AWS i7i.12xlargevsAWS i7i.4xlarge

i7i.12xlarge pairs 48 vCPUs with 384GB of RAM at $4.5302/hr On-Demand (about $3262/mo at 24×7). i7i.4xlarge pairs 16 vCPUs with 128GB at $1.5101/hr (~$1087/mo). i7i.4xlarge is 67% cheaper per hour than i7i.12xlarge ($3.0201/hr gap).

Because both instances are in the **i7i family**, the only thing that changes between them is sizing — same silicon, same architecture (Intel Xeon (x86_64)), same burstable/sustained behavior. The choice is purely about how much capacity you actually need: i7i.12xlarge gives you 48 vCPUs and 384GB of RAM, i7i.4xlarge gives you 16 vCPUs and 128GB. AWS scales pricing close to linearly within a family, so picking the right size is mostly about right-sizing your workload, not getting a better deal per vCPU.

Benchmark data for at least one of these instances is still being collected, so a direct performance-per-dollar comparison isn't possible yet. Sysbench scores are pending for i7i.12xlarge and 3427/28122 for i7i.4xlarge. Check back as the benchmark queue completes — newer-generation instances typically score 10–30% higher on single-thread and 15–50% higher on multi-core vs the previous generation in the same series.

In practice, pick i7i.12xlarge when your workload is closer to storage-optimized (NVMe SSD) (I/O-bound work needing low-latency NVMe local storage — NoSQL, search). Pick i7i.4xlarge when it's closer to storage-optimized (NVMe SSD) (I/O-bound work needing low-latency NVMe local storage — NoSQL, search). When neither side is obviously right, the cheaper hourly rate usually wins for fault-tolerant batch workloads, while the higher single-core score usually wins for latency-sensitive web traffic. The regional pricing tables linked from each instance page below show where each is currently cheapest — sometimes a >20% regional gap flips the comparison entirely.