AWS released A1 Instance Types at re:Invent 2018. Honestly, I didn’t think much about this announcement. I would see the ads for them when logging into the AWS console, and folks seem to be excited about them. So I started digging into what this whole A1 Instance type was all about. It didn’t take long to realize why it is a big deal. The A1 Instances will mean more server choices. More choices mean more competition, which is always better for consumers. This means faster, less expensive, and even better servers for us.

Have you ever wondered how to find the current market spot price for an EC2 instance? When people first hear that spot instances can save you up 50%-90%, they tend to react in disbelief. This is natural and understandable, it just sounds too good to be true. Fortunately, there are many ways to confirm that the 50%-90% spot price savings is real. This article tries to lists the many ways in one place.

Spot instance pricing is a fascinating EC2 pricing model that many people have not heard of yet. It is not only interesting from the 50%-90% savings perspective, which is already huge. It is also interesting because it encourages you to think about building your system with the best practice of high availability in mind.

Just like renting or leasing a house, when you pay for servers from AWS, there are many, many different options. The plethora of options is so vast that it can be overwhelming staring at them. I’m hoping to cover the pricing options in a useful way. With the options, you get exactly the same server, but you pay a different price because of the different commitment levels from either you or from AWS.