AWS EC2 Instance Types: A Comprehensive Guide

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) provides a wide range of instance types optimized for different workloads. This guide offers a high-level overview of EC2 instance types, naming conventions, and key use cases.

Cloud Compute Instances – Amazon EC2 Instance Types – AWS

EC2 Instance Types Overview

EC2 instances are grouped into seven categories, each optimized for specific workloads. The AWS website is the best reference to check the latest instance types, costs, and specifications.

Instance Naming Convention

Each EC2 instance follows a standard naming convention:

Example: M5.2xlarge

• M → Instance Class (e.g., General Purpose)
• 5 → Generation (newer versions have higher numbers)
• 2xlarge → Size (larger sizes have more CPU, memory, and resources)

Types of EC2 Instances - “T”

1. General Purpose Instances

✅ Balanced Compute, Memory, and Networking

✅ Suitable for a variety of workloads

Use Cases:

• Web servers
• Code repositories