Can I use AWS promotional credits to purchase a Reserved Instance or Savings Plan?

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I want to use promotional credits toward Reserved Instances (RIs) or Savings Plans.

Resolution

Promotional credits can't be applied to upfront costs for Partial Upfront RIs, All Upfront RIs, or Savings Plans.

However, the hourly rates that you pay for running instances can be covered by your credits when you have Partial Upfront RIs, No Upfront RIs, or Savings Plans.

Check that your credits apply to usage for the service in the Credits pane of the AWS Billing and Cost Management console.

Note: Credits might be applied differently if your account is in an organization. For more information, see How is the pricing benefit of a Reserved Instance applied across an organization's consolidated bill?


Related information

Redeem your AWS promotional credit

Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances

AWS OFFICIAL
AWS OFFICIALUpdated 3 years ago
2 Comments

We took out a savings plan for our EC2 instances. It was no upfront fee and a 3 year commitment. We have a little less than 2 years left on the agreement. If we resell it on the marketplace how does that fee structure change. I assume:

  • Since we paid $0 upfront we would receive no proceeds from the sale.
  • Since the buyer will be paying a reduced rate to AWS we would be responsible for the delta between our current rates and theirs. Am I correct?
replied 8 months ago

Got a nice clear answer from AWS support here: Unfortunately, you cannot purchase all upfront Savings Plans using AWS credits or promotional credits like AWS Activate credits. The AWS documentation states that "Savings Plans paid upfront not deductible from promo credits" also mentions that Activate credits cannot be used for Savings Plans fees or any subscription fees. Documentation: https://aws.amazon.com/awscredits/

Credits are applied only to specific Services designated by your AWS contracting entity (collectively, “Eligible Services”).

  • Click here : https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/credits

  • Check the "See complete list of services" list of eligible services that come under "Applicable products" for the credits redemption. If you purchase a Compute Savings plan at "NO upfront", your AWS credits can be used to cover the recurring hourly or monthly charges for the commitment. The credits will be applied to the discounted hourly rates for the usage covered by the covered by the Savings Plan. However, the credits cannot be used for any "upfront" costs associated with Partial Upfront or All Upfront Savings Plans Purchased. The credits can only offset the recurring usage charges when using No Upfront or Partial Upfront Savings Plans.

  • https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/credits-ri

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replied 3 months ago