Master cloud compute pricing: On-Demand, Reserved, and Spot instances
The Plane Ticket Analogy
Price Calculator
Spot Interruption Simulator
Scenario Challenge
✈️ Cloud Compute = Plane Tickets
Understanding cloud pricing is easier when you think of it like buying airplane tickets. Each option has trade-offs between flexibility, cost, and risk.
On-Demand
"Full-Price, Fully Flexible"
Pay per hour/second with no commitment
Start and stop anytime
Full price, but maximum flexibility
Good for unpredictable workloads
Like buying a refundable plane ticket
ReservedUp to 72% off
"Commit Now, Save Big"
1 or 3 year commitment required
Significant discount for commitment
Pay upfront, partial, or no upfront
Best for steady, predictable workloads
Like buying a non-refundable ticket in advance
SpotUp to 90% off
"Standby Seat - Biggest Savings"
Use spare cloud capacity at huge discounts
Can be interrupted with 2-min warning
Perfect for fault-tolerant workloads
Ideal for ML training, batch processing
Like flying standby - cheap but uncertain
💡 When to Use Each Type
Use On-Demand For:
Development and testing
Unpredictable traffic spikes
Short-term projects
Applications with variable workloads
Quick experiments and prototyping
Use Reserved For:
Production databases
Core application servers
Steady-state workloads
Services running 24/7
Known minimum capacity needs
Use Spot For:
ML model training
Batch data processing
CI/CD pipelines
Rendering and encoding
Stateless web servers (with LB)
Configure Your Workload
10
24
30
Monthly Cost Comparison
On-Demand
Pay as you go
$0
Reserved
1 Year Commitment
$0Save 0%
Spot Instances
Can be interrupted
$0Save 0%
💡 Recommendation
📊 Break-Even Analysis: Reserved vs On-Demand
See how long it takes for Reserved instances to pay off compared to On-Demand.
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Break-Even Month
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1-Year Total Savings
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Min Utilization for RI
🎮 Spot Instance Interruption Simulator
Experience what happens when spot instances get reclaimed. Learn how to design fault-tolerant systems.
[System] Configure your workload and click Start to begin the simulation.