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Fawkes AWS Cost Estimation

Document Purpose: Detailed AWS infrastructure cost analysis for Fawkes platform deployment Target Audience: AWS Activate reviewers, financial planning, infrastructure architects Last Updated: October 7, 2025 AWS Region: US-East-1 (Virginia) - Primary region for cost estimates

Executive Summary

Total Estimated Monthly Cost: $1,847/month Annual Projection: $22,164/year AWS Activate Credit Request: $25,000 (covers 13 months of operation)

Primary AWS Services:

  • Amazon EKS (Kubernetes orchestration)
  • Amazon RDS (PostgreSQL databases)
  • Amazon S3 (Artifact storage)
  • Elastic Load Balancing (Application Load Balancers)
  • Amazon CloudWatch (Monitoring and logging)
  • AWS Secrets Manager (Secrets management)
  • Amazon ECR (Container registry)

Cost Optimization Strategy: Implementing Reserved Instances, Spot instances, and auto-scaling can reduce costs by 40-60% after initial 6-month validation period.

Infrastructure Architecture Overview

Fawkes requires three distinct environments to support:

  1. Development: Active platform development and testing
  2. Staging: Pre-production validation and integration testing
  3. Production: Live platform serving community users and Dojo learners

Each environment runs a complete stack including:

  • Kubernetes cluster (EKS)
  • PostgreSQL database (RDS)
  • Container registry (ECR)
  • Load balancers (ALB)
  • Monitoring and logging (CloudWatch)
  • Storage (S3, EBS)

Development Environment

Purpose: Platform engineering team development, feature testing, automated CI/CD testing

Traffic Profile: 5-10 concurrent users, intermittent usage (8 hours/day, 5 days/week)

Compute - Amazon EKS

EKS Control Plane:

  • Cost: $0.10/hour × 730 hours = $73.00/month
  • Note: Control plane runs 24/7 regardless of node usage

Worker Nodes (3× t3.medium instances):

  • Instance Type: t3.medium (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)
  • Quantity: 3 nodes (minimum for HA)
  • On-Demand Cost: $0.0416/hour × 3 × 730 hours = $91.10/month
  • Storage: 50GB EBS gp3 per node × 3 = $0.08/GB × 150GB = $12.00/month

EKS Subtotal: $176.10/month

Database - Amazon RDS PostgreSQL

Instance Configuration:

  • Instance Type: db.t3.medium (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)
  • Engine: PostgreSQL 15.x
  • Single-AZ deployment (development only)
  • Storage: 100GB gp3 SSD
  • Cost Breakdown:
  • Instance: $0.068/hour × 730 hours = $49.64/month
  • Storage: 100GB × $0.115/GB = $11.50/month
  • Backup Storage: 100GB × $0.095/GB = $9.50/month

RDS Subtotal: $70.64/month

Load Balancing

Application Load Balancer (1):

  • ALB Hours: $0.0225/hour × 730 hours = $16.43/month
  • LCU (Load Capacity Units): ~5 LCUs average = $0.008 × 5 × 730 = $29.20/month

ALB Subtotal: $45.63/month

Storage - Amazon S3

Container Images & Artifacts:

  • Standard Storage: 50GB × $0.023/GB = $1.15/month
  • PUT/GET Requests: ~10,000 requests = $0.05/month

Backup Storage:

  • Standard-IA: 20GB × $0.0125/GB = $0.25/month

S3 Subtotal: $1.45/month

Container Registry - Amazon ECR

Private Registry:

  • Storage: 30GB × $0.10/GB = $3.00/month
  • Data Transfer: Negligible (within VPC)

ECR Subtotal: $3.00/month

Monitoring - Amazon CloudWatch

Logs:

  • Ingestion: 20GB × $0.50/GB = $10.00/month
  • Storage: 20GB × $0.03/GB = $0.60/month

Metrics:

  • Custom Metrics: 100 metrics × $0.30 = $30.00/month

CloudWatch Subtotal: $40.60/month

Secrets Management - AWS Secrets Manager

Secrets Storage:

  • 10 secrets × $0.40/secret = $4.00/month
  • API Calls: 10,000 × $0.05/10,000 = $0.50/month

Secrets Manager Subtotal: $4.50/month

Networking

NAT Gateway (1):

  • Hours: $0.045/hour × 730 hours = $32.85/month
  • Data Processing: 50GB × $0.045/GB = $2.25/month

Data Transfer:

  • Outbound to Internet: 20GB × $0.09/GB = $1.80/month

Networking Subtotal: $36.90/month

Development Environment Total: $378.82/month

Staging Environment

Purpose: Pre-production validation, integration testing, performance testing, security scanning

Traffic Profile: 10-20 concurrent users, continuous deployment testing, 12 hours/day operation

Compute - Amazon EKS

EKS Control Plane: $73.00/month

Worker Nodes (4× t3.large instances):

  • Instance Type: t3.large (2 vCPU, 8GB RAM)
  • Quantity: 4 nodes
  • On-Demand Cost: $0.0832/hour × 4 × 730 hours = $242.94/month
  • Storage: 100GB EBS gp3 per node × 4 = $0.08/GB × 400GB = $32.00/month

EKS Subtotal: $347.94/month

Database - Amazon RDS PostgreSQL

Instance Configuration:

  • Instance Type: db.t3.large (2 vCPU, 8GB RAM)
  • Single-AZ (staging environment)
  • Storage: 200GB gp3 SSD
  • Cost Breakdown:
  • Instance: $0.136/hour × 730 hours = $99.28/month
  • Storage: 200GB × $0.115/GB = $23.00/month
  • Backup Storage: 200GB × $0.095/GB = $19.00/month

RDS Subtotal: $141.28/month

Load Balancing

Application Load Balancers (2):

  • ALB Hours: $0.0225/hour × 2 × 730 hours = $32.85/month
  • LCU: ~8 LCUs average × 2 = $0.008 × 16 × 730 = $93.44/month

ALB Subtotal: $126.29/month

Storage - Amazon S3

Container Images & Artifacts:

  • Standard Storage: 100GB × $0.023/GB = $2.30/month
  • PUT/GET Requests: ~50,000 requests = $0.25/month

Backup Storage:

  • Standard-IA: 50GB × $0.0125/GB = $0.63/month

S3 Subtotal: $3.18/month

Container Registry - Amazon ECR

Private Registry:

  • Storage: 50GB × $0.10/GB = $5.00/month

ECR Subtotal: $5.00/month

Monitoring - Amazon CloudWatch

Logs:

  • Ingestion: 40GB × $0.50/GB = $20.00/month
  • Storage: 40GB × $0.03/GB = $1.20/month

Metrics:

  • Custom Metrics: 200 metrics × $0.30 = $60.00/month

Alarms: 20 alarms × $0.10 = $2.00/month

CloudWatch Subtotal: $83.20/month

AWS X-Ray (Distributed Tracing)

Traces Recorded: 1 million traces × $5.00/million = $5.00/month Traces Retrieved: 100K traces × $0.50/million = $0.05/month

X-Ray Subtotal: $5.05/month

Secrets Management

Secrets Storage:

  • 15 secrets × $0.40/secret = $6.00/month
  • API Calls: 50,000 × $0.05/10,000 = $2.50/month

Secrets Manager Subtotal: $8.50/month

Networking

NAT Gateway (1):

  • Hours: $0.045/hour × 730 hours = $32.85/month
  • Data Processing: 100GB × $0.045/GB = $4.50/month

Data Transfer:

  • Outbound to Internet: 50GB × $0.09/GB = $4.50/month

Networking Subtotal: $41.85/month

Staging Environment Total: $762.29/month

Production Environment

Purpose: Live platform serving community users, Dojo learning environment for 200+ concurrent learners

Traffic Profile: 50-200 concurrent users, 24/7 availability, high-availability requirements

Compute - Amazon EKS

EKS Control Plane: $73.00/month

Worker Nodes (6× t3.xlarge instances):

  • Instance Type: t3.xlarge (4 vCPU, 16GB RAM)
  • Quantity: 6 nodes (3 per AZ, 2 AZs for HA)
  • On-Demand Cost: $0.1664/hour × 6 × 730 hours = $728.83/month
  • Storage: 200GB EBS gp3 per node × 6 = $0.08/GB × 1,200GB = $96.00/month

Note: Production will use Reserved Instances after validation period (40% savings = $291.53/month savings)

EKS Subtotal: $897.83/month

Database - Amazon RDS PostgreSQL

Instance Configuration:

  • Instance Type: db.m5.large (2 vCPU, 8GB RAM)
  • Multi-AZ deployment (high availability)
  • Storage: 500GB gp3 SSD
  • Automated backups with 7-day retention
  • Cost Breakdown:
  • Instance (Multi-AZ): $0.190/hour × 730 hours × 2 = $277.40/month
  • Storage: 500GB × $0.115/GB = $57.50/month
  • Backup Storage: 500GB × $0.095/GB = $47.50/month
  • PIOPS (Provisioned IOPS): 3000 IOPS × $0.10 = $300.00/month (optional, for high-traffic scenarios)

RDS Subtotal (without PIOPS): $382.40/month RDS Subtotal (with PIOPS): $682.40/month

Using base configuration (without PIOPS) for conservative estimate

Load Balancing

Application Load Balancers (3):

  • ALB Hours: $0.0225/hour × 3 × 730 hours = $49.28/month
  • LCU: ~20 LCUs average × 3 = $0.008 × 60 × 730 = $350.40/month

ALB Subtotal: $399.68/month

Storage - Amazon S3

Container Images & Artifacts:

  • Standard Storage: 300GB × $0.023/GB = $6.90/month
  • PUT/GET Requests: ~200,000 requests = $1.00/month

Backup Storage:

  • Standard-IA: 200GB × $0.0125/GB = $2.50/month

Glacier Deep Archive (long-term backups):

  • 500GB × $0.00099/GB = $0.50/month

S3 Subtotal: $10.90/month

Container Registry - Amazon ECR

Private Registry:

  • Storage: 100GB × $0.10/GB = $10.00/month
  • Data Transfer (within region): Included

ECR Subtotal: $10.00/month

Monitoring - Amazon CloudWatch

Logs:

  • Ingestion: 100GB × $0.50/GB = $50.00/month
  • Storage: 100GB × $0.03/GB = $3.00/month

Metrics:

  • Custom Metrics: 500 metrics × $0.30 = $150.00/month

Alarms: 50 alarms × $0.10 = $5.00/month

CloudWatch Subtotal: $208.00/month

AWS X-Ray (Distributed Tracing)

Traces Recorded: 5 million traces × $5.00/million = $25.00/month Traces Retrieved: 500K traces × $0.50/million = $0.25/month

X-Ray Subtotal: $25.25/month

Secrets Management

Secrets Storage:

  • 25 secrets × $0.40/secret = $10.00/month
  • API Calls: 200,000 × $0.05/10,000 = $10.00/month

Secrets Manager Subtotal: $20.00/month

Networking

NAT Gateways (2, one per AZ for HA):

  • Hours: $0.045/hour × 2 × 730 hours = $65.70/month
  • Data Processing: 300GB × $0.045/GB = $13.50/month

Data Transfer:

  • Outbound to Internet: 200GB × $0.09/GB = $18.00/month

VPC Endpoints (for S3, ECR):

  • 2 endpoints × $0.01/hour × 730 hours = $14.60/month

Networking Subtotal: $111.80/month

AWS Certificate Manager

SSL/TLS Certificates: Free (public certificates)

AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall)

Web ACL: $5.00/month Rules: 5 rules × $1.00 = $5.00/month Requests: 10 million × $0.60/million = $6.00/month

WAF Subtotal: $16.00/month

Production Environment Total: $2,083.86/month

(Conservative estimate without PIOPS, with potential to add $300/month for high-performance scenarios)

Cost Summary: All Environments

Environment Monthly Cost Annual Cost % of Total
Development $378.82 $4,545.84 18%
Staging $762.29 $9,147.48 37%
Production $2,083.86 $25,006.32 100%
TOTAL (3 Environments) $3,224.97 $38,699.64 -

Phase 1: Months 1-3 (Development Only)

  • Monthly: $378.82
  • Quarterly Total: $1,136.46

Phase 2: Months 4-6 (Development + Staging)

  • Monthly: $378.82 + $762.29 = $1,141.11
  • Quarterly Total: $3,423.33

Phase 3: Months 7-12 (All Three Environments)

  • Monthly: $3,224.97
  • Semi-Annual Total: $19,349.82

12-Month Phased Total: $23,909.61

AWS Activate Credit Request Justification

Requested Amount: $25,000

Allocation Strategy:

Phase 1 (Months 1-3): $1,200 credits

  • Build production-grade reference implementation
  • Complete Terraform modules for AWS
  • Deploy and validate all platform services
  • Document deployment patterns

Phase 2 (Months 4-6): $3,500 credits

  • Launch staging environment for testing
  • Begin Dojo learning platform development
  • Support initial community adopters (10-20 users)
  • Implement automated testing infrastructure

Phase 3 (Months 7-12): $20,300 credits

  • Launch production environment for community
  • Scale Dojo platform to 200+ concurrent learners
  • Provide demo environments for enterprise prospects
  • Support growing open-source community

Reserve/Buffer: $0 (exact 12-month coverage)

Cost Optimization Strategy

Immediate Optimizations (Months 1-6)

Development Environment:

  • Use Spot Instances for worker nodes: 30% savings = $27.33/month
  • Schedule shutdown during non-business hours (nights/weekends): 60% uptime = $54.66/month saved
  • Combined Savings: $82/month or $492 over 6 months

Staging Environment:

  • Use Spot Instances where possible: 25% savings = $60.74/month
  • Schedule shutdown outside testing windows: 40% savings = $140.79/month
  • Combined Savings: $201.53/month or $1,209 over 6 months

Total Phase 1-2 Savings: $1,701 over 6 months

Long-Term Optimizations (Months 7-12)

Reserved Instances (1-year commitment after validation):

  • EKS Worker Nodes: 40% savings = $291.53/month
  • RDS Instances: 35% savings = $133.84/month
  • Combined Savings: $425.37/month or $2,552 over 6 months

Auto-Scaling Policies:

  • Scale down during low-traffic periods (nights): 15% compute savings = $109.32/month
  • Right-size instances based on utilization: 10% additional savings = $72.88/month
  • Combined Savings: $182.20/month or $1,093 over 6 months

Storage Optimization:

  • Lifecycle policies for S3 (move to IA after 30 days): 20% savings = $2.18/month
  • EBS snapshot management (delete old snapshots): 10% savings = $9.60/month
  • Combined Savings: $11.78/month or $71 over 6 months

Total Phase 3 Savings: $3,716 over 6 months

Projected 12-Month Cost with Optimizations

  • Months 1-6 (with immediate optimizations): $1,136.46 + ($3,423.33 - $1,209) = $3,350.79
  • Months 7-12 (with all optimizations): ($19,349.82 - $3,716) = $15,633.82
  • Total Optimized 12-Month Cost: $18,984.61

Savings vs. Baseline: $23,909.61 - $18,984.61 = $4,925 (21% reduction)

Monitoring and Cost Control

AWS Cost Management Tools

AWS Budgets:

  • Set monthly budget alerts at 80%, 100%, 120% thresholds
  • Email notifications to team and AWS billing contact
  • Automatic notifications for anomaly detection

Cost Allocation Tags:

Environment: [dev|staging|prod]
Project: fawkes
Component: [eks|rds|s3|alb|cloudwatch]
Owner: platform-team
CostCenter: engineering

AWS Cost Explorer:

  • Weekly cost reviews
  • Identify cost anomalies
  • Track savings from optimizations

Third-Party Tools (optional):

  • CloudHealth or CloudCheckr for advanced cost optimization
  • Infracost for Terraform cost estimation in CI/CD

Cost Anomaly Detection

Automated Alerts for:

  • Unexpected traffic spikes (LCU increases)
  • Storage growth exceeding 20% month-over-month
  • Compute utilization above 85% (scale up) or below 30% (scale down)
  • Data transfer costs exceeding $100/month

Monthly Cost Review Process

Week 1: Review previous month's spend vs. budget Week 2: Analyze cost trends and usage patterns Week 3: Implement optimization recommendations Week 4: Validate optimizations and adjust budgets

Additional AWS Services (Optional/Future)

Services we may adopt as platform matures:

Service Use Case Estimated Monthly Cost
AWS Config Compliance tracking $20-$50
AWS GuardDuty Threat detection $30-$100
AWS Security Hub Security posture $10-$30
AWS Systems Manager Parameter store (alternative to Secrets Manager) $5-$15
Amazon OpenSearch Log analytics (alternative to self-hosted) $200-$500
AWS Backup Centralized backup management $50-$150
Amazon CloudFront CDN for static assets $20-$100
AWS Lambda Serverless automation $10-$50

Total Optional Services: $345-$995/month

These services are not included in base cost estimate but represent future expansion opportunities.

ROI Analysis

Value Delivered by AWS Credits

Direct Benefits:

  • Platform Development: 12 months of uninterrupted development
  • Community Support: 200+ learners trained on Dojo platform
  • Enterprise Demos: 20+ prospect demonstrations
  • Open Source Contributions: Reference implementation for AWS deployments

Indirect Benefits:

  • AWS Advocacy: Every Dojo graduate learns AWS-native platform engineering
  • Ecosystem Growth: Fawkes users become AWS customers
  • Documentation: Comprehensive AWS deployment guides benefit broader community
  • Best Practices: Showcase modern AWS architecture patterns

Expected Outcomes (12-Month Horizon)

Community Metrics:

  • 500+ GitHub stars
  • 50+ active contributors
  • 200+ Dojo learners certified
  • 20+ organizations adopting Fawkes on AWS

Business Metrics:

  • 10 enterprise pilot programs
  • $10K MRR from managed service beta
  • 5 partnerships with training organizations
  • 100+ job placements for Dojo graduates

AWS-Specific Outcomes:

  • 30+ organizations migrated to AWS using Fawkes
  • $500K+ annual AWS spend driven by Fawkes users
  • 200+ engineers trained on AWS services
  • Contribution to AWS EKS/RDS/CloudWatch ecosystems

Conclusion

Total AWS Investment Required: $23,910 over 12 months (phased) AWS Activate Credit Request: $25,000 Optimized Cost (with savings): $18,985 (21% under budget)

Why This Investment Makes Sense:

  1. AWS-Native Platform: Fawkes is purpose-built for AWS, showcasing EKS, RDS, S3, and CloudWatch
  2. Community Impact: Training 200+ platform engineers who will use AWS in their organizations
  3. Open Source Value: Reference implementation benefits entire AWS community
  4. Long-Term AWS Commitment: Every Fawkes user is a potential AWS customer
  5. Cost-Effective: Phased approach validates value before full-scale deployment

Next Steps:

  1. Secure AWS Activate credits ($25,000)
  2. Deploy Phase 1 (Development environment)
  3. Build reference implementation and documentation
  4. Launch Dojo platform (Phase 2-3)
  5. Support community growth and enterprise adoption

Appendix: AWS Pricing Assumptions

Pricing effective as of: October 2025 Region: US-East-1 (N. Virginia) Currency: USD Pricing Model: On-Demand (with Reserved Instance projections)

Sources:

Disclaimer: Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns, data transfer, and AWS pricing changes. This estimate provides a conservative baseline for planning purposes.

Document Owner: Fawkes Platform Team Review Cadence: Monthly during AWS Activate period Last Review: October 7, 2025 Next Review: November 7, 2025