t3a.small as an EKS node
2 vCPU2 GiBx86_64AMD EPYC 7571AWS us-east-1T3A Small
Where the t3a.small goes
Default EKS setup: EKS, VPC CNI default (ENI limit).
CPU1.73 of 2 vCPU left for your pods
Memory1.27 GiB of 2 GiB left for your pods
your podsDaemonSets (200m, 300 MiB assumed)kubelet reservedeviction
8max pods per node
$13.72on demand / month · $0.0188/h
$5.17spot / month (varies)
t3a.small EKS max pods and allocatable memory — quick answers
- How many pods can a t3a.small run as a node with EKS, VPC CNI default (ENI limit)? Up to 8; kubelet keeps 443 MiB of memory and 70m CPU, leaving 1.57 GiB and 1.93 vCPU for pods.
- How many pods can a t3a.small run as a node with EKS, prefix delegation? Up to 110; kubelet keeps 1565 MiB of memory and 70m CPU, leaving 0.47 GiB and 1.93 vCPU for pods.
- How many 500m / 1 GiB pods fit? 1 per node after DaemonSets; 10 nodes for 10 replicas, about $137.24/month on demand.
What kubelet reserves on t3a.small
| 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 | 8 | 70m | 343 Mi + 100 Mi | 1.93 | 1.57 GiB | 78.4% |
| EKS, prefix delegation ENABLE_PREFIX_DELEGATION=true | 110 | 70m | 1465 Mi + 100 Mi | 1.93 | 0.47 GiB | 23.6% |
How these numbers are computed: reservation formulas. How many subnet IPs a t3a.small 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 t3a.small
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 | 5 | 1 | $2.74 |
| 250m / 256 Mi | 5 | 0 | $2.74 |
| 250m / 512 Mi | 2 | 0 | $6.86 |
| 500m / 512 Mi | 2 | 0 | $6.86 |
| 500m / 1024 Mi | 1 | 0 | $13.72 |
| 1000m / 1024 Mi | 1 | 0 | $13.72 |
| 1000m / 2048 Mi | 0 | 0 | — |
| 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.small | 2 | 2 | 1.93 | 1.54 GiB | 11 | $12.26 | $7.99 |
| t3.small | 2 | 2 | 1.93 | 1.54 GiB | 11 | $15.18 | $9.89 |
| t8i.small | 2 | 2 | 1.93 | 0.47 GiB | 110 | $18.22 | $38.63 |
| c4.large | 2 | 3.75 | 1.93 | 3.09 GiB | 29 | $73.00 | $23.61 |
| t4g.micro | 2 | 1 | 1.93 | 0.61 GiB | 4 | $6.13 | $10.05 |
| t3a.micro | 2 | 1 | 1.93 | 0.61 GiB | 4 | $6.86 | $11.24 |
| t3.micro | 2 | 1 | 1.93 | 0.61 GiB | 4 | $7.59 | $12.44 |
| t8i.micro | 2 | 1 | 1.93 | 0.00 GiB | 110 | $9.11 | — |
Closest match on other clouds
| Type | vCPU | GiB | Alloc CPU | Alloc memory | Max pods | $/month | $ per alloc GiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e2-highcpu-2 | 2 | 2 | 1.93 | 1.40 GiB | 110 | $36.11 | $25.75 |
| e2-small | 2 | 2 | 0.94 | 1.40 GiB | 110 | $36.11 | $25.75 |
| n2d-highcpu-2 | 2 | 2 | 1.93 | 1.40 GiB | 110 | $45.53 | $32.47 |
| n2-highcpu-2 | 2 | 2 | 1.93 | 1.40 GiB | 110 | $52.34 | $37.32 |
| n1-highcpu-2 | 2 | 1.7998 | 1.93 | 1.25 GiB | 110 | $51.72 | $41.30 |
| c4d-highcpu-2 | 2 | 3 | 1.93 | 2.15 GiB | 110 | $55.97 | $26.00 |