Where Aurora Overspending Occurs

AWS Aurora PostgreSQL and MySQL separate compute from storage. While this enables rapid failover and multi-region replication, IOPS charges can quickly exceed the base compute cost.

Tactical Remediation:

1. **Switch to Aurora I/O-Optimized Configuration**: For write-intensive workloads where I/O charges exceed 25% of the cluster bill, switching to I/O-Optimized eliminates per-request charges, providing predictable monthly costs.
2. **Deploy PgBouncer**: Eliminate thousands of short-lived client connections that consume CPU thread switches.
3. **Kill Redundant Indexes**: Every index write incurs additional I/O operations. Auditing `pg_stat_user_indexes` reveals unused indexes draining monthly budgets.
4. **Aurora Serverless v2 Floor Tuning**: Set conservative minimum ACUs (e.g. 0.5 to 2 ACUs) during off-peak hours instead of over-provisioned static instances.