Well-Architected Framework
A set of best-practice pillars AWS uses to evaluate and improve cloud architectures.
The AWS Well-Architected Framework is a structured set of design principles and best practices organized into six pillars: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimization, and sustainability. AWS publishes it as both a whitepaper and an interactive tool — the AWS Well-Architected Tool in the console — that lets teams review workloads against each pillar through guided question-and-answer sessions.
A common CLF-C02 trap is confusing the framework with AWS Trusted Advisor. Trusted Advisor automates specific checks (cost optimization, security, fault tolerance, performance, service limits) and surfaces actionable alerts, whereas the Well-Architected Tool is a deeper, customer-driven architectural review. Both relate to best practices but operate at different levels of depth and automation.
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