Skip to content
CloudBudgie logo

Off-Hours

Stop paying for AWS resources while nobody is using them.

Your AWS resources don’t need to run around the clock. CloudBudgie automatically stops or pauses supported resources during off-hours—and resumes them on your schedule.

See supported resources

No credit card required

How Off-Hours scheduling works

You choose the resources and the hours.

  1. Step 1

    Choose resources

    CloudBudgie lists the eligible resources in your connected AWS accounts. Select one resource or several at once, and ignore any that must stay on.

  2. Step 2

    Set a schedule

    Pick the hour to stop and the hour to start again, and whether weekends stay off all day. CloudBudgie shows the estimated monthly savings before you confirm.

  3. Step 3

    Stop and start on schedule

    CloudBudgie uses the appropriate AWS operation to stop or pause each resource. At the scheduled start time, it resumes the resource.

  4. Step 4

    Monitor and adjust

    If a scheduled stop or start fails, CloudBudgie shows the error on the resource. Edit or remove a schedule at any time.

Supported AWS resources

CloudBudgie uses AWS-native stop and pause operations to reduce costs during off-hours. Resources resume according to your schedule, with behavior depending on the AWS service.

  • RDS instances

    Stopped during off-hours and started again automatically.

  • Aurora clusters

    All instances in the cluster are stopped during off-hours and started again automatically.

  • Redshift clusters

    Paused and resumed with Redshift scheduled actions.

  • DocumentDB clusters

    Stopped and started, including DocumentDB Elastic Clusters.

  • Neptune clusters

    Stopped during off-hours and started again automatically.

  • Auto Scaling Groups

    Scaled to zero during off-hours, then capacity is restored automatically.

Example schedule and potential savings

One RDS instance that only needs to run during the working week. The numbers below show how the estimate is calculated.

Assumptions

  • Illustrative figures, not customer data. The instance would otherwise run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • Instance charges are billed hourly at on-demand rates. Reserved Instances or Savings Plans that already cover the resource reduce or remove the savings.
  • Storage, backups, and snapshots keep billing while a resource is stopped or paused, so they are not included in the savings.
  • Actual savings vary with start-up time, AWS pricing, and the number of days in the month.

RDS instance

reporting-postgres

Schedule

Runs 8:00 AM–7:00 PM, Mon–Fri. Off all weekend.

Monthly instance charges if left running
$636/month
Running hours per week
55 of 168 (11 hours × 5 days)
Off-hours per week
113 of 168 (67%)

Estimated savings

$428/month

$636 × 113 ÷ 168

A few things to know

CloudBudgie Off-Hours is designed for resources that don’t need to run around the clock. You choose what gets scheduled, and you stay in control.

  • Your workloads are unavailable during off-hours

    Schedule only resources that can safely be stopped or paused, and allow time for them to start again.

  • Different AWS services behave differently

    Databases and Redshift clusters stop or pause, then resume. Auto Scaling Groups scale to zero, which terminates their instances; new instances launch when the schedule resumes and do not keep data stored on the old ones.

  • You’re always in control

    Choose which supported resources to schedule, and adjust or remove schedules whenever you need to.

How IaC pull requests work

Find out how much your AWS environment could save after hours.

Start free, connect your AWS account, and discover how much you could save with Off-Hours scheduling.

See pricing

No credit card required