AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) Pricing 2026
Complete pricing guide with plans, hidden costs, and cost analysis
AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) pricing ranges from $0.02 to $0.02/per month (varies by usage).
AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) costs $0.02 to $0.02 per per month (varies by usage) as of March 2026, with 4 plans available. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: No free tier available
AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) offers 4 pricing tiers: Application Load Balancer (ALB), Network Load Balancer (NLB), Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB), Classic Load Balancer. The Network Load Balancer (NLB) plan is high-performance tcp/udp workloads.
Compared to other load balancers software, AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) is positioned at the budget-friendly price point.
- 9 documented hidden costs beyond list price
How much does AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) cost?
AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) Pricing Overview
AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) has 4 pricing plans ranging from $0.02 to $0.02/per month (varies by usage). The Application Load Balancer (ALB) plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for http/https applications with advanced routing. The Network Load Balancer (NLB) plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for high-performance tcp/udp workloads. The Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB) plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for deploying third-party network appliances. The Classic Load Balancer plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for legacy applications (migration to alb/nlb recommended).
There are at least 9 documented hidden costs beyond AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB)'s list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.
This pricing was last verified in February 4, 2026 from 1 independent sources.
All AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) Plans & Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application Load Balancer (ALB) | Contact Sales | Contact Sales | HTTP/HTTPS applications with advanced routing |
| Network Load Balancer (NLB) | Contact Sales | Contact Sales | High-performance TCP/UDP workloads |
| Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB) | Contact Sales | Contact Sales | Deploying third-party network appliances |
| Classic Load Balancer | Contact Sales | Contact Sales | Legacy applications (migration to ALB/NLB recommended) |
View all features by plan
Application Load Balancer (ALB)
- $0.0225 per ALB-hour (~$16.20/month) in US East
- $0.008 per LCU-hour
- Layer 7 load balancing (HTTP/HTTPS)
- Path-based and host-based routing
- WebSocket and HTTP/2 support
- AWS WAF integration
- Native container support (ECS, EKS)
- Lambda function targets
- gRPC support
Network Load Balancer (NLB)
- $0.0225 per NLB-hour (~$16.20/month) in US East
- $0.006 per NLCU-hour
- Layer 4 load balancing (TCP/UDP/TLS)
- Ultra-low latency (<100 microseconds)
- Millions of requests per second
- Static IP per Availability Zone
- Elastic IP support
- Preserve source IP
- PrivateLink support
Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB)
- $0.0125 per GWLB-hour (~$9/month) in US East
- $0.004 per GLCU-hour
- Layer 3 gateway + Layer 4 load balancing
- Deploy virtual appliances (firewalls, IDS/IPS)
- GENEVE protocol encapsulation
- Gateway Load Balancer Endpoints
- Transparent network traffic flow
- High availability for security appliances
Classic Load Balancer
- $0.025 per CLB-hour (~$18/month) in US East
- $0.008 per GB of data processed
- Layer 4 and Layer 7 load balancing
- Basic HTTP/HTTPS and TCP load balancing
- EC2-Classic support (deprecated)
- Legacy option - not recommended for new apps
How AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) Pricing Compares
| Software | Starting Price | Top Price |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) | $0.0225/per month (varies by usage) | $0.0225/per month (varies by usage) |
| F5 BIG-IP | Custom | Custom |
| HAProxy Enterprise | $995/per instance per year | $4995/per instance per year |
| Kemp LoadMaster | Custom | Custom |
| NGINX Plus | $849/per instance per year | $2099/per instance per year |
AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ALB/NLB) Pricing FAQ
01 How are ALB and NLB costs calculated?
You pay an hourly rate (approximately $0.0225/hour or $16.20/month) plus usage-based charges per Load Balancer Capacity Unit (LCU). LCUs measure new connections, active connections, processed bytes, and rule evaluations. You're charged for the dimension with the highest usage each hour.
02 What's included in the AWS Free Tier for load balancers?
Starting July 15, 2025, new AWS customers receive up to $200 in Free Tier credits for 6 months, applicable to ELB and other services. Credits must be used within 12 months of account creation. Regular usage charges apply after credits are exhausted.
03 When should I use ALB vs NLB?
Use ALB for HTTP/HTTPS traffic requiring Layer 7 features like path-based routing, host headers, or Lambda targets. Use NLB for ultra-low latency, static IPs, TCP/UDP traffic, or handling millions of requests per second. NLB preserves source IPs and offers higher performance.
04 What additional AWS charges should I expect?
Beyond ELB charges, expect data transfer costs (especially cross-AZ at $0.01/GB), public IPv4 address charges ($0.005/hour per IP), CloudWatch metrics/logging, and potential WAF costs. Data transfer charges can significantly exceed base ELB costs for high-traffic applications.
05 Can I reduce my ELB costs?
Yes, strategies include: consolidating multiple ALBs using path-based routing, minimizing cross-AZ traffic, optimizing rule evaluations, using IPv6 to avoid IPv4 charges, right-sizing capacity by monitoring LCU usage, and deleting unused load balancers. Region selection also impacts costs.
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