Pay As You Go vs Reserved Instances

Developers should learn and use Pay As You Go when building or deploying applications in cloud environments like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, as it enables cost-efficient scaling and avoids over-provisioning meets developers and organizations should use reserved instances when they have predictable, long-running workloads such as production servers, databases, or batch processing jobs that require consistent compute capacity. Here's our take.

Pay As You Go

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use Pay As You Go when building or deploying applications in cloud environments like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, as it enables cost-efficient scaling and avoids over-provisioning

Pros

• It is particularly valuable for startups, projects with variable workloads, or proof-of-concept implementations where predicting resource needs is challenging
• Related to: cloud-computing, cost-optimization

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Reserved Instances

Developers and organizations should use Reserved Instances when they have predictable, long-running workloads such as production servers, databases, or batch processing jobs that require consistent compute capacity

Pros

• They are ideal for reducing cloud costs in scenarios where usage patterns are stable, as they offer savings of up to 75% compared to on-demand pricing
• Related to: aws-ec2, azure-virtual-machines

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Pay As You Go is a methodology while Reserved Instances is a platform. We picked Pay As You Go based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Pay As You Go wins

Based on overall popularity. Pay As You Go is more widely used, but Reserved Instances excels in its own space.