AWS i8ge.2xlargevsAWS i8ge.metal-48xl

i8ge.2xlarge pairs 8 vCPUs with 64GB of RAM at $0.9492/hr On-Demand (about $683/mo at 24×7). i8ge.metal-48xl pairs 192 vCPUs with 1536GB at $22.7808/hr (~$16402/mo). i8ge.2xlarge is 2300% cheaper per hour than i8ge.metal-48xl ($21.8316/hr gap).

Because both instances are in the **i8ge 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: i8ge.2xlarge gives you 8 vCPUs and 64GB of RAM, i8ge.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 3336/26514 for i8ge.2xlarge and pending for i8ge.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 i8ge.2xlarge when your workload is closer to storage-optimized (NVMe SSD) (I/O-bound work needing low-latency NVMe local storage — NoSQL, search). Pick i8ge.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.