AWS WAF Cost Optimization: Budgeting & Monitoring (Part 3)
Most teams know their monthly AWS WAF bill as a single number — but not what drives it. In this session, Pavan Immadi, Senior Technical Account Manager at AWS, shows you how to close that visibility gap and control AWS WAF spend instead of reacting to it at month-end.
You'll learn a practical, layered approach using tools included in the AWS Free Tier or costing under $5/month for typical workloads:
What's covered: • Establish a cost baseline with AWS Cost Explorer — break spend down by usage type and linked account • Set guardrails with AWS Budgets, including alert thresholds and SNS/Lambda automation • Catch unexpected spikes early with AWS Cost Anomaly Detection (ML-based) • Build a real-time Amazon CloudWatch dashboard using metric math • Query AWS WAF logs with CloudWatch Logs Insights to find cost leaks — top source IPs, high-volume URI paths, and COUNT-mode rules still being billed • Automate remediation: trigger a rate-based rule via Lambda when traffic exceeds 3x baseline • Run a 30-minute monthly cost governance review with a six-item checklist
Whether you manage a single WebACL or a multi-account organization, you'll leave with a repeatable framework to keep AWS WAF costs predictable and under control.
Start with the baseline, add one layer at a time, and let each step inform the next.
Query examples are below.
Top 10 Client IP
SOURCE logGroups(namePrefix: ["YOUR_WAF_LOG_GROUP_PREFIX"], class: "STANDARD") START=-604800s END=0s | fields httpRequest.clientIp | stats count(*) as requestCount by httpRequest.clientIp | sort requestCount desc | limit 20
Top URI Paths
SOURCE "YOUR_WAF_LOG_GROUP_ARN_1" START=-604800s END=0s | SOURCE "YOUR_WAF_LOG_GROUP_ARN_2" | fields httpRequest.uri | stats count(*) as requestCount by httpRequest.uri | sort requestCount desc | limit 20
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