c5.xlargevsm5.xlarge
c5.xlarge is 11% cheaper than m5.xlarge on demand in US East (N. Virginia), saving $16.06 a month.
Prices in US East (N. Virginia)
“Off” is the discount against each type’s own on-demand price. Linux, USD per hour.
| Option | c5.xlarge | m5.xlarge | m5.xlarge vs c5.xlarge |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-demandPay by the hour | $0.17 | $0.192 | ▲ 13% |
| SpotCan be interrupted | 69% off$0.0531 | 80% off$0.0391 | ▼ 26% |
| 1-yr reservedNo upfront | 37% off$0.107 | 37% off$0.121 | ▲ 13% |
| 3-yr reservedNo upfront | 58% off$0.071 | 57% off$0.083 | ▲ 17% |
| 1-yr savings planHourly commitment | 28% off$0.123 | 27% off$0.141 | ▲ 15% |
| 3-yr savings planHourly commitment | 52% off$0.082 | 49% off$0.097 | ▲ 18% |
Key differences
The biggest lead each one has.
Where c5.xlarge leads
On-demand price$0.17 vs $0.192 per hour
11% cheaperECU20 vs 16
25% higherEBS max IOPS20,000 vs 18,750
7% higherWhere m5.xlarge leads
Memory (GiB)16 vs 8
2× higherSpecs
9 of 41 specs differ. Those are in bold.
| Compute4 of 11 differ | c5.xlarge | m5.xlarge |
|---|---|---|
| vCPUs | 4 | 4 |
| Physical cores | 2 | 2 |
| Threads per core | 2 | 2 |
| Architecture | x86_64 | x86_64 |
| Processor | Intel Xeon Platinum 8124M | Intel Xeon Platinum 8175 |
| CPU maker | Intel | Intel |
| Clock speed | 3.4 GHz | 3.1 GHz |
| Sustained clock | 3.4 GHz | 3.1 GHz |
| Processor features | Intel AVX; Intel AVX2; Intel AVX512; Intel Turbo | Intel AVX; Intel AVX2; Intel AVX512; Intel Turbo |
| Burstable | No | No |
| ECU | 20 | 16 |
| Memory1 of 1 differ | c5.xlarge | m5.xlarge |
|---|---|---|
| Memory (GiB) | 8 | 16 |
| NetworkingAll 8 match | c5.xlarge | m5.xlarge |
|---|---|---|
| Network | Up to 10 Gigabit | Up to 10 Gigabit |
| Network baseline | 1.25 Gbps | 1.25 Gbps |
| Network peak | 10 Gbps | 10 Gbps |
| Enhanced networking | Yes (ENA) | Yes (ENA) |
| EFA | No | No |
| IPv6 | Yes | Yes |
| Max network interfaces | 4 | 4 |
| IPv4 addresses per interface | 15 | 15 |
| Storage2 of 11 differ | c5.xlarge | m5.xlarge |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | EBS only | EBS only |
| EBS optimized | Yes | Yes |
| EBS over NVMe | Required | Required |
| EBS throughput | Up to 2250 Mbps | Up to 2120 Mbps |
| EBS baseline bandwidth | 1,150 Mbps | 1,150 Mbps |
| EBS max bandwidth | 4,750 Mbps | 4,750 Mbps |
| EBS baseline throughput | 143.75 MB/s | 143.75 MB/s |
| EBS max throughput | 593.75 MB/s | 593.75 MB/s |
| EBS baseline IOPS | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| EBS max IOPS | 20,000 | 18,750 |
| Max EBS volumes | 27 | 27 |
| Instance details2 of 10 differ | c5.xlarge | m5.xlarge |
|---|---|---|
| Family | c5 | m5 |
| Category | Compute optimized | General purpose |
| Current generation | Yes | Yes |
| Normalization factor | 8 | 8 |
| Bare metal | No | No |
| Hypervisor | Nitro | Nitro |
| Placement groups | Cluster, Partition, Spread | Cluster, Partition, Spread |
| Hibernation | Yes | Yes |
| Nitro Enclaves | Yes | Yes |
| Boot modes | Legacy BIOS, UEFI | Legacy BIOS, UEFI |
On-demand prices by region
Cheapest for c5.xlarge first. Linux, USD per hour.
| Region | c5.xlarge | m5.xlarge | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia Pacific (Hyderabad)ap-south-2 | $0.17 | $0.202 | ▲ 19% |
| Asia Pacific (Mumbai)ap-south-1 | $0.17 | $0.202 | ▲ 19% |
| US East (N. Virginia)Used in summaryus-east-1 | $0.17 | $0.192 | ▲ 13% |
| US East (Ohio)us-east-2 | $0.17 | $0.192 | ▲ 13% |
| US West (Oregon)us-west-2 | $0.17 | $0.192 | ▲ 13% |
| EU (Stockholm)eu-north-1 | $0.182 | $0.204 | ▲ 12% |
| Canada (Central)ca-central-1 | $0.186 | $0.214 | ▲ 15% |
| Canada West (Calgary)ca-west-1 | $0.186 | $0.214 | ▲ 15% |
| Asia Pacific (Seoul)ap-northeast-2 | $0.192 | $0.236 | ▲ 23% |
| EU (Ireland)eu-west-1 | $0.192 | $0.214 | ▲ 11% |
| Europe (Spain)eu-south-2 | $0.192 | $0.214 | ▲ 11% |
| EU (Frankfurt)eu-central-1 | $0.194 | $0.23 | ▲ 19% |
| Asia Pacific (Jakarta)ap-southeast-3 | $0.196 | $0.24 | ▲ 22% |
| Asia Pacific (Singapore)ap-southeast-1 | $0.196 | $0.24 | ▲ 22% |
| EU (London)eu-west-2 | $0.202 | $0.222 | ▲ 10% |
| EU (Milan)eu-south-1 | $0.202 | $0.224 | ▲ 11% |
| EU (Paris)eu-west-3 | $0.202 | $0.224 | ▲ 11% |
| Israel (Tel Aviv)il-central-1 | $0.202 | $0.225 | ▲ 11% |
| AWS GovCloud (US-East)us-gov-east-1 | $0.204 | $0.242 | ▲ 19% |
| AWS GovCloud (US-West)us-gov-west-1 | $0.204 | $0.242 | ▲ 19% |
| Middle East (Bahrain)me-south-1 | $0.211 | $0.235 | ▲ 11% |
| Middle East (UAE)me-central-1 | $0.211 | $0.235 | ▲ 11% |
| US West (N. California)us-west-1 | $0.212 | $0.224 | ▲ 6% |
| Europe (Zurich)eu-central-2 | $0.213 | $0.253 | ▲ 19% |
| Asia Pacific (Osaka)ap-northeast-3 | $0.214 | $0.248 | ▲ 16% |
| Asia Pacific (Tokyo)ap-northeast-1 | $0.214 | $0.248 | ▲ 16% |
| Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)ap-east-1 | $0.216 | $0.264 | ▲ 22% |
| Asia Pacific (Melbourne)ap-southeast-4 | $0.222 | $0.24 | ▲ 8% |
| Asia Pacific (Sydney)ap-southeast-2 | $0.222 | $0.24 | ▲ 8% |
| Africa (Cape Town)af-south-1 | $0.228 | $0.254 | ▲ 11% |
| South America (Sao Paulo)sa-east-1 | $0.262 | $0.306 | ▲ 17% |
Keep exploring
Each type’s own page, and how it compares with others.
AWS EC2 Linux prices in USD. Monthly figures use 730 hours. Prices last updated 12 Nov 2026.