-on versus fault-tolerant—and to pair the right pricing model with each. A common trap is choosing a Convertible Savings Plan for the web tier, but that offers a smaller discount and less flexibility than a Compute Savings Plan for stable, steady-state usage. Memory tip: “Spot for stop-and-go, Savings for steady flow.”
SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures Practice Question
This SAA-C03 practice question tests your understanding of design cost-optimized architectures. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 startup runs a 24/7 web tier on Amazon EC2 with a stable baseline of 8 instances and a nightly analytics batch job that can resume from checkpoints if interrupted. The company wants to minimize monthly compute cost without hurting the always-on web tier. Which two actions should it take? Select two.
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"always"Why it matters: Absolute qualifier. An answer using 'always' is only correct if there are genuinely no exceptions — absolute statements are often wrong in networking.
Clue:
"minimum / minimize"Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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
Buy a Compute Savings Plan for the steady web tier baseline.
A Compute Savings Plan offers the largest discount (up to 66%) in exchange for a 1- or 3-year hourly spend commitment, and it automatically applies to any EC2 instance family, size, or region. For the stable 8-instance web tier that runs 24/7, this plan provides significant cost savings while maintaining full flexibility to change instance types or even move to containers or Lambda, without affecting the always-on requirement.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Buy a Compute Savings Plan for the steady web tier baseline.
Why this is correct
A Compute Savings Plan reduces cost for the predictable baseline while preserving flexibility across instance families and Regions. That fits a 24/7 web tier that is expected to run continuously. It is cheaper than On-Demand for the committed portion and avoids overcommitting to a specific instance family.
Clue confirmation
The clue words "always", "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Buy Standard Reserved Instances only for the nightly analytics batch job.
Why it's wrong here
Reserved Instances are a poor fit for interruptible batch jobs because the job may not run continuously enough to benefit from a reservation. The workload can tolerate interruption, so committing to fixed capacity usually wastes money compared with more flexible pricing.
- ✓
Run the batch job on Spot Instances and checkpoint progress frequently.
Why this is correct
Spot Instances are ideal when interruptions are acceptable and the application can resume from checkpoints. The nightly batch job explicitly supports restart, so Spot lowers compute cost significantly without threatening business continuity for the stable web tier.
Clue confirmation
The clue words "always", "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Move the entire workload to On-Demand Instances for maximum flexibility.
Why it's wrong here
On-Demand offers flexibility, but it is not the lowest-cost option for a steady baseline or for interruption-tolerant processing. The scenario specifically asks to minimize monthly cost, so paying full On-Demand rates for everything is unnecessary.
- ✗
Use Dedicated Hosts for the batch job so the fleet is isolated.
Why it's wrong here
Dedicated Hosts are typically chosen for licensing or compliance isolation requirements, not for minimizing cost. They are usually more expensive than other EC2 purchase options and do not add value to a checkpointed batch workload.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often assume Reserved Instances are always the best choice for any steady workload, but for a part-time batch job, a Savings Plan or Spot is more cost-effective, and they may overlook that Spot Instances with checkpointing are ideal for fault-tolerant, interruptible workloads.
Trap categories for this question
Scenario analysis trap
On-Demand offers flexibility, but it is not the lowest-cost option for a steady baseline or for interruption-tolerant processing. The scenario specifically asks to minimize monthly cost, so paying full On-Demand rates for everything is unnecessary.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Compute Savings Plans apply to any EC2 instance (including Spot) and even to Fargate and Lambda, making them more flexible than Reserved Instances. For the nightly batch job, Spot Instances can be interrupted with a 2-minute warning via the EC2 Instance Rebalance Recommendation, and checkpointing (e.g., saving state to S3 every few minutes) allows the job to resume from the last checkpoint, effectively handling interruptions without data loss. In practice, combining a Savings Plan for the baseline with Spot for transient workloads can reduce total compute costs by 50-70% compared to all On-Demand.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAA-C03 question test?
Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — This question tests Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Buy a Compute Savings Plan for the steady web tier baseline. — A Compute Savings Plan offers the largest discount (up to 66%) in exchange for a 1- or 3-year hourly spend commitment, and it automatically applies to any EC2 instance family, size, or region. For the stable 8-instance web tier that runs 24/7, this plan provides significant cost savings while maintaining full flexibility to change instance types or even move to containers or Lambda, without affecting the always-on requirement.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "always", "minimum / minimize". Absolute qualifier. An answer using 'always' is only correct if there are genuinely no exceptions — absolute statements are often wrong in networking.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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