I'm trying to compare a few managed database services (like AWS RDS vs. a smaller vendor). But when I look at their pricing pages, I get totally lost 😅
There are so many columns and options. Can someone explain, like I'm five, how to actually read one? For example, I see things like:
```
- $0.025 per vCPU-hour
- $0.10 per GB-month of storage
- $0.01 per 1M I/O requests
```
How do I turn that into a monthly cost for a small test app? Do I just... add them all up?
Basically yes, you add them up, but you gotta figure out how many hours, GB, and I/O requests you'll actually use. That's the tricky part.
For a small test app, I'd start by locking in your assumptions:
* vCPU-hours: Assume it runs 24/7 for the month. So 24 hours/day * 30 days = 720 hours. Multiply by the vCPU-hour cost.
* Storage: Pick your estimated DB size, say 20GB. That's a flat $0.10 per GB for the month.
* I/O: This is the wild card. For a low-traffic test app, you might guess 5 million requests/month.
Then add those three results. The vendors often make I/O pricing the hardest to predict - you almost need to run it for a week and extrapolate 😅