UPDATE 1: Corrected the bandwidth calculation in the formulas for AWS.
UPDATE 2: Added new data for the February 2010 AWS data transfer price reduction.
In a previous posting I did a cost comparison of a reserved Amazon Web Services EC2 instance and a comparable dedicated server from Go Daddy. Amazon recently announced a set of price cuts for reserved instances, so an updated comparison is in order.
The server configurations I’m comparing are the same as last time:
| Go Daddy | AWS | AWS (new) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processor | Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz | 4 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 2 EC2 Compute Units each) [1 unit equals a 1.0-1.2 GHz 2007 Opteron or 2007 Xeon processor] | 4 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 2 EC2 Compute Units each) [1 unit equals a 1.0-1.2 GHz 2007 Opteron or 2007 Xeon processor] |
| Hard Drive(s) | Dual 300GB drives | 850GB of instance storage | 850GB of instance storage |
| Memory | 3.2GB | 7.5GB | 7.5GB |
| 1-year plan, w/o bandwidth | $2,483.46 | $2,351.20 | $1,962.40 |
| 3-year plan, w/o bandwidth | $6,622.56 | $5,153.60 | $4,557.20 |
I have added an extra column for the new EC2 reserved instance pricing scheme. Notably, the prices for the Go Daddy options haven’t changed in the last six months. For the 1- and 3-year AWS plans, the total costs have dropped by $390 (17%) and $600 (12%), bandwidth excluded.
(For the full discussion, refer to the previous posting.)
When including bandwidth use, the updated table looks as follows:
| 1GB/mth | 20GB/mth | 100GB/mth | 400GB/mth | 800GB/mth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go Daddy, 1-year plan | $2,483.46 | $2,483.46 | $2,483.46 | $2,483.46 | $2,723.34 |
| AWS, 1-year plan | $2,353.24 | $2,392.00 | $2,555.20 | $3,167.20 | $3,983.20 |
| AWS, 1-year plan (Aug 2009) | $1,963.24 | $2,002.00 | $2,165.20 | $2,777.20 | $3,593.20 |
| AWS, 1-year plan (Feb 2010) | $1,963.00 | $1,997.20 | $2,141.20 | $2,681.20 | $3,401.20 |
| Go Daddy, 3-year plan | $6,622.56 | $6,622.56 | $6,622.56 | $6,622.56 | $7,342.20 |
| AWS, 3-year plan | $5,159.72 | $5,276.00 | $5,765.60 | $7,601.60 | $10,049.60 |
| AWS, 3-year plan (Aug 2009) | $4,559.72 | $4,676.00 | $5,165.60 | $7,001.60 | $9,449.60 |
| AWS, 3-year plan (Feb 2010) | $4,559.00 | $4,661.60 | $5,093.60 | $6,713.60 | $8,873.60 |
With the old pricing, the AWS option was preferable unless bandwidth exceeded 100GB per month (for the 1-year plan) or 250GB per month (for the 3-year plan). After the August 2009 price cuts, AWS became an even more competitive option, although one that still falls behind for high bandwidth scenarios.
In February 2010, the price for outgoing data traffic dropped from $0.17 to $0.15. With the 3-year plan, AWS now matches Go Daddy up until almost 400GB per month.
Addendum: Some of the background data used in this posting:
- Go Daddy quotes from August 28, 2009
- Go Daddy 3-year plan cost: 2-year plan quote * 1.5
- AWS 1-year plan cost (< Aug 2009): $1,300 + (24 * 365 * 1 * $0.12) + (GB/mth * $0.17 * 12)
- AWS 1-year plan cost (Aug 2009): $910 + (24 * 365 * 1 * $0.12) + (GB/mth * $0.17 * 12)
- AWS 1-year plan cost (Feb 2010): $910 + (24 * 365 * 1 * $0.12) + (GB/mth * $0.15 * 12)
- AWS 3-year plan cost (< Aug 2009): $2,000 + (24 * 365 * 3 * $0.12) + (GB/mth * $0.17 * 36)
- AWS 3-year plan cost (Aug 2009): $1,400 + (24 * 365 * 3 * $0.12) + (GB/mth * $0.17 * 36)
- AWS 3-year plan cost (Feb 2010): $1,400 + (24 * 365 * 3 * $0.12) + (GB/mth * $0.15 * 36)
- EC2 pricing information
- Go Daddy dedicated server pricing information