CLF-C02 exam tips: Billing, Pricing & Support (12% of the exam)
· 2 min read
Only 12% of the exam — but the questions are very specific and easy to get wrong if you confuse similar-sounding services.
EC2 pricing models — the most-tested billing topic
The exam loves scenario-based pricing questions. Match the workload to the model:
| Scenario | Right answer | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Unpredictable workload, no upfront commitment | On-Demand | Pay by the second, stop any time |
| Steady workload running 24/7 for 1–3 years | Reserved Instance or Savings Plan | Up to 72% cheaper than On-Demand |
| Fault-tolerant batch job, can be interrupted | Spot Instance | Up to 90% cheaper, AWS can reclaim with 2-min warning |
| Compliance requires dedicated physical server | Dedicated Host | Only option that guarantees no shared hardware |
| Runs code briefly in response to events | Lambda | Pay per invocation and duration, not per hour |
Cost management tools — know which does what
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cost Explorer | Visualise past spend, forecast future costs, identify trends |
| AWS Budgets | Set spending/usage thresholds and get alerted when breached |
| Cost and Usage Report (CUR) | Most granular billing data, exports to S3, used for detailed analysis |
| Compute Optimizer | Recommends right-sized EC2/Lambda based on actual usage |
| Pricing Calculator | Estimate costs before you deploy anything |
Common trap: Cost Explorer = look backwards at spend. Pricing Calculator = estimate before you start. The exam distinguishes these.
Support plans — know the tiers
Developer → Business → Enterprise On-Ramp → Enterprise
│ │ │ │
Business- Production Production Mission-critical
hours only system down system down system down
< 24h < 4h < 4h < 15min
response response response
- Trusted Advisor full checks: Business plan and above only (Developer gets 7 core checks)
- Technical Account Manager (TAM): Enterprise plans only
- Concierge support: Enterprise plans only
Free tier — exam-testable services
| Always free | 12 months free | Trials |
|---|---|---|
| Lambda (1M requests/mo) | EC2 (750 hrs t2/t3.micro) | Lightsail (3 months) |
| DynamoDB (25 GB storage) | S3 (5 GB standard) | |
| CloudWatch (10 metrics) | RDS (750 hrs) |
Key exam tip
"Consolidated billing" = one bill for all AWS accounts in an Organisation. The main benefit isn't just one invoice — it's volume discounts: combined usage across accounts qualifies for lower pricing tiers faster than any single account would.