For Amazon Web Services, the reserved instance helps the user save money if the user is going to run the same instance for a longer period. Generally, if the user uses the instances around 30-40% annually it is recommended to use RI. Here as the instance runs only for 1 hour daily it is not recommended to have RI as it will be costlier. The user should use on-demand with EBS in this case. Reference: http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/purchasing-options/reserved-instances/