Outcome
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to decide between on-demand and provisioned throughput, right-size provisioned capacity, and schedule provisioned throughput for time-aware optimization.
| Tier | Engineer |
| JTBD | ”Pick the right Bedrock pricing mode (on-demand vs provisioned) and right-size provisioned capacity for actual usage.” |
| Personas | ML Engineer · Platform Engineer · FinOps Lead |
| Prerequisites | M2.11.L1 - L4 |
| Time | 9 minutes |
| Bloom verb | Decide (Evaluate), Right-size (Apply), Schedule (Apply) |
1. Concept
Bedrock offers two pricing modes:
ON-DEMAND: Pay per token (no commitment) Variable cost No upfront commitment
PROVISIONED THROUGHPUT: Pay per hour for guaranteed throughput Commit 1 or 6 months Up to 50% off effective per-token rate
THE CHOICE: depends on workload's pattern + maturityThe two modes trade flexibility for cost. Provisioned wins when usage is predictable.
When provisioned wins
SCENARIO PROVISIONED OR ON-DEMAND?─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────Predictable high-volume PROVISIONED (1-month or 6-month)Variable low-volume On-demandBurst-mode On-demandAlways-on, steady throughput PROVISIONEDNew workload, unknown load On-demand (until known)Mature workload, stable pattern PROVISIONEDLong-term commitment OK PROVISIONED 6-month (best discount)Variable traffic On-demandThe break-even point: roughly 70% utilization of provisioned throughput.
Right-sizing provisioned throughput
MEASUREMENT (the workload's actual usage): Average tokens/sec: 2,400 Peak tokens/sec: 9,800 Sustained periods at peak: 5% of time
PROVISIONED OPTIONS:
Option A: Provision for peak (10K tokens/sec) Capacity: 24/7 Cost: $X (highest baseline) Utilization: 24% (mostly idle) Performance: never throttled
Option B: Provision for average (2,400 tokens/sec) Falls back to on-demand for bursts Cost: ~30% of Option A Utilization: ~80% Bursts: occasional on-demand cost Total cost: typically 35% of Option A
Option C: Provision at peak × 0.7 (7K tokens/sec) On-demand for the burst above Cost: ~50% of Option A Utilization: ~65% Better burst handling than Option B
Option D: Schedule-aware provisioned Provisioned during business hours On-demand off-hours Cost: ~40% of Option A Maintains peak handlingOption B usually wins for variable-load workloads. Option D handles diurnal patterns.
Detecting over-provisioning
SIGNAL INTERPRETATION─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────Utilization < 30% sustained Over-provisioned (RC-1601) Reduce throughput OR switch to on-demand
Utilization > 95% sustained Under-provisioned Consider increase to avoid throttling
Periodic peak hits ceiling Provisioned for average; OK On-demand handles peaks (if configured)
Periodic drop to near-zero Idle periods Consider scheduling
Spiky utilization On-demand might be more cost-effective Variable patterns don't suit provisionedThe 30% threshold catches most over-provisioning. The 95% catches under-provisioning.
Idle period scheduling
PROVISIONED THROUGHPUT is per-hourIf a workload is genuinely idle overnight or weekends:
PROVISIONED 24/7: paying for 168 hours/week PROVISIONED schedule-aware: ZopNight schedules the provisioned capacity off overnight + weekends Cost saving: Non-prod: 60-80% (long idle windows) Prod: 30-40% (shorter idle windows)
ZOPNIGHT'S AUTOSCALER-STYLE SCHEDULING on Bedrock provisioned throughput: Acts like other scheduling Cron-driven start/stop Audit log; lifecycle management Same patterns as M5.2 schedulesThe schedule pattern extends to Bedrock provisioned throughput.
Commitment math
1-MONTH PROVISIONED: Discount: ~20-30% Break-even: ~70% utilization Commitment: 30 days Risk: medium-low
6-MONTH PROVISIONED: Discount: ~40-50% Break-even: ~50% utilization (lower because longer commit) Commitment: 180 days Risk: medium (workload pattern must hold)
ANNUAL PROVISIONED (if available): Discount: ~50-60% Break-even: ~40% utilization Commitment: 365 days Risk: higher (workload assumptions over long horizon)For mature workloads with stable patterns, 6-month wins on discount.
Hybrid pattern: provisioned + on-demand
THE BEST PATTERN for most workloads:
Provisioned: base load (e.g., 70% of peak) On-demand: bursts above provisioned capacity
EXAMPLE: Workload peaks 10K tokens/sec; sustains 4K
Provision 7K tokens/sec Cost: provisioned hourly rate
Burst above 7K: on-demand Pay for the burst tokens Most days: minimal on-demand cost
TOTAL COST: significantly lower than provisioning for peakPERFORMANCE: handles peaks without throttlingThe hybrid pattern is the standard for variable-but-predictable workloads.
Decision framework
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER for any Bedrock workload:
1. Is the workload mature? (running stable >3 months) Yes → consider provisioned No → stay on-demand
2. Is utilization predictable? Yes → provisioned at average + on-demand for bursts No → on-demand
3. Does it have idle periods (overnight/weekend)? Yes → schedule the provisioned capacity No → provisioned 24/7
4. Can you commit 6 months? Yes → 6-month for best discount No → 1-month or on-demand
5. Is current cost a concern? Yes → optimize aggressively (right-size + schedule) No → accept current patternThe framework guides the decision per workload.
2. Demo
A team’s provisioned throughput optimization:
WORKLOAD: customer support chatbot Mature pattern over 6 months Average: 4,000 tokens/sec Peak: 7,500 tokens/sec Distribution: 95% of time within 2.5x of average Off-hours: significant drop in volume (but not zero)
OPTION A (CURRENT): on-demand Cost: ~$28,000/month Predictable; variable; no commitment
OPTION B: provisioned at 4,500 tokens/sec; on-demand for bursts Cost: ~$15,000/month provisioned + ~$2,000/month on-demand bursts Total: $17,000/month Savings: ~$11,000/month (39%)
OPTION C: SCHEDULE PROVISIONED off overnight Provisioned 80 hours/week (during peak hours) On-demand for off-hours Total: ~$11,000/month Savings: ~$17,000/month (60%)
OPTION D: 6-month commitment for Option C Additional discount on provisioned hours Total: ~$8,500/month Savings: ~$19,500/month (70%)
DECISION: Option D for the year-long mature workload pattern
IMPLEMENTATION (4 weeks): Week 1: validate utilization measurements Week 2: configure provisioned throughput at 4,500 tokens/sec Week 3: configure schedule for peak hours Week 4: monitor + validate cost projections
OUTCOMES (1 month in): Actual cost: $8,700/mo (within 2% of projection) Quality: unchanged Performance: peaks handled by on-demand burst Engineer satisfaction: highScheduled provisioned + on-demand for bursts is often the optimal pattern for mature workloads.
3. Hands-on (5 min)
Optimize your provisioned throughput:
□ STEP 1: Inventory provisioned throughput Workload: __________ Current capacity: _____ tokens/sec Current cost: $_____/mo
□ STEP 2: Measure actual usage Average: _____ tokens/sec Peak: _____ tokens/sec Utilization: ____%
□ STEP 3: Right-sizing options Reduce to average + on-demand bursts: $_____/mo Schedule off-hours: $_____/mo Commit 6-month: $_____/mo
□ STEP 4: Pick best option Recommended: __________ Projected savings: $_____/mo
□ STEP 5: Plan Implementation effort: ___ weeks Risk: __________ Monitoring plan: __________A 15-minute optimization exercise per workload.
4. Knowledge check
Q1
A workload has 25% sustained utilization on its provisioned throughput. The decision:
A. Increase throughput
B. Investigate over-provisioning: reduce throughput or switch to on-demand. RC-1601 likely surfaced this. 25% utilization is well below the 70% break-even; over-provisioned.
C. Random
D. Keep as is
Show answer
Correct: B. Over-provisioning at 25% utilization.
Q2
Provisioned throughput discount vs on-demand:
A. Same price
B. ~20-50% discount depending on commit length. 1-month: 20-30%; 6-month: 40-50%. Break-even at 50-70% utilization. Trade flexibility for cost.
C. 90% discount
D. Random
Show answer
Correct: B. 20-50% discount, utilization-dependent break-even.
Q3
A mature workload with predictable peak hours and idle off-hours:
A. Provisioned 24/7
B. Provisioned during peak hours, scheduled off overnight. Hybrid pattern reduces cost significantly. Combines: lower base capacity + schedule discipline + on-demand fallback for bursts.
C. On-demand always
D. Random
Show answer
Correct: B. Schedule-aware provisioned.
5. Apply
RC-1601/02 surfaces provisioned throughput optimization. Customer adjusts in Bedrock console.
For your team: right-size provisioned throughput; schedule for idle periods; commit 6-month for mature workloads.
Module quiz
Complete M2.11 → 10-question module quiz unlocks the ML-Cost-Aware chip.
Track 2 complete
You have now completed all 54 lessons of T2: ZopNight Engineer track. Take the Engineer cert exam at /certifications/engineer.
You should now be able to:
- Read + apply the 450+ rule library (M2.1)
- Read evidence + reconcile against billing (M2.2)
- Configure auto-remediation safely (M2.3)
- Manage VM autoscaling (M2.4)
- Adopt-or-replace cloud scaling (M2.5)
- Schedule K8s workloads (M2.6)
- Schedule Databricks (M2.7)
- Use auto-tagger predictions (M2.8)
- Pre-scale for events (M2.9)
- Investigate cost anomalies (M2.10)
- Optimize Bedrock + ML costs (M2.11)
Related lessons
- L1: ML cost landscape
- L2: Bedrock rules
- L3: Model selection
- L4: Batch processing
- T6: AI-powered cloud ops
Glossary terms touched
Provisioned throughput · On-demand vs provisioned · Right-sizing throughput · Schedule-aware provisioned