Instances›AWS EC2›i8g›i8g.12xlarge
Compute
vCPUs48
Memory384 GiB
Mem / vCPU8.00 GiB
ProcessorGraviton4 Processor
Clock speed2.7 GHz
Architecturearm64
Storage
Type3 × 3,750 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth15,000 Mbps
Throughput1875 MB/s
IOPS60,000
Networking
PerformanceUp to 28.12 Gigabit
Max ENIs8
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
i8g.large2 vCPU · 16 GiB
i8g.xlarge4 vCPU · 32 GiB
i8g.2xlarge8 vCPU · 64 GiB
i8g.4xlarge16 vCPU · 128 GiB
i8g.8xlarge32 vCPU · 256 GiB
i8g.12xlarge48 vCPU · 384 GiB
i8g.16xlarge64 vCPU · 512 GiB
i8g.24xlarge96 vCPU · 768 GiB
i8g.metal-24xl96 vCPU · 768 GiB
i8g.48xlarge192 vCPU · 1536 GiB
i8g.metal-48xl192 vCPU · 1536 GiB
i8g.12xlarge

The i8g.12xlarge pairs 48 vCPU with 384 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, "8" is the generation, "g" marks AWS Graviton (ARM) processors and "12xlarge" is the size within the i8g family. It runs on AWS Graviton4 Processor at 2.7 GHz, and AWS introduced it in December 2024. i8g is the current generation of the i family, so there is no newer AWS size to migrate to. Spot's node ladder tops out below this size, so i8g.12xlarge becomes 3 × mh.vs1.2xlarge (48 vCPU, 384 GiB combined), $4.12/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.063/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

i8g.12xlarge gives you 48 vCPU and 384 GiB in a single machine. The largest comparable Spot node, mh.vs1.2xlarge, is 16 vCPU and 128 GiB, so the equivalent here is 3 nodes rather than one.

Spot runs as managed Kubernetes, so a 3-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 48 cores and 384 GiB in one process, it does not.

x86_64 onlyi8g.12xlarge 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 diski8g.12xlarge comes with 3 × 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$4.118$0.634$0.063
$4.055 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.063
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.393
Hong Kong$0.063
Sydney, Australia$4.937$0.790$0.063
$4.874 savings
London, UK$4.778$0.646$0.393
$4.385 savings
US West, San Jose$0.006
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.726
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Data warehousing and log processing
  • ●Distributed file systems and search indexes
  • ●Transactional databases with heavy random I/O
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 384 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 3 × 3,750 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at Up to 28.12 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 3 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 384 GiB of RAM
  • ●You cannot rebuild x86-only binaries or vendor images for aarch64
  • ●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
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 48 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
Stop overpaying AWS. This compute costs $3,006/mo on AWS vs $46/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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