Understanding AWS NAT Gateway Regional Pricing

While most people quote the standard “4.5 cents” price for NAT Gateways, the actual cost depends heavily on which AWS Region you are in.

If you are deploying global infrastructure, a NAT Gateway in São Paulo costs nearly double one in Virginia.

United States (East/West) & Europe (Ireland/Frankfurt)

This is the baseline “tier 1” pricing.

• Hourly: ~$0.045
• Processing: ~$0.045 / GB

Asia Pacific (Tokyo / Singapore)

Slightly higher due to infrastructure costs in dense cities.

• Hourly: ~$0.052 - $0.059
• Processing: ~$0.052 - $0.059 / GB

South America (São Paulo)

The most expensive standard region due to taxes and infrastructure scarcity.

• Hourly: ~$0.093 (+106% vs US)
• Processing: ~$0.093 / GB

Africa (Cape Town)

• Hourly: ~$0.059
• Processing: ~$0.059 / GB

Why This Matters

If you spin up “replica” environments in SA-East-1 (Brazil) for a small local team, remember that your idle costs will be double. A standard 3-AZ deployment just for “baseline” networking will cost ~$200/mo in Brazil vs. ~$100/mo in the US—before you even send a single byte of data.

[!TIP] Planning a global rollout? Check the effective rate for your target region in our NAT Gateway Pricing Calculator.