Amazon EC2 preserved instances pricing scheme

Posted on April 6, 2009

Standard rates

Standard On-Demand Instances Linux/UNIX Usage
Small (Default) $0.10 per hour
Large $0.40 per hour
Extra Large $0.80 per hour
High CPU On-Demand Instances Linux/UNIX Usage
Medium $0.20 per hour
Extra Large $0.80 per hour

Reserved rates

Linux/UNIX One-time Fee
Standard Reserved Instances 1 yr Term 3 yr Term Usage
Small (Default) $325 $500 $0.03 per hour
Large $1300 $2000 $0.12 per hour
Extra Large $2600 $4000 $0.24 per hour
High CPU Reserved Instances 1 yr Term 3 yr Term Usage
Medium $650 $1000 $0.06 per hour
Extra Large $2600 $4000 $0.24 per hour

Conclusion

It is pretty easy to calculate the break even. Divide the initial costs by the difference of the hourly rates, so you will get the break even in hours. Actually, Amazon has a scheme behind the calculation and so the break even is the same for all instances and only varies between the terms. If you take a 1 year term, the break even in days is 194, and for a 3 year term it is 298 days.

One last thing, All prices are excluding taxes (20 %) and one ceaveat. Amazon doesn’t provide invoices. Yes, if you pay AWS products, you don’t get an invoice, just a usage report. The horror for all accountants.

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