How do you reduce AWS costs in a cloud environment? What are your go-to strategies?

Cloud cost optimization is an ongoing practice. High-impact strategies:

1. Right-sizing: Use AWS Cost Explorer and Compute Optimizer to identify oversized EC2 instances.
2. Reserved Instances/Savings Plans: Commit to 1-3 years for stable workloads — saves up to 72%.
3. Spot Instances: Use for stateless, fault-tolerant, or batch workloads. Up to 90% savings.
4. S3 Lifecycle policies: Auto-transition to cheaper storage tiers.
5. Delete idle resources: Audit unused EIPs, old snapshots, unattached EBS volumes.
6. Auto Scaling: Scale down to zero or minimum outside business hours.