AWS announced with their 61st EC2 price drop a three-year no-upfront Standard RI. The new RI type is available for current generation families: C4, M4, R4, I3, P2, X1 and T2 families, but excludes the D2, G2, and F1 families as well as all previous generation families. Our RI Planner now supports this RI option. Below we'll show you where you will see changes in the RI Planner and how to leverage this configuration.

Savings Comparison Matrix

When using our RI Planner to make your next RI purchase, you can now select three-year no-upfront Standard from the savings comparison matrix. Remember that only specific current generation families (C4, M4, R4, I3, P2, X1 and T2) have this option available from AWS.

You can also select the same settings from the edit side menu.

The plan generated will show the number of RIs to buy for each family for a three-year term and no-upfront costs. For current generation families C4, M4, R4, I3, P2, X1 and T2, the RIs will be three-year no-upfront Standards. For any other instance family (D2, G2, and F1 families as well as all previous generation families), the planner will show the closest optimal configuration: three-year no-upfront Convertible RIs.

If an RI is not yet available as Standard for three-year, no-upfront, we’ll indicate the best value is a Convertible on the details page.

Our Strategy

We've made the above changes to our planner to give you the best savings given your business needs. When you select three-year no-upfront Standard, we'll preserve your preference for term length and upfront costs and recommend convertibles for RI families not supported by the new RI option. Our stance is that this is the optimal strategy for those buying a previous generation for a long term: you won't need to invest any cash upfront and additionally will have the flexibility to exchange your RIs to a newer generation when needed.