t3a.xlargevsm5ad.xlarge

t3a.xlarge is 27% cheaper than m5ad.xlarge on demand in US East (N. Virginia), saving $40.59 a month.

At a glancet3a.xlargem5ad.xlarge
On-demand$0.1504/hr27% less$0.206/hr
Lowest rate$0.0371/hr51% lessSpot, can be interrupted$0.0752/hrSpot, can be interrupted
Size4 vCPUs, 16 GiB4 vCPUs, 16 GiB
ProcessorAMD EPYC 7571AMD EPYC 7571
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.

Optiont3a.xlargem5ad.xlargem5ad.xlarge vs t3a.xlarge
On-demandPay by the hour$0.1504$0.206▲ 37%
SpotCan be interrupted75% off$0.037163% off$0.0752▲ 103%
1-yr reservedNo upfront37% off$0.094337% off$0.13▲ 38%
3-yr reservedNo upfront57% off$0.06557% off$0.089▲ 37%
1-yr savings planHourly commitment28% off$0.108527% off$0.151▲ 39%
3-yr savings planHourly commitment50% off$0.074950% off$0.104▲ 39%

Key differences

The biggest lead each one has.

Where t3a.xlarge leads
On-demand price$0.1504 vs $0.206 per hour
27% cheaper
CPU modelEarns credits while idle, then bursts
Burstable
Max EBS volumes27 vs 26
4% higher
Where m5ad.xlarge leads
CPU modelSteady performance, no credits to manage
Full CPU
Network peak10 Gbps vs 5 Gbps
2× higher
EBS baseline bandwidth1,085 Mbps vs 695 Mbps
56% higher

Specs

17 of 41 specs differ. Those are in bold.

Compute1 of 10 differt3a.xlargem5ad.xlarge
vCPUs44
Physical cores22
Threads per core22
Architecturex86_64x86_64
ProcessorAMD EPYC 7571AMD EPYC 7571
CPU makerAMDAMD
Clock speed2.5 GHz2.5 GHz
Sustained clock2.2 GHz2.2 GHz
Processor featuresAVX; AVX2; AMD TurboAVX; AVX2; AMD Turbo
BurstableYesNo
MemoryAll 1 matcht3a.xlargem5ad.xlarge
Memory (GiB)1616
Networking3 of 8 differt3a.xlargem5ad.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
Storage10 of 12 differt3a.xlargem5ad.xlarge
StorageEBS only1 x 150 NVMe SSD
Local disks–1 × 150 GB SSD
EBS optimizedYesYes
EBS over NVMeRequiredRequired
EBS throughputUp to 2780 MbpsUp to 2120 Mbps
EBS baseline bandwidth695 Mbps1,085 Mbps
EBS max bandwidth2,780 Mbps2,880 Mbps
EBS baseline throughput86.875 MB/s135.625 MB/s
EBS max throughput347.5 MB/s360 MB/s
EBS baseline IOPS4,0006,000
EBS max IOPS15,70016,000
Max EBS volumes2726
Instance details3 of 10 differt3a.xlargem5ad.xlarge
Familyt3am5ad
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 t3a.xlarge first. Linux, USD per hour.

Regiont3a.xlargem5ad.xlargeDifference
Asia Pacific (Mumbai)ap-south-1$0.0986$0.134▲ 36%
US East (N. Virginia)Used in summaryus-east-1$0.1504$0.206▲ 37%
US East (Ohio)us-east-2$0.1504$0.206▲ 37%
US West (Oregon)us-west-2$0.1504$0.206▲ 37%
EU (Ireland)eu-west-1$0.1632$0.23▲ 41%
Canada (Central)ca-central-1$0.167$0.23▲ 38%
EU (London)eu-west-2$0.1699$0.24▲ 41%
EU (Paris)eu-west-3$0.1699$0.242▲ 42%
EU (Frankfurt)eu-central-1$0.1728$0.25▲ 45%
AWS GovCloud (US-West)us-gov-west-1$0.1757$0.262▲ 49%
US West (N. California)us-west-1$0.1786$0.244▲ 37%
Asia Pacific (Seoul)ap-northeast-2$0.1872$0.254▲ 36%
Asia Pacific (Singapore)ap-southeast-1$0.1888$0.258▲ 37%
Asia Pacific (Sydney)ap-southeast-2$0.1901$0.26▲ 37%
Asia Pacific (Tokyo)ap-northeast-1$0.1958$0.268▲ 37%
South America (Sao Paulo)sa-east-1$0.2419$0.33▲ 36%

Keep exploring

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

t3a.xlargeGeneral purpose, t3a family, burstable
t3a.xlarge prices and specsEvery size in the t3a family

Compare t3a.xlarge with

t3.xlargem5a.xlargem6a.xlargem7a.xlargem8a.xlargem8azn.xlarge
m5ad.xlargeGeneral purpose, m5ad family
m5ad.xlarge prices and specsEvery size in the m5ad family

Compare m5ad.xlarge with

c5ad.xlargem5d.xlargem5a.xlarger5ad.xlarge

Pay the committed rate, with commitment protection

The best committed rate on these two is 57% below on-demand. Connect your cloud accounts to unlock greater savings with commitment protection.

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