How are AWS resources typically billed?

AWS resources are typically billed based on usage, which includes various factors such as compute time (how long your virtual machines run), storage (amount of data stored in services like S3), and data transfer (the amount of data sent to and from your resources). This usage-based pricing model allows users to only pay for what they consume rather than a flat fee, making it cost-effective and scalable according to their needs.

For instance, if a user runs an EC2 instance, the billing is calculated based on the instance type and the time it was running. Similarly, data stored in an S3 bucket incurs costs based on the amount of data stored, and data transferred out to the internet incurs charges based on the total amount transferred. This billing methodology provides flexibility and encourages optimization, as users can adjust their usage to better manage costs.