Instances›AWS EC2›m5n›m5n.metal
Compute
vCPUs96
Memory384 GiB
Mem / vCPU4.00 GiB
ProcessorXeon Platinum 8259
Clock speed3.1 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
TypeEBS only
Bandwidth19,000 Mbps
Throughput2375 MB/s
IOPS80,000
Networking
Performance100 Gigabit
Max ENIs15
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
m5n.large2 vCPU · 8 GiB
m5n.xlarge4 vCPU · 16 GiB
m5n.2xlarge8 vCPU · 32 GiB
m5n.4xlarge16 vCPU · 64 GiB
m5n.8xlarge32 vCPU · 128 GiB
m5n.12xlarge48 vCPU · 192 GiB
m5n.16xlarge64 vCPU · 256 GiB
m5n.24xlarge96 vCPU · 384 GiB
m5n.metal96 vCPU · 384 GiB
m5n.metal

m5n.metal is AWS's general-purpose EC2 size at 96 vCPU and 384 GiB. In the name, "m" is the general-purpose line, "5" is the generation, "n" marks enhanced networking and "metal" is the size within the m5n family. It runs on Intel Xeon Platinum 8259 (Cascade Lake) at 3.1 GHz, and AWS introduced it in February 2021. AWS has since shipped m6i, m7i, m8i and m9g; m6i.metal is the direct replacement at this size. The closest Spot shape is gp.vs1.2xlarge at 16 vCPU, so this instance maps to 6 of them — 96 vCPU and 384 GiB across the fleet, $5.71/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.246/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 qualityVirtualised, not bare metal

m5n.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 × gp.vs1.2xlarge, 96 vCPU, 384 GiB), but not the dedicated hardware. If you picked m5n.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 m5n, 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$5.712$1.430$3.599$2.202$0.246
$5.466 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.246
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.306
Hong Kong$0.066
Sydney, Australia$0.966
London, UK$1.326
US West, San Jose$0.906
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.006
US East, N. Virginia 2$5.712$1.430$3.599$2.202$0.906
$4.806 savings
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Small to mid-size relational databases
  • ●Backend services with no single dominant resource
  • ●Queue workers and scheduled jobs
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 384 GiB of RAM
  • ●Parallel work that can occupy 96 vCPU
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 100 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 6 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. m6i.metal is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 384 GiB of RAM
  • ●You need dedicated hardware. Rackspace Spot sells virtualised compute only.
  • ●Sustained full-core CPU load. A compute-optimized family costs less per unit of work.
  • ●More than 4.00 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
  • ●The work is single-threaded. Most of these 96 vCPU would sit idle.
$4,170/mo on AWS on-demand against $180/mo on Rackspace Spot for the 6-node 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.
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