Find the right EC2 instance type based on your vCPU, memory, and workload requirements.
Last verified: April 2026
Output will appear here...Your team needs to migrate a fleet of 20 m5.xlarge instances running a Java microservice. You want to evaluate whether Graviton could reduce costs. You enter the requirements (4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, EBS-only, moderate networking) and the matcher shows m7g.xlarge at $0.1632/hr versus m5.xlarge at $0.192/hr — a 15% savings per instance. Across 20 instances running 24/7, that's $420/month saved. After a quick test confirming the Java app runs identically on ARM, you migrate the fleet in a single afternoon.
The EC2 Instance Match Helper finds the right Amazon EC2 instance type based on your workload requirements. Specify your minimum vCPU count, memory, storage type, network performance, and processor preferences, and the tool filters AWS's extensive instance catalog to show matching options sorted by price. It covers all current-generation instance families including general purpose, compute optimized, memory optimized, storage optimized, and accelerated computing.
The matcher filters AWS's EC2 instance catalog using a multi-criteria search against the latest instance type specifications. It matches on vCPU count, memory size, processor architecture (x86/ARM), network performance tier, storage type (EBS-only, NVMe SSD), and GPU availability. Results are sorted by On-Demand hourly price, and each match shows the full specification including burst capability, network bandwidth, and EBS-optimized throughput so you can identify the best price-performance option.
Graviton instances (m7g, c7g, r7g) offer 20-40% better price-performance than Intel equivalents for most workloads. If your application runs on Linux with Docker/containers, there's a very high chance it works on ARM with zero code changes. The biggest exception is native binaries compiled for x86 — check your dependencies before committing.
T-series burstable instances (t3, t4g) are great for dev/test but dangerous in production. When CPU credits deplete, performance drops to baseline (e.g., 20% for t3.medium). If your application occasionally needs sustained CPU, use a fixed-performance instance like m-series. The cost difference is often only $10-20/month and prevents mysterious performance degradation.
The 'n' suffix in instance names (m6in, c6in) indicates enhanced networking with up to 200 Gbps bandwidth. If your workload is network-bound (think: distributed databases, real-time streaming), these instances can double throughput for only 10-15% more cost than the base variant.
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