AWS Reserved Instance Break-Even Calculator
How much will you save with Reserved Instances? See monthly savings and break-even month in seconds.
Which EC2 instance type?
Select the instance type and OS. Pricing is for us-east-1 (prices vary by region).
Who This Tool Is For
DevOps engineers, infrastructure teams, and finance leaders deciding whether to buy Reserved Instances. If you're running persistent EC2 workloads and want to understand the ROI on an RI commitment, this tool gives you the math instantly.
Why We Built This Tool
RI math is confusing. Most teams manually calculate break-even or just guess. This tool takes the guesswork out by showing you exactly how many months until your upfront RI payment pays for itself vs staying on-demand.
What Problem It Solves
- Commitment confidence. Know your break-even month before spending thousands upfront.
- Term decision. Compare 1-year vs 3-year ROI in one view.
- Scaling decisions. Understand how many instances you need on RI vs on-demand.
- Budget planning. Model upfront costs and monthly savings for finance approval.
Learn more about our AWS cost optimization services to build your complete RI and Savings Plan strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I buy 1-year or 3-year RIs?
3-year RIs have a bigger discount, but lock you in longer. Buy 1-year RIs for workloads that might change, 3-year for stable production workloads.
What about Savings Plans?
Savings Plans work across instance types and sizes (more flexible than RIs). Use Compute Savings Plans if you're not sure exactly which instance you'll need.
Can I sell unused RIs?
Yes, through the AWS RI Marketplace. You can sell your RIs at a discount if your workload changes, recovering some of your upfront cost.
Do pricing variations by region change the math?
Yes. This calculator uses us-east-1 pricing. RIs in other regions have different rates. Check AWS pricing for your region if you're deploying elsewhere.