Instances›AWS EC2›m3›m3.large
Compute
vCPUs2
Memory7.5 GiB
Mem / vCPU3.75 GiB
ProcessorXeon E5-2670 v2
Clock speed2.5 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
Type1 × 32 GB SSD
BandwidthN/A
ThroughputN/A
IOPS0
Networking
PerformanceModerate
Max ENIs3
IPv6No
GPUNone
Family sizes
m3.medium1 vCPU · 3.75 GiB
m3.large2 vCPU · 7.5 GiB
m3.xlarge4 vCPU · 15 GiB
m3.2xlarge8 vCPU · 30 GiB
m3.large

The m3.large pairs 2 vCPU with 7.5 GiB of RAM, the 3.75 GiB-per-vCPU ratio that marks a general-purpose instance. In the name, "m" is the general-purpose line, "3" is the generation and "large" is the size within the m3 family. It runs on Intel Xeon E5-2670 v2 (Ivy Bridge/Sandy Bridge) at 2.5 GHz, and AWS introduced it in January 2014. AWS has since shipped m4, m5, m6i and m7i; m4.large is the direct replacement at this size. gp.vs1.large is the closest Spot shape: 4 vCPU and 16 GiB, so 2 more vCPU and 8.5 GiB more memory, about 92% below the US East (N. Virginia) on-demand rate.

Match qualityNo local disk

m3.large comes with 1 × 32 GB SSD 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$0.133$0.039$0.095$0.011
$0.122 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.011
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.021
Hong Kong$0.011
Sydney, Australia$0.186$0.052$0.129$0.084$0.011
$0.175 savings
London, UK$0.026
US West, San Jose$0.154$0.042$0.116$0.041
$0.113 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.041
US East, N. Virginia 2$0.133$0.039$0.095$0.041
$0.092 savings
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Microservices and container fleets
  • ●Development, staging and CI environments
  • ●Small to mid-size relational databases
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 7.5 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 1 × 32 GB of local SSD scratch space
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. m4.large is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 7.5 GiB of RAM
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●Sustained full-core CPU load. A compute-optimized family costs less per unit of work.
  • ●More than 3.75 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
$97/mo on AWS on-demand against $8/mo on Rackspace Spot for the equivalent — market-priced, not list-priced.
  • 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.
Build your Cloudspace
Frequently asked questions