AWS
- t2.nano or t3.nano (1 vCPU, 0.5 MB RAM) – $27/year
- Important Consideration
Azure
- B1s (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM) – $71/year – cheapest Reserved VM
- B1s (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM) – $9.67/month
- A0 Basic (1 vCPU, 0.75 GB RAM) – $13.39/month
- A0 Standard (1 vCPU, 0.75 GB RAM) – $14.88/month
- Important Considerations
- Custom domains is supported on the D1 (shared) App Service plan but NOT for the F1 (free) App Service plans – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/app-service/windows/
- F1 (Shared) App Service plan
- Allows for 60 CPU min/day
- Custom domains – No
- SSL – No
- Cost – free
- D1 (Shared) App Service plan
- Allows for 240 CPU min/day
- Custom domains – Yes
- SSL – No
- Cost – $9.67/month
- B1 App Service Plan
- 100 Azure Credit Units (ACUs) + 1.75 GB RAM
- Custom domains – Yes
- SSL – Yes
- Manual scale – up to 3 instances
- Cost – $55.80/month
GCP
- f1-micro (shared 0.2 vCPU, 0.6 GB RAM) – $3.88/month ($46.60/yr) – free for first 12 months
- g1-small (shared 0.5 vCPU, 1.7 GB memory) – $13.80/month ($165.56/yr)
- n1-standard-1 (1 vCPU, 3.75 GB RAM) – cheapest 1 yr Committed Use = $21.84 per month ($262.08/yr)
- Important Consideration
- f1-micro and g1-small machine types, as well as the sole-tenant premium charge, do not allow for Committed Use discounts, but they are eligible for Sustained Use discounts – https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/sustained-use-discounts
More Tips
- AWS Activate for Startups – https://aws.amazon.com/activate/
- Azure Startup Program – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/startups/
- GCP Startup Program – https://cloud.google.com/developers/startups/
AWS offers the most flexible purchasing options, for example: 100% upfront, partial upfront, or monthly payment plans. A multitude of choices mean if there’s a will, there’s way. If you make a mistake and over-commit on the number RIs you can get some of your investment back, with a bit of work.
Azure is tough to beat, especially if your organization has a long-standing relationship with Microsoft and you already have an Enterprise Agreement in place. Microsoft is aggressively capitalizing on the close relationship with the Windows customer base and garnering steady support for its hybrid cloud environments. Over-commit on the number of RIs will still cost you, however Microsoft makes it easy to get a partial refund.
Google makes it all quite simple, Sustained Use Discounts are automatic with no need to make a 1 or 3-year commitment. If you’re looking to save even more, a Committed Use Discount is a definite option, however a mistake is costly – as in no returns!