AWS i8g.16xlargevsAWS i8g.metal-48xl

i8g.16xlarge pairs 64 vCPUs with 512GB of RAM at $5.4912/hr On-Demand (about $3954/mo at 24×7). i8g.metal-48xl pairs 192 vCPUs with 1536GB at $16.4736/hr (~$11861/mo). i8g.16xlarge is 200% cheaper per hour than i8g.metal-48xl ($10.9824/hr gap).

Because both instances are in the **i8g family**, the only thing that changes between them is sizing — same silicon, same architecture (AWS Graviton (ARM64)), same burstable/sustained behavior. The choice is purely about how much capacity you actually need: i8g.16xlarge gives you 64 vCPUs and 512GB of RAM, i8g.metal-48xl gives you 192 vCPUs and 1536GB. 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 3335/213062 for i8g.16xlarge and pending for i8g.metal-48xl. 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 i8g.16xlarge when your workload is closer to storage-optimized (NVMe SSD) (I/O-bound work needing low-latency NVMe local storage — NoSQL, search). Pick i8g.metal-48xl 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.