Compare equivalent compute instances and pricing across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Last verified: April 2026
Output will appear here...The Multi-Cloud Instance Compare tool lets you compare equivalent compute instances and pricing across AWS, Azure, and GCP side-by-side. Enter your resource requirements or select specific instance types and see how they map across providers with current pricing estimates. This tool is essential for multi-cloud cost optimization and migration planning.
Not always. CPU performance varies by generation, architecture (Intel vs. AMD vs. ARM), and clock speed. Network and storage performance also differ. A 4-vCPU instance on one provider may outperform an equivalent spec on another. Benchmark your specific workload for accurate comparison.
Major price changes happen a few times per year, usually tied to new instance generation launches. All three providers have committed to not raising prices on existing generations. New generations typically offer better price-performance. This tool uses representative pricing that should be verified against current provider pricing pages.
Price is one factor, but also consider data transfer costs between clouds, operational complexity of managing multiple providers, team expertise, service ecosystem lock-in, and compliance requirements. Multi-cloud is most valuable for redundancy and avoiding vendor lock-in rather than per-workload cost optimization.
Your company is migrating a fleet of 50 m5.xlarge instances from AWS to either Azure or GCP. You enter the specs (4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM) and the tool shows D4s v5 on Azure at $0.192/hr and n2-standard-4 on GCP at $0.194/hr, compared to $0.192/hr on AWS. The prices are nearly identical, but GCP's sustained use discounts would save 20% without any commitment. You present the comparison to leadership showing GCP saves $15,000/year on compute alone.
The comparison engine maps instance families across providers using a normalized schema of vCPU count, memory, network bandwidth, and storage options. It applies current on-demand pricing for each provider's equivalent instance and calculates percentage differences. Instance family mapping uses AWS as the reference baseline and finds the closest equivalent on Azure and GCP by matching CPU generation, memory ratio, and intended workload type.
A vCPU is not a vCPU across clouds. AWS vCPUs are hyperthreads (half a physical core), Azure vCPUs are also hyperthreads, but GCP offers both standard (hyperthread) and sole-tenant (full core) options. Benchmark-heavy workloads should compare by core performance, not vCPU count.
Sustained use discounts on GCP apply automatically with no commitment. If you run a GCP instance for more than 25% of the month, you start getting discounts up to 30%. AWS and Azure require explicit Reserved Instance or Savings Plan commitments for comparable savings.
Do not forget to compare network performance tiers. AWS c5n and m5n instances offer 100 Gbps networking; standard instances cap at 25 Gbps. Azure has accelerated networking. GCP has per-VM egress bandwidth caps based on vCPU count. Network-intensive workloads may need a different instance than CPU/memory analysis suggests.
Was this tool helpful?
Disclaimer: This tool runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to our servers. Always verify outputs before using them in production. AWS, Azure, and GCP are trademarks of their respective owners.