m5dn.large as an EKS node
2 vCPU8 GiBx86_64Intel Xeon Platinum 8259 (Cascade Lake)AWS us-east-1M5DN Large
Where the m5dn.large goes
Default EKS setup: EKS, VPC CNI default (ENI limit).
CPU1.73 of 2 vCPU left for your pods
Memory7.05 GiB of 8 GiB left for your pods
your podsDaemonSets (200m, 300 MiB assumed)kubelet reservedeviction
29max pods per node
$99.28on demand / month · $0.1360/h
$36.69spot / month (varies)
m5dn.large EKS max pods and allocatable memory — quick answers
- How many pods can a m5dn.large run as a node with EKS, VPC CNI default (ENI limit)? Up to 29; kubelet keeps 674 MiB of memory and 70m CPU, leaving 7.34 GiB and 1.93 vCPU for pods.
- How many pods can a m5dn.large run as a node with EKS, prefix delegation? Up to 110; kubelet keeps 1565 MiB of memory and 70m CPU, leaving 6.47 GiB and 1.93 vCPU for pods.
- How many 500m / 1 GiB pods fit? 3 per node after DaemonSets; 4 nodes for 10 replicas, about $397.12/month on demand.
What kubelet reserves on m5dn.large
| 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 | 29 | 70m | 574 Mi + 100 Mi | 1.93 | 7.34 GiB | 91.8% |
| EKS, prefix delegation ENABLE_PREFIX_DELEGATION=true | 110 | 70m | 1465 Mi + 100 Mi | 1.93 | 6.47 GiB | 80.9% |
How these numbers are computed: reservation formulas. How many subnet IPs a m5dn.large 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 m5dn.large
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 | 17 | 17 | $5.84 |
| 250m / 256 Mi | 6 | 6 | $16.55 |
| 250m / 512 Mi | 6 | 6 | $16.55 |
| 500m / 512 Mi | 3 | 3 | $33.09 |
| 500m / 1024 Mi | 3 | 3 | $33.09 |
| 1000m / 1024 Mi | 1 | 1 | $99.28 |
| 1000m / 2048 Mi | 1 | 1 | $99.28 |
| 2000m / 4096 Mi | 0 | 0 | — |
| 4000m / 8192 Mi | 0 | 0 | — |
Similar EKS node types
| Type | vCPU | GiB | Alloc CPU | Alloc memory | Max pods | $/month | $ per alloc GiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| t4g.large | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 7.28 GiB | 35 | $49.06 | $6.74 |
| t3a.large | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 7.28 GiB | 35 | $54.90 | $7.54 |
| m6g.large | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 7.34 GiB | 29 | $56.21 | $7.66 |
| m7g.large | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 7.34 GiB | 29 | $59.57 | $8.11 |
| t3.large | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 7.28 GiB | 35 | $60.74 | $8.35 |
| m5a.large | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 7.34 GiB | 29 | $62.78 | $8.55 |
| m6a.large | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 7.34 GiB | 29 | $63.07 | $8.59 |
| m8g.large | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 7.34 GiB | 29 | $65.52 | $8.92 |
Closest match on other clouds
| Type | vCPU | GiB | Alloc CPU | Alloc memory | Max pods | $/month | $ per alloc GiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e2-standard-2 | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 6.10 GiB | 110 | $48.92 | $8.02 |
| d2psv6 | 2 | 8 | 1.90 | 5.90 GiB | 250 | $51.25 | $8.68 |
| n4a-standard-2 | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 6.10 GiB | 110 | $56.21 | $9.21 |
| t2a-standard-2 | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 6.10 GiB | 110 | $56.21 | $9.21 |
| d2psv5 | 2 | 8 | 1.90 | 5.90 GiB | 250 | $56.21 | $9.52 |
| n2d-standard-2 | 2 | 8 | 1.93 | 6.10 GiB | 110 | $61.68 | $10.11 |