aws-pricing

Query AWS service pricing information

TLDR

List AWS services available via the Price List API

$ aws pricing describe-services --region us-east-1

Get attribute values for a service (e.g. EC2 instance types)

$ aws pricing get-attribute-values --service-code [AmazonEC2] --attribute-name [instanceType] --region us-east-1

Get product pricing with filters

$ aws pricing get-products --service-code [AmazonEC2] --filters "Type=TERM_MATCH,Field=instanceType,Value=[t3.micro]" "Type=TERM_MATCH,Field=location,Value=[US East (N. Virginia)]" --region us-east-1

List available price lists for a service

$ aws pricing list-price-lists --service-code [AmazonEC2] --effective-date [2024-01-01] --currency-code USD --region us-east-1

Get download URL for a bulk price list file

$ aws pricing get-price-list-file-url --price-list-arn [arn:aws:pricing:::price-list/...] --file-format [json] --region us-east-1

aws pricing is the AWS CLI interface to the AWS Price List Query API, providing programmatic access to AWS service pricing. It allows querying prices using standardized product attributes like location, instance type, storage class, and operating system.The API is primarily used for building cost-estimation tools, budget forecasting, and cost-optimization analysis. Prices are returned at the SKU level with both On-Demand and Reserved Instance pricing options.

PARAMETERS

--service-code code

AWS service identifier (e.g. `AmazonEC2`, `AmazonS3`, `AmazonRDS`).

--filters filter ...

Filter products by attributes using `Type=TERMMATCH,Field=name,Value=value_`.

--region region

API endpoint region; must be `us-east-1`, `eu-central-1`, or `ap-south-1`.

--effective-date date

Date for which to retrieve prices (prices change over time).

--currency-code code

Currency for the price list (e.g. `USD`, `CNY`).

--format-version version

Response format version (`aws_v1`).

COMMANDS

describe-services

Return service codes and attribute names used for filtering.

get-attribute-values

Return valid values for a given service attribute.

get-products

Return products and their pricing matching the supplied filters.

list-price-lists

List bulk price list files available for a service and date.

get-price-list-file-url

Return a pre-signed URL to download a bulk price list file.

CAVEATS

The Price List Query API is only reachable through a small set of regional endpoints (commonly us-east-1 and ap-south-1). Result sets can be very large; use --filters aggressively. Bulk price list files downloaded via get-price-list-file-url can be several gigabytes. Prices are typically USD; not every service supports alternate currencies.

HISTORY

The AWS Price List API was launched in 2015 to expose pricing data previously only available through the AWS console or static bulk JSON files. The Query API (aws pricing) was added later to allow filtered, on-demand queries and has become a standard building block for cost-aware automation.