Amazon WorkSpaces pricing calculator
AlwaysOn vs AutoStop. Estimate your costs using AWS list prices.
Estimates from AWS list prices, not an AWS quote. Discounts, taxes and credit terms may affect your bill.
01 · How Amazon WorkSpaces pricing works
What you pay for
- Bundle (vCPU, memory, root and user volume) per user, either AlwaysOn monthly or AutoStop (small monthly fee plus an hourly rate).
- OS licence model: licence-included Windows versus BYOL (BYOL has a minimum fleet size).
- Extra root/user volume storage per GB-month above the bundle.
- Optional: WorkSpaces Application Manager, Directory Service if you do not use Simple AD/AD Connector included options, and data transfer.
Common cost traps
- AutoStop users who work long days can cost more than AlwaysOn; the crossover depends on the bundle hourly rate.
- Idle WorkSpaces for departed staff keep billing their monthly or AutoStop base fee until removed.
- A directory is required; AWS Managed Microsoft AD adds roughly $0.12-$0.40/hour depending on edition (see the Directory Service calculator).
- Large root or user volumes beyond the bundle add per-GB charges for every user.
Ways to reduce cost
- Put part-time users on AutoStop and full-time users on AlwaysOn; review usage reports monthly.
- Use the smallest bundle that passes a pilot; Value and Standard bundles fit many office workloads.
- Remove or rebuild WorkSpaces of inactive users automatically (for example with the Cost Optimizer for WorkSpaces solution).
- Use AD Connector to an existing directory where possible instead of a new managed directory.
Free Tier & account eligibility
Free Tier depends on account age. Accounts created on or after 15 July 2025 get a $100 sign-up credit plus up to $100 more for completing onboarding activities; on the Free plan these last 6 months (or until used up), on the Paid plan unused Free Tier credits stay usable for 12 months from sign-up. Accounts created before 15 July 2025 keep the legacy Free Tier (12-month offers plus always-free offers). Always-free offers apply on both plans. No general Free Tier for WorkSpaces Personal; AWS has run limited free-usage offers for new WorkSpaces customers in the past, so check the pricing page. Always-free items from other services (for example 100 GB/month internet egress) still apply.
02 · AWS credits & runway
Do credits cover Amazon WorkSpaces?
WorkSpaces Personal monthly (AlwaysOn) and hourly (AutoStop) charges, extra storage and licence-included Windows are eligible usage and are offset by promotional and Activate credits. General rules: credits only offset charges from the billing cycle in which they were applied onward (never past bills), they apply only to the services listed on the credit in Billing and Cost Management > Credits, they expire on the date shown there, and accounts on the AWS Free plan cannot receive Activate credits until they upgrade to the Paid plan.
Check my creditsExcluded charges & conditions
- Microsoft licences you bring (BYOL) are paid to Microsoft, not AWS.
- Third-party applications delivered via AWS Marketplace.
- Upfront payments for Savings Plans and Reserved Instances (All Upfront, and the upfront part of Partial Upfront). The recurring hourly fee of a No Upfront commitment is billed as normal usage and can be offset.
- AWS Marketplace charges (Activate credits make an exception for third-party foundation models used through Amazon Bedrock).
- AWS Enterprise Support, Enterprise On-Ramp, Unified Operations, resold support and partner-led support.
- Amazon Route 53 domain name registration and transfer fees.
- Taxes (sales, use, VAT and similar), AWS Professional Services, Training and Certification, Mechanical Turk, AWS Managed Services, and any use for cryptocurrency mining.
Illustrative credit runway
Single-service examples from the supplied data, not your calculator result. Months = credit amount ÷ monthly cost, before credit expiry. Credits can expire before these theoretical months are used; coverage and other AWS services can shorten runway.
| Usage profile | Monthly estimate | $10,000 | $25,000 | $100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | $175.00 | 57.1 mo. | 142.9 mo. | 571.4 mo. |
| Medium | $1,175.00 | 8.5 mo. | 21.3 mo. | 85.1 mo. |
| Large | $7,200.00 | 1.4 mo. | 3.5 mo. | 13.9 mo. |
Small profile assumptions
5 users, Windows licence-included Standard bundle (80 GB root / 50 GB user), AlwaysOn | Standard bundle AlwaysOn: 5 WorkSpace-months x $35 = $175.00 | Total ~$175.00/month, us-east-1 on-demand list prices, before Free Tier, taxes and support.
Medium profile assumptions
25 users, Windows licence-included Performance bundle, AlwaysOn | Performance bundle AlwaysOn: 25 WorkSpace-months x $47 = $1,175.00 | Total ~$1,175.00/month, us-east-1 on-demand list prices, before Free Tier, taxes and support.
Large profile assumptions
100 users, Windows licence-included Power bundle, AlwaysOn | Power bundle AlwaysOn: 100 WorkSpace-months x $72 = $7,200.00 | Total ~$7,200.00/month, us-east-1 on-demand list prices, before Free Tier, taxes and support.
04 · Questions
Amazon WorkSpaces pricing FAQ
AlwaysOn or AutoStop?
AutoStop has a low monthly fee plus hourly usage, AlwaysOn is a flat monthly fee. If a user is connected most working days for full days, AlwaysOn is usually cheaper.
Do credits pay for Windows licences in WorkSpaces?
Yes for licence-included bundles, because AWS bills the licence. BYOL licences are bought from Microsoft and are not covered.
Is the directory included?
Simple AD and AD Connector are included at no extra charge in many cases when used with WorkSpaces; AWS Managed Microsoft AD is billed separately. Check the current rules for your Region.
Are storage overages common?
Only if you choose larger root or user volumes than the bundle includes. The extra GB-month charge applies to each WorkSpace.
05 · Sources & estimate notes
Content pack dated 2026-10-19. Calculator rates remain their existing snapshots; this content update is not a price refresh.
Verification notes
- Directory Service inclusion rules for WorkSpaces (Simple AD / AD Connector at no charge) should be confirmed on the current WorkSpaces pricing page.
- Hourly-rate crossover between AutoStop and AlwaysOn depends on the bundle; values come from the snapshot.
- Runway prices come from the calculator repository snapshot rate card workspaces (no AWS Price List mapping in the build). Confirm the main unit prices on https://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/pricing/ before publishing.