Question 1

How do I reduce cloud costs on a small SaaS?

Accepted Answer

Hunt three leaks: resources running when nobody uses them, instances far larger than your real load, and bandwidth or storage you overpay for out of habit. Most small SaaS bills are 20–40% waste.

Question 2

What causes surprise cloud bills?

Accepted Answer

Idle spend — non-production environments running 24/7, old snapshots, unattached storage volumes, and forgotten test databases — plus over-provisioned instances that were never scaled back down.

Question 3

Are reserved or savings plans worth it?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but only commit to reserved or savings plans for the baseline usage you are certain you will use. Committing to capacity you might need locks in cost you may not.

Question 4

How often should I review my cloud bill?

Accepted Answer

Line by line, once a quarter. Cloud cost is a habit, and the leaks return the moment you stop looking.