A Savings Plan is a commitment to spend a fixed number of dollars an hour for one or three years. Usage up to that amount is billed at the plan's lower rates, the rest at on-demand, and the commitment is billed every hour whether anything uses it or not. In us-east-1 the median Linux instance is27% below its on-demand rate on a 1-year Compute plan and 50% below on a 3-year one, with no upfront payment.
Median discount, 1-year
27%
Linux, Compute plan, No Upfront, in US East (N. Virginia)
Median discount, 3-year
50%
Linux, Compute plan, No Upfront, in US East (N. Virginia)
Plans
Compute, EC2 Instance
Terms of 1 or 3 years; No, Partial or All Upfront
Services covered
3services
EC2, Fargate and Lambda, on a Compute plan
Coverage
1,235instance types
In 106 regions and zones
Savings Plans calculator
List what you run, pick a plan, and see what it would cost a month
Workload
Instance type
Region
OS
Count
Runs per month (of 730 hours)
Cost per month with Compute Savings Plan, 1-year, No Upfront
Line
On-demand rate /hr
Plan rate /hr
Plan vs on-demand rate
Runs (share of month)
On-demand /mo
With a plan covering it /mo
Savings /mo
Break-even utilization
3 × m7i.xlargeLinux · us-east-1
$0.2016
$0.14811
−27%
100%
$441.50
$324.36
$117.14
73%
2 × c7g.largeLinux · us-east-1
$0.0725
$0.0520
−28%
50%
$52.93
$75.92
−$23.00
72%
1 × r6i.2xlargeWindows · us-east-1
$0.8720
$0.73315Licence part at full price
−16%
100%
$636.56
$535.20
$101.36
84%
Total
$1,130.99
$935.48
$195.51
79%
Windows lines: a Savings Plan discounts only the compute part of the rate. The Windows licence part is billed at the on-demand rate, so the percentage off is smaller than on Linux.
Commitment covering the always-on lines$1.177/hrBilled every hour of the term, used or not
Paid up front for that commitmentNoneNothing up front; $859.21 billed each month for 12 months
Whole-term commitment$10,310.52The commitment × every hour in the term. Not part of the hourly rate.
Monthly bill at that commitment$904.78vs $1,130.99 on demand, saving $226.21
A month is 730 hours. "With a plan covering it" is the commitment that covers a line while it runs, billed for all 730 hours: a line that runs less than its break-even utilization costs more with a plan than on demand. Plan rates are AWS's published effective hourly rate for the plan, term and payment option you pick; the rate already reflects any upfront payment, which is shown separately above and is not added to it. Partial Upfront pays at least half of the term's commitment at purchase; the figure shown is that minimum. Lines AWS publishes no plan rate for stay on demand.
How much to commit
Move the commitment to see how AWS spends it each hour, and what is left idle or billed on demand
Each plan covers one instance family in one region, so each needs its own commitment.
Set the commitment to:
$/hr
1
2 × c7g.largeLinux · us-east-1
28% off
$0.104 to cover
Covered
2
3 × m7i.xlargeLinux · us-east-1
27% off
$0.444 to cover
Covered
3
1 × r6i.2xlargeWindows · us-east-1
16% off
$0.733 to cover
86% covered
Commitment (billed every hour)
$1.18
Commitment with nothing to cover
$0.00
On-Demand charges left over
$0.12
Total for the hour
$1.30
Same usage, all On-Demand
$1.62
Saved
$0.32
The busiest hour, when every line is running. Usage is covered in order of its discount, highest first, as AWS applies a plan.
Over a month at $1.177/hr
Commitment billed
$859.21
Of which unused (still billed)
None
On-demand charges for the rest
$45.57
Monthly bill
$904.78
Same usage, all on demand
$1,130.99
Saved
$226.21
Commitment used
100%
Paid up front for this commitment
None
Lines that run part of the month are assumed to run at the same time, longest-running first, which leaves the most commitment idle in the quiet hours. If your part-time lines take turns instead, a larger commitment stays busy. An hour's unused commitment can't be carried into the next.
Savings Plans rates for an instance
All 12 published rates for m7i.xlarge on Linux in US East (N. Virginia), with the discount vs the on-demand rate
Plan and term
No Upfront /hr
Partial Upfront /hr
All Upfront /hr
On-demand
$0.2016 /hr, no commitment
Compute Savings Plan, 1-year
$0.14811 −27%
$0.14106 −30%
$0.13824 −31%
Compute Savings Plan, 3-year
$0.10224 −49%
$0.09467 −53%
$0.09277 −54%
EC2 Instance Savings Plan, 1-year
$0.13336 −34%
$0.12701 −37%
$0.12447 −38%
EC2 Instance Savings Plan, 3-year
$0.09145 −55%
$0.08467 −58%
$0.07959 −61%
Each rate is the hourly price AWS publishes for that plan, term and payment option, at its published precision. The upfront options are cheaper per hour because part or all of the term is paid at purchase. "Not offered" means AWS publishes no rate for that combination. Each instance page has the same rates for every region in its pricing matrix.
Spare capacity at a varying discount that AWS can reclaim. No Savings Plan covers Spot.
Before committing, check the instances are the right size: a commitment locks in today's spend, so a fleet that is too large stays too large for the term. The instance explorer can price the explorer's list at Compute Savings Plans rates.
How a Savings Plan bills
The commitment is dollars per hour of spend at the plan's rates, not a number of instances. $1/hr covers $1 of usage priced at plan rates, whatever instances that turns out to be.
Unused commitment is still billed. An hour with less usage than the commitment pays the full commitment anyway, and the shortfall can't be carried into the next hour.
A Compute Savings Plan follows usage across instance families, sizes, regions and operating systems, and covers Fargate and Lambda too. An EC2 Instance Savings Plan is cheaper but locked to one family in one region (any size and OS inside it).
No Savings Plan covers Spot Instances. Usage beyond the commitment is billed at on-demand rates.
Reserved Instances apply first in any hour, then EC2 Instance Savings Plans, then Compute Savings Plans. Reserved Instance rates aren't published on this site yet.
On Windows the plan discounts only the compute part of the rate; the licence part is billed in full.