t3.xlargevsm5.xlarge

t3.xlarge is 13% cheaper than m5.xlarge on demand in US East (N. Virginia), saving $18.69 a month.

At a glancet3.xlargem5.xlarge
On-demand$0.1664/hr13% less$0.192/hr
Lowest rate$0.0352/hr10% lessSpot, can be interrupted$0.0391/hrSpot, can be interrupted
Size4 vCPUs, 16 GiB4 vCPUs, 16 GiB
ProcessorIntel Skylake E5 2686 v5Intel Xeon Platinum 8175
Architecturex86_64x86_64
CPUBurstableBest for workloads that are mostly idleFull CPUSteady performance, no credits to manage

Prices in US East (N. Virginia)

“Off” is the discount against each type’s own on-demand price. Linux, USD per hour.

Optiont3.xlargem5.xlargem5.xlarge vs t3.xlarge
On-demandPay by the hour$0.1664$0.192▲ 15%
SpotCan be interrupted79% off$0.035280% off$0.0391▲ 11%
1-yr reservedNo upfront37% off$0.104337% off$0.121▲ 16%
3-yr reservedNo upfront57% off$0.071957% off$0.083▲ 15%
1-yr savings planHourly commitment28% off$0.1227% off$0.141▲ 17%
3-yr savings planHourly commitment50% off$0.082649% off$0.097▲ 17%

Key differences

The biggest lead each one has.

Where t3.xlarge leads
On-demand price$0.1664 vs $0.192 per hour
13% cheaper
CPU modelEarns credits while idle, then bursts
Burstable
Where m5.xlarge leads
CPU modelSteady performance, no credits to manage
Full CPU
Network peak10 Gbps vs 5 Gbps
2× higher
EBS max bandwidth4,750 Mbps vs 2,780 Mbps
71% higher
Sustained clock3.1 GHz vs 2.5 GHz
24% higher

Specs

18 of 41 specs differ. Those are in bold.

Compute5 of 11 differt3.xlargem5.xlarge
vCPUs44
Physical cores22
Threads per core22
Architecturex86_64x86_64
ProcessorIntel Skylake E5 2686 v5Intel Xeon Platinum 8175
CPU makerIntelIntel
Clock speed3.1 GHz3.1 GHz
Sustained clock2.5 GHz3.1 GHz
Processor featuresAVX; AVX2; Intel AVX; Intel AVX2; Intel AVX512; Intel TurboIntel AVX; Intel AVX2; Intel AVX512; Intel Turbo
BurstableYesNo
ECU–16
MemoryAll 1 matcht3.xlargem5.xlarge
Memory (GiB)1616
Networking3 of 8 differt3.xlargem5.xlarge
NetworkUp to 5 GigabitUp to 10 Gigabit
Network baseline1.024 Gbps1.25 Gbps
Network peak5 Gbps10 Gbps
Enhanced networkingYes (ENA)Yes (ENA)
EFANoNo
IPv6YesYes
Max network interfaces44
IPv4 addresses per interface1515
Storage7 of 11 differt3.xlargem5.xlarge
StorageEBS onlyEBS only
EBS optimizedYesYes
EBS over NVMeRequiredRequired
EBS throughputUp to 2780 MbpsUp to 2120 Mbps
EBS baseline bandwidth695 Mbps1,150 Mbps
EBS max bandwidth2,780 Mbps4,750 Mbps
EBS baseline throughput86.875 MB/s143.75 MB/s
EBS max throughput347.5 MB/s593.75 MB/s
EBS baseline IOPS4,0006,000
EBS max IOPS15,70018,750
Max EBS volumes2727
Instance details3 of 10 differt3.xlargem5.xlarge
Familyt3m5
CategoryGeneral purposeGeneral purpose
Current generationYesYes
Normalization factor88
Bare metalNoNo
HypervisorNitroNitro
Placement groupsPartition, SpreadCluster, Partition, Spread
HibernationYesYes
Nitro EnclavesNoYes
Boot modesLegacy BIOS, UEFILegacy BIOS, UEFI

On-demand prices by region

Cheapest for t3.xlarge first. Linux, USD per hour.

Regiont3.xlargem5.xlargeDifference
US East (N. Virginia)Used in summaryus-east-1$0.1664$0.192▲ 15%
US East (Ohio)us-east-2$0.1664$0.192▲ 15%
US West (Oregon)us-west-2$0.1664$0.192▲ 15%
EU (Stockholm)eu-north-1$0.1728$0.204▲ 18%
Asia Pacific (Hyderabad)ap-south-2$0.1792$0.202▲ 13%
Asia Pacific (Mumbai)ap-south-1$0.1792$0.202▲ 13%
EU (Ireland)eu-west-1$0.1824$0.214▲ 17%
Europe (Spain)eu-south-2$0.1824$0.214▲ 17%
Canada (Central)ca-central-1$0.1856$0.214▲ 15%
Canada West (Calgary)ca-west-1$0.1856$0.214▲ 15%
EU (London)eu-west-2$0.1888$0.222▲ 18%
EU (Paris)eu-west-3$0.1888$0.224▲ 19%
EU (Milan)eu-south-1$0.1917$0.224▲ 17%
Israel (Tel Aviv)il-central-1$0.1917$0.225▲ 17%
EU (Frankfurt)eu-central-1$0.192$0.23▲ 20%
AWS GovCloud (US-East)us-gov-east-1$0.1952$0.242▲ 24%
AWS GovCloud (US-West)us-gov-west-1$0.1952$0.242▲ 24%
US West (N. California)us-west-1$0.1984$0.224▲ 13%
Middle East (Bahrain)me-south-1$0.2006$0.235▲ 17%
Middle East (UAE)me-central-1$0.2006$0.235▲ 17%
Asia Pacific (Seoul)ap-northeast-2$0.208$0.236▲ 13%
Asia Pacific (Jakarta)ap-southeast-3$0.2112$0.24▲ 14%
Asia Pacific (Melbourne)ap-southeast-4$0.2112$0.24▲ 14%
Asia Pacific (Singapore)ap-southeast-1$0.2112$0.24▲ 14%
Asia Pacific (Sydney)ap-southeast-2$0.2112$0.24▲ 14%
Europe (Zurich)eu-central-2$0.2112$0.253▲ 20%
Africa (Cape Town)af-south-1$0.217$0.254▲ 17%
Asia Pacific (Osaka)ap-northeast-3$0.2176$0.248▲ 14%
Asia Pacific (Tokyo)ap-northeast-1$0.2176$0.248▲ 14%
Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)ap-east-1$0.2336$0.264▲ 13%
South America (Sao Paulo)sa-east-1$0.2688$0.306▲ 14%

Keep exploring

Each type’s own page, and how it compares with others.

t3.xlargeGeneral purpose, t3 family, burstable
t3.xlarge prices and specsEvery size in the t3 family

Compare t3.xlarge with

m5d.xlargem6i.xlargem7i.xlargem8i-flex.xlargem8i.xlargem7i-flex.xlargem6id.xlargem4.xlargem5dn.xlargem5n.xlargem5zn.xlargem6idn.xlarge
m5.xlargeGeneral purpose, m5 family
m5.xlarge prices and specsEvery size in the m5 family

Compare m5.xlarge with

c5.xlargem5d.xlarger5.xlargem5a.xlargem5dn.xlargem5n.xlargem5zn.xlarget2.xlargem4.xlargem6i.xlarge

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AWS EC2 Linux prices in USD. Monthly figures use 730 hours. Prices last updated 12 Nov 2026.