What does the RI break-even point measure?

• A. The amount of time after purchasing to match the on-demand cost.
• B. The date after which the on-demand cost would equal the reserved cost.
• C. The moment the on-demand cost of resource usage first exceeds the total reserved cost.
• D. The time when the reservation has been fully amortized.

Answer: (A)

The RI break-even point is the elapsed time after you purchase a Reserved Instance at which the amount you would have spent on on‑demand capacity equals the total cost of the RI. In other words, it’s the payback period where the savings from the lower hourly rate cover what you paid upfront or over time. After you reach that point, continuing to run with the RI is cheaper than staying on on-demand.

The calendar date framing isn’t as precise because the actual payback depends on how much you use the instance. The moment when on-demand costs first exceed the reserved cost describes a point after you’ve already passed break-even, not the break-even moment itself. And “fully amortized” can imply different interpretations than the straightforward payback from savings, which is the key idea here.