Instances›AWS EC2›m6a›m6a.8xlarge
Compute
vCPUs32
Memory128 GiB
Mem / vCPU4.00 GiB
ProcessorEPYC 7R13 Processor
Clock speed3.6 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
TypeEBS only
Bandwidth10,000 Mbps
Throughput1250 MB/s
IOPS40,000
Networking
Performance12.5 Gigabit
Max ENIs8
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
m6a.large2 vCPU · 8 GiB
m6a.xlarge4 vCPU · 16 GiB
m6a.2xlarge8 vCPU · 32 GiB
m6a.4xlarge16 vCPU · 64 GiB
m6a.8xlarge32 vCPU · 128 GiB
m6a.12xlarge48 vCPU · 192 GiB
m6a.16xlarge64 vCPU · 256 GiB
m6a.24xlarge96 vCPU · 384 GiB
m6a.32xlarge128 vCPU · 512 GiB
m6a.48xlarge192 vCPU · 768 GiB
m6a.metal192 vCPU · 768 GiB
m6a.8xlarge

m6a.8xlarge is AWS's general-purpose EC2 size at 32 vCPU and 128 GiB. In the name, "m" is the general-purpose line, "6" is the generation, "a" marks AMD processors and "8xlarge" is the size within the m6a family. It runs on AMD EPYC 7R13 Processor at 3.6 GHz, and AWS introduced it in November 2021. AWS has since shipped m7a, m8a and m9g; m7a.8xlarge is the direct replacement at this size, scoring 1,087,080 CoreMark/s against this instance's 648,725 — roughly 68% more throughput for the same vCPU count. The closest Spot shape is gp.vs2.2xlarge at 16 vCPU, so this instance maps to 2 of them — 32 vCPU and 128 GiB across the fleet, 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 qualityScale-out match

m6a.8xlarge gives you 32 vCPU and 128 GiB in a single machine. The largest comparable Spot node, gp.vs2.2xlarge, is 16 vCPU and 64 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 128 GiB in one process, it does not.

Pricing by region
1 hr
RegionAWS on-demandAWS Spot1-yr Reserved3-yr ReservedRackspace SpotYou save
US East, N. Virginia$1.382$0.558$0.914$0.627$0.082
$1.300 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.082
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.102
Hong Kong$0.022
Sydney, Australia$1.728$0.782$1.143$0.784$0.322
$1.406 savings
London, UK$1.598$0.542$1.056$0.727$0.442
$1.156 savings
US West, San Jose$1.613$0.553$1.064$0.735$0.302
$1.311 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.002
US East, N. Virginia 2$1.382$0.558$0.914$0.627$0.302
$1.080 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 128 GiB of RAM
  • ●Parallel work that can occupy 32 vCPU
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 12.5 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 2 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●Starting a new deployment. m7a.8xlarge is the newer generation at this size.
  • ●The working set needs more than 128 GiB of RAM
  • ●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 32 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●Local NVMe or instance-store disk is a hard requirement
Stop overpaying AWS. This compute costs $1,009/mo on AWS vs $60/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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