# Overview
A software load balancer which has the ability to scale based on real-time traffic.
# Key Considerations
The ELB monitors resources to determine if there is a need to scale up or down based on preferred metrics, like CPU utilization or number of connections. It can also use [[Health Checking]] to determine if there is a need to scale.
# Pros
- Reduces cost by only using required number of load balancers
# Cons
- May result in increased latency if an appropriate scaling strategy is not selected
# Use Cases
# Related Topics