Stop paying $3.75 per month for each public IPv4 in AWS

We aim to update you on important changes impacting your operating costs and cloud architecture. Since February 2024, AWS announced a significant modification that took effect on February 1, 2z024: they will begin charging approximately $3.75 per month ($0.005 per hour) for each public IPv4 address in use within your infrastructure.

Why is AWS introducing this new cost?

The main reason is the growing scarcity of available IPv4 addresses. As the internet continues to expand, IPv4 addresses, originally designed for a much smaller digital environment, are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive in the secondary market. AWS, like other cloud service providers, seeks to incentivize its users to adopt IPv6, which offers a much larger address space and has no additional costs associated with public addresses.

Which services are affected?

This change will impact several popular AWS services, including:

• Amazon EC2: Each EC2 instance using a public IP will now incur an additional monthly cost.

• Amazon RDS: Relational databases with assigned public IPs will also be subject to this fee.

• Amazon EKS: Kubernetes clusters employing public IPs will need to evaluate how to optimize this allocation.

• Amazon Redshift, Elastic Beanstalk, and other related services with assigned public IPv4 addresses.
  

How to mitigate this new cost in your architecture?

As your architect, I recommend implementing the following strategies to minimize the economic impact and optimize your architecture:

Adopt IPv6

IPv6 is the most sustainable long-term solution. AWS does not charge for public IPv6 addresses, and its adoption completely eliminates these new additional costs. Although the transition requires planning and technical validation, it's a strategic investment that guarantees significant savings and future scalability.

Efficient use of Load Balancers and NAT Gateways

An efficient way to reduce the total number of public IPs used is to centralize access through Elastic Load Balancers or NAT Gateways. This way, multiple private instances can share a few public IPv4 addresses, drastically decreasing total costs.

Optimize the allocation and monitoring of IP addresses

Regularly review your resources to detect unnecessarily assigned public IPs. AWS offers tools like "Public IP Insights" that facilitate the auditing, tracking, and optimization of assigned public IPv4 addresses in your account. Make sure to use these tools to continuously audit your environment and optimize allocation.

Reconsider the use of public instances

Evaluate whether you really need your instances or databases to be directly accessible from the internet. A secure architecture generally involves private instances that connect through a VPN or a secure direct connection. You'll reduce costs, increase security, and simultaneously comply with better architectural practices.

Final thoughts

The introduction of additional costs for public IPv4 addresses is a valuable reminder of the importance of continuously optimizing our cloud infrastructure. As architects, it's our responsibility to anticipate these changes and adapt our strategies and architectures to minimize the economic and technical impacts.

If you haven't already, now is an excellent time to evaluate your current IP allocation practices and consider a strategy towards IPv6 and a more efficient, economical, and secure architecture.