AWS Cost Optimisation: Eliminating $750/mo CloudFront Spend
Challenge
Managing an existing multi-account AWS estate where CloudFront cost had climbed from $250 to $750 a month in 3–4 months as large image files were pushed into production. The organisation also wanted manual cost and usage reports kept in the hands of an engineer rather than fully automated — adding sustained reporting load on top of the core optimisation work.
Approach
Treated the spike as a delivery-path problem, not an application problem. Identified CloudFront image egress as the dominant cost driver, then moved image and static-asset delivery onto a dedicated subdomain backed by Cloudflare CDN, whose pricing model was much friendlier to image-heavy workloads. The rest of the AWS infrastructure stayed in place.
Implementation
Provisioned the Cloudflare zone and configured caching rules and TLS for the asset subdomain. Updated application asset URLs to serve through the new subdomain. Validated cache hit ratio and image response times against the previous CloudFront baseline before decommissioning the CloudFront distribution. Continued ownership of monthly cost and usage reports across the AWS estate, plus contributions to internal audit submissions.
Results
CloudFront monthly cost reduced from approximately $750 to $0 — a complete elimination of that line item with no degradation in image delivery. Reporting and audit work continues to be delivered manually per the organisation's preference.