Quick answer
Compute Engine is cheaper than Amazon EC2 at all three usage levels Playxoft priced. For two 2 vCPU, 8 GB servers with 50 GB disks in US East, it costs $123.46 a month against $148.16, and it is cheaper in all 12 regions covered. Playxoft's comparison uses official list prices checked October 14, 2026, with the always-free allowances applied.
- Official list prices
- 3 usage levels
- 12 regions
- Feature comparison
- Free calculator
How to compare Amazon EC2 and Compute Engine costs
- 1Pick a usage level (1 small server, 2 medium servers, 4 large servers), then change the numbers or add more items with the + buttons.
- 2Choose the Region where your users are. Prices differ by region.
- 3Adjust the numbers in each card. Every field has an i tip explaining it.
- 4Compare the two monthly totals, then open Cost breakdown to see exactly how Amazon EC2 and Compute Engine bill each line.
Which is cheaper, Amazon EC2 or Compute Engine?
Monthly list prices in US East with the always-free allowances applied:
| Usage per month | Amazon EC2 | Compute Engine | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 small server: 2 vCPU, 4 GB burstable, 30 GB disk | $32.77 | $27.46 | Compute Engine by $5.31 |
| 2 medium servers: 2 vCPU, 8 GB each, 50 GB disks | $148.16 | $123.46 | Compute Engine by $24.70 |
| 4 large servers: 4 vCPU, 16 GB each, 100 GB disks | $592.64 | $493.85 | Compute Engine by $98.79 |
Compute Engine is cheaper for 2 medium servers in all 12 regions the calculator covers. The small level uses burstable machines (t3.medium against e2-medium), which get no sustained use discount.
What are the EC2 and Compute Engine unit prices?
List prices in AWS us-east-1 (N. Virginia) and Google Cloud us-east1 (South Carolina), read on October 14, 2026:
| Price (US East, on-demand) | AWS | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Server, 2 vCPU / 8 GB, per hour | $0.096 (m6i.large) | $0.097118 (n2-standard-2) |
| SSD disk | $0.08 per GB-month (gp3) | $0.10 per GB-month (balanced) |
Is Amazon EC2 or Compute Engine cheaper in your region?
Two 2 vCPU, 8 GB servers with 50 GB disks, priced in each of the 12 regions the calculator covers:
| Region | Amazon EC2 | Compute Engine | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| US East | $148.16 | $123.46 | Compute Engine |
| US West | $148.16 | $123.46 | Compute Engine |
| Canada | $165.02 | $135.91 | Compute Engine |
| Brazil (São Paulo) | $238.58 | $195.10 | Compute Engine |
| Ireland | $165.02 | $134.81 | Compute Engine |
| UK (London) | $171.34 | $158.18 | Compute Engine |
| Germany (Frankfurt) | $177.42 | $158.18 | Compute Engine |
| India | $156.58 | $148.27 | Compute Engine |
| Singapore | $184.80 | $150.97 | Compute Engine |
| Japan (Tokyo) | $190.64 | $158.56 | Compute Engine |
| South Korea (Seoul) | $181.40 | $158.71 | Compute Engine |
| Australia (Sydney) | $184.80 | $174.49 | Compute Engine |
How do Amazon EC2 and Compute Engine compare on features?
| Amazon EC2 | Compute Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Comparable machine | m6i.large (2 vCPU, 8 GB) | n2-standard-2 (2 vCPU, 8 GB) |
| Billing | Per second, 60-second minimum (Linux) | Per second after a 1-minute minimum |
| Automatic discount | None | Sustained use, up to 20% on N2 (none on E2) |
| Commitment discount | Savings Plans, up to 72% | Committed use, up to 55% on 3 years |
| Spot capacity | Spot Instances, up to 90% off | Spot VMs, up to 91% off |
| SLA, single instance | 99.5% | 99.9% |
| SLA, across zones | 99.99% | 99.99% |
Facts from each provider's own documentation, checked October 14, 2026.
What are the key differences between Amazon EC2 and Compute Engine?
- Automatic discount. Compute Engine bills each quarter of the month at a lower rate for N2 machines, ending 20% lower for a full month. EC2 needs a Savings Plan for comparable savings.
- Billing. EC2 bills Linux instances per second with a 60-second minimum; Compute Engine per second after a 1-minute minimum.
- Disks. EBS gp3 includes 3,000 IOPS and 125 MiB/s per volume; Compute Engine balanced persistent disk is priced per GB.
- SLA. A single Compute Engine VM carries a 99.9% SLA; a single EC2 instance 99.5%. Both reach 99.99% across zones.
Should you choose Amazon EC2 or Compute Engine?
Choose Amazon EC2 if
- you will commit to 1 or 3 years with a Savings Plan
- you need instance types or regions only AWS offers
- the rest of your stack is on AWS
Choose Compute Engine if
- your servers run all month and you do not want to commit
- you want a 99.9% SLA on a single VM
- your app is built on Google Cloud services
More comparisons: AWS vs Google Cloud · Amazon EC2 vs Azure Virtual Machines · Compute Engine vs Azure Virtual Machines · AWS Lambda vs Google Cloud Run · Amazon S3 vs Google Cloud Storage · Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud SQL · Amazon DynamoDB vs Firestore.
Where do these prices come from?
Both sides use the provider's own published price list, read on October 14, 2026, for the same region, with the always-free allowances applied.
- AWS: Amazon EC2 On-Demand pricing
- Google Cloud: Compute Engine VM pricing
Prices are in US dollars, on-demand, for Linux, with no commitments. Every figure on this page is generated from the same price snapshot as the calculator, and automated tests check each claim whenever the prices change. A month is 730 hours and 1 TB is 1,024 GB. Providers change prices from time to time, so for a purchase decision confirm the final figure in the provider's console.
Moving between Amazon EC2 and Compute Engine?
Playxoft builds and runs production backends on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and Cloudflare, and plans migrations between them with no surprise downtime, including white-label work for agencies. Send us your architecture or last month's invoice and we will tell you, free, which side is cheaper for your real usage. Get a free cloud cost review.
Frequently asked questions
Last updated by the Playxoft engineering team.