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What Are the Prices for AWS Resources? How Do I Calculate Them?

What Are the Prices for AWS Resources? How Do I Calculate Them?

What Are the Prices for AWS Resources? How Do I Calculate Them?

Spinup charges reflect standard AWS pricing for the services you use. This guide explains how to understand and estimate costs associated with Spinup resources.

Pricing Overview

  • Spinup does not add markup to AWS services.

  • Charges are passed directly from AWS to Yale with standard institutional discounts.

  • You are only billed for active resources (e.g., running servers, provisioned databases, attached storage).

How to Estimate Costs

  1. Use the AWS Pricing Calculator
    Visit the AWS Pricing Calculator to get a detailed estimate.

    • Select the service you plan to use (e.g., EC2, RDS, S3)

    • Configure the instance or service type to match your Spinup selection

    • Review the monthly cost estimate

  2. Match Spinup Options to AWS Equivalents

    • Servers: EC2 instances (Linux or Windows)

    • Databases: RDS MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server

    • Storage: EBS volumes, S3 buckets, and Deep Archive tiers

  3. Check Your Space’s Budget Dashboard
    Inside Spinup, each Space has a budget view that tracks real-time AWS costs based on actual usage. This is your most accurate cost view.

  4. Set Budget Alerts
    Use the built-in tools to set budget thresholds and receive notifications if your costs approach or exceed expected limits.

What’s Included in Charges?

  • Compute (instance hours)

  • Storage (volume size and IOPS if provisioned)

  • Data transfer (especially for outgoing internet traffic)

  • Managed database charges

  • Optional services like container repositories, snapshots, and backups

Special Programs

  • TryIT: Eligible users can run one small instance for free (renewable monthly).

  • Subsidized Databases: Some MySQL databases qualify for free tiers if marked as "subsidized".

Tips for Cost Optimization

  • Shut down or delete unused servers and storage

  • Use spot instances when possible

  • Archive infrequently accessed data with S3 Deep Archive

  • Monitor budget dashboards weekly

Need Help?

  • Contact the Spinup team at spinup@yale.edu

  • Ask questions in Yale Slack’s #spinup channel

Understanding AWS pricing helps you make informed decisions in Spinup. Budget tracking and AWS calculators are your best tools to forecast and manage your cloud spending effectively.