On-Demand vs Spot Instances Comparison AWS vs Azure vs GCP
Are you struggling to manage your cloud costs? Do you want to reduce your bills by leveraging cheaper instances on the cloud? If yes, then you must have come across two famous instance types, i.e., on-demand and spot instances. In this article, we will compare both instance types in AWS, Azure, and GCP, providing you with an unbiased and factual analysis.
What are On-Demand Instances?
On-Demand instances, also known as pay-as-you-go instances, are the most popular instance types in the cloud. They provide users with the freedom to start and stop instances without any long-term commitment. You only pay for the resources you use on a per-hour basis.
What are Spot Instances?
Spot instances, on the other hand, are price-bidded instances. They provide users with the option to bid for unused cloud resources at a much lower rate than on-demand instances. If your bid price exceeds the current spot price, the instance remains active until its bid price falls below the current spot price. You only pay the current spot market price for the resources you use.
Comparison of On-Demand vs. Spot Instances
To understand the differences between on-demand and spot instances in AWS, Azure, and GCP, we created a basic comparison table. Our comparison includes instance pricing, features, and differences in availability.
| Instance Type | Provider | Spot Instances? | Payment Model | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On-Demand | AWS | No | Pay-as-you-go | Secure, reliable, predictable | Most expensive |
| Spot | AWS | Yes | Bidding | Cheap | Unpredictable availability, chance of termination |
| On-Demand | Azure | N/A | Pay-as-you-go | Auto-scaling, Azure credits | More expensive than GCP |
| Spot | Azure | Yes | Bidding | Cheap, high performance | No hybrid-cloud deployments |
| On-Demand | GCP | No | Pay-as-you-go | Sustained-use discounts, preemptible pricing | Limited variety of instances |
| Spot | GCP | Yes | Bidding | Cheap, high-performance | No standard storage or networking |
According to the table above, AWS offers the most featured in terms of instance types, which are available for Spot Instances as well. On the other hand, Azure does not offer any on-demand spot alternatives. However, GCP has a limited availability of on-demand or spot instance types, but with attractive features and pricing.
Conclusion
In conclusion, on-demand and spot instances are both suitable for different scenarios, depending on your workload and budget. If you prioritize predictable performance and dedicated resources, you should opt for on-demand. On the other hand, if you don't mind the occasional intermittent workloads, spot instances can save you up to 90% of infrastructure costs. Moreover, each provider offers different features and structures for each instance, hence, make sure to choose the appropriate based on the needs of your workload.
References
- AWS EC2 Pricing. Retrieved from https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/
- AWS Spot Instances Documentation. Retrieved from https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/spot-requests.html
- Azure Virtual Machines Pricing & Licensing. Retrieved from https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/linux/
- GCP Virtual Machines Pricing. Retrieved from https://cloud.google.com/compute/vm-instance-pricing