Instances›AWS EC2›c1›c1.medium
Compute
vCPUs2
Memory1.7 GiB
Mem / vCPU0.85 GiB
ProcessorXeon Family
Clock speed1.8 GHz
Architecturei386, x86_64
Storage
Type1 × 350 GB HDD
BandwidthN/A
ThroughputN/A
IOPS0
Networking
PerformanceModerate
Max ENIs2
IPv6No
GPUNone
Family sizes
c1.medium2 vCPU · 1.7 GiB
c1.xlarge8 vCPU · 7 GiB
c1.medium

The c1.medium is a compute-optimized AWS EC2 instance: 2 vCPU and 1.7 GiB of memory, 0.85 GiB per vCPU. In the name, "c" stands for compute, "1" is the generation and "medium" is the size within the c1 family. It runs on Intel Xeon Family at 1.8 GHz, and AWS introduced it in May 2008. AWS has since shipped c3, c4, c5 and c6i; c6g.medium is the direct replacement at this size. Rackspace Spot's ch.vs1.medium is a like-for-like substitute at 2 vCPU and 4 GiB, $0.130/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.002/hr on Rackspace Spot.

Match qualityNo local disk

c1.medium comes with 1 × 350 GB HDD attached to the machine. Rackspace Spot nodes use network storage only, so that disk does not come with it.

If you were using the local disk as fast scratch space — temporary files, a local cache, an index — you will need a persistent volume or object storage instead, and both are slower to read. If it was just extra space you never depended on, nothing changes.

Pricing by region
1 hr
RegionAWS on-demandAWS Spot1-yr Reserved3-yr ReservedRackspace SpotYou save
US East, N. Virginia$0.130$0.025$0.091$0.002
$0.128 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.011
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.011
Hong Kong$0.061
Sydney, Australia$0.164$0.027$0.122$0.061
$0.103 savings
London, UK$0.016
US West, San Jose$0.148$0.016$0.111$0.011
$0.137 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.011
US East, N. Virginia 2$0.130$0.025$0.091$0.011
$0.119 savings
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Ad serving and real-time bidding
  • ●Game servers and matchmaking
  • ●Batch processing and CI/CD runners
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 1.7 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 1 × 350 GB of local SSD scratch space
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. c6g.medium is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 1.7 GiB of RAM
  • ●Memory-hungry applications. A memory-optimized family gives more RAM per dollar.
  • ●More than 0.85 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
Stop overpaying AWS. This compute costs $95/mo on AWS vs $1/mo on Rackspace Spot.
  • Spot sells spare capacity at market prices. It is the cheapest compute on the internet.
  • Prices are set by supply and demand. You pay what the market decides.
  • Compute is delivered as fully managed Kubernetes. All infrastructure is taken care of.
  • Egress costs $0.01/GB after the free allowance. AWS charges $0.09/GB.
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Frequently asked questions