t3.smallvst3a.small
t3a.small is 10% cheaper than t3.small on demand in US East (N. Virginia), saving $1.46 a month.
| At a glance | t3.small | t3a.small |
|---|---|---|
| On-demand | $0.0208/hr | $0.0188/hr10% less |
| Lowest rate | $0.005/hrSpot, can be interrupted | $0.0047/hr6% lessSpot, can be interrupted |
| Size | 2 vCPUs, 2 GiB | 2 vCPUs, 2 GiB |
| Processor | Intel Skylake E5 2686 v5 | AMD EPYC 7571 |
| Architecture | x86_64 | x86_64 |
| CPU | BurstableBest for workloads that are mostly idle | BurstableBest for workloads that are mostly idle |
Prices in US East (N. Virginia)
“Off” is the discount against each type’s own on-demand price. Linux, USD per hour.
| Option | t3.small | t3a.small | t3a.small vs t3.small |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-demandPay by the hour | $0.0208 | $0.0188 | ▼ 10% |
| SpotCan be interrupted | 76% off$0.005 | 75% off$0.0047 | ▼ 6% |
| 1-yr reservedNo upfront | 38% off$0.013 | 37% off$0.0118 | ▼ 9% |
| 3-yr reservedNo upfront | 57% off$0.009 | 57% off$0.0081 | ▼ 10% |
| 1-yr savings planHourly commitment | 28% off$0.015 | 28% off$0.0136 | ▼ 9% |
| 3-yr savings planHourly commitment | 50% off$0.0103 | 50% off$0.0094 | ▼ 9% |
Key differences
The biggest lead each one has.
Where t3.small leads
Max network interfaces3 vs 2
50% higherClock speed3.1 GHz vs 2.5 GHz
24% higherWhere t3a.small leads
On-demand price$0.0188 vs $0.0208 per hour
10% cheaperEBS baseline bandwidth175 Mbps vs 174 Mbps
1% higherSpecs
10 of 41 specs differ. Those are in bold.
| Compute5 of 10 differ | t3.small | t3a.small |
|---|---|---|
| vCPUs | 2 | 2 |
| Physical cores | 1 | 1 |
| Threads per core | 2 | 2 |
| Architecture | x86_64 | x86_64 |
| Processor | Intel Skylake E5 2686 v5 | AMD EPYC 7571 |
| CPU maker | Intel | AMD |
| Clock speed | 3.1 GHz | 2.5 GHz |
| Sustained clock | 2.5 GHz | 2.2 GHz |
| Processor features | AVX; AVX2; Intel AVX; Intel AVX2; Intel AVX512; Intel Turbo | AVX; AVX2; AMD Turbo |
| Burstable | Yes | Yes |
| MemoryAll 1 match | t3.small | t3a.small |
|---|---|---|
| Memory (GiB) | 2 | 2 |
| Networking1 of 8 differ | t3.small | t3a.small |
|---|---|---|
| Network | Up to 5 Gigabit | Up to 5 Gigabit |
| Network baseline | 0.128 Gbps | 0.128 Gbps |
| Network peak | 5 Gbps | 5 Gbps |
| Enhanced networking | Yes (ENA) | Yes (ENA) |
| EFA | No | No |
| IPv6 | Yes | Yes |
| Max network interfaces | 3 | 2 |
| IPv4 addresses per interface | 4 | 4 |
| Storage2 of 11 differ | t3.small | t3a.small |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | EBS only | EBS only |
| EBS optimized | Yes | Yes |
| EBS over NVMe | Required | Required |
| EBS throughput | Up to 2085 Mbps | Up to 2085 Mbps |
| EBS baseline bandwidth | 174 Mbps | 175 Mbps |
| EBS max bandwidth | 2,085 Mbps | 2,085 Mbps |
| EBS baseline throughput | 21.75 MB/s | 21.875 MB/s |
| EBS max throughput | 260.625 MB/s | 260.625 MB/s |
| EBS baseline IOPS | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| EBS max IOPS | 11,800 | 11,800 |
| Max EBS volumes | 27 | 27 |
| Instance details2 of 11 differ | t3.small | t3a.small |
|---|---|---|
| Family | t3 | t3a |
| Category | General purpose | General purpose |
| Current generation | Yes | Yes |
| Normalization factor | 1 | 1 |
| Bare metal | No | No |
| Hypervisor | Nitro | Nitro |
| Placement groups | Partition, Spread | Partition, Spread |
| Hibernation | Yes | Yes |
| Nitro Enclaves | No | No |
| Boot modes | Legacy BIOS, UEFI | Legacy BIOS, UEFI |
| Free tier eligible | Yes | – |
On-demand prices by region
Cheapest for t3.small first. Linux, USD per hour.
| Region | t3.small | t3a.small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| US East (N. Virginia)Used in summaryus-east-1 | $0.0208 | $0.0188 | ▼ 10% |
| US East (Ohio)us-east-2 | $0.0208 | $0.0188 | ▼ 10% |
| US West (Oregon)us-west-2 | $0.0208 | $0.0188 | ▼ 10% |
| Asia Pacific (Mumbai)ap-south-1 | $0.0224 | $0.0123 | ▼ 45% |
| EU (Ireland)eu-west-1 | $0.0228 | $0.0204 | ▼ 11% |
| Canada (Central)ca-central-1 | $0.0232 | $0.0209 | ▼ 10% |
| EU (London)eu-west-2 | $0.0236 | $0.0212 | ▼ 10% |
| EU (Paris)eu-west-3 | $0.0236 | $0.0212 | ▼ 10% |
| EU (Frankfurt)eu-central-1 | $0.024 | $0.0216 | ▼ 10% |
| EU (Milan)eu-south-1 | $0.024 | $0.0216 | ▼ 10% |
| Israel (Tel Aviv)il-central-1 | $0.024 | $0.0214 | ▼ 11% |
| AWS GovCloud (US-East)us-gov-east-1 | $0.0244 | $0.022 | ▼ 10% |
| AWS GovCloud (US-West)us-gov-west-1 | $0.0244 | $0.022 | ▼ 10% |
| US West (N. California)us-west-1 | $0.0248 | $0.0223 | ▼ 10% |
| Asia Pacific (Seoul)ap-northeast-2 | $0.026 | $0.0234 | ▼ 10% |
| Asia Pacific (Singapore)ap-southeast-1 | $0.0264 | $0.0236 | ▼ 11% |
| Asia Pacific (Sydney)ap-southeast-2 | $0.0264 | $0.0238 | ▼ 10% |
| Asia Pacific (Tokyo)ap-northeast-1 | $0.0272 | $0.0245 | ▼ 10% |
| South America (Sao Paulo)sa-east-1 | $0.0336 | $0.0302 | ▼ 10% |
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.