Large Price Comparison: 55 Dedicated Cloud Compute Optimised Solutions

Dedicated compute optimised instances deliver high performance for compute-bound applications in the cloud. They are, therefore, ideal for low latency applications like Chronicle’s software. However, which one gives the best bang for one’s buck in terms of performance?

To find out, I made a comparison of 55 vendors’ cheapest instances and the price of their one-year plans. The instances feature a total memory in the range 64-356 GB, and the amount of storage was selected to be closest to 2 TB NMVe. The PassMark software was used for the benchmark to indicate how well Java applications perform. PassMark have gathered millions of benchmark results that test users have posted to compare the speed of different processors. In the table below 1 vCPU = 1450 PassMark.

The dedicated compute options are ranked by price per virtual CPU. As not all CPUs are the same, the number of vCPU is determined by the passmark of the CPU. I created it to show both the variation in how much each vCPU gives you, and how much a dedicated server costs can vary dramatically across vendors.

What stood out to me was the dominance of the Ryzen 5950X package among solutions that were the most cost effective. The new Ryzen 7950X released this month, reported to be 15-40% faster than the 5950X, will be one to watch in future. Further, the most common providers are highlighted in yellow and clearly belongs to the higher price tier.

This comparison assumes that each instance is running only one software package, for example Chronicle’s. It is also important to point out that the table contains raw prices. Some packages might include additional features that, for example, simplify the development and deployment or other features. Deviations in features are not accounted for in the table.

*Not provided, CPU is guesstimated.