ElastiCache pricing and cost calculator
Node-based cost for Valkey, Redis OSS and Memcached by node type, node count and region, with serverless as a second mode. On-demand prices from the AWS Price List for five regions.
Deployment
Engine
Every node in a cluster is the same type. Memory is per node.
1 with cluster mode disabled. Up to 500 with cluster mode enabled.
0 to 5. Each replica is a full node, billed like the primary.
One snapshot per active cache is free. Enter what your other snapshots use.
$3,070 a year · 2 × cache.r7g.large at $0.1752/hr
- Per node
- $0.1752/hr
- Nodes
- 2
- Cluster, hourly
- $0.3504/hr
- Nodes, monthly
- $255.79
- Backup storage
- $0.00
- Yearly
- $3,070
- Same nodes on Redis OSS
- $319.74/mo
- Same nodes on Memcached
- $319.74/mo
On-demand AWS list prices for us-east-1, retrieved 2026-09-19, at 730 hours a month. The same 2 nodes would cost $319.74 a month on Redis OSS and $319.74 a month on Memcached. Engine comparisons cover node-hours only. Sources and what this leaves out are below.
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2 cache.r7g.large nodes on ElastiCache for Valkey cost about $255.79/month in us-east-1. tools.getfinops.cloud/elasticache-cost-calculator
How ElastiCache pricing works
ElastiCache has two deployment options, and they are billed differently.
Node-based clusters are billed per node-hour, from the time a node is launched until it is terminated. A partial hour is billed as a full hour. The price depends on the engine, the node type and the region, and every node in the cluster is charged, primaries and replicas alike. A Valkey or Redis OSS cluster is made of shards, and each shard is one primary plus 0 to 5 replicas, so the node count is shards × (1 + replicas). With cluster mode disabled there is one shard; with it enabled there can be up to 500. A Memcached cluster is 1 to 60 nodes with no replication.
Serverless caches have no nodes to choose. You pay for the data stored, measured as an hourly average in GB-hours, and for requests in ElastiCache Processing Units (ECPUs). Each cache is metered for at least 100 MB on Valkey and 1 GB on Redis OSS and Memcached. Serverless replicates data across several Availability Zones itself, so there are no replicas to configure.
Backups: one snapshot per active cache is free, and storage for more snapshots costs $0.085 per GB-month in all five regions listed here.
Replicas and Multi-AZ: AWS recommends at least two nodes and Multi-AZ for fault tolerance. The price list has no separate Multi-AZ charge; what it costs is the replica nodes it needs. Data transfer between an EC2 instance and ElastiCache in the same Availability Zone is free, and across Availability Zones the standard EC2 regional data transfer charge applies.
Valkey vs Redis OSS pricing on AWS
Valkey is priced lower than Redis OSS on ElastiCache. In this snapshot of the AWS price list, the Valkey node-hour is 20% below Redis OSS for every node type in every region on this page. On serverless, Valkey data storage is 33% lower and ECPUs are 32% to 34% lower. Memcached node-hours are the same as Redis OSS for every node type both engines offer.
AWS describes Valkey as a drop-in replacement for Redis OSS 7. An existing Redis OSS cluster can be upgraded to Valkey by changing its engine; the endpoint stays the same.
The cache.m8g and cache.r8g node types have prices for Valkey and Memcached only; there is no Redis OSS price for them.
| Node type | vCPU | Memory (GiB) | Valkey | Redis OSS | Memcached | Valkey per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cache.t4g.micro | 2 | 0.5 | $0.0128/hr | $0.016/hr | $0.016/hr | $9.34 |
| cache.t4g.small | 2 | 1.37 | $0.0256/hr | $0.032/hr | $0.032/hr | $18.69 |
| cache.t4g.medium | 2 | 3.09 | $0.052/hr | $0.065/hr | $0.065/hr | $37.96 |
| cache.t3.medium | 2 | 3.09 | $0.0544/hr | $0.068/hr | $0.068/hr | $39.71 |
| cache.m7g.large | 2 | 6.38 | $0.1264/hr | $0.158/hr | $0.158/hr | $92.27 |
| cache.m7g.xlarge | 4 | 12.93 | $0.252/hr | $0.315/hr | $0.315/hr | $183.96 |
| cache.m6g.large | 2 | 6.38 | $0.1192/hr | $0.149/hr | $0.149/hr | $87.02 |
| cache.m8g.large | 2 | 6.79 | $0.1266/hr | — | $0.1582/hr | $92.42 |
| cache.r7g.large | 2 | 13.07 | $0.1752/hr | $0.219/hr | $0.219/hr | $127.90 |
| cache.r7g.xlarge | 4 | 26.32 | $0.3496/hr | $0.437/hr | $0.437/hr | $255.21 |
| cache.r7g.2xlarge | 8 | 52.82 | $0.6984/hr | $0.873/hr | $0.873/hr | $509.83 |
| cache.r6g.large | 2 | 13.07 | $0.1648/hr | $0.206/hr | $0.206/hr | $120.30 |
| cache.r8g.large | 2 | 14.18 | $0.1756/hr | — | $0.2195/hr | $128.19 |
| cache.r6gd.xlarge | 4 | 26.32 + 99.33 SSD | $0.6248/hr | $0.781/hr | — | $456.10 |
On-demand, per node. A month is 730 hours. A dash means the AWS price list has no price for that engine.
| Region | cache.t4g.small (Valkey) | cache.r7g.large (Valkey) | cache.r7g.large (Redis OSS) | cache.r7g.large (Memcached) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US East (N. Virginia) (us-east-1) | $0.0256/hr | $0.1752/hr | $0.219/hr | $0.219/hr |
| US West (Oregon) (us-west-2) | $0.0256/hr | $0.1752/hr | $0.219/hr | $0.219/hr |
| Europe (Ireland) (eu-west-1) | $0.0272/hr | $0.1944/hr | $0.243/hr | $0.243/hr |
| Europe (Frankfurt) (eu-central-1) | $0.0288/hr | $0.2104/hr | $0.263/hr | $0.263/hr |
| Asia Pacific (Singapore) (ap-southeast-1) | $0.0384/hr | $0.2104/hr | $0.263/hr | $0.263/hr |
| Region | Valkey per GB-hour | Redis OSS per GB-hour | Memcached per GB-hour | Valkey per 1M ECPUs | Redis OSS per 1M ECPUs | Memcached per 1M ECPUs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US East (N. Virginia) (us-east-1) | $0.084 | $0.125 | $0.125 | $0.0023 | $0.0034 | $0.0034 |
| US West (Oregon) (us-west-2) | $0.084 | $0.125 | $0.125 | $0.0023 | $0.0034 | $0.0034 |
| Europe (Ireland) (eu-west-1) | $0.094 | $0.14 | $0.14 | $0.0025 | $0.0038 | $0.0038 |
| Europe (Frankfurt) (eu-central-1) | $0.101 | $0.151 | $0.151 | $0.0027 | $0.0041 | $0.0041 |
| Asia Pacific (Singapore) (ap-southeast-1) | $0.101 | $0.151 | $0.151 | $0.0027 | $0.0041 | $0.0041 |
Data stored is billed on the hourly average, with a per-cache minimum of 100 MB on Valkey and 1 GB on Redis OSS and Memcached.
Worked example: a sharded Valkey cluster
3 shards, each with a primary and 1 replica, on cache.r7g.large (13.07 GiB each), in US East (N. Virginia).
Nodes = 3 × (1 + 1) = 6
Hourly = 6 × $0.1752/hr = $1.0512/hr
Monthly = $1.0512/hr × 730 h = $767.38
Yearly = $9,209
The same 6 nodes on Redis OSS cost $959.22 a month, $191.84 more.
AWS's own sizing example reserves 25% of each node's memory for non-data use, which leaves about 29.4 GiB for data across the 3 shards. The same 25 GB on Valkey serverless, at 20,000 requests a second of 1 KB each, comes to $1,533 for data and $120.89 for ECPUs: $1,654 a month. Serverless charges for the data held, so small caches cost little: the Valkey minimum of 100 MB costs $6.13 a month before requests, against $9.34 for one cache.t4g.micro node.
Ways to lower an ElastiCache bill
- Move from Redis OSS to Valkey. Node-hours are 20% lower on this page, and the upgrade is a change of engine on the existing cluster.
- Size nodes to the data. Plan for the memory the data needs plus the 25% AWS recommends reserving. A Valkey or Redis OSS cluster can move to a larger node type while it runs.
- Count the replicas. Each replica is a full node. Without one, a primary that fails loses its data, so production shards usually keep a replica; development and test clusters may not need them.
- Compare node generations per hour. On Valkey in US East (N. Virginia), cache.t4g.medium is 4% cheaper than cache.t3.medium, while cache.m7g.large is 6% dearer than cache.m6g.large.
- Consider data tiering for large data sets. r6gd nodes move the least frequently used items from memory to SSD, at no charge beyond the node-hour. Per GiB of memory plus SSD, cache.r6gd.xlarge costs 60% less than cache.r6g.xlarge on Valkey.
- Reserve steady clusters. Reserved nodes for one or three years cost less per hour than on-demand, and the reservation is size-flexible within a node family and region.
- Keep clients in the same Availability Zone where you can, since traffic between EC2 and ElastiCache in one zone is free.
Frequently asked questions
How much does ElastiCache cost?
A node-based cluster costs its node-hour price times the number of nodes. In US East (N. Virginia) the cheapest node on this page, cache.t4g.micro, is $0.0128/hr on Valkey ($9.34 a month), and a cache.r7g.large is $0.1752/hr on Valkey and $0.219/hr on Redis OSS ($127.90 and $159.87 a month). Serverless starts at the minimum data charge: $6.13 a month for Valkey and $91.25 for Redis OSS, before requests.
Is Valkey cheaper than Redis OSS on ElastiCache?
Yes. In the AWS price list retrieved on 2026-09-19, Valkey node-hours are 20% below Redis OSS for every node type and region on this page. On serverless, Valkey data storage is 33% lower and ECPUs are 32% to 34% lower, and the minimum metered data is 100 MB instead of 1 GB.
Do read replicas cost extra?
Every node is billed per node-hour, and a replica is a node. A shard with one primary and two replicas costs three times the node price, so 3 shards with 1 replica each is 6 nodes. Memcached has no replicas.
How is ElastiCache Serverless priced?
You pay for data stored, in GB-hours, and for requests, in ElastiCache Processing Units (ECPUs). A simple read or write uses 1 ECPU per KB transferred, and at least 1. In US East (N. Virginia) Valkey is $0.084 per GB-hour and $0.0023 per million ECPUs; Redis OSS and Memcached are $0.125 and $0.0034. Each cache is metered for at least 100 MB on Valkey and 1 GB on the other engines.
Is there an ElastiCache free tier?
Accounts that signed up for the AWS Free Tier before July 15, 2025 got 750 hours of cache.t3.micro node usage free for their first 12 months, so those allowances have now run out. Accounts created after that get AWS Free Tier credits instead. This calculator does not apply either.
Do ElastiCache backups cost extra?
One snapshot per active cache is free. Storage for more snapshots costs $0.085 per GB-month in all five regions listed here. Node-based Memcached clusters do not take backups; Memcached serverless caches do.
What does this calculator leave out?
Data transfer between Availability Zones or out of AWS, reserved nodes, Global Datastore replication, Extended Support charges for engine versions past standard support, the extra hourly charge for durable nodes that use synchronous writes (Valkey 9.0 and later; asynchronous writes cost nothing extra), Outposts, and taxes. On serverless it does not model commands that use more ECPUs because they need extra CPU time.
Prices are public list prices in US dollars, before tax, retrieved on 2026-09-19 from the AWS Price List API (AmazonElastiCache) and the Amazon ElastiCache pricing page. They change; check the source before committing to a number. Your bill also depends on discounts, credits and usage this calculator does not see.