I have about $3,000 USD left in AWS startup credits, and they expire in a couple of days. I'm looking for worthwhile, controlled ways to use them rather than letting them go unused, while avoiding unexpected charges after the credits run out. What workloads or services would be practical for a short-term experiment?
4 Answers
Compute, container workloads, Redshift, or Kubernetes experiments may all qualify, depending on the terms of your credits. Keep in mind that credits generally won’t cover every purchase type, such as certain reserved capacity or upfront savings-plan charges, so verify the rules before committing.
Use them for a temporary workload that benefits your existing or future project: load and stress testing, data processing, media transcoding, analytics, or GPU-based machine-learning experiments. Track usage closely and schedule resources to scale down automatically so the test stays within the credit balance.
Don’t spend them just for the sake of spending them. If you don’t have a real workload, letting the credits expire is safer than accidentally going over budget and receiving a bill. If you do experiment, set strict budgets, alerts, and automated shutdowns first.
Generative AI services such as Amazon Bedrock could be an option for prototyping or building a small proof of concept, but check the credit eligibility and pricing for the specific models first. Set token and spending limits because usage can increase quickly.
A lab that simulates your expected production usage could be useful too. Record the metrics and make sure the entire test, including storage and data transfer, is included in the budget.