DEV Community

Wakeup Flower
Wakeup Flower

Posted on

Which is cheaper EBS gp2 or gp3

#aws
Volume Type Performance Characteristics
gp2 General Purpose SSD — IOPS scales with size (3 IOPS/GB) up to 16,000 IOPS. Cannot provision IOPS separately.
gp3 General Purpose SSD — baseline 3,000 IOPS and up to 16,000 IOPS. IOPS can be provisioned independent of volume size.
io1 Provisioned IOPS SSD — up to 64,000 IOPS. IOPS must be provisioned. Higher cost.
io2 Like io1 but with higher durability and better performance consistency. More expensive.

1. Performance Model

Feature gp2 gp3
IOPS scaling Tied to volume size: 3 IOPS per GB (min 100 IOPS, max 16,000 IOPS) Separate from volume size: baseline 3,000 IOPS, can provision up to 16,000 IOPS
Throughput Max 250 MB/s (depends on size) Baseline 125 MB/s, can provision up to 1,000 MB/s
Bursting Yes (smaller volumes can burst above baseline for a time) No burst; performance is fixed to provisioned IOPS/throughput
Provision flexibility No — must increase volume size to increase IOPS Yes — can provision IOPS and throughput separately

Example:
If you need 10,000 IOPS:

  • gp2 → needs ~3.33 TB volume size (3 IOPS/GB) → you pay for extra storage you may not need.
  • gp3 → can set IOPS to 10,000 regardless of volume size → you save cost and keep storage smaller.

2. Cost

  • gp2: Cheaper per GB storage, but you pay for extra size if you want high IOPS.
  • gp3: Slightly more expensive per GB, but much cheaper for high IOPS workloads because you can provision performance separately from size.

💡 AWS says gp3 volumes are on average 20% cheaper than gp2 volumes for the same storage capacity and IOPS requirements.

3. Use Cases

gp2 ideal for gp3 ideal for
General workloads with moderate IOPS needs and where storage size = performance needs Workloads with high performance needs but where performance must be independent of volume size (databases, high IOPS apps, latency-sensitive workloads)

Summary Table

Feature gp2 gp3
Max IOPS 16,000 16,000
IOPS scaling Size-based Provisionable
Throughput ≤ 250 MB/s Up to 1,000 MB/s
Cost efficiency Low for high IOPS workloads High for high IOPS workloads
Bursting Yes No

💡 Bottom line: gp3 gives you more control, better performance, and lower cost for high IOPS workloads compared to gp2. gp2 is simpler but less flexible.

Top comments (0)