ElastiCache
AWS ElastiCache — commitment brief
Data sourced: March 2026. Verify current figures at the AWS Pricing Calculator.
Coverage summary
Amazon ElastiCache supports Reserved Nodes (1-yr and 3-yr terms) for all provisioned cache node types, covering both Valkey/Redis OSS (formerly ElastiCache for Redis) and Memcached engines, and is also covered by Database Savings Plans (launched December 2025). Reserved Nodes offer savings of 32–55% versus on-demand pricing depending on term length and payment option. ElastiCache reserved nodes offer instance size flexibility within a node family — a single reservation for a cache.r7g.large can help cover a cache.r7g.xlarge running in the same region. ElastiCache Serverless is not eligible for Reserved Node pricing but may be covered by Database Savings Plans.
What is covered: ElastiCache provisioned cache node compute charges (the per-node-hour cost) for both Valkey/Redis OSS and Memcached engines.
What is not covered: ElastiCache Serverless charges (separate billing model), data transfer between nodes/AZs, backup storage (Redis snapshots), ElastiCache Global Datastore cross-region replication charges, and CloudWatch metrics.
RI types
Amazon ElastiCache uses Reserved Nodes with three payment options: All Upfront (up to 55% discount for 3-yr), Partial Upfront, and No Upfront. There are no Convertible RIs, and EC2/Compute Savings Plans do not apply. Reserved Nodes offer size flexibility within a node family and region — a reservation for any size within a family (e.g., cache.r7g) can apply to other sizes in that family.
Database Savings Plan
ElastiCache provisioned nodes are covered by Database Savings Plans (December 2025). Terms: 1-year only, No Upfront. Discount: up to ~35% vs. on-demand. The same commitment applies flexibly across ElastiCache, RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, DocumentDB, Neptune, and other eligible services. Reserved Nodes still deliver a higher discount ceiling (up to 55%) for stable, predictable footprints; Database SPs are better suited for variable or mixed database spend.
Instance / node / tier coverage
cache.r7g (Graviton3, memory optimized)
Valkey / Redis OSS
✅ Yes
✅ Yes
~32–38%
~50–55%
~35%
Current-gen recommended; size flexibility within family
cache.r6g (Graviton2, memory optimized)
Valkey / Redis OSS
✅ Yes
✅ Yes
~32–38%
~50–55%
~35%
Size flexibility within family
cache.r6gd (Graviton2 + NVMe)
Valkey / Redis OSS
✅ Yes
✅ Yes
~32–38%
~50–55%
~35%
Local NVMe-backed; size flexibility within family
cache.r5 (x86, memory optimized)
Valkey / Redis OSS
✅ Yes
✅ Yes
~32–38%
~50–55%
~35%
Previous-gen; size flexibility within family
cache.m7g (Graviton3, general purpose)
Valkey / Redis OSS / Memcached
✅ Yes
✅ Yes
~32–38%
~50–55%
~35%
Size flexibility within family
cache.m6g (Graviton2, general purpose)
Valkey / Redis OSS / Memcached
✅ Yes
✅ Yes
~32–38%
~50–55%
~35%
Size flexibility within family
cache.m5 (x86, general purpose)
Valkey / Redis OSS / Memcached
✅ Yes
✅ Yes
~32–38%
~50–55%
~35%
Size flexibility within family
cache.t4g (Graviton2, burstable)
Valkey / Redis OSS / Memcached
✅ Yes
✅ Yes
~32–38%
~50–55%
~35%
Size flexibility within family
cache.t3 (x86, burstable)
Valkey / Redis OSS / Memcached
✅ Yes
✅ Yes
~32–38%
~50–55%
~35%
Size flexibility within family
ElastiCache Serverless
—
❌ No
⚠️ Partial
—
—
varies
Check Database SP eligibility for Serverless billing
Regional availability
Commitment scope: Regional — Reserved Nodes are purchased for a specific AWS region and engine; the reservation applies to usage in that region only. Database Savings Plans are region-flexible and apply across all covered database services in any supported region.
Available in all commercial AWS regions. Reserved Node size flexibility (within a node family) became available in all regions effective October 2024. Newer Graviton3 node types (m7g, r7g) are rolling out to additional regions — verify availability before purchasing.
Partition notes: GovCloud (us-gov-) regions support ElastiCache Reserved Nodes, with the exception that the r6gd node type and data-tiering are not available in GovCloud. Database Savings Plans cannot be purchased from GovCloud accounts (purchase via a linked standard account) and are not available in China (cn-) regions.
⚠️ Regional and partition availability varies by instance type. Always verify at the AWS Pricing Console before purchasing.
Archera
Amazon ElastiCache is a core service within Archera's commitment management scope. Archera can automate Reserved Node purchases for both Valkey/Redis OSS and Memcached workloads, monitor utilization across size-flexible node families, and wrap commitments in a GRI/GSP — eliminating downside risk on over-commitment while preserving the full reservation discount.
Sources
⚠️ Discount percentages are approximate and region/node-type-dependent. Always verify with the AWS Pricing Calculator.
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