x2iezn.12xlarge

Analysis

The x2iezn.12xlarge is a memory optimized instance in the x2iezn series with 48 vCPUs and 1536 GiB of memory on Intel Xeon Platinum 8252 (up to 4.5 GHz), which makes it very memory-heavy at 32 GiB of memory per vCPU.

Within the same generation and size, the x2gd.12xlarge on AWS Graviton2 costs $4.01/hour, 60% less ($4,380 a month), though switching means rebuilding software for arm64.

Running it in N. Virginia instead of Tokyo saves $3,285 a month per instance: $10.01/hour against $14.51/hour, a 45% spread. It is not offered in Ohio, Canada Central, São Paulo, London, Frankfurt, Mumbai, Singapore and Sydney, so plan around that if you need a presence there.

Nothing else with 48 vCPUs and similar memory is cheaper: among 2 current same-shape types it has the lowest on-demand price.

Per vCPU it is one of the dearer memory optimized types: 97% of the 385 current types in the family cost less than its $0.2085 per vCPU-hour. The premium mostly pays for the very fast networking. On demand it is $10.01/hour in US East (N. Virginia), or $7,306 for a 730-hour month.

Reserving it for a year with no upfront payment cuts the Linux rate to $6.16/hour, which beats on demand once it runs more than 62% of the time; three years brings it to $3.21/hour, 68% below on demand. Windows Server roughly adds 22% to the bill at $12.22/hour, because the licence is charged per vCPU.