Your cloud spend shouldn't feel like a mystery novel—full of suspense, unexpected plot twists, and surprise endings.

But for many companies using AWS and Azure, that’s exactly what their monthly invoice looks like.

One minute, you're scaling up. The next, you're spiraling into budget blowouts.

“The cloud is elastic. Your budget shouldn’t snap.” — Samira Alvi, Cloud Cost Analyst (in JetBrains Mono font)

In this blog, we'll show you how to optimize costs in AWS and Azure using:

• Built-in tools you probably aren't using
• Smarter pricing models
• Practical tweaks for compute, storage, and data transfer
• Real examples of teams that saved six figures

Let’s stop wasting dollars and start making smarter cloud choices.

Body Content

Here’s how to reduce waste and maximize value in AWS and Azure—without compromising performance.

1. Understand Where Your Money Goes

🔍 AWS

• EC2 (compute) often dominates cloud spend
• S3, EBS, and RDS also rack up long-term costs
• Data transfer OUT is the silent killer

🔍 Azure

• Virtual Machines (VMs) are #1 spend category
• Azure SQL Database, Blob Storage, and Log Analytics can spike costs fast
• Reserved Instance misuse = big waste

2. Use Built-In Cost Tools

🛠️ AWS

• Cost Explorer for daily spend trends
• Trusted Advisor for underutilized resources
• Compute Optimizer to suggest instance right-sizing

🛠️ Azure

• Azure Cost Management + Billing for forecasting and budget alerts
• Advisor Recommendations for performance and cost insights
• Pricing Calculator to plan new deployments

3. Right-Size and Auto-Scale

• 🧮 Audit VMs and EC2 instances: Are you using 16 cores when you need 4?
• ✅ Use auto-scaling groups and VM scale sets
• 💻 For dev environments, use burstable instances (e.g., t3.micro, B-series)
• 💤 Schedule shutdowns for non-prod resources with tools like AWS Instance Scheduler or Azure Automation

4. Commit to Savings Plans or Reserved Instances

💰 AWS

• Use Savings Plans for consistent workloads (up to 72% savings)
• Opt for Reserved Instances for long-lived VMs
• Spot Instances are great for flexible, fault-tolerant workloads

💰 Azure

• Commit to Reserved Virtual Machine Instances for 1–3 years
• Use Low Priority VMs in Azure Batch for non-urgent jobs
• Reserve Azure SQL Database capacity to reduce DB spend

5. Optimize Storage

• 🚮 Delete unattached volumes (EBS, Azure Managed Disks)
• ❄️ Move infrequently accessed data to archival tiers:
  • AWS: S3 Glacier / S3 Infrequent Access
  • Azure: Cool / Archive Blob Storage
• 🧪 Enable lifecycle policies to auto-move or delete data after X days

6. Reduce Data Transfer Costs

• 🌐 Avoid cross-region transfers—keep compute and storage in the same zone
• 🛠️ Use CloudFront (AWS) or Azure CDN for caching
• 🔌 Review traffic between availability zones—consider private endpoints or VNet peering
• 📉 Use Data Transfer Cost Reports in both clouds to monitor spikes

7. What the Data Says

• 💸 35–40% of cloud spend is waste, according to Flexera
• 🧠 67% of orgs don’t use any automation for cloud cost control
• 💾 Storage costs rise by 17% annually due to hoarded, unmanaged data
• ⚙️ Teams using auto-scaling save up to 25% on compute
• 🔒 Reserved instance misuse accounts for $1.2B/year in wasted spend

Proso: Get Help from Cloud Cost Pros

Cutting cloud costs isn’t just about tools—it’s about expertise.

That’s where Proso comes in.

Proso connects you with:

• AWS & Azure FinOps consultants
• Cloud cost auditors and right-sizing analysts
• Reserved instance and savings plan advisors
• Auto-scaling and performance tuning engineers
• Cloud-native architects who optimize before you overspend

For example: A SaaS firm used Proso to find an AWS cost specialist. Within 30 days, they reduced EC2 waste by 41% and shut down idle S3 storage—saving $108K/year.

Another case: A fintech company cut Azure spend by 30% by working with a Proso expert who realigned VM pricing tiers, removed zombie resources, and automated cost alerts.

“We weren’t over-provisioned—we were overpaying. Proso helped us fix it without affecting performance.” — CTO, Media Tech Startup

Whether you’re bleeding cloud spend or proactively optimizing, Proso gives you expert help with no long-term contracts or guesswork.

Find your cost optimization expert now →

Conclusion & Future Outlook

The cloud isn’t expensive—waste is.

AWS and Azure offer immense flexibility, but that flexibility comes with risk: if you’re not watching, you’re overpaying.

Here’s how to stay in control:

• Use the native tools for forecasting, budgeting, and alerting
• Audit everything—from VM usage to data movement
• Right-size your workloads and automate wherever possible
• Commit smartly with Reserved Instances or Savings Plans
• Review spend monthly, not yearly

Looking ahead, we expect:

• 📈 AI-based cost forecasting baked into cloud consoles
• 🧠 Intelligent rightsizing tools that automatically re-provision
• 💬 ChatOps for FinOps, bringing cloud spend into Slack and Teams
• 🔄 Auto-policy engines that shut down underutilized services
• 🧮 Real-time FinOps dashboards for execs, not just DevOps

Next steps:

✅ Run a 30-day cost audit
✅ Review Reserved Instances and usage trends
✅ Automate shutdowns for dev/test environments
✅ Train your teams on cloud cost awareness
✅ Use Proso to get hands-on help when it matters most

This blog will be updated with cost-saving case studies, FinOps tooling reviews, and cloud pricing trend breakdowns.

Because smart cloud use doesn’t mean cutting corners—it means cutting waste.

‍