Pricing Calculator

Estimate Your WebStream Costs

Calculate your monthly WebStream BYOL SessionHours costs and see how they compare to AWS managed desktop and application streaming alternatives.

SessionHours Billing

Only Pay for Streaming Time

Traditional VDI pricing often penalises you for idle capacity — instances running "just in case," desktops sitting unused overnight, or fleets kept warm for reliability. WebStream works differently.

WebStream is billed only on the time your users are actually streaming. We call this SessionHours.

What is a SessionHour?

A SessionHour is one hour of active streaming session time, aggregated across your users. If 20 users stream for 2 hours each, that's 40 SessionHours.

This mirrors how AWS explains charging for streaming and desktop consumption — but WebStream applies the principle directly to the software value: the streaming framework and session delivery layer.

Always Ready, Only Billed When Used

Keep your gateways, orchestration, and scaling policies always ready. WebStream only charges when users are actively streaming sessions.

No stopped-instance fees, no idle fleet costs, no minimum monthly commitments baked into the software layer.

Comparison

Why WebStream Over AWS WorkSpaces Options

WebStream provides a focused, usage-aligned alternative to AWS managed desktop and application streaming services.

Note: AWS costs vary by instance type and region. Comparisons below use general-purpose defaults (stream.standard.medium / Standard bundle). Adjust rates in the calculator's Advanced Options to match your configuration.

vs WorkSpaces Applications

WorkSpaces Applications charges fleet instance-hours plus additional fees for Windows and multi-session usage, regardless of how many user sessions run on each instance.

  • Pay only for streaming time, not fleet hours provisioned for resilience
  • Deploy inside your VPC, aligned with your network and security patterns
  • BYOL-first posture — use your existing Microsoft licensing strategy

vs WorkSpaces Core

WorkSpaces Core managed instances offer monthly flat-rate pricing alongside hourly billing, designed for predictable full-time desktop patterns.

  • Usage-aligned economics for streaming workloads, not locked into monthly "always-on" costs
  • A clean middle lane between fully managed EUC and fully DIY VDI
  • Infrastructure stays in your account with full operational control

vs WorkSpaces Desktop

WorkSpaces Personal and Pools combine monthly fees and/or base-plus-hourly charges, with Windows license-included bundles adding an RDS SAL fee per user.

  • No bundled Windows licensing — WebStream pricing focuses on streaming framework value
  • Direct control over Windows estates and RDS licensing strategy
  • Integrates into existing app packaging and operations workflows
Licensing

BYO RDS Licenses — What It Means

Bring Your Own Remote Desktop Services licenses means you use your existing Microsoft licensing entitlements rather than paying a provider to include licensing in the service price.

License-Included (AWS)

Windows bundles include an RDS SAL fee per user per month when users access sessions. Convenient, but adds cost.

BYOL (WebStream)

No RDS SAL fee is required for each user. You keep licensing control, and WebStream bills only for SessionHours.

Tiers

Choose the Right Tier

All tiers include the WebStream streaming framework. Higher tiers add governance, compliance, and support capabilities.

Standard — $0.10/hr

Fast Rollout

For teams that want straightforward streaming with essential controls.

  • Core streaming framework
  • Essential admin and basic auditing
  • Best for SMB and departmental workloads
Pro — $0.15/hr

Production Ready

For production use across business units where governance and visibility matter.

  • Enhanced policy controls and scaling guardrails
  • Deeper audit events and export hooks
  • Priority support posture
Enterprise — $0.20/hr

Regulated & Scale

For regulated environments and large-scale rollouts with strict compliance requirements.

  • Compliance-grade auditing and retention controls
  • Advanced security and policy enforcement
  • Architecture and onboarding support
Quick Start

Choose a Scenario

Select a typical business pattern to prefill the calculator, then adjust as needed.

Configure Estimate

WebStream (BYOL)

$900.00
Monthly Total
$9.00 Per User / Month
$0.15 Effective $/hr
6,000 SessionHours
Compute: BYO RDS SAL: Not included No stopped fees

Monthly Cost Comparison

WorkSpaces Applications

$0.00
Monthly Estimate
$0.00 Per User / Month
$0.00 Effective $/hr
Compute: Included RDS SAL: Included Stopped fees: Included
Modelled: stream.standard.medium

WorkSpaces Personal

$0.00
Monthly Estimate
$0.00 Per User / Month
$0.00 Effective $/hr
Compute: Included RDS SAL: Included
Modelled: Standard bundle

WorkSpaces Pools

$0.00
Monthly Estimate
$0.00 Per User / Month
$0.00 Effective $/hr
Compute: Included RDS SAL: Included Buffer fees: Included
Modelled: stream.standard.medium

Decision Snapshot

If you have 100 users streaming 60 hours/month: WebStream Pro ≈ $900.00/mo

WebStream

  • WebStream is BYOL-only — no RDS SAL charged by WebStream
  • SessionHours are measured as aggregate active session time
  • Pricing tiers: Standard $0.10/hr, Pro $0.15/hr, Enterprise $0.20/hr
  • Does not include compute infrastructure costs (you provide your own EC2 or equivalent)

AWS Comparisons

  • Estimates are directional; AWS prices vary by region, instance type, and configuration
  • Default rates based on general-purpose instance types (stream.standard.medium for Applications & Pools; Standard bundle for Personal). Override in Advanced Options for GPU, compute-optimised, or other bundles
  • AWS WorkSpaces Applications example includes user fee for Windows Server-based streaming ($4.19/user-month) and stopped instance fees
  • AWS WorkSpaces Windows license-included bundles include RDS SAL; BYOL removes RDS SAL
  • WorkSpaces Core offers monthly flat-rate pricing for managed instances for predictable full-time usage patterns

WorkSpaces Applications Formula

Monthly = (Users × Hours × FleetRate) + (Users × StoppedHours × StoppedFee) + (Users × RDS_SAL if license-included)

Multi-session fleets charge hourly regardless of sessions per instance; concurrency can change infra sizing but the example method uses per-user-hour style.

WorkSpaces Pools Formula

Monthly = (Users × Hours × HourlyRate) + (Users × RDS_SAL if license-included) + (BufferUsers × Hours × StoppedFee)