CV0-004 Operations and Support Practice Question
An organization wants to reduce cloud costs by identifying underutilized EC2 instances. Which AWS service provides rightsizing recommendations?
⚠ Common exam trap
CV0-004 often tests the confusion between cost visibility tools (Budgets, Cost Explorer) and cost optimization tools (Compute Optimizer, Trusted Advisor), so candidates must distinguish monitoring from rightsizing.
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 Compute Optimizer
AWS Compute Optimizer analyzes CloudWatch metrics and resource configurations to generate rightsizing recommendations for EC2 instances, including whether instances are over-provisioned. It uses machine learning to compare your workload against historical patterns and provides specific instance type recommendations, directly addressing the goal of identifying underutilized EC2 instances.
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 Budgets
Why it's wrong here
AWS Budgets tracks spend against thresholds and fires alerts when actual or forecast cost crosses them; it performs no utilisation analysis, so it cannot identify underutilised instances. It is tempting because it is the obvious cost-control service, and would be correct for notifying teams when monthly spend approaches a defined limit.
- ✓
AWS Compute Optimizer
Why this is correct
AWS Compute Optimizer analyses CloudWatch metrics and resource configuration to generate rightsizing recommendations for EC2 instances, identifying over-provisioned capacity. This directly satisfies the requirement to reduce costs by flagging underutilised instances, unlike billing or cost-explorer tools that report spend without recommending instance-size changes.
- ✗
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why it's wrong here
Trusted Advisor surfaces cost-optimisation checks such as idle load balancers and low-utilisation EC2 instances, but its rightsizing recommendations are limited and it does not deliver the detailed per-instance downsizing guidance of Compute Optimizer. It is tempting as a broad best-practise advisor, and would be correct for general account health checks.
- ✗
AWS Cost Explorer
Why it's wrong here
Cost Explorer visualises and forecasts historical spend, but its rightsizing recommendations cover only a limited subset and lack the detailed utilisation metrics Compute Optimizer provides. Cost Explorer suits cost trend analysis and budgeting rather than instance-level rightsizing.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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