Can I pause/freeze an AWS EC2 dedicated host to reduce costs?

Question

I'm playing with the AWS EC2 Mac instance.

To save costs, I stop the EC2 instance when it's not needed, but my dedicated host is still running and generating costs.

Is there a way to stop a dedicated host similar to EC2?

I could release a dedicated host but for the mac1 instance, it charges me for 24h in the beginning so it's not worth it.

Answer 1

No, you cannot "pause" an EC2 dedicated host.

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A dedicated host (on-demand) only stops charging you when it is released.

As per the user guide :

After you release a Dedicated Host , you can't reuse the same host or host ID again, and you are no longer charged On-Demand billing rates for it .

Or the FAQs :

You will pay the On-Demand rate for every hour the host is active in your account

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You could also take a look at moving the EC2 instance to a shared tenancy, releasing the host, and then starting it back up when needed if this is possible. You can refer to this AWS Premium Support guide for steps on how to do this but I still wouldn't recommend it (though it is a valid way to "pause" the dedicated host).

Just try your best to use the 24hrs!