r4.2xlargeAWS Pricing, Specs & Benchmarks

The r4 family is a generation-4 memory-optimized line running on Intel Xeon (x86_64). r4.2xlarge provides 8 vCPUs and 61GB of RAM (a 1:8 vCPU-to-memory ratio), priced at $0.5320/hr On-Demand — about $383.04 per month at 24×7 utilization. In Sysbench CPU benchmarks it scores 956 single-core and 5923 multi-core.

Memory-optimized instances are sized for in-memory databases (Redis, Memcached), real-time analytics, large caches, and any workload whose working set wants to fit in RAM. If your workload doesn't match that profile — for example, if you're running a memory-bound app on a compute-optimized instance, or a CPU-pegged batch job on a burstable t-series — you'll likely pay for capacity you can't use or run into bottlenecks you didn't anticipate. The pages for sibling families (linked further down) cover those alternatives in detail.

In the AWS instance-naming convention, the digit after the series letter is the generation — higher is newer. AWS's current-generation alternative in the same series is **r5**, which generally offers better price/performance on newer silicon; if you're spinning up a new workload it's usually worth comparing the two before committing.

Pricing varies by region (sometimes meaningfully — the gap between the cheapest and most expensive AWS region for the same SKU is often 15–30%). The regional pricing table further down shows where r4.2xlarge is cheapest today, both On-Demand and Spot. Spot pricing for r4.2xlarge is currently $0.1737/hr — roughly 67% off On-Demand — which makes the instance viable for fault-tolerant batch jobs, CI fleets, and any workload that can tolerate interruption with short notice.