Don't be naive about AWS cost tools

When you talk to people about saving money on your AWS bill, often the knee-jerk reaction is to refer you to AWS tools like AWS Cost Optimization Hub and leave it at that. But do you really expect AWS to do everything in their power to help you save money? Obviously there is a clear conflict of interest here. AWS wants to look like the good guy, but at the end of the day they're going to do the bare minimum to save you money.

Getting the AWS services configured

Perhaps this is just AWS being AWS, but if you want to get the information you need to help you save you money, there are a few hoops you have to jump through. First you need to turn on AWS Cost Optimization Hub and AWS Compute Optimizer, because by default they are turned off. For small companies and individual builders, nine times out of ten you're not even going to be thinking about saving a few dollars here and or there, even if it would be pretty trivial, so most people don't bother turning them on.

Then you need to let the results trickle through which can take a day or two. So, again, even if you get around to turning them on, you might forget to go and check the results, because you're too busy trying to ship your next feature.

Making sense of the data

The AWS Compute Optimizer web UI is fairly easy to get to grips with, and while the recommendations it finds should definitely be actioned, do not expect them to be exhaustive. For example, only in June of 2026 did they add six new idle findings, but obviously those findings existed for years, if not decades in some cases.

The Web UI for the Cost Optimization Hub and other AWS savings related interfaces like the recommendations in the Billing and Cost Management section I have always found to be a bit of a disaster, and the major focus is on trying to sell you saving plans, because surprise surprise, AWS wants to make money from you.

You might save money with the savings plan, but it also locks you in to a fixed spending pattern with AWS for a fixed amount of time. This then removes the incentive for you to optimize your workload: if you just bought ec2 5 instances for the next 2 years, whats the point of optimizing your setup so you only need 2 instances?

When you should use savings plans

You should only use saving plans when you're platform is mature enough that you know you're not going to be touching it, and you've already exhausted all the optimization that you feel is worthwhile investing in. So for people building stuff on their own and small companies, I generally wouldn't recommend it, because almost certainly there's a better way to save money than using the savings plan. The first focus should always be optimizing your setup.

Why you should use a non-AWS tool

The reason you should rely on another company (not AWS) to help you save money with AWS is simple: your interests align. If the third party can save you money, then both of you are happy, whereas AWS really doesn't give much of a shit if they can save you money or not.

I built Jungle Cleaner to be a simple MCP-first tool to help you optimize your AWS setup, but there's lots of other companies out there that also do a much better job than AWS, so take your pick! Just don't expect AWS to break a sweat trying to lower your bill.