Instances›AWS EC2›m8a›m8a.2xlarge
Compute
vCPUs8
Memory32 GiB
Mem / vCPU4.00 GiB
ProcessorEPYC 9R45 Processor
Clock speedUp to 4.5 GHz
Architecturex86_64
Storage
TypeEBS only
Bandwidth10,000 Mbps
Throughput1250 MB/s
IOPS40,000
Networking
PerformanceUp to 15 Gigabit
Max ENIs4
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
m8a.medium1 vCPU · 4 GiB
m8a.large2 vCPU · 8 GiB
m8a.xlarge4 vCPU · 16 GiB
m8a.2xlarge8 vCPU · 32 GiB
m8a.4xlarge16 vCPU · 64 GiB
m8a.8xlarge32 vCPU · 128 GiB
m8a.12xlarge48 vCPU · 192 GiB
m8a.16xlarge64 vCPU · 256 GiB
m8a.24xlarge96 vCPU · 384 GiB
m8a.metal-24xl96 vCPU · 384 GiB
m8a.48xlarge192 vCPU · 768 GiB
m8a.metal-48xl192 vCPU · 768 GiB
m8a.2xlarge

The m8a.2xlarge is a general-purpose AWS EC2 instance: 8 vCPU and 32 GiB of memory, 4.00 GiB per vCPU. In the name, "m" is the general-purpose line, "8" is the generation, "a" marks AMD processors and "2xlarge" is the size within the m8a family. It runs on AMD EPYC 9R45 Processor at Up to 4.5 GHz, and AWS introduced it in October 2025. AWS has since shipped m9g; m9g.2xlarge is the direct replacement at this size. Rackspace Spot's gp.vs2.xlarge is a like-for-like substitute at 8 vCPU and 32 GiB, about 94% below the US East (N. Virginia) on-demand rate.

Pricing by region
1 hr
RegionAWS on-demandAWS Spot1-yr Reserved3-yr ReservedRackspace SpotYou save
US East, N. Virginia$0.487$0.148$0.031
$0.456 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.021
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.081
Hong Kong$0.006
Sydney, Australia$0.006
London, UK$0.031
US West, San Jose$0.081
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.081
US East, N. Virginia 2$0.487$0.148$0.081
$0.406 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 32 GiB of RAM
  • ●Parallel work that can occupy 8 vCPU
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at Up to 15 Gigabit
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 32 GiB of RAM
  • ●Local NVMe or instance-store disk is a hard requirement
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●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
$355/mo on AWS on-demand against $23/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.
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Frequently asked questions