AWS Reserved Instance Pricing vs.

Azures Monetary Commitment

Discount

What you need to know about AWS Reserved

Instance Pricing

The effective rate you are paying is dependent on your utilization

When making a reservation, you need to specify exact instance type, instance size, and
datacenter location. Your usage has to match exactly on these dimensions in order to get the
reserved instance pricing.

Once reserved, the rate is locked for 3 years despite price drops on on-demand instances

Discount you get applies to all your spend on Azure

When we reduce the Pay-As-You-Go price, the same price drop applies to monetary
commitment

What you need to know about Azures Monetary

Commitment

Hmm, looks like Azure is 90% more

expensive even with 30% monetary
commitment discount!
0.08

2
0.08

0.07

0.07

0.06

0.06

0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01

0.05

Linux @ 30%
discount
0.042

Linux 3-yr heavy

utilization effective
rate at 100%
0.022
utilization

0.04
0.03
0.02

AWS

Azure

0.08

0.07

0.06

0.06

0.05

0.05

0.04

0.042
0.03

2
Azure

Lastly, you are likely to consumer more than just reserved

instances. Our research shows for every dollar you spend on
reserved instances, you are likely to spend 1.5 dollars or
more on on-demand instances and other services. Azure
gives 0.08
you the same discount across the board.

0.07

0.047

0.033

0.047

0.047
0.033

0.04

Assuming industry price drops 25% a

0.03 0.032
0.03
year
0.024

0.01

0.033

0.03
0.02
0.01

0
-0.01

Linux @ 30%
discount
0.042

1
AWS

-0.01

Oh, did AWS tell you that once reserved,

your rate is locked for 3 years despite the
frequent price drops?

0.02

Linux 3-yr heavy

utilization effective
rate at 70%
0.031
utilization

0
1

-0.01

0.03

Lets say you utilize your reserved instances 70%

of the time

0.01

But wait, when you reserve an instance at AWS for

3 years for a specific type of instance at a specific
size, you may not need what you reserved 100%
of the time

0.031

0.042

0.031

0.032

0.031

0.024

0
1

Year 1

Year 2

AWS Azure AWS Azure AWS Azure

Year 3

-0.01

AWS Azure AWS Azure

Year 1

Year 2

AWS Azure
Year 3

Over 3
years, you
actually
save 16%
with Azure!