g6.xlarge as an EKS node
4 vCPU16 GiBx86_64AMD EPYC 7R13 Processor1 GPUAWS us-east-1G6 Graphics and Machine Learning GPU Extra Large
Where the g6.xlarge goes
Default EKS setup: EKS, VPC CNI default (ENI limit).
CPU3.72 of 4 vCPU left for your pods
Memory14.74 GiB of 16 GiB left for your pods
your podsDaemonSets (200m, 300 MiB assumed)kubelet reservedeviction
58max pods per node
$587.50on demand / month · $0.8048/h
$436.39spot / month (varies)
g6.xlarge EKS max pods and allocatable memory — quick answers
- How many pods can a g6.xlarge run as a node with EKS, VPC CNI default (ENI limit)? Up to 58; kubelet keeps 993 MiB of memory and 80m CPU, leaving 15.03 GiB and 3.92 vCPU for pods.
- How many pods can a g6.xlarge run as a node with EKS, prefix delegation? Up to 110; kubelet keeps 1565 MiB of memory and 80m CPU, leaving 14.47 GiB and 3.92 vCPU for pods.
- How many 500m / 1 GiB pods fit? 7 per node after DaemonSets; 2 nodes for 10 replicas, about $1,175.01/month on demand.
What kubelet reserves on g6.xlarge
| Setup | Max pods | kube-reserved CPU | Memory reserved + eviction | Allocatable CPU | Allocatable memory | Memory usable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EKS, VPC CNI default (ENI limit) secondary IPs per ENI | 58 | 80m | 893 Mi + 100 Mi | 3.92 | 15.03 GiB | 93.9% |
| EKS, prefix delegation ENABLE_PREFIX_DELEGATION=true | 110 | 80m | 1465 Mi + 100 Mi | 3.92 | 14.47 GiB | 90.4% |
How these numbers are computed: reservation formulas. How many subnet IPs a g6.xlarge takes with the VPC CNI: EKS max pods and IP calculator. Check a live node with kubectl describe node → Allocatable.
How many pods fit on one g6.xlarge
Assumes DaemonSets (CNI, kube-proxy, log and metrics agents) request 200m CPU, 300 Mi and 3 pods per node. Try your own numbers in the node calculator.
| Pod requests (CPU / memory) | EKS, VPC CNI default (ENI limit) | EKS, prefix delegation | $ per pod / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100m / 128 Mi | 37 | 37 | $15.88 |
| 250m / 256 Mi | 14 | 14 | $41.96 |
| 250m / 512 Mi | 14 | 14 | $41.96 |
| 500m / 512 Mi | 7 | 7 | $83.93 |
| 500m / 1024 Mi | 7 | 7 | $83.93 |
| 1000m / 1024 Mi | 3 | 3 | $195.83 |
| 1000m / 2048 Mi | 3 | 3 | $195.83 |
| 2000m / 4096 Mi | 1 | 1 | $587.50 |
| 4000m / 8192 Mi | 0 | 0 | — |
Similar EKS node types
| Type | vCPU | GiB | Alloc CPU | Alloc memory | Max pods | $/month | $ per alloc GiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| g6f.xlarge | 4 | 16 | 3.92 | 15.03 GiB | 58 | $173.38 | $11.54 |
| g4ad.xlarge | 4 | 16 | 3.92 | 15.57 GiB | 8 | $276.33 | $17.75 |
| g4dn.xlarge | 4 | 16 | 3.92 | 15.34 GiB | 29 | $383.98 | $25.03 |
| g5.xlarge | 4 | 16 | 3.92 | 15.03 GiB | 58 | $734.38 | $48.86 |
| g3s.xlarge | 4 | 30.5 | 3.92 | 28.97 GiB | 110 | $547.50 | $18.90 |
| g5g.xlarge | 4 | 8 | 3.92 | 7.03 GiB | 58 | $306.60 | $43.61 |
| g5g.2xlarge | 8 | 16 | 7.91 | 15.03 GiB | 58 | $405.88 | $27.00 |
| g6e.xlarge | 4 | 32 | 3.92 | 31.03 GiB | 58 | $1,358.53 | $43.78 |
Closest match on other clouds
| Type | vCPU | GiB | Alloc CPU | Alloc memory | Max pods | $/month | $ per alloc GiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| g2-standard-4 | 4 | 16 | 3.92 | 13.30 GiB | 110 | $107.16 | $8.06 |
| g2-standard-8 | 8 | 32 | 7.91 | 28.34 GiB | 110 | $214.32 | $7.56 |
| g2-standard-12 | 12 | 48 | 11.90 | 43.38 GiB | 110 | $321.47 | $7.41 |
| a2-highgpu-1g | 12 | 85 | 11.90 | 78.16 GiB | 110 | $539.82 | $6.91 |
| g2-standard-16 | 16 | 64 | 15.89 | 58.42 GiB | 110 | $428.63 | $7.34 |
| a2-ultragpu-1g | 12 | 170 | 11.90 | 159.74 GiB | 110 | $832.72 | $5.21 |