m8i.32xlarge

Analysis

The m8i.32xlarge is a general purpose instance in the m8i series with 128 vCPUs and 512 GiB of memory on Intel Xeon Scalable (Granite Rapids) (up to 3.9 GHz), which makes it balanced at 4 GiB of memory per vCPU.

It is the cheapest of the 5 processor variants AWS sells at this size and generation. The m8idn.32xlarge on Intel Xeon Scalable (Granite Rapids) costs 80% more, and the m8id.32xlarge, the m8in.32xlarge and the m8ib.32xlarge also sit above it.

Running it in N. Virginia instead of São Paulo saves $2,936 a month per instance: $6.77/hour against $10.80/hour, a 59% spread.

On demand it costs $6.77/hour in US East (N. Virginia), $4,945 a month if left running, which puts it mid-table for general purpose types at the 44th percentile per vCPU ($0.0529 per vCPU-hour) and the 44th percentile per GiB ($0.0132 per GiB-hour).

Looking beyond its own line, 2 of 12 current types with 128 vCPUs and similar memory are cheaper. The cheapest of those is the m6a.32xlarge on AMD EPYC 7R13 at $5.53/hour.

It is size 9 of 11 in the m8i series. Stepping up to the m8i.48xlarge gives 192 vCPUs and 768 GiB for $2,472 more a month. Dropping to the m8i.24xlarge saves $1,236 a month.