How to Purchase Reserved Instances

Buying a Reserved Instance is easy. You can use either the AWS Management Console or API tools to complete your purchase. Reserved Instances purchased from either AWS or 3rd party sellers give you the option to make a low, one-time payment for each instance you want to reserve and in turn receive a significant discount on the hourly charge for that instance. There are three Reserved Instance types (Light, Medium, and Heavy Utilization Reserved Instances) that enable you to balance the amount you pay upfront with your effective hourly price.



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Reserved Instance Pricing

The following tables display the current prices for Reserved Instance purchased directly from AWS. Pricing for Reserved Instances via the Reserved Instance Marketplace will vary. In addition to Reserved Instances for Linux/UNIX and Windows operating systems specified below, we also offer Reserved Instances for Amazon EC2 running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Amazon EC2 running Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Amazon EC2 running Microsoft SQL Server. Dedicated Reserved Instances are also available.

Linux

Light Utilization Reserved Instances

Windows

Light Utilization Reserved Instances

Linux

Medium Utilization Reserved Instances

Windows

Medium Utilization Reserved Instances

Linux

Heavy Utilization Reserved Instances

Windows

Heavy Utilization Reserved Instances

Reserved Instances can be purchased directly from AWS for 1 or 3 year terms. Using the Reserved Instance Marketplace, you have the flexibility to purchase Reserved Instances from AWS Reserved Instance Marketplace Sellers for terms ranging between 1 month to 36 months (depending on available selection). In either case, the one-time fee per instance is non-refundable.

Light and Medium Utilization Reserved Instances also are billed by the instance-hour for the time that instances are in a running state; if you do not run the instance in an hour, there is zero usage charge. Partial instance-hours consumed are billed as full hours. Heavy Utilization Reserved Instances are billed for every hour during the entire Reserved Instance term (which means you’re charged the hourly fee regardless of whether any usage has occurred during an hour).

If Microsoft or Red Hat chooses to increase the license fees that it charges for Windows or Red Hat Enterprise Linux, we may correspondingly increase the per-hour usage rate for previously purchased Reserved Instances with Windows or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The initial one-time payment for a Reserved Instance will be unaffected in this situation. Any such changes for Windows would be made between Dec 1 – Jan 31, and with at least 30 days’ notice. Any such changes for Red Hat Enterprise Linux would be made at least 30 days’ notice. If the per-hour usage rate does increase, you may continue to use your Reserved Instance with Windows or Red Hat Enterprise Linux with the new per-hour usage rate, convert your Reserved Instance with Windows or Red Hat Enterprise Linux to a Reserved Instance with Linux/UNIX, or request a pro rata refund of the upfront fee you paid for the Reserved Instance with Windows or Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Reserved Instances are available for Linux/UNIX, Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise operating systems. You can also optionally reserve instances in Amazon VPC at the same prices as shown above. Click here to learn more about Reserved Instances.

Using the AWS Management Console

  1. Log in to the AWS Management Console, click the “Amazon EC2” tab & click “Instances” in the navigation pane
  2. Select “Purchase Reserved Instances”
  3. Select your Reserved Instance type, platform, instance type, availability zone and term length
  4. Adjust the quantity of instances to purchase and ensure you are comfortable with the price quoted
  5. Confirm your purchase

Important Notes about Purchases

  • Reserved Instance Type, Platform, Instance Type, Availability Zone, and term length must be chosen at purchase, and cannot be changed later. However, you can list for sale any or all of your eligible Reserved Instances on the Reserved Instance Marketplace.
  • If you are purchasing a Reserved Instance and would like your capacity reservation to apply to Amazon VPC, please be sure to select an option with “Amazon VPC” as part of your “Platform” when purchasing a Reserved Instance through the AWS Management console.
  • You can purchase up to 20 Reserved Instances per Availability Zone each month. If you need additional Reserved Instances, complete the form found here.
  • The one-time fee is non-refundable.
  • Reserved Instances are not available for instances running IBM products.
  • If you purchase a Reserved Instance from a 3rd party seller, we will share your city, state, and zip code with the seller for tax purposes. If you don’t wish to purchase from a 3rd party seller, please make sure to select a Reserved Instance with “AWS” listed as the seller in the Console purchasing screen.

How Billing Works

Customers using both Reserved and On-Demand Instances will have Reserved Instance rates applied first to minimize costs. With Light and Medium Utilization Reserved Instances, if the number of running instances each hour is less than or equal to the number of applicable Reserved Instances you have, all running instances will be charged at the Reserved Instance hourly rate. With Heavy Utilization Reserved Instances, you pay the low hourly usage fee for every hour in your Reserved Instance term (which means you’re charged the hourly fee regardless of whether any usage has occurred during an hour). When your total quantity of running instances during a given hour exceeds the number of applicable Reserved Instances you own, you will be charged the On-Demand rate.

For example, if you own 3 Medium Utilization Reserved Instances with the same instance type and Availability Zone, the billing system checks each hour to see how many total instances you have running that match those parameters. If it is 3 or less, you will be charged the Medium Utilization Reserved Instance Rate for each instance running that hour. If more than 3 are running, you will be charged the On-Demand rate for the additional instances.

If you purchase a Reserved Instance for an Availability Zone where you have a running instance, the lower hourly charge will automatically be applied to that instance moving forward with no need to restart.

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