Alternative to r7i.large for better CPU utilization?

Based on your requirements for better CPU utilization while maintaining sufficient memory, you might want to consider the Amazon EC2 R7a instances as an alternative to the r7i.large. The R7a family offers a smaller instance size that could potentially meet your needs.

Specifically, you could look at the r7a.medium instance. This instance type provides:

1. 1 vCPU (compared to 2 vCPUs in r7i.large)
2. 8 GiB of memory (compared to 16 GiB in r7i.large)

The r7a.medium instance would likely increase your CPU utilization as it has half the CPU capacity of the r7i.large. This could potentially bring your utilization closer to your target of 55-60%. However, you should carefully consider if the reduced memory (8 GiB instead of 16 GiB) would still be sufficient for your workload.

R7a instances are powered by 4th generation AMD EPYC processors and are designed for memory-intensive workloads. They offer competitive performance and could be a good fit if you're looking to optimize both CPU utilization and costs.

If the r7a.medium proves to be too small for your needs, you could also consider the r7a.large, which has the same vCPU and memory specifications as the r7i.large but might offer different price-performance characteristics.

Remember to monitor your application's performance closely after making any instance type changes to ensure it meets your workload requirements. You may need to fine-tune your choice based on observed performance and cost considerations.

Sources
Amazon EC2 R7a Instances – Compute – Amazon Web Services