A Spot Instance is an unused or underused EC2 that is available for clients and customers for less than an on-demand price. Thanks to the fact that Spot Instances allow customers to request unused EC2 instances at steep discounts, it also allows them to enjoy much lower EC2 costs significantly.
Beyond that, the hourly price for a Spot Instance is called a Spot price. The Spot price of each unique instance in each zone of availability is set by EC2 and is then adjusted gradually based on the long-term supply and demand for Spot Instances.
Overall, Spot Instances are a cost-effective option if you are able to be flexible when it comes to when you can run your applications – as well as if your applications can be interrupted. To that end, Spot Instances are very well suited for those who work jobs in data analysis, batch jobs, background processing, and tasks that are optional.
While you may be starting to understand why AWS Spot Instances are so valuable, you may still be wondering why you should use AWS Spot Instances.
In order to clarify why AWS Spot Instances can be so valuable, let’s break down the major differences between Spot Instances and On-Demand Instances.
Key differences between AWS Spot Instances and On-Demand Instances:
Launch time:
- Spot Instances can only be launched immediately if the Spot Request is active and capacity is available.
- On-Demand Instances can only be launched immediately if the user is able to make a manual launch request and if capacity is available.
Available capacity:
- If capacity is not available for the user, the Spot Request will continue to automatically make the launch request until the necessary capacity becomes available.
- If capacity is not available when the user makes a launch request, the user will get an ICE – or an insufficient capacity error.
Hourly price:
- In all cases, the hourly price for Spot Instance will vary based on the demand that is present.
- When it comes to hourly price for On-Demand Instance, the cost will remain constant despite the demand.
Instance interruption:
- When it comes to Instance interruption, a user can stop and start AWS EBS-backed Spot Instance. On top of that, the Amazon EC2 Spot service is able to interrupt a specific Spot Instance if capacity is no longer available, if the Spot price exceeds the user’s maximum price, or if demand for Spot Instances increases.
- When it comes to On-Demand Instance, the user gets to determine when that On-Demand Instance is interrupted – stopped, terminated or hibernated.
As you can see, there are many differences between AWS Spot Instances and On Demand Instances. Hopefully, this will allow you to make the best choice for you and your business going forward.
If you are interested in savings and are able to be flexible about when you would use Spot Instances, you can benefit greatly from the savings that are offered to users all over the world. This can help you take your business to the next level.
