# DocumentDB

## AWS DocumentDB — commitment brief

> **Data sourced**: March 2026. Verify current figures at the [AWS Pricing Calculator](https://calculator.aws/pricing/2/home).

### Coverage summary

Amazon DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility) does not offer traditional Reserved Instances. The primary commitment instrument is **Database Savings Plans** (1-yr, no upfront), which provide up to 35% savings across a portfolio of managed database services including DocumentDB provisioned instances and DocumentDB Serverless. Database Savings Plans were announced in December 2025 and provide portfolio-level flexibility — the same commitment automatically applies across DocumentDB, RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, Neptune, and other eligible managed database services.

**What is covered**: DocumentDB instance compute charges (the vCPU/RAM cost of provisioned cluster instances) and DocumentDB Serverless DCU-hours, both under Database Savings Plans.

**What is not covered**: DocumentDB storage (distributed, auto-scaling storage billed per GB-month), I/O charges, data transfer, and backup storage beyond the free tier.

### Commitment instrument

> Amazon DocumentDB uses **Database Savings Plans** as its cost commitment model — there are no per-instance Reserved Instances for DocumentDB. Terms: **1-year only, No Upfront payment**. Discount: up to **\~35%** vs. on-demand. The commitment is an hourly spend rate ($/hour) that automatically applies to DocumentDB and other covered database services as usage changes. Best for teams managing DocumentDB alongside other AWS managed databases under a unified commitment strategy.

### Instance / node / tier coverage

| Instance Class                       | Database Savings Plan | DB SP (1-yr No Upfront) | Notes                                        |
| ------------------------------------ | --------------------- | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| db.t3.medium (burstable)             | ✅ Yes                 | up to \~35%             | Development/small workloads                  |
| db.r5 family (memory optimized)      | ✅ Yes                 | up to \~35%             | Most common production class                 |
| db.r6g family (Graviton2, memory)    | ✅ Yes                 | up to \~35%             | Graviton2; better price/performance          |
| db.r6gd family (Graviton2 + NVMe)    | ✅ Yes                 | up to \~35%             | NVMe-backed; announced December 2024         |
| db.r7g family (Graviton3, memory)    | ✅ Yes                 | up to \~35%             | Latest-gen; check region availability        |
| db.t4g family (Graviton2, burstable) | ✅ Yes                 | up to \~35%             |                                              |
| DocumentDB Serverless                | ✅ Yes                 | up to \~35%             | Database Savings Plans cover Serverless DCUs |

## Regional availability

**Commitment scope**: Region-flexible — Database Savings Plans apply automatically across all covered database services in any supported AWS region; no regional lock-in.

Available in all commercial AWS regions where Amazon DocumentDB is offered. DocumentDB has been expanding its regional footprint and as of late 2025 added support in additional Asia Pacific and Mexico regions.

**Partition notes**: Database Savings Plans are not available in China (cn-*) regions. They can cover GovCloud (us-gov-*) usage, but Savings Plans must be purchased from a linked standard AWS account — they cannot be purchased directly from GovCloud accounts.

⚠️ Regional and partition availability varies by instance type. Always verify at the [AWS Pricing Console](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/) before purchasing.

### Archera

Amazon DocumentDB is a core service within Archera's commitment management scope. Archera can automate Database Savings Plan commitments that cover DocumentDB instance and serverless usage, monitor utilization across DocumentDB workloads, and wrap commitments in a GRI/GSP — eliminating downside risk on over-commitment while preserving the Savings Plan discount. Database Savings Plans allow the commitment to flex across DocumentDB and other eligible managed database services if usage patterns shift.

***

**Sources**

* [Amazon DocumentDB Pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/documentdb/pricing/)
* [Database Savings Plans](https://aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/database-pricing/)
* [Introducing Database Savings Plans for AWS Databases](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/introducing-database-savings-plans-for-aws-databases/)
* [Announcing Database Savings Plans with up to 35% savings](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/12/database-savings-plans-savings/)

⚠️ Discount percentages are approximate and region/instance-type-dependent. Always verify with the [AWS Pricing Calculator](https://calculator.aws/pricing/2/home).