Amazon WorkSpaces Family pricing

Pricing across the Amazon WorkSpaces Family services is designed to be flexible and cost-effective, allowing you to pay for the resources you need without over provisioning.

Amazon WorkSpaces pricing provides monthly subscription or hourly metering options per virtual desktop instance, and includes everything you need to provide cloud-based virtual desktops to a broad range of workers.

Amazon WorkSpaces Core pricing provides monthly subscription and hourly metering options per virtual desktop instance. You purchase your third-party VDI software licensing separately.

Amazon WorkSpaces Web pricing is based on a flat fee per monthly active user, including up to 200 hours of streaming per user, with a nominal fee charged for every hour over 200.

WorkSpaces allows you to pay for usage based on monthly subscriptions or hourly meters. With the monthly subscription option, you pay a fixed monthly fee per virtual desktop for unlimited usage during the month. Unlimited usage pricing is ideal for workers who use the service as their primary desktop.

With the hourly metering option, you pay a small, fixed monthly fee per virtual desktop to cover infrastructure and storage costs, and a low flat rate for each hour of usage during the month. Hourly metering is better suited for workers who only require part-time access to their virtual desktop.

You can mix the monthly subscription and hourly metering options within your AWS account, and you can switch between these billing options at any time within a billing period. Use our Cost Optimizer tool to select the appropriate option for each type of worker. Visit the Amazon WorkSpaces FAQ for more information.

* Must be eligible for License Portability. For more information about BYOL, visit this page.

Note:

• For the best experience with video conferencing we recommend using Power or PowerPro bundles only.
• Standard, Performance, Power and PowerPro bundles are the only supported bundles for Windows 11 BYOL
  
• Monthly fees are prorated for first month only; in subsequent months, monthly fees are incurred for the full month.
• Hourly billing consists of an hourly rate charged while your Amazon WorkSpaces are running, and a monthly fee for fixed infrastructure costs. With hourly billing, Amazon WorkSpaces that are not being used automatically stop after a specified period of inactivity, and hourly charges are suspended.
• Amazon WorkSpaces pricing includes the use of AWS Directory Service for Simple AD and AD Connector (where available). The use of AWS Directory Service for Microsoft AD is not included. Details about AWS Directory Service pricing can be found here.

To help you determine the size of your WorkSpace, the following table includes examples of various workload kinds. You can also modify your WorkSpaces size based on your needs. For more information about these compute types, see Amazon WorkSpaces Bundles.

For more information, please see the Amazon WorkSpaces FAQs.

Using the US West (Oregon) Region, you launch virtual desktops for two sets of users. The first group of 100 users requires the monthly subscription option because they will use WorkSpaces as their full-time desktop for general productivity, while the second group of 10 users is better suited to hourly metering as they require occasional access to higher-performance machines.

For the first group of 100 users, you select the Windows Value Bundle with 1vCPU, 2 GB memory, 80 GB root volume and 10 GB user volume, running on Windows with a fixed price of $25 per machine per month. With the monthly subscription option, users have unlimited access to their virtual desktops. Monthly spend for this group of users is 100 users x $25 per virtual desktop for a total of $2,500 per month.

For the second group of 10 part-time users, you select a Linux Power Bundle with 4 vCPU, 16 GB memory, 80 GB root volume, 10 GB user volume, and hourly metering. With hourly metering, this virtual desktop has a fixed price of $7.25 per month + $0.64 per hour. Let’s assume each of the 10 users spends 5 hours a week on their virtual desktop (20 hours a month). Monthly spend for this group of users is calculated as follows:

10 users x $7.25 access cost = $72.50 flat access cost

200 hours of usage x $0.64 = $128 variable hourly usage cost

$72.50 access cost + $128 hourly usage cost = $200.50 total bill

Note, this Linux machine has a monthly subscription rate of $66. By using hourly metering, you saved $459.50 a month when compared to the $660 it would cost for the monthly subscription.

For more pricing and billing details for WorkSpaces, please access the pricing section of our FAQ.

Beginning August 1, 2023, you can bring your own Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise license to run on WorkSpaces services for no additional charge.

WorkSpaces virtual desktops come with a set of applications at no additional cost. For an additional monthly fee, you can choose to have 32-bit Microsoft Office 2016 Professional Plus and Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security installed on your virtual desktop powered by Windows Server 2016. Alternatively, you can install 64-bit Microsoft Office 2019 Professional Plus on your virtual desktops powered by Windows Server 2019.

WorkSpaces users also receive access to Amazon WorkDocs document sharing and content collaboration service with 50 GB of storage for no additional charge. You can upgrade to 1 TB of storage per WorkSpaces user for a discounted price. For more information, see Amazon WorkDocs Pricing.

WorkSpaces Core allows you to pay for usage based on monthly subscriptions or hourly meters. With the monthly subscription offering, you pay a fixed monthly fee per virtual desktop for unlimited usage during the month. Unlimited usage pricing is ideal for workers who use the service as their primary desktop.

With the hourly metering option, you pay a small, fixed monthly fee per virtual desktop to cover infrastructure and storage cost, and a low flat rate for each hour of usage during the month. Hourly metering is better suited for workers who only require part-time access to their virtual desktop.

You can mix the monthly subscription and hourly metering options within your AWS account, and you can switch between options at any time within a billing period.

In addition to the costs for WorkSpaces Core, you can purchase third-party VDI management software licensing separately if you require licenses plus any additional OS or software you want to run on the virtual desktop.

WorkSpaces Core pricing components are the same as WorkSpaces with monthly subscription and hourly metering options. However, because WorkSpaces Core provides VDI hardware only, it is offered at a lower cost than the all-inclusive WorkSpaces. Customers can bring their own supported VDI management software license or purchase one from AWS Marketplace.

WorkSpaces Core APIs require integration from third-party VDI management solution providers. We are currently working with numerous VDI solution providers to implement the WorkSpaces Core APIs. Please check with your AWS account representative or contact us for availability and pricing for these integrated solutions.

* Must be eligible for License Portability for BYOL and have a WorkSpaces Core partner. For more information about these, visit this page.

Note:

• Standard, Performance, Power and PowerPro bundles are the only supported bundles for Windows 11 BYOL

Using the US West (Oregon) Region, you launch virtual desktops for two sets of users. The first group of 100 users requires the monthly subscription option because they will use WorkSpaces as their full-time desktop for general productivity, while the second group of 10 users is better suited to hourly metering as they require occasional access to higher-performance machines.

For the first group of 100 users you select the Value Bundle with 1vCPU, 2 GB memory, 80 GB root volume and 10 GB user volume, running on Windows with a fixed price of $16.80 per virtual desktop per month. With the monthly subscription, users have unlimited access to their virtual desktops. Monthly spend for this group of users is 100 users x $16.80 per virtual desktop for a total of $1,680 per month.

For the second group of 10 part-time users you select a Power Bundle with 4 vCPU, 16 GB memory, 80 GB root volume, 10 GB user volume, and hourly metering. With hourly metering, this virtual desktop has a fixed price of $5.80 per month + $0.51 per hour. Let’s assume each of the 10 users spends 5 hours a week on their virtual desktop (20 hours a month). Monthly spend for this group is calculated as follows:

10 users x $5.80 access cost = $58

200 hours of usage x $0.51= $102

$58 access cost + $102 usage cost = $160 total bill

For more pricing/billing details on Amazon WorkSpaces Core, please access the pricing section of our FAQ.

With Amazon WorkSpaces Web, you pay a flat fee based on your monthly active users (MAUs) for up to 200 streaming hours. A user is counted as a MAU if, within a calendar month, the user connects to the WorkSpaces Web portal. If a unique user streams for more than 200 hours in a given month, you will be charged for each additional hour of streaming. You are not charged for inactive users within that calendar month.

If you create a web portal in US East (Northern Virginia), and have a group of 100 users with access to WorkSpaces Web, but only 10 of them accessed content within a calendar month, you will pay only for those 10 users. You will be charged $70 (10 x $7/MAU) for up to 200 hours of streaming per user, plus any applicable tax. If one of your users streamed 300 hours, you would be charged $3.50 (100 x $0.035/additional streaming hour) for that user, and your total bill would be $73.50, plus any applicable tax. If none of your users accessed any content within a calendar month, you would not be charged during that calendar month.

As part of the AWS Free Tier, Amazon WorkSpaces offers two Standard bundle virtual desktops with 80 GB Root and 50 GB User volumes, running in hourly metering mode, for up to 40 hours of combined use per month, for the first three billing cycles.

Education pricing is available for WorkSpaces for Qualified Educational Users of Microsoft Windows. With this offer, education organizations save $3.52 per user per month or $0.03 per user per hour by using licensing discounts from Microsoft. You can take advantage of this discount if you qualify, based on Microsoft Licensing Terms and Documentation. If you think you might qualify, please complete a case here. Select Regarding: Account and Billing Support, Service: Billing, Category: Qualify as Educational Institution, and enter the required info. We will review your information and work with you to reduce your fees and costs.

WorkSpaces Multi-Region Resilience provisions standby WorkSpaces in a secondary AWS Region of your choice. The pricing components of standby WorkSpaces are similar to regular WorkSpaces with hourly metering options. You pay a small, fixed monthly fee per virtual desktop to cover infrastructure and storage costs, and a low flat rate for each hour of usage during the month. Because you only access your standby WorkSpaces when performing maintenance work or when your WorkSpaces are not reachable in your primary Region, they are offered at a lower fixed monthly fee than regular WorkSpaces with hourly metering option. You can mix the standby WorkSpaces and regular WorkSpaces within your AWS account.

Note:

• Hourly billing consists of an hourly rate charged when your standby WorkSpaces are running, and a monthly fee for fixed infrastructure costs. With hourly billing, standby WorkSpaces that are not being used automatically stop after a specified period of inactivity, and hourly charges are suspended.
  
• Standby WorkSpaces only provide an hourly metering option even if your primary WorkSpaces are using monthly metering option.
  
• Amazon WorkSpaces Multi-Region Resilience provisions standby WorkSpaces in your preferred secondary Region using the same bundle of selected WorkSpaces in your primary Region without copying the root volume and user volume. Therefore, the standby WorkSpaces will provide the same hardware configurations as your primary WorkSpaces without preserving your applications and user data.
  
• Amazon WorkSpaces Multi-Region Resilience pricing includes the use of AWS Directory Service for Simple Active Directory and Active Directory Connector (where available). The use of AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory is not included. Details about AWS Directory Service pricing can be  found here.
  
  For more information, please see the Amazon WorkSpaces FAQs.

Amazon Amazon WorkSpaces Multi-Region Resilience pricing example

In your primary Region, US West (Oregon,) you launched WorkSpaces for 100 users who require the monthly subscription option because they will use WorkSpaces as their full-time desktop for general productivity. In your secondary Region, US East (N. Virginia), you created 100 standby WorkSpaces for the same group of users.

In your primary Region, you select the Windows Value Bundle with 1vCPU, 2 GB memory, 80 GB root volume and 10 GB user volume, running on Windows with a fixed price of $25 per machine per month. With the monthly subscription option, users have unlimited access to their WorkSpaces. Monthly spend for this group of users is 100 users x $25 per WorkSpace for a total of $2,500 per month.

In your secondary Region, the standby WorkSpaces will have the same, but with hourly metering. With hourly metering, the standby WorkSpace has a fixed price of $3.25 per month + $0.22 per hour. Let’s assume you will update 100 WorkSpaces in your primary Region monthly. Accordingly, the system updates each standby WorkSpace automatically using the latest bundles of your primary WorkSpace, which will take 1 hour per month per WorkSpace. Monthly spend for the standby WorkSpaces is calculated as follows:

100 users x $3.25 access cost = $325 flat access cost
100 hour of usage x $0.22 = $22 variable hourly usage cost
$325 access cost + $22 hourly usage cost = $347 total bill

Your total bill for US West (Oregon) and US East (N. Virginia) is $2,847 per month.