# Cost optimization
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 The cost optimization pillar includes the ability to use all resources to deliver business value at the lowest price point. This section provides you with an overview of design principles, best practices, and questions. You can find further implementation guidance in the [Cost Optimization Pillar whitepaper.](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/wellarchitected/latest/cost-optimization-pillar/welcome.html) 

## Definitions
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 This whitepaper covers cost optimization in the cloud, describing best practices in the following areas: 
+  Practice Cloud Financial Management 
+  Expenditure and usage awareness 
+  Cost-effective resources 
+  Manage demand and supply resources 
+  Optimize over time 

## Design principles
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 The cost optimization pillar focuses on the efficient use of resources to meet requirements and the maintenance of that cost as demand changes and technologies evolve. Cost optimization is not a one-time activity. It is an incremental and continual process of confirming business requirements, measuring the workload performance and cost, identifying under-performing components, and tuning the components to meet your business needs. The goal of this pillar is to only pay for what you need to run your workload. 

 Cost optimization includes the continual process of refinement and improvement of a system over its entire lifecycle. In a hybrid cloud environment that spans on-premises customer data centers, AWS Cloud, and AWS's hybrid edge offerings such as Outposts, Local Zones, and Wavelength, cost optimization becomes a multifaceted challenge. 

 This section provides guidance and best practices to help organizations achieve cost-effective and efficient operations across this diverse infrastructure landscape. By following the principles outlined in this pillar, organizations can gain visibility into expenditure, select cost-effective resources for workloads, manage demand and supply effectively, and optimize costs over time. 

 With a hybrid cloud approach involving on-premises data centers and hybrid edge offerings, organizations must carefully evaluate factors such as data transfer costs between environments, pricing models across different services and locations, and the potential for resource sharing. 

 The cost optimization pillar offers strategies to address these challenges so that organizations can maximize the financial benefits of a hybrid cloud architecture while maintaining operational excellence, security, reliability, and performance across all environments.