Light utilization reserved instances IMHO is the best-kept secret in EC2. You get most of the savings of heavy utilization, with much less up-front commitment.

Light utilization reserved instances IMHO is the best-kept secret in EC2. You get most of the savings of heavy utilization, with much less up-front commitment. Look at my figures above: light utilization costs only $98/month more than heavy utilization, for $3396 less up front. And those figures were for a three-year light utilization reservation, meaning I'd still have an asset at the end of the 12 months.