Optimizing Savings Plans for Mixed AWS Compute Services
Short answer
CD Purchase a SageMaker Savings Plan for SageMaker and a Compute Savings Plan for EC2, Lambda, and Fargate.
Question
Key Takeaways
Tests knowledge of Savings Plan flexibility: Compute Savings Plans cover EC2, Lambda, and Fargate, while ML Savings Plans are required for SageMaker.
Determines the optimal combination of AWS Savings Plans to cover EC2, Lambda, Fargate, and SageMaker workloads while minimizing the number of plans purchased.
Common mistake: Choosing EC2 Instance Savings Plans for all compute services, which fails to cover Lambda or Fargate.
Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
The question requires covering four distinct services (EC2, Lambda, Fargate, SageMaker) with the fewest savings plans. A Compute Savings Plan provides up to 66% discount on EC2, Lambda, and Fargate usage, making option D the correct choice for those three services. Amazon SageMaker is not covered by Compute Savings Plans; it requires a Machine Learning (ML) Savings Plan. Therefore, option C is necessary to cover SageMaker. This combination uses exactly two plans.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Options A and E suggest using an EC2 Instance Savings Plan. This plan only applies to specific EC2 instances and does not cover Lambda or Fargate, leaving significant portions of the workload uncovered. Option B incorrectly includes Lambda in a Compute Savings Plan description that might imply exclusivity or confusion, but more importantly, it omits Fargate if interpreted as just EC2/Lambda/SageMaker coverage, or if it's meant to be a generic compute plan, it still misses SageMaker. The key is that Compute Savings Plans do NOT cover SageMaker.
Community Comment Notes
Community consensus strongly supports options C and D. Users note that "Compute Savings Plan" covers EC2, Lambda, and Fargate, while SageMaker needs its own "Machine Learning Savings Plan". One user highlighted that picking non-overlapping comprehensive categories is the key strategy. Another comment linked to official AWS pricing pages confirming this split.
Official Reference
- https://aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/ml-pricing/
- https://aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/compute-pricing/
These links open the official vendor documentation in a new tab.
Exam Strategy
Always check service compatibility for Savings Plans. Remember that Compute Savings Plans are broad but exclude SageMaker and GPU-specific instances unless specified. ML Savings Plans are separate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Compute Savings Plan cover SageMaker?
Can one Savings Plan cover all these services?
Community Votes
100% of anonymous learners picked answer CD. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Discussion 4 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 4
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sandordini 👍 8It's pretty obvious, although it's called: Machine Learning Savings Plans for Amazon SageMaker (C) For the compute workloads we need a compute savings plan, that covers all the 3 compute options we use here (EC2, Lambda and Fargate) (D)
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mk168898 👍 4just pick the 2 options that doesn't overlap
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Scheldon 👍 3Answer CD https://aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/ml-pricing/ https://aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/compute-pricing/
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mattyu 👍 3no doubt
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