Cloud instance comparison · Prices checked July 2026
AWS c5.xlarge vs Azure Standard_F4s_v2
Azure Standard_F4s_v2 is cheaper than AWS c5.xlarge by $0.73/month (0.6% less), at matching specs of 4 vCPU and 8 GiB of memory. Azure Standard_F4s_v2 runs $123.37/mo on-demand versus $124.10/mo for AWS c5.xlarge, based on Azure's eastus and AWS's us-east-1 baseline on-demand Linux pricing.
Specs & pricing side by side
| Spec | AWS c5.xlarge | Azure Standard_F4s_v2 |
|---|---|---|
| vCPU | 4 | 4 |
| Memory | 8 GiB | 8 GiB |
| Region (baseline) | us-east-1 | eastus |
| Hourly (on-demand) | $0.1700 | $0.1690 |
| Monthly (730 hrs) | $124.10 | $123.37 |
| Price difference | Azure Standard_F4s_v2 is $0.73/mo cheaper than AWS c5.xlarge (0.6% less) | |
Which one should you pick?
Pick Azure Standard_F4s_v2 if price is your primary constraint — it's $0.73/mo cheaper for the same 4 vCPU / 8 GiB profile, which adds up to $8.76/year at steady utilization.
Pick AWS c5.xlarge if you're already committed to the AWS ecosystem — existing VPC/network setup, IAM policies, reserved capacity, or team expertise on AWS usually outweighs a 1% list-price gap on a single instance. Cross-provider migration cost rarely pays for itself on compute pricing alone.
Either way, this is a single-instance, on-demand comparison. Reserved/committed-use discounts (up to ~72% on both platforms) and your actual utilization pattern will move the real numbers — model your full workload with the calculator before deciding.
Frequently asked questions
Is AWS c5.xlarge cheaper than Azure Standard_F4s_v2?
Azure Standard_F4s_v2 is cheaper. It costs $123.37/mo on-demand versus $124.10/mo for AWS c5.xlarge — a difference of $0.73/mo (0.6%). Both instances offer 4 vCPU and roughly 8 GiB of memory, so the comparison is apples-to-apples on specs.
What are the specs of AWS c5.xlarge?
AWS c5.xlarge provides 4 vCPU and 8 GiB of memory, priced at $0.1700/hour on-demand ($124.10/month at 730 hours) in the us-east-1 baseline region.
How much does AWS c5.xlarge cost per month compared to Azure Standard_F4s_v2?
At 730 hours/month, AWS c5.xlarge costs $124.10 and Azure Standard_F4s_v2 costs $123.37. That is a monthly difference of $0.73, or $8.76/year.
Prices checked July 2026. Baseline regions: AWS pricing uses us-east-1, Azure uses eastus. All prices are on-demand Linux, list rate, before reserved/committed-use discounts. See our methodology for pricing sources, update cadence, and mapping rules.
Model your full stack, not just one instance
A single instance is one line item. Use the free SpendArk calculator to compare AWS, Azure, GCP, and DigitalOcean across your whole architecture — compute, database, storage, and networking together.
Open the cloud cost calculator →Related comparisons
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For a deeper dive on AWS vs Azure pricing beyond a single instance, read our full pricing comparison guide.