Why was I charged for Amazon EC2 after I terminated all my instances?

Resolution

The following are common reasons why you might still see charges after you terminate EC2 instances:

Hourly billing

You're charged for any partial hour that the instance ran before termination.

EBS volumes

If you didn't explicitly delete any associated Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volumes, then they might continue to exist and incur charges, even after instance termination. Amazon EBS volumes are charged based on provisioned capacity, regardless of usage or instance state.

• To detach an EBS volume from an instance, see Detach an Amazon EBS volume from an Amazon EC2 instance.
• To delete an EBS volume that you no longer need, see Delete an Amazon EBS volume.

Elastic IP addresses

You might have Elastic IP addresses associated with your terminated instances, but you didn't release them. You're charged for them even if they're not associated with running instances. Disassociate and release the Elastic IP addresses.

• To disassociate an Elastic IP address from an instance, see Elastic IP address basics.
• For information how to release an unattached Elastic IP address, see Release an Elastic IP address.

EBS snapshots

If you created EBS snapshots, then the snapshots continue to incur storage charges even after you terminate the original volumes and instances.

To delete an EBS snapshot that you no longer need, see Delete an Amazon EBS snapshot.

Instances that are running in another Region

To check for active EC2 instances in other AWS Regions, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Billing and Cost Management console.
2. Choose Bills in the navigation pane.
3. In the Bill details by service section, expand the Virtual Private Cloud line item.
4. Check if you have active EC2 instances in other Regions.

After you confirm the Regions where EC2 resources incur charges, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console.
2. In the navigation bar, select the Region from the Region Selector.
3. Terminate or delete the Amazon EC2 resources that you don't need. For more information, see How do I delete or terminate my Amazon EC2 resources?

Automatic instance launched

Your AWS account might have new instances for the following reasons:

• Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling launched them based on your scaling policies.
• AWS Elastic Beanstalk automatically deployed instances per your configuration.
• Your Spot Instance requests or Spot Fleet requests launched instances when prices met your bid.

To stop these instances, complete the following steps:

1. Review your service configurations.
2. Check service-specific documentation for termination instructions.
3. Contact AWS Support if you can't identify which service launched the instances.

Reserved Instance charges

If you have Reserved Instances, then, the following apply:

• You're billed monthly until your contract ends.
• Charges continue even if you're not using the instances.

If you no longer need the Reserved Instances, then you can take either of the following actions:

1. Modify the Reserved Instance size to match your current needs.
2. Sell unused Reserved Instances on the Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances Marketplace.

If these scenarios don't explain your charges, then contact AWS Support for assistance.

Related information

Amazon EC2 pricing

Understanding your bill