Choosing the right AWS region is more than just picking geography. It can have a significant impact on your cloud bill. In this post, we’ll explore which AWS regions tend to be the cheapest, what cost factors to watch out for, and how to make region decisions based on your use cases.
Why AWS Region Pricing Varies
Before exploring specific regions, it helps to understand why region-to-region pricing differences exist. Key factors include:
- Local costs (power, real estate, taxes, labor) differ by country/region.
- Supply and demand in a region influence pricing (e.g., more competition for capacity may raise prices).
- Regulatory/regional fees or local taxes may increase costs in some jurisdictions.
- Data transfer and egress charges are region-specific (moving data between AWS and the internet or across regions has different costs per region).
- Service availability / maturity — newer regions sometimes lag in having all AWS features, which can affect cost or force you to use less optimal services.
Because of all these variables, the “cheapest region” is not a static answer. But we can observe consistent patterns.
Regions That Consistently Rank Among the Least Expensive
Based on recent data and cost-analysis reports, the following AWS regions often come out as the cheaper options (for many typical workloads):
| Region | Why It’s Often Cheaper | Things to Watch Out For |
|---|---|---|
US East (Northern Virginia) — us-east-1 | Broadest service support, high capacity, competitive pricing. Many cost comparisons put it among the lowest cost regions. | If your users are far from the East US, latency may suffer. Also, data sovereignty/regulation may rule it out for some use cases. |
US East (Ohio) — us-east-2 | Often close behind or even slightly below Northern Virginia for some instance types and use cases. | Some people report more spot-capacity surprises, and you should validate feature availability. |
US West (Oregon) — us-west-2 | Because of good capacity, availability, and competition, Oregon also frequently appears among the inexpensive US regions. | Again, for latency-sensitive workloads, being further west may have tradeoffs. |
| European Regions (Ireland, Stockholm, London, etc.) | When your user base is in Europe (or data must stay in Europe), EU regions tend to offer competitive pricing (though typically a bit higher than top US ones). | Expect somewhat higher egress rates or feature delays in some cases. Also keep an eye on data transfer costs. |
| Regions to Be Cautious With | South America (São Paulo) often shows up as one of the most expensive regions in comparisons. | High network latency to users outside South America, possible limited features, higher data egress costs. |
A representative chart from CloudPrice (as of September 2025) shows that US West (Oregon) / us-west-2 currently has one of the lowest average per-hour prices among a set of popular instance types.
While the N. Virginia region often comes out ahead in terms of price, it’s important to note that different regions like Sao Paulo and Northern California are consistently among the more expensive AWS regions due to higher real estate costs, labor costs, and local regulations. For workloads that don’t have strict data residency requirements, keeping your compute and storage away from these regions can lead to substantial cost savings.
What You Must Consider Beyond Base Compute Costs
When comparing AWS regions, base VM / EC2 pricing is just one piece of the puzzle. To make an informed decision, consider:
- Data transfer & egress costs
- Moving data out of AWS to the internet (egress) is priced differently by region.
- Cross-region data transfers (e.g. replicating data) can add up.
- Service availability & features
- Newer or niche services may not be available in all regions yet.
- Some regions get new AWS features later, which may force workarounds.
- Latency / proximity to users
- Even if a region is cheaper, if it’s far from your users, performance may suffer.
- Sometimes paying a bit more in a closer region is worth it for better user experience.
- High availability & fault tolerance
- The number of Availability Zones (AZs) differs by region; more AZs allow better redundancy.
- Regulatory & data sovereignty constraints
- If you are under GDPR, or other local regulations, your options may be constrained to certain regions.
- Reserved Instances / Savings Plans
- Pricing benefits from reserved or committed plans also vary by region. Some regions may yield better percent savings for the same commitment.
AWS divides infrastructure into different availability zones within each specific AWS region. These zones are designed to reduce the rate of failure and protect against localized outages, but they also contribute to different prices across various regions. The physical location of each AWS data center directly affects aws costs, since utilities and land vary across North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. That’s why Cape Town, Tel Aviv, or Hong Kong may not always be the cheapest options, even if they offer the lowest latency for local users.
How to Pick the Right “Cheapest Region” for Your Workload
Here’s a sequence you can follow:
- List your core cost drivers
- Is compute your biggest cost (EC2 / Lambda)?
- Or is data (transfer, storage, I/O) more significant?
- Run region-specific cost models / comparisons
Use AWS calculator or cost modeling tools to estimate the cost in candidate regions (for your typical workload). For detailed comparisons, you can use the AWS pricing calculator or even query the AWS price list API. Many AWS customers also use AWS Cost Explorer for tracking ongoing spend and identifying the best option for long-term workloads. - Check service availability / feature gaps
Make sure all the AWS services you depend on are available in those candidate regions. - Simulate latency / performance
Run latency measurements from your target user geographies to candidate regions. - Consider hybrid / multi-region strategies
Sometimes splitting workloads (e.g. compute in cheapest region; UI + API in a region closer to users) may yield balance between cost & performance. - Monitor & adjust
After deployment, continuously monitor and reassess — AWS pricing, capacity, or your usage may shift over time. A proactive approach to cost monitoring helps SaaS companies, startups, and enterprises alike. Checking instance pricing for virtual machines in a specific region through the AWS Management Console or your AWS profile pagewill ensure you’re aligned with your specific needs.
Sample Use Cases & Recommendations
- Non-latency-sensitive processing jobs or batch workloads
These can often live in the absolute cheapest region (e.g.us-east-1orus-east-2) because user-interaction latency is irrelevant. - User-facing applications in Europe
It might make sense to use an EU region (e.g.eu-west-1in Ireland oreu-north-1) even if slightly more expensive to reduce round-trip times. - Global SaaS with users in multiple continents
A multi-region architecture can help: e.g. front ends in closer regions, core compute in cheaper region(s), and smart data replication. - Disaster recovery / backups
Use a second, cheaper region as a failover or backup store, but factor in cross-region data transfer costs.
If you’re experimenting, the AWS Free Tier is a great way to try out Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)in a particular region without upfront commitments. For larger production deployments, especially in multi-region deployments, remember that inter-region latency and the cost of data transfer (like moving a TB of data across regions) can outweigh the average price advantage of the cheapest AWS regions.
Some organizations, including SaaS companies handling personal information, are also restricted to a specific AWS region such as AWS GovCloud. These compliance-focused regions aren’t usually the lowest price, but they are the best AWS region for meeting regulatory requirements.
Summary & Takeaways
- There is no one “cheapest region” for all use cases, but US East (Northern Virginia) and Ohio frequently rank among the lowest cost AWS regions for many common workloads.
- US West (Oregon) is also often competitive, especially for workloads in or near the West US.
- European regions are generally more expensive than top US ones, but necessary for compliance or latency reasons for European users.
- Always factor in data transfer, latency, feature availability, and region-specific constraints when comparing.
- Use tools and modeling to validate for your specific workload, and keep monitoring — cost dynamics change over time.
Ultimately, there’s no single answer for the best AWS region. The intricacies of AWS pricing, including cloud costs, operational costs, and cost of data transfer, mean that the right region depends on your specific needs. By weighing factors like failure modes, local zones, and privacy policy requirements, AWS customers can strike the right balance between lowest latency and cost optimization. Whether you’re deploying in North America, Asia Pacific, or testing a new AWS region like the AWS Stockholm region, using best practices and keeping an eye on cloud infrastructure costs will always help you find the cheapest options without compromising performance.