6 actionable steps to reduce data transfer costs on AWS today!

If you're curious about how to cut down on data transfer costs when using Amazon Web Services (AWS), you're in the right place. It's not uncommon to encounter unexpected charges on your monthly invoice, leaving you scratching your head and wondering why. AWS costs can be a bit obscure, making it difficult to anticipate hosting expenses in advance.

One of the main culprits behind surprise AWS charges is data transfer costs. Unfortunately, understanding these costs can be time-consuming and tedious, leaving many businesses unknowingly racking up hefty bills, sometimes reaching millions of dollars each year.

But fear not! We're here to help your organization navigate the complex world of AWS data transfer pricing. To get started, let's take a look at how to mitigate and reduce transfer costs. Here are six effective Cost-Saving Tips to Optimise AWS Data Transfer Pricing:

1. Keep Outbound Data Transfer in Check

The simplest way to rein in transfer costs on AWS is by minimizing outbound data needs. Sending out data incurs higher charges compared to inbound data, which is usually tax-free. While it may not be feasible to restrict outbound data for certain applications (like serving media content online), you can leverage AWS discounts. As you transfer more data, the cost per gigabyte decreases, so take advantage of these volume-based reductions.

2. Embrace Amazon CloudFront

Use tools like AWS Cost Explorer to identify where your data transfer costs are coming from. Then, employ CloudFront to trim down EC2 to public Internet transfer expenses. This is especially useful if you're hosting a website that serves content to the public. By caching your content in CloudFront, you can significantly reduce your organization's data transfer costs. Moreover, CloudFront offers a free tier for the first year with up to 50 GB of outbound data transfer and 2 million monthly HTTP requests.

3. Maximize Cost Efficiency with Within-Availability-Zone Transfers

When transferring data in and out of Amazon RDS, EC2, Redshift, and other services, charges amount to just 1 cent per gigabyte in each direction. To achieve optimal cost savings, focus on keeping data transfers restricted to a single region and availability zone.

4. Optimise Data Transfers within a Single Region

Architect your applications to keep data transfers confined within a single AWS region. Also, ensure that data is transferred via private IPs rather than public or elastic IPv4/IPv6 addresses. Following these guidelines can eliminate data transfer costs.

5. Enhance Cost Savings with "Cost Allocation Tags"

Gain valuable insights into the sources of your application's usage fees with the use of AWS cost location tags. By combining this nifty feature with AWS Cost Explorer, you can precisely analyze instances and services generating the highest data transfer charges.

6. Choose the Most Cost-Effective AWS Regions

Be mindful that data transfer costs can vary significantly across AWS regions due to regional pricing. Regions in Canada and the United States tend to be more affordable, while regions in Australia, South America and Africa are comparatively expensive. Always opt for the more cost-friendly regions whenever possible.

Ready to gain sharper visibility into the data transfer costs of your AWS deployments? Take advantage of Morfless' cloud automation platform to support your cost-saving efforts. Contact our sales team today to learn more.