Compute Pricing Comparison
Side-by-side pricing for general-purpose virtual machines across AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. All prices are hourly on-demand rates for US East regions.
Instance Family Types
| Category | AWS | GCP | Azure | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Purpose | m7i, m7g, m6i | n2, n2d, e2 | Dv5, Dasv5, Bsv2 | Web servers, app servers, small databases |
| Compute Optimized | c7i, c7g, c6i | c2, c2d, h3 | Fsv2, FX | Batch processing, HPC, game servers |
| Memory Optimized | r7i, r7g, x2idn | m2, m3, n2-highmem | Esv5, Easv5, Mv2 | In-memory databases, real-time analytics |
| GPU / Accelerated | p5, p4d, g5 | a2, a3, g2 | NCasT4v3, NDv5 | ML training/inference, rendering |
Equivalent Instance Pricing (On-Demand, US East)
General-purpose instances with comparable vCPU and memory configurations. Hourly rates.
| vCPUs | RAM (GB) | AWS (m7i) | $/hr | GCP (n2) | $/hr | Azure (Dv5) | $/hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 8 | m7i.large | $0.1008 | n2-standard-2 | $0.0971 | D2_v5 | $0.0960 |
| 4 | 16 | m7i.xlarge | $0.2016 | n2-standard-4 | $0.1942 | D4_v5 | $0.1920 |
| 8 | 32 | m7i.2xlarge | $0.4032 | n2-standard-8 | $0.3885 | D8_v5 | $0.3840 |
| 16 | 64 | m7i.4xlarge | $0.8064 | n2-standard-16 | $0.7769 | D16_v5 | $0.7680 |
| 32 | 128 | m7i.8xlarge | $1.6128 | n2-standard-32 | $1.5539 | D32_v5 | $1.5360 |
| 64 | 256 | m7i.16xlarge | $3.2256 | n2-standard-64 | $3.1078 | D64_v5 | $3.0720 |
Pricing as of early 2026. Verify current rates on provider pricing pages.
Pricing Models Compared
| Model | AWS | GCP | Azure | Typical Discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On-Demand | Per-second billing (60s min) | Per-second billing (60s min) | Per-second billing | Baseline (0%) |
| Spot / Preemptible | Spot Instances (variable pricing) | Spot VMs (fixed 60-91% discount) | Spot VMs (variable pricing) | 60-90% |
| Reserved / Committed | Reserved Instances, Savings Plans | Committed Use Discounts (CUDs) | Reserved VM Instances, Savings Plans | 20-72% |
| Sustained Use | Not available | Automatic (N1, N2 families) | Not available | Up to 30% (GCP only) |
Key Considerations
GCP Sustained Use Discounts
GCP automatically applies discounts when instances run more than 25% of a month. N1/N2 instances receive up to 30% off with no commitment required. This makes GCP on-demand pricing effectively lower for always-on workloads.
ARM-Based Instances
AWS Graviton (m7g), GCP Tau T2A, and Azure Cobalt offer ARM-based VMs at 20-40% lower cost than x86 equivalents. Workloads that compile for ARM (containers, interpreted languages) benefit significantly.
Burstable Instances
AWS T3/T4g, GCP e2-micro/small, and Azure B-series provide baseline CPU with burst capability. Cost-effective for variable workloads but can incur charges if burst credits are exhausted.
Egress Costs Matter
Compute pricing is only part of the total cost. Data transfer out (egress) ranges from $0.05-$0.12/GB across providers. For data-heavy workloads, egress can exceed compute costs.