AWS Support can be canceled after 30 days and re-enabled whenever needed. There is no long-term contract, and AWS allows support subscriptions to be toggled on and off freely. This makes it possible to treat AWS Support as an on-demand service rather than a permanent subscription.

For companies that only have 3-5 AWS-specific questions per year, maintaining continuous support coverage is unnecessary. Enabling support when a question arises, using it for the month, and then canceling is a perfectly valid approach that can save significant costs.

AWS Support Plans and Pricing

AWS offers three premium support tiers, each with a minimum monthly fee or percentage-based pricing, whichever is greater:

Business Support+ — $29/month minimum per account

• 9% of monthly AWS charges for the first $10,000
• 7% from $10,000 to $80,000
• 5% from $80,000 to $250,000
• 3% above $250,000

Enterprise Support — $5,000/month minimum

• 10% of charges up to $150,000
• 7% from $150,000 to $500,000
• 5% from $500,000 to $1,000,000
• 3% above $1,000,000

Unified Operations — $50,000/month minimum (90-day minimum commitment)

All AWS Support plans are billed monthly with no long-term contracts. Business Support+ requires a 30-day minimum commitment, after which the plan can be downgraded or canceled at any time.

How Cancellation Works

When Business Support+ is enabled, billing applies for a minimum of 30 days. After that period, the plan can be canceled without penalty. Access to support cases simply becomes unavailable until the plan is re-enabled.

This means support can be enabled when a specific question arises, used for the month, and then canceled once the issue is resolved and the 30-day period has passed.

The On-Demand Approach

For most companies, AWS-specific questions that truly require AWS Support are infrequent. Modern development practices, combined with extensive documentation and AI-powered coding assistants, mean that most issues can be resolved without contacting AWS directly.

When an AWS-specific issue does arise that cannot be resolved through other means, the process is simple:

1. Enable Business Support+
2. Open a support case
3. Resolve the issue
4. Cancel the support plan after 30 days

For the typical company with 3-5 genuine AWS Support questions per year, this approach provides full access to support when needed while avoiding 7-9 months of unnecessary subscription costs.

A Word of Caution

While toggling support on and off is allowed, doing it excessively could potentially draw attention. Enabling and canceling support every single month, year after year, pushes the boundaries of intended use.

However, for companies genuinely using support only a few times per year, this is not a concern. The pattern of occasional enablement for specific questions, followed by cancellation after 30 days, represents normal and acceptable usage.

The Financial Impact

The savings depend on monthly AWS spend:

$10,000 monthly AWS bill:

• Business Support+ cost: $900/month (9% of $10,000)
• Annual cost if always enabled: $10,800
• Annual cost if enabled 3 months: $2,700
• Annual savings: $8,100

$5,000 monthly AWS bill:

• Business Support+ cost: $450/month (9% of $5,000)
• Annual cost if always enabled: $5,400
• Annual cost if enabled 3 months: $1,350
• Annual savings: $4,050

$1,000 monthly AWS bill:

• Business Support+ cost: $90/month (9% of $1,000)
• Annual cost if always enabled: $1,080
• Annual cost if enabled 3 months: $270
• Annual savings: $810

Under $322 monthly AWS bill:

• The $29 minimum applies
• Annual cost if always enabled: $348
• Annual cost if enabled 3 months: $87
• Annual savings: $261

When to Keep Support Continuously Enabled

Certain situations justify maintaining continuous support coverage:

High question volume: Teams that regularly interact with AWS services at the cutting edge, or those using complex services with steep learning curves, may generate enough questions to justify continuous coverage.

Enterprise Support: This tier provides faster response times and a dedicated Technical Account Manager. The $5,000/month minimum and higher value proposition make toggling less practical.

Compliance requirements: Some compliance frameworks and audits specifically check for documented support agreements as part of the security posture.

For companies outside these categories, particularly those using Business Support+ with only occasional questions, the on-demand approach provides better value.

Remembering to Cancel

The main risk with this approach is forgetting to cancel after the 30-day period ends. A simple calendar reminder set for 32 days after enabling support solves this problem. If no cases have been opened in the past week, cancel the plan.

For organizations with multiple AWS accounts, AWS Organizations provides central visibility into which accounts have support enabled, allowing for coordinated management.

The Rocketleap Platform includes tooling that automatically cancels AWS Support after 30 days, removing the need to remember or manage this manually.

Conclusion

AWS Support can be canceled after 30 days and re-enabled at any time. For companies with only a few AWS-specific questions per year, treating support as an on-demand service rather than a permanent subscription is a straightforward way to reduce AWS costs significantly.

The key is being intentional about when support is enabled and disciplined about canceling when it is no longer needed.