c5n.9xlarge

Analysis

The c5n.9xlarge is a compute optimized instance in the c5n series with 36 vCPUs and 96 GiB of memory on Intel Xeon Platinum 8124M (up to 3 GHz), which makes it balanced at 2.67 GiB of memory per vCPU.

Within the same generation and size, the c5.9xlarge on Intel Xeon Platinum 8124M costs $1.53/hour, 21% less ($302 a month). The other variants are the c5d.9xlarge at $1.73.

Running it in Mumbai instead of São Paulo saves $762 a month per instance: $1.94/hour against $2.99/hour, a 54% spread.

On demand it costs $1.94/hour in US East (N. Virginia), $1,419 a month if left running, which puts it mid-table for compute optimized types at the 71st percentile per vCPU ($0.0540 per vCPU-hour) and the 21st percentile per GiB ($0.0203 per GiB-hour).

It is size 5 of 6 in the c5n series. Stepping up to the c5n.18xlarge gives 72 vCPUs and 192 GiB for $1,419 more a month. Dropping to the c5n.4xlarge saves $788 a month.

Reserving it for a year with no upfront payment cuts the Linux rate to $1.23/hour, which beats on demand once it runs more than 63% of the time; three years brings it to $0.7060/hour, 64% below on demand. Windows Server roughly adds 85% to the bill at $3.60/hour, because the licence is charged per vCPU.