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AWS EC2 Instance Types and Pricing Comparison

AWS has 350 plus EC2 instance types to choose from. From the huge number of choices it gets very confusing to decide on the right AWS EC2 instance type.You end up choosing an AWS EC2 instance type based on pricing and your budget.

AWS recommends measuring the performance of your applications by rigorous load testing on different EC2 instance types to identify the right EC2 instance for your workload. But for Startups and small businesses it becomes difficult or impractical to do realistic load testing since application and use cases itself are evolving. Also time and budget is another limiting factor.

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AWS EC2 Instance Types and ec2instance-pricingPricing Comparison Table

EC2 Instance details on AWS website:
Going through the enormous content and the various technical details on the AWS website is overwhelming even for an expert. In this blog I explain the various details and the pricing in a concise and easy to understand way in a single page. You don’t have to browse through tons of different pages to understand or compare.

Instead of randomly choosing an EC2 instance type or choosing based on budget, you can follow these three simple steps for a more appropriate selection. The three simple steps are, understand the different EC2 instance types , key features and pricing. This ensures that you select the EC2 instance that matches your application requirements to a great extent.

Processors used in AWS EC2 instances:

AWS classifies EC2 instance types based on the type of workload they are best suited for. Another key factor you should be aware of is the processor used. Most of the AWS EC2 instances come in three different types of processor. Intel processor , AMD processor and AWS own Graviton2 processor.
 
AWS Graviton2 processor based EC2 instance types are the cheapest for a given CPU and memory combination when compared to AMD processor and Intel processor based EC2 instance types. Intel Processor based EC2 instance types are the costliest.
 
Instances with “a” in their name(e.g M5a.large) means they are AMD Processor based and “g” in the name(e.g M6g.large) means they are AWS Gravitron processor based.One variation in the naming convention is the A1 series. A1(a1.medium) series are based on the AWS Gravitron processor though no “g” is present.
 
Let’s understand the various classifications of AWS ec2 instances:
General Purpose: These Instances offer a balance of compute, memory, and network resources. General purpose instance types are T4g,T3,T3a,M6g,M5,M5a,M5ad and A1 series. T3 series are Burstable instances. Meaning the instance earns credit if used less than 100% utilization. These credits are used to burst beyond the capacity when required for a short duration. The credits get reset every 24hrs. T3 series should be the instances you should opt for if you are not sure of usage pattern and CPU/memory requirements.
 
ComputeOptimized : Suitable for compute-intensive workloads. Compute intensive applications that require more processing power and less memory. In these EC2 instance types CPU to Memory will be in the ratio of 1:2. E.g 2 vCPUs and 4 GB Memory.
 
Memory Optimized : If your application requires more memory and lesser processing power then memory optimized instances are ideal. CPU to Memory ratio is 1:8 in memory optimized instances. E.g for 1 vCPU you will have 8GB of memory.
 
Accelerated Computing: If your workload is machine learning , high performance computing or requires graphics processing power then accelerated computing instances are the right choice. You have options to choose the number of GPUs.
 
 
AWS EC2 Instance Types Pricing Compared
Instance FamilyInstance TypeProcessor FamilyMinimum Number of CPUsMinimum Memory Size(GB)Maximum Number of CPUsMaximum Memory Size(GB)Pricing Per month in USD for Minimum ConfigPricing Per month in USD for Maximum Config
General PurposeT4gAWS Graviton2 processors20.5832$2$129
General PurposeT3Intel Xeon Scalable processors20.5832$4$258
General PurposeT3aAMD EPYC 7000 series processors20.5832$2$142
General PurposeM6gAWS Graviton2 processors1464256$18$1165
General PurposeM5Intel Xeon® Platinum 8175M processor2896384$73$3491
General PurposeM5aAMD EPYC 7000 series processors2896384$40$1920
General PurposeM5adAMD EPYC 7000 series processors2896384$48$2319
General PurposeA1AWS Graviton Processor121632$18$294
Compute OptimizedC6gAWS Graviton2 processors1264128$15$982
Compute OptimizedC5Intel Xeon Scalable Processors2496192$61$2938
Compute OptimizedC5aAMD EPYC 7002 Processors2496192$34$1624
Compute OptimizedC5nIntel Xeon Platinum processors25.2572192$78$2799
Memory OptimizedR6gAWS Graviton2 Processor1864512$23$1498
Memory OptimizedR5Intel Xeon® Platinum 8000 series processors21696768$94$4492
Memory OptimizedR5aAMD EPYC 7000 series processors21696768$52$2471
Memory OptimizedR5nIntel Xeon Scalable Processors21696768$110$5287
Memory OptimizedX1eIntel Xeon Scalable Processors21696768$110$5288
Memory OptimizedZ1dIntel Xeon Scalable Processors21648384$141$3387
Accelerated ComputingP2Intel Xeon E5-2686 v4 processors46164732$1237$19791
Accelerated Computinginf1Intel Xeon Scalable Processors4896192$173$3575

Note:
1.Pricing is for On-Demand instances. Other pricing options are Reserved Instances and Savings Plan. Learn the difference here.
2.AWS Region considered for pricing is Asia Pacific – Mumbai.
3.Minimum Config Pricing refers to the minimum number of CPUs and Memory. Similarly for maximum config pricing.

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