When an EC2 instance is dedicated primarily to internet-facing traffic, regional differences in data transfer pricing can drive a substantial portion of total costs. Hosting such workloads in a region with higher egress rates leads to elevated expenses without improving performance. Migrating the workload to a lower-cost region can yield significant savings while maintaining equivalent service quality, especially when no strict latency or compliance requirements dictate the original location.
EC2 instances are billed per second based on the selected instance type, operating system, and pricing model (On-Demand, Reserved, or Spot). Data transfer out to the public internet is billed separately per GB, and rates vary by AWS region. Some regions have significantly higher internet egress charges, which can disproportionately increase costs for internet-heavy workloads.
Migrate internet-focused EC2 instances to regions with lower Data Transfer Out pricing to optimize costs. Use methods such as AMI copies, EBS snapshots, or infrastructure-as-code templates to deploy the instance in the new region. Update DNS records, security groups, IAM roles, and route configurations as needed to complete the migration. Monitor performance after relocation to ensure that user experience and application behavior remain stable.
