EC2 Purchasing Options
EC2 Purchasing Options
| Pricing Model | Workload Type | Payment Structure | Discounts Available | Commitment Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On-Demand | Short workloads | Pay by the second | None | None |
| Reserved | Long workloads | No Upfront, Partial, All Upfront | Up to 72% | 1 or 3 years |
| Convertible Reserved Instances | Long workloads | Flexible | Up to 66% | 1 or 3 years |
| Savings Plans | Long workloads | Based on usage | Up to 72% | 1 or 3 years |
| Spot Instances | Short workloads | Pay as per spot price | Up to 90% | None |
| Dedicated Hosts | Full server usage | On-Demand or Reserved | None | None |
| Dedicated Instances | Dedicated hardware | N/A | None | None |
| Capacity Reservations | Reserved capacity | Pay for reserved capacity | None | None |
On-Demand
Short workload, pay by the second.
Characteristics:
- Linux or Windows
- Billing per second
- Other OSes billing per hour
- High cost, no upfront payment
- No long-term commitment
Reserved
Recommended for steady-state usage applications (e.g., databases). Best for long workloads (1 & 3 years).
Characteristics:
- You reserve specific instance attributes (Instance Type, Region, Tenancy, OS)
- Reserved Instances Scope:
- Regional or Zonal (reserve capacity in an AZ)
- You can buy or sell in the Reserved Instance Marketplace
- Reservation Period:
- 1 year (discount)
- 3 years (greater discount)
- Up to 72% discount compared to On-Demand
- Payment Options:
- No Upfront
- Partial Upfront
- All Upfront
Convertible Reserved Instances
Long workloads with flexible instance configurations.
- Can change the EC2 instance OS family, scope, and tenancy
- Up to 66% discount compared to On-Demand
Savings Plans
- Commit to usage in advance for 1 or 3 years
- Provides discounts for consistent usage
Characteristics:
- Discount based on long-term usage (up to 72%)
- Commit to a specific level of spending ($10/hour for 1 or 3 years)
- Any usage beyond the committed amount is billed at the On-Demand price
- Locked to a specific:
- Instance family
- AWS region
- Flexible across:
- Instance size
- OS
- Tenancy (Host, Dedicated, Default)
Spot Instances
Instances that can be lost if the max price is less than the current spot price.
Learn more about Spot Instance mechanisms.
Characteristics:
- Short workloads
- Very cheap (up to 90% discount compared to On-Demand)
- Less reliable (instances can be interrupted)
- Best for workloads that are fault-tolerant, such as:
- Distributed workloads
- Jobs with a flexible start and end time
Dedicated Hosts
Book an entire physical server dedicated to your use.
Characteristics:
- Full EC2 server capacity dedicated to you
- Control instance placements
- Payment options:
- On-Demand
- Reserved
- Related AWS service: AWS Outposts
Dedicated Instances
Instances that run on hardware dedicated to a single customer, but not an entire server.
Characteristics:
- The physical server is not fully dedicated to you, but the instances are
Capacity Reservations
Reserve On-Demand instance capacity in a specific AZ for any duration.
Characteristics:
- Guarantees EC2 capacity availability whenever needed
- No long-term commitment (can create/cancel any time)
- No billing discount (regular On-Demand pricing)
- Can be combined with Regional Reserved Instances and Savings Plans for billing discounts
- Good for short-term uninterrupted workloads that must run in a specific Availability Zone (AZ)