How much does AWS NAT Gateway cost per hour?

AWS NAT Gateway costs $0.045 per hour in us-east-1 (N. Virginia) and us-east-2 (Ohio). Prices vary by region: $0.048/hr in eu-west-1 (Ireland), $0.052/hr in eu-central-1 (Frankfurt), and up to $0.093/hr in sa-east-1 (São Paulo). This is charged per gateway regardless of traffic.

How much does NAT Gateway charge per GB of data processed?

NAT Gateway charges $0.045 per GB of data processed in us-east-1. This is in addition to the hourly charge. For example, if you process 100 GB in a month through a single NAT Gateway in us-east-1, you pay $32.85 for hours (730 hrs × $0.045) plus $4.50 for data (100 GB × $0.045) = $37.35/month.

Why is my NAT Gateway bill so high?

NAT Gateway bills add up from two charges: the always-on hourly fee ($0.045/hr = ~$32.85/mo per gateway) and the per-GB data processing fee. Common causes of high bills include: running NAT Gateways in multiple AZs, heavy outbound traffic from private subnets (container pulls, API calls, logging), and cross-AZ traffic between services. Consider VPC endpoints for AWS services, IPv6, or NAT instances for lower-traffic workloads.

What are cheaper alternatives to NAT Gateway?

Alternatives include: (1) VPC Endpoints — free for S3 and DynamoDB, eliminating NAT Gateway charges for AWS service traffic. (2) NAT Instances — EC2 instances configured as NAT, cheaper for low-traffic use cases. (3) IPv6 — eliminates NAT entirely for IPv6-capable services. (4) AWS PrivateLink — for accessing AWS services without NAT. Most teams save 30-60% by adding VPC endpoints for S3 and ECR.

Is NAT Gateway pricing the same in all AWS regions?

No. NAT Gateway pricing varies significantly by region. The cheapest regions are us-east-1, us-east-2, and us-west-2 at $0.045/hr and $0.045/GB. European regions like eu-central-1 (Frankfurt) cost $0.052/hr. The most expensive region is sa-east-1 (São Paulo) at $0.093/hr — more than double the US price.

What is a NAT Gateway?

A NAT Gateway allows instances in a private subnet to connect to the internet while preventing inbound connections. It's a managed AWS service that handles network address translation.

How much does a NAT Gateway cost per month?

A single NAT Gateway in us-east-1 costs $32.85/mo just for the hourly charge (730 hours × $0.045). Data processing adds $0.045/GB. At 100 GB/mo, total is ~$37.35/mo.

Do I need one NAT Gateway per AZ?

For production, yes. A NAT Gateway is AZ-scoped. If its AZ goes down, private subnets in other AZs lose internet access. Deploy one per AZ for high availability — this triples the hourly cost.

What's the difference between NAT Gateway and NAT Instance?

NAT Gateway is managed by AWS — no patching, automatic failover, up to 100 Gbps. NAT Instance is a self-managed EC2 instance (~$3/mo for t4g.nano) but you handle updates, failover, and bandwidth is limited.

How do I reduce NAT Gateway costs?

Use VPC Endpoints for S3/DynamoDB (free Gateway endpoints). Use Interface Endpoints for other AWS services. Adopt IPv6 for EC2-to-EC2 traffic. Use a NAT Instance for dev/test environments.

Can I use VPC Endpoints instead?

For AWS service traffic (S3, DynamoDB, ECR, CloudWatch, etc.), yes. Gateway Endpoints for S3/DynamoDB are free. Interface Endpoints cost $0.01/hr + $0.01/GB but avoid NAT data charges.

Should I use IPv6 instead?

If your workloads support dual-stack, enabling IPv6 lets instances communicate directly without NAT. It's free but requires application and dependency support for IPv6.

Is there a free tier for NAT Gateway?

No. NAT Gateway has no free tier. You're charged from the moment it's created. Even an idle NAT Gateway costs ~$33/mo in us-east-1.

Why does NAT Gateway pricing vary by region?

Infrastructure costs vary by location. Sao Paulo ($0.093/hr) is over 2x the cost of US regions ($0.045/hr) due to local infrastructure costs, taxes, and data center expenses.

Are data transfer charges separate from NAT Gateway charges?

Yes. Standard AWS data transfer charges apply on top of NAT Gateway charges. Outbound internet data transfer is $0.09/GB for the first 10 TB. This is separate from the $0.045/GB NAT processing fee.

AWS NAT Gateway Pricing Per Hour & Per GB by Region (2026)

AWS NAT Gateway costs $0.045 per hour + $0.045 per GB in us-east-1. Calculate your monthly bill and compare cheaper alternatives.

AWS Region

Number of NAT Gateways

Hours per Month

Data Processed (GB/month)

Monthly Cost Breakdown

Hourly Cost

$32.85

gateways × $0.045/hr × 730h

Data Processing

$4.50

GB × $0.045/GB

Total Monthly

$37.35

hourly + data processing

Effective Cost/GB

$0.37

total ÷ GB processed

Alternatives Comparison

Option	Monthly Cost	Notes
NAT Gateway	$37.35	Managed, highly available, up to 100 Gbps
NAT Instance (t4g.nano)	$3.07	Self-managed, limited bandwidth
VPC Endpoint	$8.30	Per-service, no data to internet
IPv6 (dual-stack)	$0.00	Free, requires app support

NAT Gateway Pricing by Region

Region	Per Hour	Per GB	Monthly (1 GW)
US East (N. Virginia)	$0.045	$0.045	$32.85
US East (Ohio)	$0.045	$0.045	$32.85
US West (N. California)	$0.048	$0.048	$35.04
US West (Oregon)	$0.045	$0.045	$32.85
Europe (Ireland)	$0.048	$0.048	$35.04
Europe (London)	$0.048	$0.048	$35.04
Europe (Paris)	$0.048	$0.048	$35.04
Europe (Frankfurt)	$0.052	$0.052	$37.96
Asia Pacific (Singapore)	$0.059	$0.059	$43.07
Asia Pacific (Tokyo)	$0.062	$0.062	$45.26
Asia Pacific (Mumbai)	$0.056	$0.056	$40.88
South America (Sao Paulo)	$0.093	$0.093	$67.89

AWS NAT Gateway Pricing by Region (2025–2026)

NAT Gateway Pricing in us-east-1 (N. Virginia)

In us-east-1, a NAT Gateway costs $0.045 per hour and $0.045 per GB processed. Running one NAT Gateway 24/7 for a full month (730 hours) costs $32.85 in hourly charges alone. At 100 GB/month of data, the total comes to $37.35/month. For high-availability setups with 3 AZs, multiply the hourly cost by 3 — that's $98.55/month before data charges.

NAT Gateway Pricing in us-west-2 (Oregon)

The us-west-2 (Oregon) region has the same pricing as us-east-1: $0.045 per hour and $0.045 per GB. Monthly base cost for one gateway is $32.85. Oregon is one of the cheapest AWS regions for NAT Gateway alongside us-east-1 and us-east-2.

NAT Gateway Pricing in us-east-2 (Ohio)

NAT Gateway in us-east-2 (Ohio) costs $0.045 per hour and $0.045 per GB — identical to us-east-1. Monthly base cost is $32.85 for one gateway running continuously.

NAT Gateway Pricing in eu-central-1 (Frankfurt)

In eu-central-1 (Frankfurt), pricing is higher at $0.052 per hour and $0.052 per GB. A single gateway costs $37.96/month in hourly charges — about 15% more than US regions. At 100 GB/month, total is $43.16.

NAT Gateway Pricing in eu-west-1 (Ireland)

EU West (Ireland) charges $0.048 per hour and $0.048 per GB. Monthly base cost is $35.04 for one gateway. This is the cheapest EU region for NAT Gateway pricing, alongside eu-west-2 (London) and eu-west-3 (Paris).

NAT Gateway Pricing in eu-west-2 (London) & eu-west-3 (Paris)

Both eu-west-2 (London) and eu-west-3 (Paris) match Ireland's pricing: $0.048 per hour and $0.048 per GB. Monthly base cost is $35.04 per gateway.

NAT Gateway Pricing in ap-northeast-1 (Tokyo)

Asia Pacific (Tokyo) is one of the more expensive regions at $0.062 per hour and $0.062 per GB. A single gateway costs $45.26/month — nearly 38% more than us-east-1. At 100 GB/month, total is $51.46.

How to Use This Calculator

Select your region

Pricing varies by AWS region

Enter your usage

Number of gateways and GB/month

Compare alternatives

NAT Instance, VPC Endpoint, or IPv6

The NAT Gateway Tax

At low traffic (10 GB/month), your effective cost per GB is ~$3.33 — the fixed hourly charge dominates. At 1 TB/month, the effective cost drops to ~$0.08/GB. The NAT Gateway is most cost-effective at high throughput. For low-traffic workloads, a NAT Instance or VPC Endpoints can save 80-90%.

The Essentials

Two Charges

Per-hour ($0.045) + per-GB ($0.045) in us-east-1

Up to 100 Gbps

5 Gbps base, auto-scales to 100 Gbps

Per-AZ Deployment

One NAT Gateway per AZ for redundancy

Hidden Data Costs

Cross-AZ transfer adds $0.01/GB on top

Fully Managed

No patching, scaling, or failover to manage

NAT Instance Alternative

t4g.nano at ~$3/mo but self-managed

Frequently Asked Questions

Pricing Sources

All pricing data is based on AWS published rates for us-east-1 (unless stated otherwise). Prices may vary and should be verified against official sources.

Amazon VPC Pricing — NAT Gateway per-hour and per-GB rates by region
NAT Gateway Basics — Amazon VPC Docs — Bandwidth specs (5 Gbps base, scales to 100 Gbps)
EC2 On-Demand Pricing — NAT Instance (t4g.nano) pricing at $0.0042/hr
AWS PrivateLink Pricing — VPC Interface Endpoint at $0.01/hr + $0.01/GB
Gateway Endpoints — Amazon VPC — S3/DynamoDB Gateway Endpoints (free)

Last verified: March 2026. Pricing is for us-east-1 unless otherwise noted. Rates have remained stable since 2025.

Overpaying on NAT Gateway traffic?

Recon identifies idle resources, unexpected data transfer costs, and right-sizing opportunities across your Kubernetes clusters — so you stop leaking money on NAT Gateways and cloud networking.

Join the waitlist →