Yes, you’re probably overspending — here’s how to fix it FAST.
📺 Prefer video? Watch the full tutorial on YouTube → https://youtu.be/2Hbt5tgC1WA
Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) is powerful — but let’s be honest — it's also one of the easiest ways to silently burn your budget on AWS. 🔥
Whether you're running a side project, managing client databases, or building your personal brand's tech stack, these 5 Pro Tips (plus a couple of juicy bonuses!) will help you optimize your setup and save hundreds — even thousands — of dollars every year. 💸
Let’s dive right in. 👇
✅ 1. Audit All Regions — and Delete What You Don't Need
The #1 mistake? Forgetting what's running.
AWS charges for every active RDS instance — even the ones quietly humming in regions you forgot you ever used.
👉 What to do:
- Go to the AWS Console > RDS
- Check every region, not just your default one!
- Identify and delete old test environments, forgotten clones, and dev databases that are no longer needed.
💡 Bonus tip: Create a monthly reminder to audit regions. It takes 5 minutes and can save $$$.
⚖️ 2. Right-Size Your Instances
Are you using db.m5.large when you only need db.t3.micro?
Oversized instances are one of the main culprits of waste on RDS.
👉 What to do:
- Use Performance Insights and CloudWatch metrics to check CPU, memory, and connections.
- If you’re consistently under 30% usage, downgrade your instance size.
- Use burstable instances (T classes) for low-to-medium traffic apps — they’re often 5x cheaper than general-purpose ones.
- AMD cores are more efficient than Intel.
- ARM machines are even more efficient than AMD.
📉 Right-sizing = instant cost reduction.
💳 3. Use Reserved Instances (RIs) — If You’re In It for the Long Haul
If your project or business is stable, and you know your workload won’t change dramatically for a while…
👉 Reserve those instances!
- You can save up to 69% compared to on-demand pricing.
- Choose 1-year or 3-year terms, depending on your forecast.
- Available for all RDS engines (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Aurora, etc.)
💡 Combine with right-sizing for massive savings.
🧪 4. Evaluate Your Read Replicas
Read replicas are awesome for scaling reads — but they’re not free.
Many devs enable them for testing or temporary performance boosts... and then forget to turn them off. 😬
👉 What to do:
- Go to RDS > Databases and look for any replicas you’re not actively using.
- Remove unused replicas — they’re billed like any other instance.
- Consider Aurora Serverless or caching (Redis, ElastiCache) as an alternative for certain read-heavy workloads.
🔍 Audit replicas like any other resource — and kill what's not serving you.
📸 5. Clean Up Snapshots + Shorten Backup Retention
Automated backups are amazing. But guess what?
Old snapshots = paid storage.
The longer your retention period, the more AWS charges you.
👉 What to do:
- Delete manual snapshots you no longer need.
- Set automated retention to 7 days (or less, if you’re using other backup strategies).
- Go to RDS > Snapshots and filter for manual + old dates.
💡 You’re charged per GB per month — so old snapshots can add up FAST.
🧼 BONUS: Purge Old Data to Reduce Storage Costs
RDS storage costs scale with usage. If you're storing:
- Logs from 2018
- Debug data from old projects
- Archive tables no one touches...
It’s time for a cleanup. 🧹
👉 What to do:
- Use partitioning to make deletes safer.
- Archive old data to S3 Glacier (ultra-cheap storage).
- Purge junk that no longer serves business or compliance needs.
📦 Smaller DB = cheaper snapshots, faster backups, and better performance.
TL;DR — Here’s Your Quick Checklist ✅
1️⃣ Audit Regions: Delete unused RDS in all regions
2️⃣ Right-Size: Use monitoring to reduce instance sizes
3️⃣ Reserve: Buy Reserved Instances for long-term workloads
4️⃣ Review Replicas: Delete unused read replicas
5️⃣ Clean Snapshots: Remove old snapshots + shorten retention
🔁 Bonus: Purge unnecessary data to lower storage costs
📺 Watch the Full Video Guide
Want to see this in action step-by-step?
👉 Watch the full video here
Don’t forget to like 👍 and subscribe 🔔 to stay ahead of AWS tips and personal brand growth hacks.
✍️ Final Thoughts
You don’t have to be a DevOps pro to save money on RDS.
These small tweaks can have a big impact on your monthly AWS bill — without sacrificing performance or reliability.
💬 Got questions or want more content like this? Drop a comment or tweet me.
Let’s build smart. Let’s build lean. 🚀
