I'm considering using a p4de instance and while looking at the pricing options, I came across capacity reservations. I'm a bit confused about how this differs from EC2 Savings Plans. Can anyone provide some clarity on this?
2 Answers
Hey there! Capacity Reservation means you lock in instances in a specific Availability Zone at on-demand prices. Savings Plans, however, give you a discount for sticking to a usage commitment but don’t guarantee you'll have an instance available when you need it. There's a helpful AWS document that dives deeper into these options if you want more details. Just remember, one is about ensuring availability, and the other is about getting a better price for consistent usage.
Quick follow-up: If we run the instance nonstop for a year, do we still need a capacity reservation to avoid being booted off, or are we safe?
Capacity Reservation ensures you have guaranteed access to a specific EC2 instance when you need it, and you pay a rate similar to the on-demand pricing. On the other hand, EC2 Savings Plans require you to commit to a specific usage level (like a certain amount of hours per month) over a longer period, typically offering discounted rates. So, basically, one focuses on availability while the other focuses on cost savings.
Thanks for clarifying! That’s what I thought, just needed to double-check.