Workspaces billing

Hello Fabrice,

From the Workspaces FAQ (applies to both scenarios):

Q: Can I switch between hourly and monthly billing?

Yes, you can switch from hourly to monthly billing for your Amazon WorkSpaces at any time by switching the running mode to AlwaysOn in the AWS Management Console, or through the Amazon WorkSpaces APIs. When you switch, billing immediately changes from hourly to monthly, and you are charged a prorated amount at the monthly rate for the remainder of the month, along with the monthly and hourly usage fees already billed for the month. Your Amazon WorkSpaces will continue to be charged monthly unless you switch the running mode back to AutoStop.

You can switch from monthly to hourly billing by setting the running mode to AutoStop in the AWS Management Console or through the Amazon WorkSpaces APIs. Switching from monthly to hourly billing will take effect the following month as you will have already paid for your Amazon WorkSpaces for that month. Your Amazon WorkSpaces will continue to be charged hourly unless you switch the running mode back to AlwaysOn. Your Amazon WorkSpaces will continue to be charged hourly unless you switch the running mode back to AlwaysOn. Please note that billing renewals happen at 00:00 Pacific Time on the first of each month.

WorkSpaces users can also switch between monthly and hourly billing directly from the WorkSpaces client if this self-service management capability is enabled by their WorkSpaces administrator.

So, basically they will be charged in a prorated way for each change during the month. As an example:

• Workspace is AlwaysOn from 1 to 10th of the month
• Customer change from AlwaysOn to AutoStop from 10th to 20th
• customer change back from AutoStop to AlwaysOn from 20th to the end of the month

The customer is charged on the 1st of the month (for the entire month) for an AlwaysON WorkSpace instance. If the change is made on the 10th to change it to AutoStop, nothing will happen for the billing as the customer has already pre-paid for the months usage. If the instance is changed back to AlwaysON on the 20th, again nothing will happen because the customer has already paid for the full month. Per FAQ's: "Switching from monthly to hourly billing will take effect the following month as you will have already paid for your Amazon WorkSpaces for that month. Your Amazon WorkSpaces will continue to be charged hourly unless you switch the running mode back to AlwaysOn. Your Amazon WorkSpaces will continue to be charged hourly unless you switch the running mode back to AlwaysOn. Please note that billing renewals happen at 00:00 Pacific Time on the first of each month"

https://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/faqs/?nc=sn&loc=4#Billing_and_Pricing

Same prorated charges apply if the customer modifies the bundle or disk size.

Hope this helps