Instances›AWS EC2›i4g›i4g.8xlarge
Compute
vCPUs32
Memory256 GiB
Mem / vCPU8.00 GiB
ProcessorGraviton2 Processor
Clock speed2.5 GHz
Architecturearm64
Storage
Type2 × 3,750 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth10,000 Mbps
Throughput1250 MB/s
IOPS40,000
Networking
Performance18.75 Gigabit
Max ENIs8
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
i4g.large2 vCPU · 16 GiB
i4g.xlarge4 vCPU · 32 GiB
i4g.2xlarge8 vCPU · 64 GiB
i4g.4xlarge16 vCPU · 128 GiB
i4g.8xlarge32 vCPU · 256 GiB
i4g.16xlarge64 vCPU · 512 GiB
i4g.8xlarge

The i4g.8xlarge pairs 32 vCPU with 256 GiB of RAM, the 8.00 GiB-per-vCPU ratio that marks a storage-optimized instance. In the name, "i" is I/O, meaning local storage, "4" is the generation, "g" marks AWS Graviton (ARM) processors and "8xlarge" is the size within the i4g family. It runs on AWS Graviton2 Processor at 2.5 GHz, and AWS introduced it in May 2023. AWS has since shipped i7i and i8g; i7i.8xlarge is the direct replacement at this size, scoring 804,256 CoreMark/s against this instance's 642,699 — roughly 25% more throughput for the same vCPU count. Spot's node ladder tops out below this size, so i4g.8xlarge becomes 2 × mh.vs1.2xlarge (32 vCPU, 256 GiB combined), $2.47/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.042/hr on Rackspace Spot. 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 qualityScale-out match

i4g.8xlarge gives you 32 vCPU and 256 GiB in a single machine. The largest comparable Spot node, mh.vs1.2xlarge, is 16 vCPU and 128 GiB, so the equivalent here is 2 nodes rather than one.

Spot runs as managed Kubernetes, so a 2-node pool is the normal way to run things rather than a workaround. If your workload already sits behind a load balancer, a queue or a scheduler, it spreads across them without changes. If it needs all 32 cores and 256 GiB in one process, it does not.

x86_64 onlyi4g.8xlarge is Graviton (arm64) and Rackspace Spot has no arm64 nodes, so you'd be moving to x86. You'll need x86 builds of your images, and per-core speed differs between the chips — worth testing before you decide how many nodes to run.
No local diski4g.8xlarge comes with 2 × 3,750 GB NVMe SSD attached to the machine. Spot nodes use network storage only, so that disk doesn't come with it. If you were using it as fast scratch space, you'd move to a persistent volume or object storage, which are slower to read.
Pricing by region
1 hr
RegionAWS on-demandAWS Spot1-yr Reserved3-yr ReservedRackspace SpotYou save
US East, N. Virginia$2.471$0.901$1.604$1.143$0.042
$2.429 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.042
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.262
Hong Kong$0.042
Sydney, Australia$2.962$0.998$1.934$1.372$0.042
$2.920 savings
London, UK$0.262
US West, San Jose$0.004
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.484
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Elasticsearch and OpenSearch data nodes
  • ●NoSQL stores such as Cassandra, ScyllaDB and MongoDB
  • ●Data warehousing and log processing
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 256 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 2 × 3,750 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 18.75 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 2 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. i7i.8xlarge is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 256 GiB of RAM
  • ●You cannot rebuild x86-only binaries or vendor images for aarch64
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●Workloads that never touch local disk. The instance-store premium is wasted.
  • ●More than 8.00 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
i4g.8xlarge runs $1,804/mo on AWS on-demand. The 2-node equivalent on Rackspace Spot: $31/mo.
  • 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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