Amazon EC2 Pricing Calculator: Total Cost with Storage & Transfer
AWS EC2 cost estimator covering compute, EBS storage, and data transfer on one screen. Compare all EC2 pricing models (On-Demand, Reserved, Spot) for any instance type.
Pricing TLDR
- • On-Demand t3.micro starts at ~$0.0104/hr (~$7.59/mo) in us-east-1
- • Reserved Instances save up to 62% vs On-Demand for 3-yr all-upfront commitments
- • Spot Instances discount up to 90% for fault-tolerant workloads
- • EBS gp3 at $0.08/GB-month + data transfer from $0.09/GB outbound, the hidden costs most calculators miss
EC2 Cost Calculator for Compute, Storage, and Data Transfer
Instance Configuration
Region
Operating System
Instance count
Hours per month (730h ≈ 100%)
Default 730h = always-on. Lower for dev/batch workloads.
Instance type
Selected: m5.large2 vCPU · 8 GiB · x86_64
Min RAM
Min vCPU
Arch
GPU
| Type | Family | vCPU | Memory | Arch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| t3.micropopular | General purpose | 2 | 1 GiB | x86 |
| t3.smallpopular | General purpose | 2 | 2 GiB | x86 |
| t3.mediumpopular | General purpose | 2 | 4 GiB | x86 |
| t3.largepopular | General purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | x86 |
| t4g.micropopular | General purpose | 2 | 1 GiB | ARM |
| t4g.smallpopular | General purpose | 2 | 2 GiB | ARM |
| t4g.mediumpopular | General purpose | 2 | 4 GiB | ARM |
| m5.largepopular | General purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | x86 |
| m5.xlargepopular | General purpose | 4 | 16 GiB | x86 |
| m6i.largepopular | General purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | x86 |
| m7i.largepopular | General purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | x86 |
| m7g.largepopular | General purpose | 2 | 8 GiB | ARM |
| c6i.largepopular | Compute optimized | 2 | 4 GiB | x86 |
| c7i.largepopular | Compute optimized | 2 | 4 GiB | x86 |
| c7g.largepopular | Compute optimized | 2 | 4 GiB | ARM |
| r6i.largepopular | Memory optimized | 2 | 16 GiB | x86 |
| r7i.largepopular | Memory optimized | 2 | 16 GiB | x86 |
| r7g.largepopular | Memory optimized | 2 | 16 GiB | ARM |
EBS Storage
Volume type
Size (GB)
Provisioned IOPS (3,000 free)
Throughput (MB/s) (125 free)
Data Transfer
Internet egress (GB/month)
First 100 GB free
Inter-AZ (GB/month)
$0.01/GB each direction
Inter-region (GB/month)
$0.02/GB outbound
Estimated monthly cost
$114.08
Compute (1× m5.large)
$70.08
EBS (100 GB gp3)
$8.00
Internet egress (500 GB)
$36.00
Effective compute rate: $0.096/hr
US East (N. Virginia) · effective $0.096/hr OD
On-Demand vs Reserved Pricing Comparison
Click any row to apply that commitment to the total above. Savings shown vs On-Demand for the current instance (m5.large, 1×, linux).
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About Amazon EC2
What is Amazon EC2?
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is AWS's virtual server offering, on-demand Linux and Windows VMs across 30+ regions. EC2 spans 800+ instance types organized into five families: General Purpose (t/m), Compute Optimized (c), Memory Optimized (r/x), Storage Optimized (i/d), and Accelerated Computing (p/g/inf/trn for GPU and AI). Pricing is per-second (60-second minimum) and varies by instance type, OS, region, and commitment model (On-Demand, Reserved, Savings Plans, Spot).
- Five Instance Families by Workload: General Purpose (t3/t4g burstable, m5/m6i/m7i balanced) for web servers and dev environments. Compute Optimized (c5/c6i/c7i) for CPU-bound workloads like batch processing and gaming. Memory Optimized (r5/r6i/r7i, x1/x2) for in-memory databases and analytics. Storage Optimized (i3/i4i NVMe) for databases needing local NVMe. Accelerated (g5/g6 GPU, p4/p5 H100, inf2/trn1 for AI/ML) for inference and training.
- Graviton (ARM) vs x86: AWS's Graviton processors (t4g, m7g, c7g, r7g, etc.) deliver up to 40% better price-performance than equivalent x86 instances. ARM instances are ~10-20% cheaper list price and more energy-efficient. Migration requires a one-time recompile. Most mainstream languages (Go, Java, Python, Node.js) run on ARM with zero code changes. Graviton is the default cost-optimization win if your stack supports it.
- Pricing Models: OD, RI, SP, Spot: On-Demand: pay per second, no commitment, full price. Reserved Instances: 1-year or 3-year commit, save 37-62%. Savings Plans: the modern alternative to RIs, same discounts but apply across instance families, regions, and even to Lambda/Fargate; more flexible. Spot Instances: up to 90% off but can be reclaimed with 2 minutes notice, for batch / fault-tolerant workloads. Dedicated Hosts: entire physical server for licensing compliance.
When to Use Amazon EC2
Pick EC2 when you need full OS control, custom software stacks, or long-running workloads. For simple serverless workloads consider Lambda (cheaper for low traffic, simpler ops). For all-inclusive low-cost VPS without the AWS sprawl, consider Hetzner Cloud.
Ideal for
- Production web/API servers with predictable load (Reserved Instances or Savings Plans)
- Batch and ML training workloads with Spot Instances for 70-90% savings
- Legacy applications that require specific OS/kernel versions
- GPU-accelerated inference and training (g5, p5, trn1 instance families)
- Database and analytics workloads needing high memory or local NVMe storage
Not ideal for
- Event-driven workloads with infrequent traffic (AWS Lambda is cheaper)
- Static websites and simple container hosting (App Runner, Fargate, or a VPS may be better)
- Teams that want fully-managed infra with no OS patching (consider RDS, Aurora, App Runner)
- Budget-sensitive single-server workloads with EU-only latency requirements (Hetzner is 5-10× cheaper)
Amazon EC2 Free Tier
No free tier
No free allowance. Usage is billed from the first request.
New accounts · since July 2025
No always-free tier. AWS retired the classic 750 hours/month of t2.micro or t3.micro for new accounts; you now draw on up to $200 in credits (6 months on the Free plan), then pay standard rates. Accounts created before July 15, 2025 keep the 750-hour tier for 12 months.
Watch out for
- Unattached Elastic IPs bill about $3.60/month
- Every public IPv4 address costs $0.005/hour (since February 2024)
- EBS volumes and snapshots bill separately from the instance
Full service-by-service breakdown, the July 2025 changes, and the common billing traps in the AWS Free Tier reference.
Amazon EC2 Pricing Breakdown
EC2 Pricing Models Explained
On-Demand, pay per second, no commit
Full price, 60-second minimum. Best for unpredictable, short-term, or dev/test workloads. Use as the baseline to compare against Reserved / Savings Plans / Spot.
Reserved Instances, 1 or 3 year commit, 37-62% savings
Three payment options: No Upfront, Partial Upfront, All Upfront (cheapest). Two classes: Standard (locked to instance family) and Convertible (can swap families, smaller discount). All-Upfront 3-year Standard gives the deepest discount, usually 60-62% off On-Demand.
Savings Plans, flexible RI alternative (recommended default for steady workloads)
Compute Savings Plans: commit to a $/hr spend for 1 or 3 years, apply automatically to EC2, Lambda, and Fargate across any instance family and region. EC2 Instance Savings Plans: similar discount to RIs but with modern flexibility. Usually the best default for steady-state workloads, more flexible than RIs with similar savings.
Spot Instances, up to 90% off but interruptible
Bid for spare capacity. Prices fluctuate but are usually 60-90% below On-Demand. Instances can be reclaimed with 2 minutes warning. Best for batch processing, CI/CD, ML training, fault-tolerant workers. Modern tooling (Spot Fleet, Karpenter) handles interruptions automatically.
Hidden Costs Most Calculators Miss
Data transfer (egress)
$0.09/GB for first 10TB/month outbound to the internet after 100GB free. Easily $90+/month for a modest API. Inter-AZ traffic is $0.01/GB each direction (~$20/GB/month at 1TB bi-directional). Inter-region traffic is $0.02/GB outbound.
EBS storage and IOPS
gp3 at $0.08/GB-month, plus $0.005/IOPS-month beyond the 3,000 free IOPS and $40.96/MBps-month beyond 125 free MB/s. io2 is $0.125/GB-month plus $0.065/IOPS-month. A 500GB gp3 volume with 10,000 IOPS and 500 MB/s: $40 + $35 + $15,360 = ~$15K/month (use io2 Block Express instead at this level).
Elastic IPs
Elastic IPs attached to running instances are free. But since Feb 2024, all public IPv4 addresses cost $0.005/hour (~$3.60/month each). Unused Elastic IPs are still billable, so release them.
Stopped instance zombies
Stopping an EC2 instance pauses compute charges but EBS volumes, snapshots, and Elastic IPs keep billing. 'Zombie' stopped instances accrue $8-50/month each silently. CostGoat surfaces these in your monitoring.
5 Amazon EC2 Cost Optimization Tips
Switch to Graviton (ARM) for 20-40% savings
Most mainstream languages (Go, Java, Python, Node.js, Rust) run on AWS Graviton ARM with zero code changes, just a container rebuild. m7g.large is ~18% cheaper than m7i.large with similar performance, and r7g.xlarge is up to 40% better price-performance for memory-heavy workloads. Graviton is the single biggest cost win for most teams.
Use Compute Savings Plans before RIs
Compute Savings Plans give ~same discount as Standard RIs but apply flexibly across instance families, regions, and even Lambda/Fargate. For any steady-state workload (>60% utilization), commit to a 1-year or 3-year Compute SP and stop worrying about right-sizing across commitment families. RIs only make sense if you truly lock an instance type for 3 years.
Run batch workloads on Spot
Spot Instances discount 60-90% off On-Demand. They can be reclaimed with 2 minutes notice, which is fine for CI runners, data processing, ML training, and stateless workers. Use Spot Fleet or Karpenter to handle interruptions automatically. Typical savings: a c7i.xlarge batch job that costs $130/month on OD runs ~$15-25/month on Spot.
Rightsize before you commit
AWS Compute Optimizer and CloudWatch both surface underutilized instances. An m5.2xlarge running at 15% CPU for 6 months is a $280/month waste. Downsize to m5.large ($70/month) and save $210/month. Don't commit RIs/SPs until you've rightsized, or you're locking in waste.
Track stopped instances and orphaned EBS volumes with CostGoat
Stopped EC2 instances don't bill for compute but keep billing for their EBS volumes ($8-50/month each). Orphaned Elastic IPs bill at $3.60/month. CostGoat surfaces these zombie costs across your entire AWS account in real-time, so you catch them the day they appear, not on next month's bill.
Real-World EC2 Cost Examples
Total cost (compute + storage + transfer) for common EC2 workloads, all in us-east-1 unless noted.
Small web app
~$54/mo
• t3.small OD: ~$15/mo
• 30GB gp3: ~$2.40/mo
• 500GB egress: ~$36/mo
• t4g.small: ~$12/mo
• Hetzner CX23: ~$4/mo
Personal blog or SaaS MVP, single instance with moderate egress.
Production web tier
~$675/mo OD · ~$548/mo RI
• 3× m6i.large: ~$210
• 100GB gp3: ~$24/mo
• 5TB egress: ~$441/mo
• RI: $83/mo +$2,988
• Savings Plan for flex
Mid-traffic SaaS behind an ALB with 3 instances and 5TB/month egress.
Self-managed database
~$1,140/mo
• r6i.2xlarge OD: ~$368
• 500GB io2: ~$712/mo
• Inter-AZ: ~$60/mo
• RDS may be cheaper
Production Postgres on EC2 with high-IOPS io2 storage and HA replica.
GPU inference (Spot)
~$220-310/mo on Spot
• 1× g5.xlarge (A10G GPU)
• OD baseline: ~$734
• Spot: ~$220-310/mo
• 200GB gp3: ~$16/mo
• SageMaker for always-on
LLM inference server for a prototype running Llama 70B on a single GPU.
Always-on dev server
~$29/mo OD · ~$14/mo RI
• t4g.medium ARM Graviton
• 50GB gp3: ~$4/mo
• 3yr RI: ~$10/mo
• Hetzner CAX21: ~€8/mo
Team shared dev environment running 24/7 on cheap ARM Graviton.
CI/CD runner fleet (Spot)
~$29/mo on Spot
• Spot c7g.xlarge fleet
• ~4 runners, 6 hrs/day
• Spot $0.04 vs $0.145/hr
• OD would be ~$100/mo
• Re-queues on interrupt
Self-hosted GitHub Actions runners for a 20-engineer team.
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Amazon EC2 Pricing FAQ
Common questions about AWS EC2 costs, Reserved Instances, stopped instance billing, and the cheapest instance types.
Amazon EC2 is billed per-second with a 60-second minimum, across four main pricing models: (1) On-Demand, pay full price per second, no commitment, best for unpredictable workloads; (2) Reserved Instances, commit 1 or 3 years for 37-62% off, three payment options (No Upfront, Partial, All Upfront); (3) Savings Plans, the modern RI alternative, same discount range with flexibility across instance families, regions, and even Lambda/Fargate; (4) Spot Instances, 60-90% off spare capacity, can be reclaimed with 2 minutes notice. Price varies by instance type (t/m/c/r/i/g/p families), region (us-east-1 is cheapest), and operating system (Linux is baseline; Windows adds ~$0.09+/hr for the license; RHEL/SUSE include managed subscriptions). Your actual bill also includes EBS storage (billed per-GB-month regardless of instance state) and data transfer (100 GB/month free outbound, then tiered from $0.09/GB).
EC2 costs depend on instance type, region, and pricing model. A t3.micro in us-east-1 runs ~$7.59/month on On-Demand (free-tier eligible only for legacy accounts opened before July 15, 2025). Production workloads: m5.large ~$70/month (Linux On-Demand in us-east-1), ~$4,400/month for large memory-optimized r6i.24xlarge instances. Reserved Instances cut costs 37-62% for 1-year to 3-year commitments. Spot Instances discount up to 90% for fault-tolerant workloads. Total bill typically also includes EBS storage (~$8/month for 100GB gp3) and data transfer ($0.09/GB outbound after 100GB/month free tier).
EC2 no longer has a free tier for new AWS accounts. AWS retired the classic 750 hours/month of t2.micro or t3.micro (enough to run one instance 24/7) plus 30GB of EBS storage: only accounts created before July 15, 2025 keep that 12-month, 750-hour tier. New accounts instead get up to $200 in credits (6 months on the Free plan), then pay standard rates. There is no permanent free tier for EC2. Production workloads always cost money. The cheapest persistent option is t4g.nano at ~$3/month in us-east-1 (ARM Graviton, 2 vCPU / 0.5 GiB RAM). For truly free options, consider AWS Lambda's permanent free tier (1M requests/month) or a Hetzner CX23 VPS (€3.49/month).
Reserved Instances are always cheaper IF you run the instance consistently. A 1-year Standard RI saves 30-40% vs On-Demand; a 3-year Standard All-Upfront RI saves up to 62%. Break-even: if you run an instance more than ~40-50% of the year, even the cheapest RI option beats On-Demand. On-Demand wins only for bursty, unpredictable, or short-term workloads. Modern AWS increasingly steers users toward Savings Plans (same discount structure, applies across instance families and even to Lambda/Fargate). They offer more flexibility than Standard RIs at similar savings. Compute Savings Plans are usually the best default choice for steady workloads.
'EC2-Other' in AWS Cost Explorer is the catch-all category for EC2-related charges that aren't the instance-hour itself. It typically includes: (1) EBS storage and snapshots, which keep billing even when instances are stopped ($8/month for a 100GB gp3 regardless of state), (2) data transfer, including inter-AZ traffic ($0.01/GB each direction), inter-region outbound ($0.02/GB), and VPC endpoints, (3) NAT Gateway usage ($0.045/hour + $0.045/GB), (4) Elastic IPs attached to stopped instances or unattached ($0.005/hour), (5) provisioned IOPS on io1/io2/gp3 volumes, (6) EBS snapshot storage ($0.05/GB-month). For most teams, EBS storage on stopped instances and data transfer dominate this line item. CostGoat surfaces these hidden EC2-Other charges in real-time across your whole AWS account, so you catch the zombie volumes and unused Elastic IPs the day they appear, not on next month's bill.
