what facet of cloud computing helps to guard against downtime and determines costs?

An essential facet of cloud computing that helps guard against downtime and determines costs is scalability. Scalability enables the expansion or reduction of resources (such as CPU, storage, and bandwidth) according to the demands of an application or service. This adaptability not only mitigates the risks associated with unexpected traffic spikes or loads, which can lead to downtime, but also plays a pivotal role in optimizing costs. With scalable cloud services, organizations only pay for the resources they consume, allowing for efficient budget management and cost savings compared to traditional fixed-capacity IT infrastructures where resources might be underutilized or overstretched during peak times.