Citations

Special thanks to Frank Contrepois on completing the original RHEL analysis which forms this blog post, his further detailed research can be found here.
 

Introduction

This article explores the pricing structure of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) licenses on AWS. It aims to provide insights into how RHEL license costs are determined and identify factors influencing price variations.
 

Key Takeaways:

1. RHEL licenses on AWS are priced at $0.06 per hour per instance for four or fewer virtual CPUs (vCPU). For instances with more than four vCPUs, the RHEL license cost increases to $0.13 per hour per instance.
2. Instance size affects RHEL license costs, with micro, small, medium, large, and xlarge instances priced at $0.06 per hour, while all other sizes are priced at $0.13 per hour.
3. The number of vCPUs does not impact the RHEL license price beyond the threshold of four vCPUs. Whether using 8 vCPUs or 500 vCPUs, the license cost remains at $0.13 per hour.

Understanding the Data and Methodology

In order to analyze the pricing of RHEL licenses on AWS, Frank utilized AWS CodeBuild scripts to extract pricing data using the AWS Bulk API. This data was then filtered and made publicly available for further analysis. The data used in this article is from April 2023.

Calculating the License Cost.

To determine the cost of a Red Hat license, Frank compared the price of a Red Hat virtual machine (VM) with the price of a Linux VM. Since Linux is free, the difference between the two prices represents the license cost. This calculation was performed for the simplest version of an instance type without any additional software.
 

Exploring Factors Affecting License Prices

License Pricing by Instance Type

The initial hypothesis suggested that RHEL licenses are solely priced based on the instance type, disregarding factors like size and region. However, the analysis revealed that while this hypothesis is not entirely accurate, it is quite close to the actual pricing structure.

Instance Families: Limited Price Variation

Investigating the relationship between instance families and license prices, it was found that each instance family had only two distinct license prices. Therefore, the instance family does not significantly drive variations in license costs.

Instance Sizes: Impact on License Costs

The size of an instance does affect the RHEL license costs. Instances categorized as micro, small, medium, large, and xlarge have a license cost of $0.06 per hour. In contrast, all other sizes are priced at $0.13 per hour.

Number of vCPUs: Pricing Threshold and Flat Rates

Analyzing the impact of the number of virtual CPUs (vCPUs) on license prices, it was discovered that the license cost remains the same beyond a threshold of four vCPUs. Whether an instance has 8 vCPUs or 500 vCPUs, the license cost remains fixed at $0.13 per hour.

Conclusion And Final Thoughts

In conclusion, the pricing structure for RHEL licenses on AWS can be summarized as follows:

• Instances with four or fewer vCPUs have a license cost of $0.06 per hour.
• Instances with more than four vCPUs have a fixed license cost of $0.13 per hour.
• Instance size affects license costs, with micro, small, medium, large, and xlarge instances priced lower at $0.06 per hour.
• There is limited price variation across different instance families.
• These findings provide valuable insights for users seeking to understand and budget for RHEL license costs on AWS.