Instances›AWS EC2›c5›c5.metal
Compute
vCPUs96
Memory192 GiB
Mem / vCPU2.00 GiB
ProcessorXeon Platinum 8275L
Clock speed3.4 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
TypeEBS only
Bandwidth19,000 Mbps
Throughput2375 MB/s
IOPS80,000
Networking
Performance25 Gigabit
Max ENIs15
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
c5.large2 vCPU · 4 GiB
c5.xlarge4 vCPU · 8 GiB
c5.2xlarge8 vCPU · 16 GiB
c5.4xlarge16 vCPU · 32 GiB
c5.9xlarge36 vCPU · 72 GiB
c5.12xlarge48 vCPU · 96 GiB
c5.18xlarge72 vCPU · 144 GiB
c5.24xlarge96 vCPU · 192 GiB
c5.metal96 vCPU · 192 GiB
c5.metal

The c5.metal pairs 96 vCPU with 192 GiB of RAM, the 2.00 GiB-per-vCPU ratio that marks a compute-optimized instance. In the name, "c" stands for compute, "5" is the generation and "metal" is the size within the c5 family. It runs on Intel Xeon Platinum 8275L at 3.4 GHz, and AWS introduced it in June 2019. AWS has since shipped c6i, c7i, c8i and c9g; c6i.metal is the direct replacement at this size. Spot's node ladder tops out below this size, so c5.metal becomes 6 × ch.vs1.2xlarge (96 vCPU, 192 GiB combined), about 94% below the US East (N. Virginia) on-demand rate. Spot delivers compute as managed Kubernetes, so a node pool of that size is the native shape of the answer rather than a workaround — provided the workload scales horizontally.

Match qualityVirtualised, not bare metal

c5.metal is a full physical server — no virtualisation layer in the way, direct access to the hardware, and a socket count that licensing can verify.

Rackspace Spot no longer sells bare metal; everything in the catalog is a virtual machine. You get the same cores and memory (6 × ch.vs1.2xlarge, 96 vCPU, 192 GiB), but not the dedicated hardware. If you picked c5.metal because you needed the real machine — nested virtualisation, per-socket licensing, low-level profiling — this is not a replacement at any price. If you picked it because it is the biggest c5, it is the same compute for a lot less.

Runs as a fleetNo single Spot node has 96 vCPU; the largest comparable one has 16. So this runs as 6 nodes. That works if your workload already spreads across machines, and doesn't if one process needs all the cores together.
Pricing by region
1 hr
RegionAWS on-demandAWS Spot1-yr Reserved3-yr ReservedRackspace SpotYou save
US East, N. Virginia$4.080$1.104$2.570$1.710$0.246
$3.834 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.066
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.666
Hong Kong$5.184$3.266$2.239$0.246
$4.938 savings
Sydney, Australia$5.328$1.916$3.357$2.302$0.246
$5.082 savings
London, UK$4.848$0.699$3.054$2.094$0.786
$4.062 savings
US West, San Jose$5.088$0.553$3.205$2.198$0.012
$5.076 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.732
US East, N. Virginia 2$4.080$1.104$2.570$1.710$0.972
$3.108 savings
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Game servers and matchmaking
  • ●Batch processing and CI/CD runners
  • ●Video encoding and transcoding
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 192 GiB of RAM
  • ●Parallel work that can occupy 96 vCPU
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 25 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 6 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. c6i.metal is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 192 GiB of RAM
  • ●You need dedicated hardware. Rackspace Spot sells virtualised compute only.
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 96 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●Local NVMe or instance-store disk is a hard requirement
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
Stop overpaying AWS. This compute costs $2,978/mo on AWS vs $180/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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