Many Aurora clusters default to using the Standard configuration, which charges separately for I/O operations. For workloads with frequent read and write activity, this can lead to unnecessarily high costs. Aurora I/O-Optimized eliminates I/O charges entirely and simplifies cost predictability. In environments with consistently high I/O usage, switching to I/O-Optimized often results in lower total spend.

While On-Demand mode is well-suited for unpredictable or bursty workloads, it is often cost-inefficient for applications with consistent throughput. In these cases, shifting to Provisioned mode with Auto Scaling allows teams to set a baseline level of capacity and scale incrementally as needed—often yielding substantial cost savings without compromising performance.