AWS r7iz.12xlargevsAWS r8gd.12xlarge

r7iz.12xlarge pairs 48 vCPUs with 384GB of RAM at $4.4640/hr On-Demand (about $3214/mo at 24×7). r8gd.12xlarge pairs 48 vCPUs with 384GB at $3.5270/hr (~$2539/mo). r8gd.12xlarge is 21% cheaper per hour than r7iz.12xlarge ($0.9370/hr gap).

These are different generations of the same series. **r8gd.12xlarge** 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. **r7iz.12xlarge** 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 r8gd.12xlarge delivers ~25% more single-thread Sysbench score per dollar (755 vs 944 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 (82934 vs 159724) are what to weigh. Spot pricing flips many of these comparisons — when r7iz.12xlarge drops to $1.2581/hr and r8gd.12xlarge drops to $0.8891/hr, the cheap-per-hour winner can swing meaningfully.

In practice, pick r7iz.12xlarge when your workload is closer to memory-optimized (memory-bound work — in-memory databases, real-time analytics, large caches). Pick r8gd.12xlarge 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.