e2-medium as a GKE node
2 vCPU4 GiBx86_64Google Cloud us-central1E2 Medium
Where the e2-medium goes
Default GKE setup: GKE ≤ 1.36.
CPU0.74 of 2 vCPU left for your pods
Memory2.61 GiB of 4 GiB left for your pods
your podsDaemonSets (200m, 300 MiB assumed)kubelet reservedeviction
110max pods per node
$40.38on demand / month · $0.0553/h
$24.23spot / month (varies)
e2-medium GKE max pods and allocatable memory — quick answers
- How many pods can a e2-medium run as a node with GKE ≤ 1.36? Up to 110; kubelet keeps 1124 MiB of memory and 1060m CPU, leaving 2.90 GiB and 0.94 vCPU for pods.
- How many pods can a e2-medium run as a node with GKE 1.37+ (Container-Optimized OS)? Up to 110; kubelet keeps 1124 MiB of memory and 1060m CPU, leaving 2.90 GiB and 0.94 vCPU for pods.
- How many 500m / 1 GiB pods fit? 1 per node after DaemonSets; 10 nodes for 10 replicas, about $403.82/month on demand.
What kubelet reserves on e2-medium
| Setup | Max pods | kube-reserved CPU | Memory reserved + eviction | Allocatable CPU | Allocatable memory | Memory usable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GKE ≤ 1.36 tiered memory reservation | 110 | 1060m | 1024 Mi + 100 Mi | 0.94 | 2.90 GiB | 72.6% |
| GKE 1.37+ (Container-Optimized OS) 15 MiB × max pods + 500 MiB, CPU capped at 1 vCPU | 110 | 1060m | 1024 Mi + 100 Mi | 0.94 | 2.90 GiB | 72.6% |
How these numbers are computed: reservation formulas. Check a live node with kubectl describe node → Allocatable.
How many pods fit on one e2-medium
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) | GKE ≤ 1.36 | GKE 1.37+ (Container-Optimized OS) | $ per pod / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100m / 128 Mi | 7 | 7 | $5.77 |
| 250m / 256 Mi | 2 | 2 | $20.19 |
| 250m / 512 Mi | 2 | 2 | $20.19 |
| 500m / 512 Mi | 1 | 1 | $40.38 |
| 500m / 1024 Mi | 1 | 1 | $40.38 |
| 1000m / 1024 Mi | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1000m / 2048 Mi | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2000m / 4096 Mi | 0 | 0 | — |
| 4000m / 8192 Mi | 0 | 0 | — |
Similar GKE node types
| Type | vCPU | GiB | Alloc CPU | Alloc memory | Max pods | $/month | $ per alloc GiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n4a-highcpu-2 | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 2.90 GiB | 110 | $47.42 | $16.34 |
| n4d-highcpu-2 | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 2.90 GiB | 110 | $52.17 | $17.97 |
| c2d-highcpu-2 | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 2.90 GiB | 110 | $54.72 | $18.85 |
| c4a-highcpu-2 | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 2.90 GiB | 110 | $55.30 | $19.06 |
| n4-highcpu-2 | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 2.90 GiB | 110 | $55.87 | $19.25 |
| c4-highcpu-2 | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 2.90 GiB | 110 | $62.09 | $21.39 |
| c4n-highcpu-2 | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 2.90 GiB | 110 | $99.34 | $34.23 |
| c4d-highcpu-2 | 2 | 3 | 1.93 | 2.15 GiB | 110 | $55.97 | $26.00 |
Closest match on other clouds
| Type | vCPU | GiB | Alloc CPU | Alloc memory | Max pods | $/month | $ per alloc GiB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| t4g.medium | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 3.47 GiB | 17 | $24.53 | $7.07 |
| t3a.medium | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 3.47 GiB | 17 | $27.45 | $7.91 |
| t3.medium | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 3.47 GiB | 17 | $30.37 | $8.75 |
| t2.medium | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 3.47 GiB | 17 | $33.87 | $9.76 |
| t8i.medium | 2 | 4 | 1.93 | 2.47 GiB | 110 | $36.44 | $14.74 |
| d2plsv6 | 2 | 4 | 1.90 | 2.90 GiB | 250 | $45.26 | $15.59 |