Amazon R5 Instance Types & Pricing (2026 Guide)
Amazon R5 memory-optimized EC2 instance types, specs, pricing models, and R5 vs R5a/R5n/R6i comparison — with guidance on when to use each for in-memory workloads.
Amazon R5 Instance Types & Pricing (2026 Guide)
Quick answer. Amazon R5 instances are memory-optimized EC2 instances built for in-memory databases, caches, and real-time analytics, offering roughly 8 GiB of RAM per vCPU. The family ranges from r5.large (2 vCPU / 16 GiB) to r5.24xlarge (96 vCPU / 768 GiB). On-Demand pricing starts around $0.126/hr for r5.large in us-east-1; Reserved or Savings Plans cut that up to ~72%.
R5 is the memory-optimized workhorse of AWS EC2 — when your bottleneck is RAM, not CPU, R5 is usually the right family.
R5 instance sizes
| Size | vCPU | Memory (GiB) |
|---|---|---|
| r5.large | 2 | 16 |
| r5.xlarge | 4 | 32 |
| r5.2xlarge | 8 | 64 |
| r5.4xlarge | 16 | 128 |
| r5.8xlarge | 32 | 256 |
| r5.12xlarge | 48 | 384 |
| r5.16xlarge | 64 | 512 |
| r5.24xlarge | 96 | 768 |
All sizes hold the ~8 GiB-per-vCPU ratio, which is what makes R5 "memory-optimized."
R5 vs R5a vs R5n vs R6i
- R5 – Intel Xeon, the default memory-optimized choice.
- R5a – AMD EPYC, ~10% cheaper for the same memory; great for cost-sensitive workloads.
- R5n / R5dn – higher network bandwidth (up to 100 Gbps) for network-heavy in-memory work; "d" adds local NVMe SSD.
- R6i – newer Intel generation, better price/performance; prefer it when available unless you have a reason to stay on R5.
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R5 pricing models
- On-Demand – pay per second, no commitment (r5.large ~$0.126/hr in us-east-1).
- Reserved Instances / Savings Plans – 1- or 3-year commitment for up to ~72% savings.
- Spot – up to ~90% off for fault-tolerant, interruptible workloads.
When to use R5
In-memory databases (Redis, Memcached), large relational databases, real-time big-data analytics, and SAP HANA-style workloads. If CPU is your bottleneck instead, use C-family; for balanced needs, M-family.
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Amazon R5 FAQ
What is an Amazon R5 instance? A memory-optimized EC2 instance with ~8 GiB RAM per vCPU, designed for memory-intensive workloads like in-memory caches and databases.
How much does an R5 instance cost? r5.large On-Demand is ~$0.126/hr in us-east-1; Reserved Instances or Savings Plans reduce this by up to ~72%. Prices vary by region and size.
R5 vs R6i — which should I choose? R6i is the newer generation with better price/performance; choose it over R5 when available unless you need a specific R5 variant (e.g., R5n networking).
Is R5a cheaper than R5? Yes — R5a uses AMD EPYC and is typically about 10% cheaper for equivalent memory.
Need help right-sizing EC2 for cost? Talk to our AWS/DevOps team.
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