Free CLF-C02 practice questions: pricing models & the Free Tier

Which pricing model, and what 'free' actually means — two topics the exam asks plainly once you know the shapes. Seven questions, 2026 edition.

Here are 7 typical pricing and Free Tier questions in the exam's own style — free, with the answer explained, no sign-up.

Straight to the 7 free questions ↓

Two billing topics sit close together and get tested plainly once you know their shapes: how AWS prices compute, and what the Free Tier actually gives you. Neither needs a single price memorised. Both reward matching a described situation to the right category.

Pricing models: match the model to the workload

The exam gives you a workload and asks which purchasing option fits. Read the workload for three signals:

Steady and long-running → Reserved Instances or Savings Plans. You commit to one or three years of usage and get a large discount. Savings Plans are the more flexible of the two.
Interruptible and fault-tolerant → Spot Instances. The deepest discount, using spare capacity, in exchange for AWS being able to reclaim it with short notice. Great for batch jobs, wrong for anything that must stay up.
Unpredictable, short, no commitment → On-Demand. Pay for what you use with no strings, at the highest per-hour price. The default when nothing can be committed to.

Almost every pricing question is one of those three shapes wearing a scenario. Find the shape and the model follows.

The Free Tier: three types, and one trap

The AWS Free Tier is not one offer but three:

Always free — a service is free within a limit that never expires, such as a monthly allowance of Lambda requests.
12 months free — free for the first year from sign-up, such as a set number of EC2 hours per month.
Short-term trials — free for a fixed number of days after you activate a specific service.

The trap the exam sets is the assumption that “Free Tier” means everything is free. It does not: the tier covers specific services up to specific limits, and going over a limit — or using a service the tier does not include — results in normal charges. The standard safeguard is a billing alarm. If a question describes a surprise bill during the Free Tier, the cause is almost always exceeding a limit.

How to use the questions below

Answer each one before revealing the explanation, then read past the correct letter to why the other three fail. Pricing distractors are always the neighbouring models — Spot where On-Demand belongs, Enterprise-scale commitment where none is possible — and Free Tier distractors overstate what “free” covers. Matching the workload to the model, and knowing what the tier really includes, is the whole skill, and the reasoning below builds it.

EC2 pricing models placed on a trade-off between flexibility and discount — On-Demand for no commitment, Reserved Instances and Savings Plans for a one- or three-year commitment to steady usage, and Spot for the deepest discount on interruptible work — alongside the three AWS Free Tier types: always free, twelve months free, and short-term trials.

7 free CLF-C02 practice questions

Answers and explanations — no email wall

CLF-C02 Question 1 of 7

A company runs a steady, predictable workload around the clock and wants the largest discount in exchange for a one- or three-year commitment. Which pricing option fits?

Answer: A — Reserved Instances

Reserved Instances give a significant discount versus On-Demand in return for committing to steady usage for one or three years — ideal for a predictable, always-on workload. Why not the others: On-Demand has no commitment and no discount. Spot is cheapest but can be interrupted, which does not suit a steady production workload. Dedicated Hosts address physical isolation and licensing, not a commitment discount.

CLF-C02 Question 2 of 7

A fault-tolerant batch processing job can tolerate interruptions and wants the deepest possible discount. Which purchasing option is most cost-effective?

Answer: A — Spot Instances

Spot Instances use spare capacity at the largest discount, and the trade-off — AWS can reclaim them with short notice — is acceptable for interruptible, fault-tolerant work. Why not the others: On-Demand is the most expensive per hour. Reserved Instances and Savings Plans discount steady usage in exchange for a commitment, but neither beats Spot's discount for interruptible jobs.

CLF-C02 Question 3 of 7

A workload has short, unpredictable usage with no commitment, and the team wants to pay only for what it uses. Which pricing model fits?

Answer: A — On-Demand Instances

On-Demand charges for compute by the second or hour with no commitment — exactly right for unpredictable, short-lived usage. Why not the others: Reserved Instances and a three-year Savings Plan both require a long commitment, which unpredictable usage cannot make. Spot is cheaper but can be interrupted, which does not suit work that must simply run when asked.

CLF-C02 Question 4 of 7

Which statement about the AWS Free Tier is correct?

Answer: A — It includes three types of offer: always free, 12 months free, and short-term trials

The Free Tier has three kinds of offer — some services always free within a limit, some free for 12 months from sign-up, and some short-term trials. Why not the others: not everything is free for 12 months; only specific services and amounts are. It is not permanent across the board. And it has nothing to do with which support plan you hold.

CLF-C02 Question 5 of 7

A new customer receives 750 hours per month of a small EC2 instance free for the first 12 months after sign-up. Which Free Tier type is this?

Answer: A — 12 months free

Offers that are free for the first 12 months from account creation — like a set number of EC2 hours — are the '12 months free' category. Why not the others: 'always free' offers have no time limit (for example a monthly allowance of Lambda requests). A short-term trial runs for a fixed number of days after activation. Spot is a pricing model, not a Free Tier type.

CLF-C02 Question 6 of 7

A customer assumes that being in the 12-month Free Tier means all their AWS usage is free. What is the real risk?

Answer: A — Exceeding the Free Tier limits, or using services it does not cover, will incur charges

The Free Tier covers specific services up to specific limits — go beyond a limit, or use a service the tier does not include, and normal charges apply. Setting a billing alarm is the usual safeguard. Why not the others: it is not a blanket 'everything free' offer. It changes nothing about your support plan. And exceeding a limit results in charges, not automatic suspension of the account.

CLF-C02 Question 7 of 7

Which option offers a discount in exchange for committing to a consistent amount of compute usage (measured per hour) over one or three years, with more flexibility than standard Reserved Instances?

Answer: A — Savings Plans

Savings Plans give a discount for committing to a steady amount of usage per hour over one or three years, and are more flexible than standard Reserved Instances across instance families and services. Why not the others: Spot is for interruptible work with no commitment. On-Demand has no commitment and no discount. The Free Tier is a set of free allowances, not a commitment-based discount.

That is exactly how every question in the course works — answer, explanation, why-not. The real set continues in the practice player: 10 free questions, no sign-up.

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Those 7 questions were the start.

The exam does not test whether you recognise a term — it tests whether you can rule out three plausible answers under time pressure. That is what the explanations above are for, and there are 390 more questions built exactly like them.

Collecting questions yourself

Scattered across forums, of unknown age
Answer keys without reasoning
No idea which domain you are weak in

Practising with a system

390 questions in 6 full tests, CLF-C02 (2026)
Every option explained — including the wrong ones
Readiness per exam domain, and drills for your weakest

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Frequently asked questions

Is this the current CLF-C02 format?

Yes — these questions follow the CLF-C02 exam guide (2026 edition). Pricing models and the Free Tier sit in the Billing, Pricing and Support domain, which is 12% of the scored questions — small, but full of factual marks that are quick to secure.

Are these real exam questions?

No. They are our own questions, written in the style and difficulty of the exam. Reproducing real exam items violates the AWS certification agreement and can get your certification revoked, and a memorised item teaches you nothing about the one you have not seen.

Do I need to know actual prices for the exam?

No. CLF-C02 tests which pricing model fits a described workload — steady, interruptible or unpredictable — and what the three Free Tier types are. You are never asked for dollar amounts, only for the right model or the right category.

What is the quickest way to pick the right pricing model?

Read the workload. Steady and long-running points to Reserved Instances or Savings Plans. Interruptible and fault-tolerant points to Spot. Unpredictable and short with no commitment points to On-Demand. Match the shape of the usage to the model and most questions resolve.

Updated for CLF-C02 (July 2026). The sample questions above are our own work in the style of the exam — not real exam items. The exam itself is set and marked by the certification body.