Virtual machines & images · AWS vs Google Cloud
Amazon EC2 bare metal instances vs Compute Engine bare metal instances
EC2 bare metal instances map to Compute Engine bare metal instances, offered as -metal machine types in series such as C3, C4, C4A, C4D, X4, and Z3.
Side-by-side comparison
| Aspect | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Service | Amazon EC2 bare metal instances | Compute Engine bare metal instances |
| Lifecycle | Generally available | Generally available |
| What it is | .metal sizes of many instance families. They give the OS direct access to the processor and memory, with no AWS hypervisor, for nested virtualization, special licensing, or low-level tooling. | Bare metal machine types (for example C3, C4, C4A, C4D, X4, and Z3 metal) with direct access to the host CPU and memory, managed like other Compute Engine instances. |
| Pricing model | .metal sizes are priced per second like other sizes of the same family. | Billed per second (1-minute minimum) for vCPUs, memory, and attached resources, by machine type and region. Sustained use discounts apply automatically to some series; committed use discounts and Spot pricing are also available. |
| Docs | Amazon EC2 bare metal instances docs | Compute Engine bare metal instances docs |
| Pricing page | Amazon EC2 bare metal instances pricing | Compute Engine bare metal instances pricing |
Key differences
- Bare metal instances are created and managed with the same Compute Engine APIs as VMs.
- Bare Metal Solution is a separate, older offering for specialized workloads such as Oracle databases.
Pricing summary
Pricing models only. No prices are quoted because they change by region and over time.
- AWS
- .metal sizes are priced per second like other sizes of the same family. Amazon EC2 bare metal instances pricing →
- GCP
- Billed per second (1-minute minimum) for vCPUs, memory, and attached resources, by machine type and region. Sustained use discounts apply automatically to some series; committed use discounts and Spot pricing are also available. Compute Engine bare metal instances pricing →
And on Azure?
Partial match Azure's equivalent is Azure Dedicated Host, Azure VMware Solution. AWS vs Azure comparison →
FAQ
What is the Google Cloud equivalent of Amazon EC2 bare metal instances?
EC2 bare metal instances map to Compute Engine bare metal instances, offered as -metal machine types in series such as C3, C4, C4A, C4D, X4, and Z3.
How does pricing compare between Amazon EC2 bare metal instances and Compute Engine bare metal instances?
AWS: .metal sizes are priced per second like other sizes of the same family. Google Cloud: Billed per second (1-minute minimum) for vCPUs, memory, and attached resources, by machine type and region. Sustained use discounts apply automatically to some series; committed use discounts and Spot pricing are also available. Check the official pricing pages for current rates.
What is the Azure equivalent?
Azure Dedicated Host and Azure VMware Solution (partial match). EC2 offers .metal sizes for many instance families, and Azure doesn't.