Instance types

When you launch an instance, the instance type that you specify determines the hardware of the host computer used for your instance. Each instance type offers different compute, memory, and storage capabilities, and is grouped in an instance family based on these capabilities. Select an instance type based on the requirements of the application or software that you plan to run on your instance.

Amazon EC2 dedicates some resources of the host computer, such as CPU, memory, and instance storage, to a particular instance. Amazon EC2 shares other resources of the host computer, such as the network and the disk subsystem, among instances. If each instance on a host computer tries to use as much of one of these shared resources as possible, each receives an equal share of that resource. However, when a resource is underused, an instance can consume a higher share of that resource while it's available.

Each instance type provides higher or lower minimum performance from a shared resource. For example, instance types with high I/O performance have a larger allocation of shared resources. Allocating a larger share of shared resources also reduces the variance of I/O performance. For most applications, moderate I/O performance is more than enough. However, for applications that require greater or more consistent I/O performance, consider an instance type with higher I/O performance.

Instance type names

Amazon EC2 provides a variety of instance types so you can choose the type that best meets your requirements. Instance types are named based on their family, generation, additional capabilities, and size. The first position of the instance type name indicates the instance family, for example c. The second position indicates the instance generation, for example 5. The remaining letters before the period indicate additional capabilities, such as instance store volumes. After the period (.) is the instance size, which is either a number followed by a size, such as 9xlarge, or metal for bare metal instances.

The following are the additional capabilities indicated by the instance type names:

• a – AMD processors

• g – AWS Graviton processors

• i – Intel processors

• d – Instance store volumes

• n – Network optimization

• b – Block storage optimization

• e – Extra storage or memory

• z – High frequency

Contents

• Available instance types

• Hardware specifications

• AMI virtualization types

• Instances built on the Nitro System

• Networking and storage features

• Instance limits

• General purpose instances

• Compute optimized instances

• Memory optimized instances

• Storage optimized instances

• Linux accelerated computing instances

• Find an Amazon EC2 instance type

• Get recommendations for an instance type

• Change the instance type

Available instance types

Amazon EC2 provides a wide selection of instance types optimized to fit different use cases. Instance types comprise varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity and give you the flexibility to choose the appropriate mix of resources for your applications. Each instance type includes one or more instance sizes, allowing you to scale your resources to the requirements of your target workload.

Note

Previous generation instances are still fully supported and retain the same features and functionality. We encourage you to use the latest generation of instances to get the best performance.

To determine which instance types meet your requirements, such as supported Regions, compute resources, or storage resources, see Find an Amazon EC2 instance type.

Topics

• Current generation instances

• Previous generation instances

Current generation instances

For the best performance, we recommend that you use the following instance types when you launch new instances. For more information, see Amazon EC2 Instance Types.

Sixth and seventh generation of Amazon EC2 instances

Sixth and seventh generation instances include:

• General purpose: M6a, M6g, M6gd, M6i, M6id, M6idn, M6in, M7g, T4g

• Computer optimized: C6a, C6g, C6gd, C6gn, C6i, C6id, C6in, C7g, Hpc6a

• Memory optimized: Hpc6id, R6a, R6g, R6gd, R6i, R6id, R6idn, R6in, R7g, X2gd, X2idn, X2iedn

• Storage optimized: I4i, Im4gn, Is4gen

• Accelerated computing: G5g, Trn1

Instances

• General purpose

• Compute optimized

• Memory optimized

• Storage optimized

• Accelerated computing

General purpose

Type	Sizes
M4	m4.large | m4.xlarge | m4.2xlarge | m4.4xlarge | m4.10xlarge | m4.16xlarge
M5	m5.large | m5.xlarge | m5.2xlarge | m5.4xlarge | m5.8xlarge | m5.12xlarge | m5.16xlarge | m5.24xlarge | m5.metal
M5a	m5a.large | m5a.xlarge | m5a.2xlarge | m5a.4xlarge | m5a.8xlarge | m5a.12xlarge | m5a.16xlarge | m5a.24xlarge
M5ad	m5ad.large | m5ad.xlarge | m5ad.2xlarge | m5ad.4xlarge | m5ad.8xlarge | m5ad.12xlarge | m5ad.16xlarge | m5ad.24xlarge
M5d	m5d.large | m5d.xlarge | m5d.2xlarge | m5d.4xlarge | m5d.8xlarge | m5d.12xlarge | m5d.16xlarge | m5d.24xlarge | m5d.metal
M5dn	m5dn.large | m5dn.xlarge | m5dn.2xlarge | m5dn.4xlarge | m5dn.8xlarge | m5dn.12xlarge | m5dn.16xlarge | m5dn.24xlarge | m5dn.metal
M5n	m5n.large | m5n.xlarge | m5n.2xlarge | m5n.4xlarge | m5n.8xlarge | m5n.12xlarge | m5n.16xlarge | m5n.24xlarge | m5n.metal
M5zn	m5zn.large | m5zn.xlarge | m5zn.2xlarge | m5zn.3xlarge | m5zn.6xlarge | m5zn.12xlarge | m5zn.metal
M6a	m6a.large | m6a.xlarge | m6a.2xlarge | m6a.4xlarge | m6a.8xlarge | m6a.12xlarge | m6a.16xlarge | m6a.24xlarge | m6a.32xlarge | m6a.48xlarge | m6a.metal
M6g	m6g.medium | m6g.large | m6g.xlarge | m6g.2xlarge | m6g.4xlarge | m6g.8xlarge | m6g.12xlarge | m6g.16xlarge | m6g.metal
M6gd	m6gd.medium | m6gd.large | m6gd.xlarge | m6gd.2xlarge | m6gd.4xlarge | m6gd.8xlarge | m6gd.12xlarge | m6gd.16xlarge | m6gd.metal
M6i	m6i.large | m6i.xlarge | m6i.2xlarge | m6i.4xlarge | m6i.8xlarge | m6i.12xlarge | m6i.16xlarge | m6i.24xlarge | m6i.32xlarge | m6i.metal
M6id	m6id.large | m6id.xlarge | m6id.2xlarge | m6id.4xlarge | m6id.8xlarge | m6id.12xlarge | m6id.16xlarge | m6id.24xlarge | m6id.32xlarge | m6id.metal
M6idn	m6idn.large | m6idn.xlarge | m6idn.2xlarge | m6idn.4xlarge | m6idn.8xlarge | m6idn.12xlarge | m6idn.16xlarge | m6idn.24xlarge | m6idn.32xlarge | m6idn.metal
M6in	m6in.large | m6in.xlarge | m6in.2xlarge | m6in.4xlarge | m6in.8xlarge | m6in.12xlarge | m6in.16xlarge | m6in.24xlarge | m6in.32xlarge | m6in.metal
M7g	m7g.medium | m7g.large | m7g.xlarge | m7g.2xlarge | m7g.4xlarge | m7g.8xlarge | m7g.12xlarge | m7g.16xlarge | m7g.metal
Mac1	mac1.metal
Mac2	mac2.metal
T2	t2.nano | t2.micro | t2.small | t2.medium | t2.large | t2.xlarge | t2.2xlarge
T3	t3.nano | t3.micro | t3.small | t3.medium | t3.large | t3.xlarge | t3.2xlarge
T3a	t3a.nano | t3a.micro | t3a.small | t3a.medium | t3a.large | t3a.xlarge | t3a.2xlarge
T4g	t4g.nano | t4g.micro | t4g.small | t4g.medium | t4g.large | t4g.xlarge | t4g.2xlarge

Compute optimized

Type	Sizes
C4	c4.large | c4.xlarge | c4.2xlarge | c4.4xlarge | c4.8xlarge
C5	c5.large | c5.xlarge | c5.2xlarge | c5.4xlarge | c5.9xlarge | c5.12xlarge | c5.18xlarge | c5.24xlarge | c5.metal
C5a	c5a.large | c5a.xlarge | c5a.2xlarge | c5a.4xlarge | c5a.8xlarge | c5a.12xlarge | c5a.16xlarge | c5a.24xlarge
C5ad	c5ad.large | c5ad.xlarge | c5ad.2xlarge | c5ad.4xlarge | c5ad.8xlarge | c5ad.12xlarge | c5ad.16xlarge | c5ad.24xlarge
C5d	c5d.large | c5d.xlarge | c5d.2xlarge | c5d.4xlarge | c5d.9xlarge | c5d.12xlarge | c5d.18xlarge | c5d.24xlarge | c5d.metal
C5n	c5n.large | c5n.xlarge | c5n.2xlarge | c5n.4xlarge | c5n.9xlarge | c5n.18xlarge | c5n.metal
C6a	c6a.large | c6a.xlarge | c6a.2xlarge | c6a.4xlarge | c6a.8xlarge | c6a.12xlarge | c6a.16xlarge | c6a.24xlarge | c6a.32xlarge | c6a.48xlarge | c6a.metal
C6g	c6g.medium | c6g.large | c6g.xlarge | c6g.2xlarge | c6g.4xlarge | c6g.8xlarge | c6g.12xlarge | c6g.16xlarge | c6g.metal
C6gd	c6gd.medium | c6gd.large | c6gd.xlarge | c6gd.2xlarge | c6gd.4xlarge | c6gd.8xlarge | c6gd.12xlarge | c6gd.16xlarge | c6gd.metal
C6gn	c6gn.medium | c6gn.large | c6gn.xlarge | c6gn.2xlarge | c6gn.4xlarge | c6gn.8xlarge | c6gn.12xlarge | c6gn.16xlarge
C6i	c6i.large | c6i.xlarge | c6i.2xlarge | c6i.4xlarge | c6i.8xlarge | c6i.12xlarge | c6i.16xlarge | c6i.24xlarge | c6i.32xlarge | c6i.metal
C6id	c6id.large | c6id.xlarge | c6id.2xlarge | c6id.4xlarge | c6id.8xlarge | c6id.12xlarge | c6id.16xlarge | c6id.24xlarge | c6id.32xlarge | c6id.metal
C6in	c6in.large | c6in.xlarge | c6in.2xlarge | c6in.4xlarge | c6in.8xlarge | c6in.12xlarge | c6in.16xlarge | c6in.24xlarge | c6in.32xlarge | c6in.metal
C7g	c7g.medium | c7g.large | c7g.xlarge | c7g.2xlarge | c7g.4xlarge | c7g.8xlarge | c7g.12xlarge | c7g.16xlarge | c7g.metal
CC2	cc2.8xlarge
Hpc6a	hpc6a.48xlarge

Memory optimized

Type	Sizes
CR1	cr1.8xlarge
Hpc6id	hpc6id.32xlarge
R4	r4.large | r4.xlarge | r4.2xlarge | r4.4xlarge | r4.8xlarge | r4.16xlarge
R5	r5.large | r5.xlarge | r5.2xlarge | r5.4xlarge | r5.8xlarge | r5.12xlarge | r5.16xlarge | r5.24xlarge | r5.metal
R5a	r5a.large | r5a.xlarge | r5a.2xlarge | r5a.4xlarge | r5a.8xlarge | r5a.12xlarge | r5a.16xlarge | r5a.24xlarge
R5ad	r5ad.large | r5ad.xlarge | r5ad.2xlarge | r5ad.4xlarge | r5ad.8xlarge | r5ad.12xlarge | r5ad.16xlarge | r5ad.24xlarge
R5b	r5b.large | r5b.xlarge | r5b.2xlarge | r5b.4xlarge | r5b.8xlarge | r5b.12xlarge | r5b.16xlarge | r5b.24xlarge | r5b.metal
R5d	r5d.large | r5d.xlarge | r5d.2xlarge | r5d.4xlarge | r5d.8xlarge | r5d.12xlarge | r5d.16xlarge | r5d.24xlarge | r5d.metal
R5dn	r5dn.large | r5dn.xlarge | r5dn.2xlarge | r5dn.4xlarge | r5dn.8xlarge | r5dn.12xlarge | r5dn.16xlarge | r5dn.24xlarge | r5dn.metal
R5n	r5n.large | r5n.xlarge | r5n.2xlarge | r5n.4xlarge | r5n.8xlarge | r5n.12xlarge | r5n.16xlarge | r5n.24xlarge | r5n.metal
R6a	r6a.large | r6a.xlarge | r6a.2xlarge | r6a.4xlarge | r6a.8xlarge | r6a.12xlarge | r6a.16xlarge | r6a.24xlarge | r6a.32xlarge | r6a.48xlarge | r6a.metal
R6g	r6g.medium | r6g.large | r6g.xlarge | r6g.2xlarge | r6g.4xlarge | r6g.8xlarge | r6g.12xlarge | r6g.16xlarge | r6g.metal
R6gd	r6gd.medium | r6gd.large | r6gd.xlarge | r6gd.2xlarge | r6gd.4xlarge | r6gd.8xlarge | r6gd.12xlarge | r6gd.16xlarge | r6gd.metal
R6i	r6i.large | r6i.xlarge | r6i.2xlarge | r6i.4xlarge | r6i.8xlarge | r6i.12xlarge | r6i.16xlarge | r6i.24xlarge | r6i.32xlarge | r6i.metal
R6idn	r6idn.large | r6idn.xlarge | r6idn.2xlarge | r6idn.4xlarge | r6idn.8xlarge | r6idn.12xlarge | r6idn.16xlarge | r6idn.24xlarge | r6idn.32xlarge | r6idn.metal
R6in	r6in.large | r6in.xlarge | r6in.2xlarge | r6in.4xlarge | r6in.8xlarge | r6in.12xlarge | r6in.16xlarge | r6in.24xlarge | r6in.32xlarge | r6in.metal
R6id	r6id.large | r6id.xlarge | r6id.2xlarge | r6id.4xlarge | r6id.8xlarge | r6id.12xlarge | r6id.16xlarge | r6id.24xlarge | r6id.32xlarge | r6id.metal
R7g	r7g.medium | r7g.large | r7g.xlarge | r7g.2xlarge | r7g.4xlarge | r7g.8xlarge | r7g.12xlarge | r7g.16xlarge | r7g.metal
U-3tb1	u-3tb1.56xlarge
U-6tb1	u-6tb1.56xlarge | u-6tb1.112xlarge | u-6tb1.metal
U-9tb1	u-9tb1.112xlarge | u-9tb1.metal
U-12tb1	u-12tb1.112xlarge | u-12tb1.metal
U-18tb1	u-18tb1.metal
U-24tb1	u-24tb1.metal
X1	x1.16xlarge | x1.32xlarge
X2gd	x2gd.medium | x2gd.large | x2gd.xlarge | x2gd.2xlarge | x2gd.4xlarge | x2gd.8xlarge | x2gd.12xlarge | x2gd.16xlarge | x2gd.metal
X2idn	x2idn.16xlarge | x2idn.24xlarge | x2idn.32xlarge | x2idn.metal
X2iedn	x2iedn.xlarge | x2iedn.2xlarge | x2iedn.4xlarge | x2iedn.8xlarge | x2iedn.16xlarge | x2iedn.24xlarge | x2iedn.32xlarge | x2iedn.metal
X2iezn	x2iezn.2xlarge | x2iezn.4xlarge | x2iezn.6xlarge | x2iezn.8xlarge | x2iezn.12xlarge | x2iezn.metal
X1e	x1e.xlarge | x1e.2xlarge | x1e.4xlarge | x1e.8xlarge | x1e.16xlarge | x1e.32xlarge
z1d	z1d.large | z1d.xlarge | z1d.2xlarge | z1d.3xlarge | z1d.6xlarge | z1d.12xlarge | z1d.metal

Storage optimized

Type	Sizes
D2	d2.xlarge | d2.2xlarge | d2.4xlarge | d2.8xlarge
D3	d3.xlarge | d3.2xlarge | d3.4xlarge | d3.8xlarge
D3en	d3en.xlarge | d3en.2xlarge | d3en.4xlarge | d3en.6xlarge | d3en.8xlarge | d3en.12xlarge
H1	h1.2xlarge | h1.4xlarge | h1.8xlarge | h1.16xlarge
HS1	hs1.8xlarge
I3	i3.large | i3.xlarge | i3.2xlarge | i3.4xlarge | i3.8xlarge | i3.16xlarge | i3.metal
I3en	i3en.large | i3en.xlarge | i3en.2xlarge | i3en.3xlarge | i3en.6xlarge | i3en.12xlarge | i3en.24xlarge | i3en.metal
I4i	i4i.large | i4i.xlarge | i4i.2xlarge | i4i.4xlarge | i4i.8xlarge | i4i.16xlarge | i4i.32xlarge | i4i.metal
Im4gn	im4gn.large | im4gn.xlarge | im4gn.2xlarge | im4gn.4xlarge | im4gn.8xlarge | im4gn.16xlarge
Is4gen	is4gen.medium | is4gen.large | is4gen.xlarge | is4gen.2xlarge | is4gen.4xlarge | is4gen.8xlarge

Accelerated computing

Type	Sizes
DL1	dl1.24xlarge
F1	f1.2xlarge | f1.4xlarge | f1.16xlarge
G3	g3.4xlarge | g3.8xlarge | g3.16xlarge
G4ad	g4ad.xlarge | g4ad.2xlarge | g4ad.4xlarge | g4ad.8xlarge | g4ad.16xlarge
G4dn	g4dn.xlarge | g4dn.2xlarge | g4dn.4xlarge | g4dn.8xlarge | g4dn.12xlarge | g4dn.16xlarge | g4dn.metal
G5	g5.xlarge | g5.2xlarge | g5.4xlarge | g5.8xlarge | g5.12xlarge | g5.16xlarge | g5.24xlarge | g5.48xlarge
G5g	g5g.xlarge | g5g.2xlarge | g5g.4xlarge | g5g.8xlarge | g5g.16xlarge | g5g.metal
Inf1	inf1.xlarge | inf1.2xlarge | inf1.6xlarge | inf1.24xlarge
Inf2	inf2.xlarge | inf2.8xlarge | inf2.24xlarge | inf2.48xlarge
P2	p2.xlarge | p2.8xlarge | p2.16xlarge
P3	p3.2xlarge | p3.8xlarge | p3.16xlarge
P3dn	p3dn.24xlarge
P4d	p4d.24xlarge
P4de	p4de.24xlarge
Trn1	trn1.2xlarge | trn1.32xlarge
Trn1n	trn1n.32xlarge
VT1	vt1.3xlarge | vt1.6xlarge | vt1.24xlarge

Previous generation instances

Amazon Web Services offers previous generation instance types for users who have optimized their applications around them and have yet to upgrade. We encourage you to use current generation instance types to get the best performance, but we continue to support the following previous generation instance types. For more information about which current generation instance type would be a suitable upgrade, see Previous Generation Instances.

Type	Sizes
A1	a1.medium | a1.large | a1.xlarge | a1.2xlarge | a1.4xlarge | a1.metal
C1	c1.medium | c1.xlarge
C3	c3.large | c3.xlarge | c3.2xlarge | c3.4xlarge | c3.8xlarge
G2	g2.2xlarge | g2.8xlarge
I2	i2.xlarge | i2.2xlarge | i2.4xlarge | i2.8xlarge
M1	m1.small | m1.medium | m1.large | m1.xlarge
M2	m2.xlarge | m2.2xlarge | m2.4xlarge
M3	m3.medium | m3.large | m3.xlarge | m3.2xlarge
R3	r3.large | r3.xlarge | r3.2xlarge | r3.4xlarge | r3.8xlarge
T1	t1.micro

Hardware specifications

For more information, see Amazon EC2 Instance Types.

To determine which instance type best meets your needs, we recommend that you launch an instance and use your own benchmark application. Because you pay by the instance second, it's convenient and inexpensive to test multiple instance types before making a decision. If your needs change, even after you make a decision, you can change the instance type later. For more information, see Change the instance type.

Processor features

Intel processor features

Amazon EC2 instances that run on Intel processors may include the following features. Not all of the following processor features are supported by all instance types. For detailed information about which features are available for each instance type, see Amazon EC2 Instance Types.

• Intel AES New Instructions (AES-NI) — Intel AES-NI encryption instruction set improves upon the original Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm to provide faster data protection and greater security. All current generation EC2 instances support this processor feature.

• Intel Advanced Vector Extensions (Intel AVX, Intel AVX2, and Intel AVX-512) — Intel AVX and Intel AVX2 are 256-bit, and Intel AVX-512 is a 512-bit instruction set extension designed for applications that are Floating Point (FP) intensive. Intel AVX instructions improve performance for applications like image and audio/video processing, scientific simulations, financial analytics, and 3D modeling and analysis. These features are only available on instances launched with HVM AMIs.

• Intel Turbo Boost Technology — Intel Turbo Boost Technology processors automatically run cores faster than the base operating frequency.

• Intel Deep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost) — Accelerates AI deep learning use cases. The 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors extend Intel AVX-512 with a new Vector Neural Network Instruction (VNNI/INT8) that significantly increases deep learning inference performance over previous generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors (with FP32) for image recognition/segmentation, object detection, speech recognition, language translation, recommendation systems, reinforcement learning, and more. VNNI may not be compatible with all Linux distributions.

  The following instances support VNNI: M5n, R5n, M5dn, M5zn, R5b, R5dn, D3, D3en, and C6i. C5 and C5d instances support VNNI for only 12xlarge, 24xlarge, and metal instances.

Confusion may result from industry naming conventions for 64-bit CPUs. Chip manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) introduced the first commercially successful 64-bit architecture based on the Intel x86 instruction set. Consequently, the architecture is widely referred to as AMD64 regardless of the chip manufacturer. Windows and several Linux distributions follow this practice. This explains why the internal system information on an instance running Ubuntu or Windows displays the CPU architecture as AMD64 even though the instances are running on Intel hardware.

AMI virtualization types

The virtualization type of your instance is determined by the AMI that you use to launch it. Current generation instance types support hardware virtual machine (HVM) only. Some previous generation instance types support paravirtual (PV) and some AWS Regions support PV instances. For more information, see Linux AMI virtualization types.

For best performance, we recommend that you use an HVM AMI. In addition, HVM AMIs are required to take advantage of enhanced networking. HVM virtualization uses hardware-assist technology provided by the AWS platform. With HVM virtualization, the guest VM runs as if it were on a native hardware platform, except that it still uses PV network and storage drivers for improved performance.

Instances built on the Nitro System

The Nitro System is a collection of hardware and software components built by AWS that enable high performance, high availability, and high security. For more information, see AWS Nitro System.

The Nitro System provides bare metal capabilities that eliminate virtualization overhead and support workloads that require full access to host hardware. Bare metal instances are well suited for the following:

• Workloads that require access to low-level hardware features (for example, Intel VT) that are not available or fully supported in virtualized environments

• Applications that require a non-virtualized environment for licensing or support

Nitro components

The following components are part of the Nitro System:

• Nitro card

  • Local NVMe storage volumes

  • Networking hardware support

  • Management

  • Monitoring

  • Security

• Nitro security chip, integrated into the motherboard

• Nitro hypervisor - A lightweight hypervisor that manages memory and CPU allocation and delivers performance that is indistinguishable from bare metal for most workloads.

Virtualized instances

The following virtualized instances are built on the Nitro System:

• General purpose: A1, M5, M5a, M5ad, M5d, M5dn, M5n, M5zn, M6a, M6g, M6gd, M6i, M6id, M6idn, M6in, M7g, T3, T3a, and T4g

• Compute optimized: C5, C5a, C5ad, C5d, C5n, C6a, C6g, C6gd, C6gn, C6i, C6id, C6in, C7g, and Hpc6a

• Memory optimized: Hpc6id, R5, R5a, R5ad, R5b, R5d, R5dn, R5n, R6a, R6g, R6gd, R6i, R6idn, R6in, R6id, R7g, U-3tb1, U-6tb1, U-9tb1, U-12tb1, X2gd, X2idn, X2iedn, X2iezn, and z1d

• Storage optimized: D3, D3en, I3en, I4i, Im4gn, and Is4gen

• Accelerated computing: DL1, G4ad, G4dn, G5, G5g, Inf1, Inf2, P3dn, P4d, P4de, Trn1, Trn1n, and VT1

Bare metal instances

The following bare metal instances are built on the Nitro System:

• General purpose: a1.metal | m5.metal | m5d.metal | m5dn.metal | m5n.metal | m5zn.metal | m6a.metal | m6g.metal | m6gd.metal | m6i.metal | m6id.metal | m6idn.metal | m6in.metal | m7g.metal | mac1.metal | mac2.metal

• Compute optimized: c5.metal | c5d.metal | c5n.metal | c6a.metal | c6g.metal | c6gd.metal | c6i.metal | c6id.metal | c6in.metal | c7g.metal

• Memory optimized: r5.metal | r5b.metal | r5d.metal | r5dn.metal | r5n.metal | r6a.metal | r6g.metal | r6gd.metal | r6i.metal | r6idn.metal | r6in.metal | r6id.metal | r7g.metal | u-6tb1.metal | u-9tb1.metal | u-12tb1.metal | u-18tb1.metal | u-24tb1.metal | x2gd.metal | x2idn.metal | x2iedn.metal | x2iezn.metal | z1d.metal

• Storage optimized: i3.metal | i3en.metal | i4i.metal

• Accelerated computing: g4dn.metal | g5g.metal

Learn more

For more information, see the following videos:

• AWS re:Invent 2017: The Amazon EC2 Nitro System Architecture

• AWS re:Invent 2017: Amazon EC2 Bare Metal Instances

• AWS re:Invent 2019: Powering next-gen Amazon EC2: Deep dive into the Nitro system

• AWS re:Inforce 2019: Security Benefits of the Nitro Architecture

Networking and storage features

When you select an instance type, this determines the networking and storage features that are available. To describe an instance type, use the describe-instance-types command.

Networking features

• IPv6 is supported on all current generation instance types and the C3, R3, and I2 previous generation instance types.

• To maximize the networking and bandwidth performance of your instance type, you can do the following:

  • Launch supported instance types into a cluster placement group to optimize your instances for high performance computing (HPC) applications. Instances in a common cluster placement group can benefit from high-bandwidth, low-latency networking. For more information, see Placement groups.

  • Enable enhanced networking for supported current generation instance types to get significantly higher packet per second (PPS) performance, lower network jitter, and lower latencies. For more information, see Enhanced networking on Linux.

• Current generation instance types that are enabled for enhanced networking have the following networking performance attributes:

  • Traffic within the same Region over private IPv4 or IPv6 can support 5 Gbps for single-flow traffic and up to 25 Gbps for multi-flow traffic (depending on the instance type).

  • Traffic to and from Amazon S3 buckets within the same Region over the public IP address space or through a VPC endpoint can use all available instance aggregate bandwidth.

• The maximum transmission unit (MTU) supported varies across instance types. All Amazon EC2 instance types support standard Ethernet V2 1500 MTU frames. All current generation instances support 9001 MTU, or jumbo frames, and some previous generation instances support them as well. For more information, see Network maximum transmission unit (MTU) for your EC2 instance.

Storage features

• Some instance types support EBS volumes and instance store volumes, while other instance types support only EBS volumes. Some instance types that support instance store volumes use solid state drives (SSD) to deliver very high random I/O performance. Some instance types support NVMe instance store volumes. Some instance types support NVMe EBS volumes. For more information, see Amazon EBS and NVMe on Linux instances and NVMe SSD volumes.

• To obtain additional, dedicated capacity for Amazon EBS I/O, you can launch some instance types as EBS–optimized instances. Some instance types are EBS–optimized by default. For more information, see Amazon EBS–optimized instances.

Summary of networking and storage features

The following table summarizes the networking and storage features supported by current generation instance types.

Instances

• General purpose

• Compute optimized

• Memory optimized

• Storage optimized

• Accelerated computing

• Previous generation instance types

General purpose

Instance type	EBS only	NVME EBS	Instance store	Placement group	Enhanced networking
M4	Yes	No	No	Yes	ENA
M5	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
M5a	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
M5ad	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
M5d	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
M5dn	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
M5n	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
M5zn	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
M6a	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
M6g	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
M6gd	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
M6i	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
M6id	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
M6idn	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
M6in	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
M7g	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
Mac1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
Mac2	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
T2	Yes	No	No	Yes	Not supported
T3	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
T3a	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
T4g	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA

Compute optimized

Instance type	EBS only	NVME EBS	Instance store	Placement group	Enhanced networking
C4	Yes	No	No	Yes	Not supported
C5	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
C5a	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
C5ad	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
C5d	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
C5n	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
C6a	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
C6g	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
C6gd	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
C6gn	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
C6i	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
C6id	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
C6in	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
C7g	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
CC2	No	No	HDD	Yes	Not supported
Hpc6a	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA

Memory optimized

Instance type	EBS only	NVME EBS	Instance store	Placement group	Enhanced networking
CR1	No	No	HDD	Yes	Not supported
Hpc6id	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
R4	Yes	No	No	Yes	ENA
R5	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
R5a	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
R5ad	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
R5b	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
R5d	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
R5dn	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
R5n	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
R6a	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
R6g	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
R6gd	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
R6i	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
R6idn	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
R6in	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
R6id	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
R7g	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
U-3tb1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
U-6tb1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
U-9tb1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
U-12tb1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
U-18tb1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
U-24tb1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
X1	No	No	SSD	Yes	ENA
X2gd	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
X2idn	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
X2iedn	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
X2iezn	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
X1e	No	No	SSD	Yes	ENA
z1d	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA

Storage optimized

Instance type	EBS only	NVME EBS	Instance store	Placement group	Enhanced networking
D2	No	No	HDD	Yes	Not supported
D3	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
D3en	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
H1	No	No	HDD	Yes	ENA
HS1	No	Yes	HDD	Yes	Not supported
I3	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
I3en	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
I4i	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
Im4gn	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
Is4gen	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA

Accelerated computing

Instance type	EBS only	NVME EBS	Instance store	Placement group	Enhanced networking
DL1	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
F1	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	Not supported
G3	Yes	No	No	Yes	ENA
G4ad	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA
G4dn	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
G5	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
G5g	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
Inf1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA
Inf2	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
P2	Yes	No	No	Yes	ENA
P3	Yes	No	No	Yes	ENA
P3dn	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
P4d	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
P4de	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
Trn1	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
Trn1n	No	Yes	NVMe	Yes	ENA | EFA
VT1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA | EFA

Previous generation instance types

The following table summarizes the networking and storage features supported by previous generation instance types.

Instance type	EBS only	NVME EBS	Instance store	Placement group	Enhanced networking
A1	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	ENA
C1	No	No	HDD	Yes	Not supported
C3	No	No	SSD	Yes	Not supported
G2	No	No	SSD	Yes	Not supported
I2	No	No	SSD	Yes	Not supported
M1	No	No	HDD	Yes	Not supported
M2	No	No	HDD	Yes	Not supported
M3	No	No	SSD	Yes	Not supported
R3	No	No	SSD	Yes	Not supported
T1	Yes	No	No	Yes	Not supported

Instance limits

There is a limit on the total number of instances that you can launch in a Region, and there are additional limits on some instance types.

For more information about the default limits, see How many instances can I run in Amazon EC2?

For more information about viewing your current limits or requesting an increase in your current limits, see Amazon EC2 service quotas.