AWS r5.8xlargevsAWS r6a.8xlarge

r5.8xlarge pairs 32 vCPUs with 256GB of RAM at $2.0160/hr On-Demand (about $1452/mo at 24×7). r6a.8xlarge pairs 32 vCPUs with 256GB at $1.8144/hr (~$1306/mo). r6a.8xlarge is 10% cheaper per hour than r5.8xlarge ($0.2016/hr gap).

These are different generations of the same series. **r6a.8xlarge** is the newer generation, and AWS's pattern across generations is fairly consistent: ~10–15% better single-thread, 15–30% better multi-core, and similar or modestly higher per-hour pricing — so the price/performance per dollar usually improves with each generation. **r5.8xlarge** is still available and still works (AWS doesn't retire instance types quickly), but for new workloads the newer generation is typically the better default unless you have a specific reason to pin to the older AMI or there's a meaningful regional pricing advantage today.

On raw price-per-performance, the two are r6a.8xlarge delivers ~328% more single-thread Sysbench score per dollar (525 vs 2248 points per $1/hr). That's the cleanest signal we have for "which one runs your workload faster per dollar," but it only matters if your workload is single-thread-bound; for parallel workloads the multi-core scores (26098 vs 72642) are what to weigh. Spot pricing flips many of these comparisons — when r5.8xlarge drops to $0.4445/hr and r6a.8xlarge drops to $0.6246/hr, the cheap-per-hour winner can swing meaningfully.

In practice, pick r5.8xlarge when your workload is closer to memory-optimized (memory-bound work — in-memory databases, real-time analytics, large caches). Pick r6a.8xlarge when it's closer to memory-optimized (memory-bound work — in-memory databases, real-time analytics, large caches). 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.