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How It Works
AWS published the Well-Architected Framework as a set of design principles and best practices organized into five pillars. A review applies those principles to your actual workloads through a series of structured questions. You work through each pillar and identify gaps between your current architecture and the recommended approach. AWS provides the Well-Architected Tool, a free service in the AWS console, to run these assessments. Partners and AWS account teams can also conduct formal reviews on your behalf. The output is a prioritized list of findings, called high-risk items and medium-risk items, along with guidance on how to address each one.
Why It Matters for Cloud Cost
The Cost Optimization pillar specifically examines whether you are purchasing compute at the right pricing model, whether idle or underutilized resources exist, and whether your architecture is sized appropriately. Many organizations run workloads for months or years without ever auditing these decisions. A Well-Architected Review surfaces those gaps in a structured way and gives engineering and finance teams a common language to prioritize fixes. Without it, cost inefficiencies tend to compound quietly, especially as teams scale infrastructure quickly without pausing to review pricing commitments or right-size resources.
Usage AI: Usage AI’s ClearCost visibility layer gives finance and engineering teams the spend data they need to enter and act on a Well-Architected cost review with accurate, current numbers rather than estimates.