Quick Answer: GP3 is 20% cheaper and faster than GP2

  • Cost: GP3 costs $0.08/GiB-month vs GP2 at $0.10/GiB-month
  • Performance: GP3 baseline is 3,000 IOPS vs GP2’s variable 3 IOPS/GiB
  • Burst: GP3 burst to 3,000 IOPS always available; GP2 burst depends on volume size
  • Migration: Zero-downtime, in-place retyping via AWS CLI or CloudFix

What Changed: Why GP3 Replaces GP2

AWS launched GP3 in December 2020 as the successor to GP2. GP3 delivers better baseline performance at a lower price point, with the option to independently scale IOPS and throughput without increasing storage size.

The key difference: GP2 ties IOPS to volume size (3 IOPS per GiB), meaning you overpay for storage just to get performance. GP3 decouples them entirely.

GP2 vs GP3: Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature GP2 GP3
Price $0.10/GiB-month $0.08/GiB-month
Baseline IOPS 3 IOPS/GiB (variable) 3,000 IOPS (fixed)
Max IOPS 16,000 16,000
Burst IOPS Up to 3,000 (small volumes) 3,000 (always)
Throughput 128-250 MiB/s 125 MiB/s baseline
Provisioned IOPS Not available Up to 16,000 ($0.005/IOPS)
Provisioned Throughput Not available Up to 1,000 MiB/s ($0.04/MiB/s)
Multi-attach No No

When GP3 Wins

  • Small volumes (under 1 TiB): GP3 gives you 3,000 IOPS flat. A 100 GiB GP2 volume only gets 300 IOPS. That’s a 10x performance boost for less money.
  • Large volumes (over 1 TiB): GP3 costs 20% less per GiB. Period. No trade-off.
  • Bursty workloads: GP3’s 3,000 IOPS burst pool is always available. GP2 burst credits deplete and recover based on volume size.
  • Right-sizing: With GP3, you size storage for storage, not for IOPS. Buy exactly what you need.

When GP2 Might Still Make Sense

Honestly, not often. AWS itself recommends GP3 for most workloads. GP2 only matches GP3’s baseline IOPS at exactly 1 TiB. Below that, GP3 wins. Above that, GP3 still wins on price.

The one edge case: volumes between 1-3 TiB where you need consistent IOPS above 3,000 but below what the GP2 formula delivers. Even then, you’re usually better off on GP3 with provisioned IOPS.

Cost Comparison: Real Numbers

Here’s what a 500 GiB boot disk costs:

  • GP2: 500 × $0.10 = $50/month, 1,500 IOPS
  • GP3: 500 × $0.08 = $40/month, 3,000 IOPS

Same price tier at 1 TiB:

  • GP2: 1,000 × $0.10 = $100/month, 3,000 IOPS
  • GP3: 1,000 × $0.08 = $80/month, 3,000 IOPS

At 1 TiB you get the same IOPS for $20/month less. Below 1 TiB it’s cheaper AND faster.

How to Migrate: GP2 to GP3

Single Volume (AWS CLI)

aws ec2 modify-volume \
  --volume-id vol-0abc123def456 \
  --volume-type gp3

The change is instant. No snapshot, no stop, no downtime. AWS handles the migration in the background.

All Volumes at Scale (CloudFix)

For organizations with hundreds or thousands of volumes across multiple accounts, doing this manually is impractical. CloudFix discovers every GP2 volume, calculates the savings, and executes the migration across your entire AWS estate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does migrating GP2 to GP3 cause downtime?

No. The retyping happens in-place with zero downtime. Performance may briefly drop during the actual migration (usually under an hour), but the volume stays fully available.

Can I go back to GP2 from GP3?

Technically yes, via the same modify-volume call. But there’s no reason to go back to a more expensive, lower-performance volume type.

What about io1 and io2?

io1/io2 are provisioned IOPS volumes for databases and latency-sensitive workloads. Most people using them for general compute should be on GP3 instead. See our GP3 vs io1/io2 comparison for the breakdown.

Does CloudFix handle other EBS optimizations?

Yes. CloudFix finds and fixes unused EBS snapshots, over-provisioned volumes, missing encryption, and right-sizing on GP3.

Related AWS Cost Optimization Guides

Bottom Line

GP3 is faster, cheaper, and more flexible than GP2. If you’re still running GP2 volumes, you’re leaving money on the table. The migration is safe, fast, and requires no application changes.

For a single account with a few dozen volumes, the AWS CLI approach works fine. For organizations managing hundreds of volumes across multiple accounts, CloudFix automates the discovery, analysis, and migration at scale.