Which Tool Rightsizes EC2 Instances From Usage Data?
Short answer
B AWS Compute Optimizer analyzes historical Amazon EC2 utilization data and delivers rightsizing recommendations for the instances.
Question
Key Takeaways
The question tests which AWS tool turns historical workload usage data into EC2 rightsizing advice; the trap is picking any cost- or operations-related tool such as AWS Pricing Calculator or AWS Systems Manager instead of the purpose-built service.
AWS Compute Optimizer analyzes historical configuration and utilization metrics for Amazon EC2 and other resources to deliver rightsizing recommendations that balance cost and performance. This page confirms that Compute Optimizer, not the pricing calculator, App Runner, or Systems Manager, is the tool built for data-driven instance rightsizing.
Common mistake: Option A (AWS Pricing Calculator) is the most common wrong pick because it sounds cost-related, but it only estimates the cost of new or restructured architectures and never inspects your existing EC2 utilization data.
Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
AWS Compute Optimizer is the service that examines your resources' configuration settings and utilization metrics gathered over time, then reports whether each Amazon EC2 instance is over-provisioned, under-provisioned, or optimal. It generates rightsizing recommendations based on historical workload usage data, aiming to reduce cost while preserving or improving performance, which is exactly what the question describes. Its outputs include recommended instance types plus graphs of recent utilization history so you can validate the suggestion before acting.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
AWS Pricing Calculator (A) lets you model the estimated cost of a proposed AWS environment before deployment; it has no access to your live workload telemetry and cannot produce rightsizing advice. AWS App Runner (C) is a service for running containerized web applications and APIs quickly, unrelated to EC2 capacity analysis. AWS Systems Manager (D) is an operations suite for patching, automation, and session management; its tools such as Inventory and Explorer support operations, but the usage-based rightsizing recommendation function described here belongs to Compute Optimizer.
Community Comment Notes
Comments unanimously back option B, with a77c459 quoting AWS's own definition that Compute Optimizer "analyzes your AWS resources' configuration and utilization metrics to provide you with rightsizing recommendations." alokdixit2006 repeats the same vendor wording and notes it reports whether resources are optimal, while d00b229 simply confirms "B. AWS Compute Optimizer." No dissenting view appeared, and the consensus aligns with AWS documentation.
Official Reference
https://aws.amazon.com/compute-optimizer/
This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.
Exam Strategy
When a question mentions analyzing historical usage or utilization data to recommend changes, look for the AWS service whose name implies optimization of compute; Pricing Calculator only estimates future cost, and Systems Manager covers operations tasks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is AWS Pricing Calculator not the rightsizing tool for EC2?
How does AWS Compute Optimizer differ from AWS Systems Manager?
Community Votes
100% of anonymous learners picked answer B. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Discussion 3 contributions
Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.
From public community threads 3
-
a77c459 👍 2 Answered BAWS Compute Optimizer is a service that analyzes your AWS resources' configuration and utilization metrics to provide you with rightsizing recommendations. It reports whether your resources are optimal, and generates optimization recommendations to reduce the cost and improve the performance of your workloads. Compute Optimizer also provides graphs showing recent utilization metric history data, as well as projected utilization for recommendations, which you can use to evaluate which recommendation provides the best price-performance trade-off. The analysis and visualization of your usage patterns can help you decide when to move or resize your running resources, and still meet your performance and capacity requirements.
-
alokdixit2006 👍 1 Answered BAWS Compute Optimizer is a service that analyzes your AWS resources' configuration and utilization metrics to provide you with rightsizing recommendations.
-
d00b229 👍 1B. AWS Compute Optimizer
Reader comments & corrections
No reader corrections yet — spotted an error or have a note? Share it below.
Related Analysis
Practice All CLF-C02 Questions
Access 120 questions with complete answers and detailed explanations.
View Full CLF-C02 Practice Test →