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5 ChatGPT Prompts to Reduce Your AWS Bill Today

26 min read

Copy-paste these AI prompts to analyze your Cost Explorer data, identify waste, and generate cleanup scripts. Turn ChatGPT into your personal AWS cost consultant.

AWS ChatGPT cost-optimization AI prompts

5 ChatGPT Prompts to Reduce Your AWS Bill

Turn AI into your personal cloud cost consultant

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20-40%
Typical Savings
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ChatGPT and Claude are remarkably good at analyzing AWS cost data and generating optimization scripts. The trick is knowing how to ask. Generic questions get generic answers—but with the right prompts, you can get actionable, account-specific recommendations.

These prompts are designed to work with your actual AWS data. Export your Cost Explorer CSV, paste it into the conversation, and let AI do the heavy lifting.

How to Use These Prompts

1

Export Your Data

Download your Cost Explorer CSV from AWS Console or use our free analyzer

2

Copy the Prompt

Use the prompts below, customizing the bracketed sections with your data

3

Paste & Analyze

Paste into ChatGPT or Claude, attach your CSV, and get personalized recommendations

Pro Tip

These prompts work best with ChatGPT-4 or Claude. Free versions may have file size limitations—our free analyzer handles files of any size.

1

The Cost Overview Analyzer

Get a big-picture view of where your money goes

The Prompt:

I'm attaching my AWS Cost Explorer CSV export for the last 3 months. Please analyze it and provide: 1. **Top 5 services by cost** with percentage of total spend 2. **Month-over-month trends** - which services are growing fastest? 3. **Anomalies** - any unexpected spikes or unusual patterns? 4. **Quick wins** - obvious optimization opportunities based on the data 5. **Cost per service breakdown** in a simple table Focus on actionable insights, not generic advice. Tell me specifically what you see in MY data. [Attach your Cost Explorer CSV]

What You'll Get:

  • • Ranked list of cost drivers
  • • Trend analysis by service
  • • Flagged anomalies
  • • Specific recommendations

Best For:

  • • First-time cost reviews
  • • Monthly check-ins
  • • Explaining costs to stakeholders
  • • Finding where to focus
2

The EC2 Right-Sizing Assistant

Find over-provisioned instances and get resize recommendations

The Prompt:

I need help right-sizing my EC2 instances. Here's what I know: **Current instances:** [List your instances: type, vCPUs, memory, current utilization if known] Example: - prod-web-1: m5.xlarge (4 vCPU, 16GB RAM) - 15% avg CPU - prod-api-1: r5.2xlarge (8 vCPU, 64GB RAM) - 25% avg CPU **Workload characteristics:** - [Describe: steady traffic, spiky, batch processing, etc.] - [Peak hours/days if applicable] - [Any memory-intensive or CPU-intensive patterns] Please recommend: 1. Which instances to downsize and to what type 2. Which could use Spot or Reserved pricing 3. Estimated monthly savings per change 4. Any risks to consider before resizing Be specific—give me exact instance type recommendations.

What You'll Get:

  • • Specific instance recommendations
  • • Cost savings estimates
  • • Risk assessment
  • • Step-by-step resize plan

Pro Tip:

Include CloudWatch CPU/Memory metrics if you have them. The more data you provide, the better the recommendations.

3

The Cleanup Script Generator

Generate AWS CLI commands to delete unused resources

The Prompt:

I need AWS CLI scripts to clean up unused resources in my account. Generate safe, commented scripts for: **Resources to check:** 1. Unattached EBS volumes 2. EBS snapshots older than [90] days 3. Unused Elastic IPs 4. Stopped EC2 instances older than [30] days 5. Empty S3 buckets **Requirements:** - Include a DRY RUN option first (list but don't delete) - Add confirmation prompts before destructive actions - Output estimated cost savings where possible - Include rollback instructions where applicable - Region: [your region, e.g., us-east-1] Generate the scripts with clear comments explaining each step. Format as copy-paste ready bash scripts.

Safety Warning

Always run the dry-run version first! Never execute delete commands in production without reviewing what will be deleted.

Example Output You'll Get:

# DRY RUN: List unattached EBS volumes
aws ec2 describe-volumes \
  --filters Name=status,Values=available \
  --query 'Volumes[*].{ID:VolumeId,Size:Size,Created:CreateTime}' \
  --output table

# Estimated savings: $0.08/GB/month for gp3
4

The Savings Plan Calculator

Figure out if Reserved Instances or Savings Plans make sense

The Prompt:

Help me decide between Reserved Instances and Savings Plans for my AWS workload. **My current usage:** - Monthly EC2 spend: $[amount] - Main instance types: [e.g., m5.xlarge, r5.large] - Regions: [primary region, any secondary] - Usage pattern: [steady 24/7, business hours only, variable] **My situation:** - Planning horizon: [1 year or 3 years] - Flexibility needs: [likely to change instance types? migrate regions?] - Payment preference: [all upfront, partial, no upfront] Please calculate: 1. Savings with 1-year vs 3-year commitment 2. Savings Plan vs Reserved Instance comparison 3. Recommended commitment amount (don't over-commit!) 4. Break-even analysis - when do I start saving? 5. Risk assessment - what if my usage changes? Show me the math with actual dollar amounts.

What You'll Get:

  • • Dollar savings comparison
  • • Commitment recommendations
  • • Break-even timeline
  • • Risk analysis

Key Insight:

Start with Compute Savings Plans—they're more flexible than RIs and cover EC2, Lambda, and Fargate. Only commit to 60-70% of your baseline usage.

5

The Cost Anomaly Detective

Investigate sudden cost spikes and find the root cause

The Prompt:

My AWS bill spiked unexpectedly. Help me investigate. **The anomaly:** - Normal monthly spend: $[amount] - This month's spend: $[higher amount] - Spike appeared: [date or "I don't know"] - Main suspect service (if known): [service name or "unknown"] **Attached data:** [Paste or attach Cost Explorer CSV with daily breakdown] Please help me: 1. Identify exactly which service/resource caused the spike 2. Determine when the spike started (pinpoint the date) 3. Calculate the excess cost (above baseline) 4. Suggest likely causes based on the pattern 5. Provide specific investigation steps I should take 6. Generate AWS CLI commands to dig deeper Be a detective—look for patterns, correlations, and unusual activity.

Common Causes AI Will Help You Find:

  • • Data transfer spikes
  • • Runaway Lambda functions
  • • Unintended resource creation
  • • Region replication enabled
  • • CloudWatch log explosion
  • • NAT Gateway overuse
  • • Forgotten test resources
  • • S3 request charges

Bonus: Quick One-Liner Prompts

Tag Compliance Checker

"Generate AWS CLI commands to find all EC2 instances and RDS databases missing the 'Environment' and 'Owner' tags in [region]"

S3 Lifecycle Policy Generator

"Create an S3 lifecycle policy that moves objects to Intelligent-Tiering after 30 days and Glacier after 90 days. Format as JSON I can apply directly."

Budget Alert Setup

"Generate AWS CLI commands to create budget alerts at 50%, 80%, and 100% of $[amount]/month with email notifications to [email]"

Data Transfer Cost Breakdown

"Looking at this Cost Explorer data [attach CSV], break down my data transfer costs by type (internet, inter-region, inter-AZ, NAT Gateway) and suggest ways to reduce each."

Cost Report Generator

"Using this Cost Explorer data [attach CSV], create a one-page executive summary of our AWS costs suitable for presenting to non-technical leadership. Include a simple chart description."

Why AI + Your Data = Powerful Results

What AI Can Do

  • Analyze your specific cost patterns
  • Generate working AWS CLI scripts
  • Calculate savings with real numbers
  • Explain complex pricing in simple terms

What AI Can't Do (Yet)

  • Access your AWS account directly
  • Execute changes automatically
  • Know your business context
  • Guarantee accuracy (always verify!)

Want Personalized Prompts Based on YOUR Account?

Our free AWS Cost Analyzer goes beyond generic prompts. Upload your Cost Explorer CSV and get a detailed report with specific findings and AI-ready prompts customized to your data.

Get My Personalized Analysis Free

Includes custom prompts for your specific cost issues

The Bottom Line

AI tools like ChatGPT are remarkably good at AWS cost optimization—when you give them the right context. Generic questions get generic answers. But paste in your actual Cost Explorer data with specific prompts, and you get actionable, account-specific recommendations that can save you thousands.

5 Prompts
Ready to copy-paste
20-40%
Typical savings found
10 Minutes
To get started