SOA-C02 Cost and Performance Optimization Practice Question
A company is using AWS CloudFormation to deploy infrastructure. They want to reduce costs by identifying unused resources. Which AWS service should they use to monitor and report on resource utilization and cost?
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
✓
AWS Trusted Advisor
AWS Trusted Advisor provides cost optimization checks, including identifying idle resources and underutilized instances, helping reduce costs. Option B (AWS Config) is incorrect because it tracks configuration changes and compliance, not cost optimization. Option C (Amazon CloudWatch) is incorrect because it monitors metrics and logs, not cost optimization directly. Option D (AWS CloudTrail) is incorrect because it logs API activity, not cost or resource utilization.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why this is correct
AWS Trusted Advisor is the correct choice because it directly provides cost optimization recommendations, such as identifying idle resources, underutilized Amazon EC2 instances, unattached Elastic IP addresses, and Amazon EBS volumes with low I/O activity. For a company deploying with CloudFormation, Trusted Advisor can highlight which provisioned resources are over- or under-provisioned, enabling right-sizing or termination to reduce spend. Its cost optimization checks also suggest purchasing Reserved Instances or Savings Plans based on usage patterns, making it the only listed service that explicitly targets cost reduction.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config is incorrect because it focuses on configuration compliance and auditing, not cost optimization. It continuously records and evaluates resource configuration changes against desired policies, such as ensuring CloudFormation stacks meet tagging or security rules. While it can help detect drift or noncompliant resources, it does not analyze cost metrics, usage patterns, or provide actionable recommendations to reduce spending. Therefore, Config serves governance and security, not cost optimization.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch
Why it's wrong here
Amazon CloudWatch is incorrect because it is a monitoring and observability service that collects metrics, logs, and alarms for operational health, not cost optimization. It can track utilization metrics like CPU or memory, and you can use alarms to trigger Auto Scaling to adjust capacity, but it does not directly analyze spend or suggest cost-saving actions. CloudWatch gives you the raw data needed to make manual cost decisions, but it lacks the cost-specific checks and advice that Trusted Advisor provides.
- ✗
AWS CloudTrail
Why it's wrong here
AWS CloudTrail is incorrect because it records API activity for governance, compliance, and audit purposes, not cost optimization. By logging every CloudFormation API call and resource modification, CloudTrail helps you answer 'who did what and when,' which is valuable for security investigations and operational troubleshooting. However, it does not parse usage data, evaluate cost efficiency, or provide recommendations on resource usage. Thus, CloudTrail is irrelevant to identifying cost optimization opportunities.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SOA-C02 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 SOA-C02 exam.