ElastiCache Cost & Reserved Nodes
Price a Valkey cluster with every replica, and compare reserved node terms and Serverless.
Each one fills in the fields below for a typical workload of that kind. You can change any of them.
Leave at zero to skip. Serverless for Valkey prices on data stored ($0.084 per GB-hour) plus ECPUs ($0.0023 per million), not node-hours.
- 6 nodes, 78.4 GiB
- $767.38
- Saving if reserved
- $276.26/mo
$9,208.51 a year on demand.
| Node hours6 × cache.r7g.large | $767.38 |
| Replication between nodesFree, across zones too: AWS charges nothing for data in or out of a node | $0.00 |
| Total | $767.38 |
Committing to this cluster
| Term | Effective monthly | Saved |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year, no upfront | $521.05 | $246.33 |
| 1 year, all upfront | $491.12 | $276.26 |
| 3 years, no upfront | $399.04 | $368.34 |
| 3 years, all upfront | $345.32 | $422.06 |
All Upfront terms are paid at purchase; the monthly figure spreads that payment over the term.
A cache cluster is the most reservable thing in most estates: it runs continuously, its size changes rarely, and nobody turns it off at night. If anything in an account deserves a commitment, this is usually it.
What this model assumes
Show
- Replicas are nodes, and they cost node money. Three shards with one replica each is six billable nodes, not three. It is the most common way a cache estimate comes in at half the real figure.
- Replication between zones is free. AWS charges nothing for data in or out of an ElastiCache node, across zones too. Your application’s instances do pay $0.01 a GB each way to reach a node in another zone; that lands under EC2 and is not priced here.
- Reserved discounts here are real rates, not a band. Unlike EC2 commitments, the ElastiCache price list publishes its reserved terms directly. These were computed from it and agree to within about one percentage point across node families.
- Valkey rates, nodes and Serverless alike. Redis OSS and Memcached nodes list 25% higher, and their Serverless rates about 50% higher ($0.125 per GB-hour and $0.0034 per million ECPUs), so add that if you run either.
- Not included: backup storage beyond the free allowance, data transfer to clients, or the Global Datastore cross-region replication charge.
Rates used and their sourcesShow
- ElastiCache nodes, reserved-node discounts and Serverless (Valkey), source, read 13 Oct 2026
Prices verified 13 Oct 2026. Public list prices in USD for US East (N. Virginia), before any discount you have negotiated.
Want this done on your real bill?
Commitment Management: Each month we size your Savings Plans, Reserved Instances and committed use discounts; you approve and buy. From $500 a month, or 12%. Nothing paid upfront.
Questions
How much does ElastiCache cost?
By the node-hour, per node, and a cluster is rarely one node. A cache.r7g.large running Valkey is $0.1752 an hour in US East (N. Virginia), so three shards with one replica each is six nodes and about $767 a month before any data transfer.
Do ElastiCache replicas cost extra?
Yes, in full. A replica is a node and bills at the same hourly rate as the primary. Three shards with one replica each is six billable nodes, not three, which is the single most common reason a cache estimate comes in at half the real figure.
Is cross-AZ replication charged in ElastiCache?
No. AWS charges nothing for data in or out of an ElastiCache node, across availability zones too, so replication between a primary and its replicas is free. Your application's side is billed: an EC2 instance reading from a node in another zone pays $0.01 per GB in each direction, under EC2.
How much do ElastiCache reserved nodes save?
About 32% for one year with no upfront, 36% for one year all-upfront, 48% for three years no upfront, and 55% for three years all-upfront, off the node hours you commit. Unlike EC2, the ElastiCache price list publishes these terms directly, so these are computed rates rather than an indicative band.
Is ElastiCache Serverless cheaper than nodes?
It can be, for spiky or small caches, because it prices on data stored plus ECPUs consumed rather than on node-hours you provision: for Valkey in US East (N. Virginia), $0.084 per GB-hour stored and $0.0023 per million ECPUs (Redis OSS lists about 50% higher). For large steady caches a reserved node fleet is normally cheaper. This calculator compares the two at Valkey rates on both sides if you supply your ECPU and storage figures.
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