Low Savings Plan Coverage
CostLens flags accounts where Lambda, Fargate, or EC2 compute is running without Savings Plans coverage, and estimates the potential discount available.
Savings Plans are a flexible commitment-based pricing model that provides up to 35% discount over On-Demand pricing for EC2, Lambda, and Fargate workloads — without the rigidity of Reserved Instances. CostLens monitors your Savings Plan coverage and flags accounts where more than 30% of eligible compute is running without coverage.
How it works
CostLens measures your Savings Plan coverage
Queries AWS Cost Explorer for your Savings Plans coverage across EC2, Lambda, and Fargate over the previous full calendar month.
Applies the coverage threshold
Accounts with coverage below 70% and On-Demand eligible compute spend exceeding $100/month are flagged.
Estimates potential savings
Applies a 35% discount rate to the portion of On-Demand spend not currently covered by Savings Plans.
Savings Plans vs Reserved Instances
| Savings Plans | Reserved Instances | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | EC2, Lambda, Fargate | EC2 only |
| Flexibility | Automatically applies to any eligible usage | Tied to instance family/size/region |
| Discount | Up to 35–66% | Up to 40% |
| Commitment | Hourly spend amount | Instance count |
| Best for | Mixed or changing workloads | Stable, predictable EC2 usage |
Consider Savings Plans if you use Lambda or Fargate
Savings Plans cover Lambda and Fargate in addition to EC2 — Reserved Instances do not. If your workloads include serverless or container compute, Savings Plans are often the better choice.
What to do
Step 1 — Review your eligible compute spend
In the AWS Console, go to Cost Explorer → Savings Plans → Recommendations. AWS will show you exactly how much hourly commitment to purchase, based on your usage over the last 7, 30, or 60 days, and calculate your estimated savings.
Step 2 — Choose your plan type
| Plan type | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Compute Savings Plan | EC2 (any instance family, region, OS), Lambda, Fargate |
| EC2 Instance Savings Plan | Specific EC2 instance family in a specific region — higher discount |
For most organisations, a Compute Savings Plan offers the best flexibility and is the easier choice.
Step 3 — Choose your commitment term
| Term | Discount level |
|---|---|
| 1-year, no upfront | Moderate |
| 1-year, partial upfront | Higher |
| 1-year, all upfront | Highest |
| 3-year | Even higher (more commitment) |
Purchase Savings Plans in the AWS Console → Cost Explorer → Savings Plans → Purchase Savings Plans.
Step 4 — Coverage updates automatically
Coverage is re-evaluated with every CostLens billing sync. Once your coverage exceeds 70%, the recommendation resolves automatically.
Severity levels
| Severity | Estimated monthly savings |
|---|---|
| critical | >$500 |
| high | $100–$500 |
| medium | $20–$100 |
| low | <$20 |
Required IAM permissions
Included in the CostLens IAM policies from AWS Accounts:
ce:GetSavingsPlansCoverage
This is an account-level recommendation
Savings Plan coverage is measured across the entire AWS account. The recommendation appears once per account rather than once per service or resource.