Instances›AWS EC2›m8gd›m8gd.16xlarge
Compute
vCPUs64
Memory256 GiB
Mem / vCPU4.00 GiB
ProcessorGraviton4 Processor
Clock speed2.7 GHz
Architecturearm64
Storage
Type2 × 1,900 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth20,000 Mbps
Throughput2500 MB/s
IOPS80,000
Networking
Performance30 Gigabit
Max ENIs15
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
m8gd.medium1 vCPU · 4 GiB
m8gd.large2 vCPU · 8 GiB
m8gd.xlarge4 vCPU · 16 GiB
m8gd.2xlarge8 vCPU · 32 GiB
m8gd.4xlarge16 vCPU · 64 GiB
m8gd.8xlarge32 vCPU · 128 GiB
m8gd.12xlarge48 vCPU · 192 GiB
m8gd.16xlarge64 vCPU · 256 GiB
m8gd.24xlarge96 vCPU · 384 GiB
m8gd.metal-24xl96 vCPU · 384 GiB
m8gd.48xlarge192 vCPU · 768 GiB
m8gd.metal-48xl192 vCPU · 768 GiB
m8gd.16xlarge

m8gd.16xlarge is AWS's general-purpose EC2 size at 64 vCPU and 256 GiB. In the name, "m" is the general-purpose line, "8" is the generation, "gd" marks AWS Graviton (ARM) processors and local NVMe storage and "16xlarge" is the size within the m8gd family. It runs on AWS Graviton4 Processor at 2.7 GHz, and AWS introduced it in April 2025. AWS has since shipped m9gd; m9gd.16xlarge is the direct replacement at this size. The closest Spot shape is gp.vs2.2xlarge at 16 vCPU, so this instance maps to 4 of them — 64 vCPU and 256 GiB across the fleet, $3.69/hr on AWS in US East (N. Virginia), from $0.164/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

m8gd.16xlarge gives you 64 vCPU and 256 GiB in a single machine. The largest comparable Spot node, gp.vs2.2xlarge, is 16 vCPU and 64 GiB, so the equivalent here is 4 nodes rather than one.

Spot runs as managed Kubernetes, so a 4-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 64 cores and 256 GiB in one process, it does not.

x86_64 onlym8gd.16xlarge 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 diskm8gd.16xlarge comes with 2 × 1,900 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$3.690$1.222$0.164
$3.526 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.164
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.204
Hong Kong$0.044
Sydney, Australia$4.637$1.196$0.644
$3.993 savings
London, UK$4.278$0.490$0.884
$3.394 savings
US West, San Jose$4.344$0.949$0.604
$3.740 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.004
US East, N. Virginia 2$3.690$1.222$0.604
$3.086 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 256 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 2 × 1,900 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at 30 Gigabit
  • ●Anything that shards cleanly across 4 nodes, which is how it maps onto Rackspace Spot
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 256 GiB of RAM
  • ●You cannot rebuild x86-only binaries or vendor images for aarch64
  • ●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 64 vCPU would sit idle.
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
$2,694/mo on AWS on-demand against $120/mo on Rackspace Spot for the 4-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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