Dynamic

On-Demand Instances vs Reserved Instances

Developers should use On-Demand Instances for short-term, unpredictable, or experimental workloads where flexibility is key, such as development and testing environments, proof-of-concept projects, or applications with sporadic traffic spikes meets developers and organizations should use reserved instances when they have predictable, long-running workloads such as production servers, databases, or batch processing jobs that require consistent compute capacity. Here's our take.

🧊Nice Pick

On-Demand Instances

Developers should use On-Demand Instances for short-term, unpredictable, or experimental workloads where flexibility is key, such as development and testing environments, proof-of-concept projects, or applications with sporadic traffic spikes

On-Demand Instances

Nice Pick

Developers should use On-Demand Instances for short-term, unpredictable, or experimental workloads where flexibility is key, such as development and testing environments, proof-of-concept projects, or applications with sporadic traffic spikes

Pros

  • +They are cost-effective for scenarios where usage cannot be predicted in advance, avoiding the risks of over-provisioning or under-utilization associated with reserved instances
  • +Related to: aws-ec2, azure-virtual-machines

Cons

  • -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Reserved Instances

Developers and organizations should use Reserved Instances when they have predictable, long-running workloads such as production servers, databases, or batch processing jobs that require consistent compute capacity

Pros

  • +They are ideal for reducing cloud costs in scenarios where usage patterns are stable, as they offer savings of up to 75% compared to on-demand pricing
  • +Related to: aws-ec2, azure-virtual-machines

Cons

  • -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use On-Demand Instances if: You want they are cost-effective for scenarios where usage cannot be predicted in advance, avoiding the risks of over-provisioning or under-utilization associated with reserved instances and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Reserved Instances if: You prioritize they are ideal for reducing cloud costs in scenarios where usage patterns are stable, as they offer savings of up to 75% compared to on-demand pricing over what On-Demand Instances offers.

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The Bottom Line
On-Demand Instances wins

Developers should use On-Demand Instances for short-term, unpredictable, or experimental workloads where flexibility is key, such as development and testing environments, proof-of-concept projects, or applications with sporadic traffic spikes

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