AWS WorkSpaces Pricing Tiers, Examples, and Cost-Cutting Tips

How Is AWS WorkSpaces Priced? 

AWS WorkSpaces is a managed desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) solution provided by Amazon Web Services. It enables organizations to provision virtual, cloud-based desktops for individual users or teams. 

AWS WorkSpaces pricing is flexible, with options for monthly or hourly billing, depending on your needs. Costs are determined by your chosen bundle, which includes CPU, memory, and storage, as well as usage-based fees. Other factors include the operating system (Windows or BYOL) and specific WorkSpaces services, such as secure browsers, which have their own pricing structures.

Key Factors That Influence WorkSpaces Pricing

Compute Bundle Specifications

One of the most significant factors in AWS WorkSpaces pricing is the choice of compute bundle. Each bundle defines a set allocation of virtual CPUs (vCPUs), memory (RAM), and storage, matching workload requirements with the appropriate resource levels. 

For example, a basic bundle is suitable for task workers who need only minimal compute resources, while power users or developers may require bundles with higher vCPU and RAM configurations. The greater the specifications of the bundle, the higher the hourly or monthly cost.

In addition to compute performance, storage capacity (both root and user volumes) impacts pricing. Organizations with compliance or large file storage needs may opt for WorkSpaces bundles with expanded storage, incurring additional charges. It is critical to accurately size the compute and storage requirements per user to avoid unnecessary overspending. 

Protocol and Performance Tier Selection

AWS WorkSpaces supports multiple streaming protocols, each for different performance and network scenarios. The protocol selection primarily affects the user experience but can also impact costs if specific protocols require higher performance infrastructure. 

For example, the WorkSpaces Streaming Protocol (WSP) supports responsive graphics and remote experience enhancements, while PC-over-IP (PCoIP) may be chosen for standard office tasks. Protocol features often require high memory or GPU-enabled bundles, leading to higher pricing.

Performance tier selection is closely tied to protocol choice. Standard and value tiers provide baseline desktop experiences, adequate for general office applications, whereas performance and graphics tiers deliver increased computing power for resource-intensive tasks such as video editing and CAD. 

User Density and Pool Utilization Efficiency

User density refers to the number of users allocated per WorkSpace or pooled resource. For personal WorkSpaces, each virtual machine is dedicated to a single user, leading to predictable, isolated resource usage but higher cost per user. Pooled WorkSpaces, such as in multi-session host pools, enable multiple users to share the same resources sequentially. 

Higher utilization and density reduce the infrastructure required for a given user base, lowering total costs. However, maximizing pool utilization efficiency depends on understanding user concurrency patterns and workload peaks. Excessive oversubscription can result in performance bottlenecks and degraded end-user experience, while underutilization leads to wasted resources and unnecessary costs. 

Regional Pricing Differences and Data Transfer Costs

AWS WorkSpaces pricing varies across AWS regions due to differences in operational costs, infrastructure availability, and local market conditions. A WorkSpace deployed in the US East (N. Virginia) region may have a lower base rate than one in Europe (Frankfurt) or Asia Pacific (Tokyo). Selecting a region closer to end-users can minimize latency but may increase costs depending on regional pricing tables published by AWS.

Data transfer costs are another consideration. While a significant portion of data transfer within AWS infrastructure is included in the WorkSpaces rate, cross-region data movement and internet egress carry additional fees. Organizations with a distributed workforce should account for these potential costs, particularly when serving users from multiple geographic locations or integrating with other AWS services across regions. 

Licensing and Microsoft Integration Considerations

Licensing is a key pricing factor, especially for organizations using Windows WorkSpaces. AWS provides two licensing models for Windows desktops: AWS-provided licenses or bring your own license (BYOL) if the company qualifies for Microsoft licensing mobility. AWS licensing is bundled with the per-WorkSpace price, while BYOL can reduce rates for eligible customers but involves more complex planning and compliance verification.

Integration with Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and use of other Microsoft services (such as Office 365) on WorkSpaces may incur additional licensing fees not included in the WorkSpaces base price. It’s important to clarify which components are covered by the WorkSpaces price and which require separate software agreements. 

AWS WorkSpaces Plans with Pricing Examples

Let’s review the primary pricing plans offered by AWS WorkSpaces. 

Note: AWS pricing is subject to change. Pricing information below is accurate as of the time of this writing. For up-to-date pricing and more details, refer to the official pricing page.

WorkSpaces Personal

WorkSpaces Personal provides persistent virtual desktops that retain user data, settings, and installed applications between sessions. Pricing is available in two models: AlwaysOn and AutoStop.

AlwaysOn offers a flat monthly rate with unlimited usage. AutoStop charges a small monthly base fee plus an hourly rate when the desktop is in use. This model is suitable for part-time or occasional users but requires a short wait at sign-in as the instance starts up.

Pricing varies by performance bundle (e.g., value, standard, performance, power, powerpro, and graphics), with higher tiers offering more vCPUs, memory, and storage. For example, in the US East (N. Virginia) region, a standard WorkSpace with 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, and 80 GB root volume starts at $31/month (AlwaysOn) or $7.25/month + $0.28/hour (AutoStop). Storage upgrades and graphics bundles carry significantly higher costs, reflecting their enhanced capabilities.

WorkSpaces Pools

WorkSpaces Pools deliver nonpersistent virtual desktops where users receive a fresh instance at each login. These are optimized for task-based roles, such as call center agents, where personalization and data retention are not required. However, user-specific settings and files can be centrally stored in Amazon S3 or FSx and reloaded during new sessions.

Like personal WorkSpaces, Pools support AlwaysOn and AutoStop billing modes. AlwaysOn charges an hourly fee per provisioned instance, regardless of user activity. AutoStop charges for connected sessions only and includes a lower fee for stopped instances.

Pricing also varies by bundle. For example, a standard pool with 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM is priced at $0.10/hour, plus a flat $4.19 monthly Microsoft RDS license fee. The stopped instance fee for AutoStop mode is $0.025/hour, which can help reduce costs in low-utilization scenarios.

Free Tier

AWS offers a limited-time free tier for new WorkSpaces users to test and evaluate the service without upfront costs.

For WorkSpaces Personal, the free tier includes:

• Up to two virtual desktops from standard bundles (Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Rocky Linux, Ubuntu, Windows, or Amazon Linux)
• 80 GB root and 50 GB user volume per desktop
• Hourly metering mode with up to 40 hours of combined usage per month, valid for the first three months
• An additional offer provides five performance Ubuntu AutoStop WorkSpaces with 80 GB root and 100 GB user volumes, allowing 100 total hours of combined monthly use

For WorkSpaces Pools, the free tier includes:

• Two standard Windows virtual desktops
• 200 GB root volume each
• Hourly metering mode with up to 40 hours of combined usage per month, also valid for the first three months

Educational Institutions

Educational institutions can benefit from reduced pricing under specific licensing agreements.

For WorkSpaces Personal, eligible educational users of Microsoft Windows may receive:

• A discount of $3.52 per user per month or $0.03 per user per hour
• This offer is based on Microsoft licensing terms, and institutions must confirm eligibility by submitting a support case through AWS billing support

For WorkSpaces Pools, schools and qualified public institutions may qualify for a reduced Microsoft RDS SAL fee of $0.44 per user per month.

Additionally, organizations with Microsoft License Mobility rights can bring their own RDS Subscriber Access Licenses. In that case, no monthly RDS SAL fees are charged for users covered under those licenses. Eligibility depends on Microsoft’s licensing terms, and AWS encourages customers to verify details with their Microsoft account representative.

Windows Licensing

AWS WorkSpaces offers two licensing options for Windows: license-included and bring your own license (BYOL).

For license-included bundles, AWS includes the Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Subscriber Access License (SAL) in the pricing. Each user who accesses a WorkSpace during a given month incurs a $4.19 flat monthly fee, which is not prorated.

With BYOL, customers can use their own Windows client OS licenses if eligible under Microsoft terms. This eliminates the monthly RDS SAL charge, offering potential savings. As of October 14, 2025, Microsoft has ended free support for Windows 10, and AWS recommends transitioning to Windows 11. WorkSpaces supports Windows 11 under both licensing models, offering flexibility for organizations managing desktop licensing at scale.

Related content: Read our guide to AWS Workspace alternatives

Best Practices for Reducing WorkSpaces Costs 

Organizations should consider the following best practices to optimize their costs when using AWS Workspaces.

1. Align Bundle Selection with User Personas

Cost efficiency with AWS WorkSpaces begins by matching compute, memory, and storage bundle types to specific user personas. Task workers handling basic office applications need only value or standard bundles, whereas engineers, designers, or developers benefit from power, performance, or graphics bundles. Over-provisioning users with unnecessary resources leads to inflated costs, while under-provisioning causes usability issues and productivity bottlenecks.

Conducting a thorough analysis of user roles, workflow patterns, and application requirements enables accurate bundle alignment. Regularly revalidating these personas as demands evolve helps maintain optimal cost and performance. Implementing a standardized bundle selection process, informed by real usage data, ensures each WorkSpace matches the user profile and supports both budget control and user experience.

2. Optimize Storage Lifecycle and Cleanup Unused WorkSpaces

Storage costs in AWS WorkSpaces can escalate if not actively managed. Both root and per-user storage allocations accrue charges monthly, regardless of the actual data stored. Setting default storage quotas based on user needs and auditing usage regularly prevents unnecessary over-allocation. Automated policies can monitor and manage storage consumption, ensuring users have sufficient capacity without excess waste.

Unused or abandoned WorkSpaces, often left behind when employees leave or change roles, also incur ongoing charges. Developing a cleanup workflow (regularly reviewing active versus inactive WorkSpaces, and promptly decommissioning unused instances) reduces avoidable costs. Integrating these checks with offboarding processes ensures resource sprawl is minimized and that billing aligns closely with actual organizational headcount.

3. Use AutoStop Configurations Where Appropriate

For users who require WorkSpaces on a periodic or infrequent basis, the AutoStop billing mode offers significant cost savings. In AutoStop mode, WorkSpaces enter a stopped state after a configured period of inactivity, ceasing compute charges while retaining data and state. While a minimal monthly fee still applies, most costs switch to a per-hour model, making AutoStop especially suitable for part-time staff, contractors, or training environments.

Implementing AutoStop intelligently requires monitoring user activity and historical login patterns to identify eligible candidates. It’s also necessary to communicate idle timeout settings and the process for resuming WorkSpaces to end users to minimize surprises. Balancing which users are assigned AlwaysOn versus AutoStop modes helps control costs while maintaining an adequate level of desktop availability.

4. Implement Multi-Session Pools for Cost Efficiency

AWS WorkSpaces multi-session pools enable organizations to run several user sessions on shared infrastructure, improving per-user cost efficiency. By leveraging Windows Server’s ability to host multiple sessions, groups with overlapping or infrequent usage patterns can be consolidated into a single pool, drastically reducing the number of dedicated virtual machines required.

Effective implementation of multi-session pools relies on accurately estimating user concurrency and carefully sizing pool resources to avoid performance contention. Ongoing monitoring and usage analytics are necessary to tune pool size, respond to changing patterns, and drive even greater cost savings by adjusting in near real time. Multi-session pooling is a proven strategy to optimize both infrastructure utilization and billing in dynamic desktop environments.

5. Monitor Usage Trends through CloudWatch and Billing Reports

Regular monitoring using AWS CloudWatch and the AWS billing console is essential for proactive cost management in WorkSpaces deployments. CloudWatch provides metrics on user logins, session durations, bundle performance, and pool usage, enabling refined tuning of deployment parameters and rapid identification of underutilized or misconfigured resources. These insights help guide bundle downsizing, AutoStop assignments, or pool rebalancing without guesswork.

Detailed billing reports in the AWS console break down monthly and hourly charges by user, bundle, region, and storage, providing transparency into cost drivers. Setting up cost alerts and budget thresholds via AWS Budgets or third-party tools enables timely intervention when spending trends deviate from expectations. Integrating operational monitoring with financial oversight ensures continuous cost optimization and prevents bill shock.

Venn: Ultimate Desktop as a Service Alternative

Venn’s Blue Border was purpose-built to protect company data and applications on BYOD computers used by contractors and remote employees. 

Similar to an MDM solution but for laptops, work lives in a company-controlled Secure Enclave installed on the user’s PC or Mac, where all data is encrypted and access is managed. Work applications run locally within the Enclave – visually indicated by Venn’s Blue Border™ – protecting and isolating business activity while ensuring end-user privacy. 

With Venn, you can eliminate the burden of purchasing and securing laptops and managing virtual desktops (VDI.) Unlike virtual desktops, Venn keeps users working locally on natively installed applications without latency – all while extending corporate firewall protection to business activity only.

Key features include:

• Secure Enclave technology: Encrypts and isolates work data on personal Mac or PC computers, both for browser-based and local applications.
• Zero trust architecture: Uses a zero trust approach to secure company data, limiting access based on validation of devices and users.
• Visual separation via Blue Border: Visual cue that distinguishes work vs. personal sessions for users.
• Supports turnkey compliance: Using Venn helps companies maintain compliance on unmanaged Macs with a range of regulatory mandates, including HIPAA, PCI, SOC, SEC, FINRA and more.
• Granular, customizable restrictions: IT teams can define restrictions for copy/paste, download, upload, screenshots, watermarks, and DLP per user.

To see a demo of Venn in action, click here.