EC2 savings plan with upfront payment; changing instance type within family

Question

According to the description of the EC2 instance savings plan, it applies to an instance family and allows me to switch from one instance type type to another while still benefiting from reduced rates, as long as the new instance type (e.g., t2.small) is in the same instance family (e.g., t2) as the previous type.

What does this mean for billing when I have chosen all-upfront payment? That payment would have been determined for a specific instance type, and the price seems to be different for each type within the family. If I switch to a cheaper type within the family, does that mean I get some of the upfront payment back? And if I switch to a more expensive one later, will have to make an ad-hoc upfront payment for the remaining duration of the term?

Accepted Answer

When you purchase an EC2 Instance Savings Plan, you're essentially committing to a certain usage level (measured in $/hour) rather than to the use of specific instance types. This commitment allows you to receive a discount on your compute usage.

If you've made an all-upfront payment, the amount you've paid is based on the usage level you've committed to. If you switch to a cheaper instance type within the family, you won't get a refund for the difference. Instead, the savings plan could apply to more hours of usage. Conversely, if you switch to a more expensive type, your savings plan could cover less usage, and you would pay on-demand rates once your committed usage is exceeded.

So, in essence, your all-upfront payment is a commitment to a certain usage level, not to a specific instance type, and changing instance types within the family doesn't result in a refund or require an additional upfront payment. You just get more or less coverage of your usage based on the cost of the instances you're running.

You can read how Savings Plans work here: [Savings Plans FAQ](https://aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/faq/)

**If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.**

EC2 savings plan with upfront payment; changing instance type within family

Relevant content