How pricing works

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.

Amazon WorkSpaces Thin Client pricing includes an upfront payment for the WorkSpaces Thin Client device plus a monthly service fee to manage, monitor, and maintain your thin client fleet. Visit the WorkSpaces Thin Client Pricing page for more details.

 

Amazon WorkSpaces pricing

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.

  • Ubuntu Linux Bundle Options
  • Linux Bundle Options
  • Windows Bundle Options
  • Each Windows Bundle Option includes a Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Subscriber Access License (SAL) per WorkSpace

  • Windows Bundle Options - Bring Your Own License (BYOL) *

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

** Effective November 30, 2023, the Graphics bundle is no longer supported. We recommend migrating to the Graphics.g4dn bundle for WorkSpaces.

Note:

  • For the best experience with video conferencing we recommend using Power or PowerPro bundles only.
  • 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.

End-user Category Workload Type Example Users Use Cases Recommended Bundle(s)
End-users who conduct single task and use minimal applications Light Task workers, Front desk users Data entry applications, Text editing, Bastion host Value
Light-to-Medium Task workers, Front desk users, Contact center employees Data entry applications, Text editing, Bastion host, Live chat, Email, Messaging apps Standard
End-users who create complex spreadsheets, presentations, and large documents Medium Task workers, Contact center employees, Business analysts Data entry applications, Live chat, Email, Messaging apps, Audio conferencing
Performance
End-users with high performance workloads Medium-to-Heavy Contact center employees, Knowledge worker, Software developers, Business intelligence analysts Audio/Video conferencing, Software development using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Power
Heavy Contact center employees, Knowledge worker, Software developers, Data scientists Audio/Video conferencing, Screen sharing, Software development using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), Big data analysis PowerPro
End-users with workloads that require graphics and heavy compute/memory resources Heavy-to-Accelerated Graphics/Architecture designers, CAD/CAM users Graphics-intensive applications, such as remote graphics workstations, Computer
Graphics.g4dn
Accelerated Video editors, Gamers and game developers, Data miner, GIS data engineers, AI scientists Video transcoding and 3D rendering, Photo-realistic design, Graphics workstations, Game streaming, ML model training, ML inference GraphicsPro,
GraphicsPro.g4dn

For more information, please see the Amazon WorkSpaces FAQs.

Amazon WorkSpaces pricing example

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.

Microsoft 365 licenses on WorkSpaces services

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

Additional bundle options

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.

Special pricing offers

Free Tier

As part of the AWS Free Tier, Amazon WorkSpaces offers:

2 Standard bundle Ubuntu, Windows, or Amazon Linux 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 months using WorkSpaces.

5 Performance bundle Ubuntu virtual desktops with 80GB Root and 100GB User volumes, running in hourly metering mode, for up to 100 hours of combined use per month.**

Education pricing

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.

**The offer expires on April 1, 2024, regardless of when you started receiving benefits under the offer. After April 1, 2024, the WorkSpaces you launched during the promotion period will automatically be billed at the applicable rate unless removed. When calculating your use of Ubuntu WorkSpaces under this offer, we will aggregate your use across all AWS Regions. We can terminate this offer at any time, for any reason.

Amazon WorkSpaces Multi-Region Resilience pricing

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.

  • Windows Bundle Options
  • Each Windows Bundle Option includes a Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Subscriber Access License (SAL) per WorkSpace

  • Windows Bundle Options - Bring Your Own License (BYOL) *

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.

Pricing Example 1: Create standby WorkSpaces 

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. 

Data Replication

You can enable data replication for your standby WorkSpaces through Multi-Region Resilience to automatically replicate root and user volume data from your primary WorkSpaces to your standby WorkSpaces. Data replication incurs a monthly fee based on the per-GB storage of the primary WorkSpaces' root and user volumes.

Note:

  • Data replication is only available for standby WorkSpaces through Amazon WorkSpaces Multi-Region Resilience.
  • Data replication is one-way, replicating data from your primary Region to the secondary Region.
  • Enabling data replication incurs monthly fees, which are prorated for only the first month. In subsequent months, the monthly fees are incurred for the full month.
  • The data replication fee is calculated based on the per-GB storage size of the root volume and user volume of your primary WorkSpaces. If you modify the volume size of your primary WorkSpaces, the volume size of your standby WorkSpaces and the data replication fee will change accordingly.
  • Data replication pricing includes the use of AWS Directory Service for Active Directory Connector (where available). The use of AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory is not included in the data replication pricing. Details about AWS Directory Service pricing can be found here

For more information, please see the Amazon WorkSpaces FAQs.

Pricing Example 2: Enable one-way data replication for existing standby WorkSpaces

In your primary Region, US East (N. Virginia), you currently have 100 Windows Performance WorkSpaces with 2 vCPUs, 8 GB of memory, an 80 GB root volume, and a 50  GB user volume. In your secondary Region, US West (Oregon), you have 100 Performance standby WorkSpaces with the same storage size. You've now enabled data replication for the standby WorkSpaces, allowing the root volume and user volume data to replicate from your primary Region to the secondary Region.

The monthly cost for enabling data replication for 100 Performance standby WorkSpaces, each with an 80 GB root volume and a 50 GB user volume, is calculated as follows:

(80GB root volume + 50GB user volume) x $0.08/GB/month x 100 WorkSpaces = $1,040/month

Additional pricing resources

Cost Optimizer for Amazon WorkSpaces

Monitor your WorkSpaces usage and optimize costs to help with unpredictable virtual desktop usage patterns with the Cost Optimizer for Amazon WorkSpaces, a solution that analyzes your usage data and automatically converts each virtual desktop to the most cost-effective billing option (hourly or monthly).

AWS Pricing Calculator

Easily calculate your monthly costs with AWS.

Get pricing assistance

Contact AWS specialists to get a personalized quote.

Discover more Amazon WorkSpaces resources

Visit the resources page
Ready to build?
Get started with Amazon WorkSpaces
Have more questions?
Contact us