EC2 Instance Family Decision Tree 2026

AWS EC2 has 50+ instance types. The decision tree that picks the right family in seconds.

By workload

Web/app servers: M family (general purpose).

Compute-heavy: C family (compute optimised).

Memory-heavy: R or X family.

Storage-heavy: I or D family.

Pick newest generation

M5 → M6i → M7i. Newer is faster and cheaper per unit.

Migration cost is low; the savings compound.

Avoid

T family for production. Bursty CPU; unpredictable for sustained workloads.

Old generations: M3, M4. Cost more for less.