guideupdated may 24, 2026 · 7 min read
AWS vs GCP Compute Pricing Compared (2026)
TL;DR
For on-demand general workloads, GCP wins on price — especially the e2 family. For committed workloads (1–3 year), AWS edges ahead with deeper Savings Plan discounts. For GPU, AWS's g5 line is cheaper at small scale; GCP's A100/H100 wins at training scale.
Equivalent SKUs · monthly cost
us-east-1 / us-central1 · linux · on-demand
| Workload | AWS | $/mo | GCP | $/mo | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General web/api | AWSm5.xlarge | $140 | GCPn2-standard-4 | $142 | AWS −1% |
| Mid-tier app servers | AWSm5.2xlarge | $280 | GCPn2-standard-8 | $284 | AWS −1% |
| CPU-bound batch jobs | AWSc5.xlarge | $124 | GCPc2-standard-4 | $152 | AWS −19% |
| In-memory caches | AWSr5.xlarge | $184 | GCPn2-highmem-4 | $191 | AWS −4% |
| ML inference (GPU) | AWSg5.xlarge | $734 | GCPa2-highgpu-1g | $2,145 | AWS −66% |
Best for X workload
Best for steady workloadsAWS wins
3-year reserved m5.xlarge sits 8% under GCP's 3-yr CUD for n2-standard-4 in us-east-1.
m5.xlarge · 3yrOpen in tool
Best for spot/preemptibleGCP wins
GCP preemptible n2-standard-4 typically clears at $0.062/hr vs AWS spot at $0.077/hr in same region.
n2-standard-4 · spotOpen in tool
Best for cheap general workloadsGCP wins
GCP e2-standard-4 is a Burstable-class SKU 30% under AWS m5.xlarge on-demand — fine for non-CPU-bound services.
e2-standard-4Open in tool
Best for GPU inferenceAWS wins
AWS g5.xlarge with the A10G undercuts GCP's smallest A100 SKU by 3× — better $/inference for sub-batch workloads.
g5.xlargeOpen in tool
Frequently asked
Is AWS or GCP cheaper for a small startup?
For raw compute, GCP's e2-standard family is consistently the cheapest "general purpose" tier across most regions. AWS becomes competitive once you commit (Savings Plans / 1-3yr reserved), and Graviton (ARM) m7g instances close most of the gap on-demand.
Do AWS m5 and GCP n2 have the same performance?
They're close — both are Intel Cascade Lake / Ice Lake class. For most web/api workloads the difference is within 5%. CPU-bound workloads benefit more from AWS c-family or GCP c2/c3 than from picking m5 vs n2.
What about Spot vs Preemptible interruption rates?
GCP preemptibles have a hard 24-hour ceiling but consistently low (~5%) eviction otherwise. AWS spot has no time cap but eviction is region/family dependent. For batch < 24h, GCP is the safer bet.
Are egress fees comparable?
Roughly. Both providers charge ~$0.085/GB out to the internet for moderate volumes in 2026, with discounts at TB scale. GCP's in-network egress between zones is cheaper than AWS's cross-AZ data transfer in many regions.