Storage & IOPS
Storage-Optimized IOPS Comparison: I3 vs I3en vs I4i vs I4g
Massive NVMe density for Cassandra, ScyllaDB, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch
The 'I' family provides terabytes of direct-attached NVMe storage with millions of read/write IOPS. Compare storage density, price per terabyte, and controller architecture.
1. Architectural & Silicon Specs Head-to-Head
Comparing underlying processor microarchitectures, memory ratios, and Nitro generation features using representative xlarge sizing.
i3x86_64
I3 Storage Optimized
ProcessorIntel Xeon E5-2686 v4 (Broadwell)
Clock Speed2.3 GHz
RAM / vCPU7.6 GiB/vCPU
Max Network20 Gbps
Max EBS IOPS65,000
AWS NitroLegacy Xen
Min Rate (i3.xlarge)$0.3120/hr
Monthly Est.$227.76/mo
Cost per vCPU$0.0780/hr
Cost per GiB RAM$0.0102/hr
CoreMark Benchmark52,722
CoreMark / $168,981
Price Index69% of highest
Save 31% vs most expensive
Compute / $ Value66% of leader
i3enx86_64
I3EN Storage Optimized
ProcessorIntel Xeon Platinum 8175
Clock Speed3.1 GHz
RAM / vCPU8.0 GiB/vCPU
Max Network100 Gbps
Max EBS IOPS80,000
AWS NitroSupported
Min Rate (i3en.xlarge)$0.4520/hr
Monthly Est.$329.96/mo
Cost per vCPU$0.1130/hr
Cost per GiB RAM$0.0141/hr
CoreMark Benchmark54,860
CoreMark / $121,372
Price Index100% of highest
Compute / $ Value48% of leader
i4ix86_64
I4I Storage Optimized
ProcessorIntel Xeon 8375C (Ice Lake)
Clock Speed3.5 GHz
RAM / vCPU8.0 GiB/vCPU
Max Network75 Gbps
Max EBS IOPS160,000
AWS NitroSupported
Min Rate (i4i.xlarge)$0.3430/hr
Monthly Est.$250.39/mo
Cost per vCPU$0.0858/hr
Cost per GiB RAM$0.0107/hr
CoreMark Benchmark66,786
CoreMark / $194,711
Price Index76% of highest
Save 24% vs most expensive
Compute / $ Value77% of leader
i4gARM64 (Graviton)
I4G Storage Optimized
ProcessorAWS Graviton2 Processor
Clock Speed2.5 GHz
RAM / vCPU8.0 GiB/vCPU
Max Network37.5 Gbps
Max EBS IOPS80,000
AWS NitroSupported
Min Rate (i4g.xlarge)$0.3089/hr
Monthly Est.$225.48/mo
Cost per vCPU$0.0772/hr
Cost per GiB RAM$0.0097/hr
CoreMark Benchmark78,498
CoreMark / $254,138
Price IndexLowest Cost
Save 32% vs most expensive
Compute / $ Value100% (Leader)
2. Side-by-Side Sizing & Pricing Matrix
Direct price and benchmark comparison across matching instance tiers in the lowest-cost region. Lowest hourly cost in each row is highlighted in green.
| Size Tier | vCPU | Memory | i3Linux Rate | i3enLinux Rate | i4iLinux Rate | i4gLinux Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .large | 2 | 15 GB | ||||
| .xlarge | 4 | 31 GB | ||||
| .2xlarge | 8 | 61 GB | ||||
| .3xlarge | 12 | 96 GB | — | — | — | |
| .4xlarge | 16 | 122 GB | — | |||
| .6xlarge | 24 | 192 GB | — | — | — | |
| .8xlarge | 32 | 244 GB | — | |||
| .12xlarge | 48 | 384 GB | — | — | ||
| .16xlarge | 64 | 488 GB | — | |||
| .24xlarge | 96 | 768 GB | — | — | ||
| .32xlarge | 128 | 1,024 GB | — | — | — |
3. Workload Decision Framework
Clear, actionable rules on when each family wins based on workload profile, runtime language, and licensing boundaries.
Recommended:I4i
When: High-density NoSQL databases (Cassandra, ScyllaDB) on x86
Why: Custom AWS Nitro SSDs reduce write latency by up to 60% compared to I3.
Recommended:I3en
When: Maximizing storage capacity per dollar for log analytics and data warehouses
Why: Lowest cost per GB of NVMe SSD storage across all EC2 instance families.
Recommended:I4g (Graviton2)
When: Modern NoSQL datastores with Linux ARM64 support
Why: Combines high-performance AWS Nitro SSDs with Graviton compute savings.