AWS ยท Free tool
AWS Reserved Instance break-even calculator
Plug in your on-demand spend on the targeted instance family, pick Standard or Convertible, and see what an RI returns. Defaults reflect typical 2026 AWS list prices. Override the discount field if you have a real EDP or Marketplace quote.
Result
Adjust the inputs on the left to see your projected savings.
Monthly savings
$0
Effective discount applied
0%
Total commitment
$0
Upfront payment
$0
Net savings over term
$0
Break-even month
Month 1
How the math works
Eligible monthly spend is the on-demand spend on the targeted instance family times coverage. The discount applies to that eligible portion. Uncovered spend stays at on-demand rates and is excluded from savings.
Total commitment is eligible monthly spend times the discounted rate, multiplied by 12 for 1-year or 36 for 3-year. Upfront is roughly 50 percent for partial and 100 percent for all upfront (AWS quotes vary slightly). Break-even compares cumulative monthly savings to the upfront paid.
Convertible RIs trade roughly 6 to 8 percentage points of discount for the right to exchange families during the term. Defaults reflect AWS list prices for general-purpose Linux shared-tenancy in us-east-1 as of 2026.
RI math looks good. Now check whether your account already has unused RIs, expired RIs that auto-converted to on-demand, or workloads that drift to a different family. Cloud Horizon runs the audit free for 14 days, read-only access, no card.
Frequently asked
When does an RI beat a Savings Plan?
Standard RIs offer slightly higher discounts than Compute Savings Plans (up to ~72% vs ~66% on a 3-year all-upfront). RIs win when the workload is stable on a single family and OS for the full term, and when capacity reservation matters. Savings Plans win when workload mix changes across instance families. Most teams use both: Standard RIs for stable databases and licenses, Savings Plans for the variable compute fleet.
Standard versus Convertible RI: which one?
Standard gives you up to ~72% off but locks the instance family, OS, and tenancy. Convertible gives up to ~66% off and lets you exchange to a different family during the term. Pick Standard when the workload is firmly locked. Pick Convertible when there is a real chance of migrating to a newer instance generation (Graviton, m7i) inside the term.
Why does break-even matter for upfront RIs?
All-upfront pays the full term up front, so the break-even is whichever month the cumulative monthly savings catches up to the upfront fee. No-upfront RIs save from month one but discount slightly less. The calculator shows the trade-off so you can pick the payment option that matches your cash position.
What if my discount rate looks higher than the default?
Possible: EDP customers and large accounts get extra negotiated discounts on top of public RI rates. Override the discount field with the figure quoted in your AWS console or your enterprise agreement.
If a calculator does its job
It tells you the answer. Then it gets out of the way.
Calculators model RIs in isolation. The next question is what your actual account looks like: unused RIs, drift, double-coverage with Savings Plans. Cloud Horizon scans for all of it.