About This Tool
The GCP Compute Instance Finder helps you navigate Google Cloud's machine type catalog to find the right Compute Engine instance for your workload. Filter by vCPU count, memory, GPU availability, and machine family to find matching options with pricing estimates. The tool covers all current machine families including general purpose (E2, N2, N2D, C3), compute optimized (C2, C2D, H3), memory optimized (M1, M2, M3), and accelerator-optimized (A2, G2).
Frequently Asked Questions
- What do GCP machine type names mean?
- GCP machine types follow the pattern [family]-[type]-[vCPUs]. For example, e2-standard-8 means E2 family, standard type (balanced CPU-to-memory), 8 vCPUs. Types include: standard (4 GB/vCPU), highcpu (1 GB/vCPU), highmem (8 GB/vCPU). Custom types allow arbitrary CPU and memory combinations.
- Should I use E2 or N2 instances?
- E2 instances are the most cost-effective for general workloads and automatically use a mix of Intel and AMD processors. N2 instances offer consistent Intel Cascade Lake performance, higher sustained-use discounts, and support for local SSDs and sole-tenant nodes. Choose E2 for cost savings and N2 for predictable performance.
- What are sustained-use and committed-use discounts?
- Sustained-use discounts (SUDs) automatically reduce pricing by up to 30% as instances run longer in a month. Committed-use discounts (CUDs) offer 1-year (37% off) or 3-year (55% off) savings commitments on vCPU and memory. CUDs apply at the project level and work across machine types. E2 instances receive SUDs but not CUDs.