Methods and apparatus for flexible-location reservations and pricing for network-accessible resources are disclosed. A system includes a plurality of resources of a provider network distributed across multiple locations, and a resource manager. The resource manager implements a programmatic interface to allow a client to specify a flexible location option for a resource reservation request, indicating that the resource manager is to select one or more locations at which to reserve resource capacity. When a reservation request with the flexible location option specified is received, the resource manager selects a particular location based at least in part on heuristics using resource utilization data. In response to a resource activation request for the reservation, the resource manager activates a resource at a launch location selected from the multiple locations.