DynamoDB Magic Numbers: Optimize your DynamoDB spend with simple math

DynamoDB is praised for its reliability and ease of use, often becoming an integral part of teams' workflows without drawing much attention. This seamless integration, however, can lead to missed opportunities for optimization, particularly regarding cost and performance. The blog post highlights the potential for significant savings by understanding DynamoDB's billing modes: provisioned throughput and on-demand. While on-demand usage is typically 6.94 times more expensive than provisioned throughput, it can be more cost-effective for those unable to utilize 100% of their provisioned capacity, especially if they have irregular traffic patterns. The post also introduces the Infrequent Access (IA) storage class, which can offer a 60% discount on storage costs, making it a favorable option if the IOPS cost is less than 2.4 times the storage cost. By leveraging simple mathematical calculations and monitoring metrics like ConsumedWriteCapacityUnits and ProvisionedWriteCapacityUnits, users can optimize their DynamoDB usage and potentially reduce expenses.