Previous Generation Nodes

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AWS offers Previous Generation Nodes for users who have optimized their applications around these nodes and have yet to upgrade. Previous Generation Nodes are still fully supported and retain the same features and functionality. Previous Generation Nodes are available through the CLI and API tools.

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AWS Free Tier includes 750hrs of Micro Cache Node with Amazon ElastiCache.

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We encourage you to use the lastest generation of nodes to get the best performance, but we will continue to support Previous Generation Nodes after new nodes launch. If you are currently using a Previous Generation Node and would like to see which one would be a suitable upgrade, see the table below and learn how the latest generation of nodes could benefit you.

M1/M3 to M5

M5 instances provide the latest Intel Xeon processors paired with the new Nitro Hypervisor which delivers practically all of the compute and memory resources of the host hardware to your instances. With M5, you get a higher performing CPU with support for AVX-512 instructions, up to 384 GiB of RAM, and up to 25 Gbps of networking bandwidth, all at a lower price point then our previous generation instances.

M1	M3		M5
No	No	Latest Intel Xeon Processor	Yes
No	No	Lightweight Nitro Hypervisor	Yes
High	High	Network Performance	25 Gbps
No	No	Enhanced Networking	Yes (ENA-only)
Good	Better	Price per Compute Performance	Best

M2/R3 to R5

The R5 family of instances provide a newer Intel Xeon processor, up to 636.61 GiB of RAM, are EBS optimized and support Enhanced Networking with up to 25 Gbps offering lower latency, and low jitter. Plus, R5 provides a lower price point per GiB of RAM compared to the previous generation instances.

M2	R3		R5
No	No	Latest Intel Xeon Processors	Yes
No	Yes	Enhanced Networking	Yes
Good	Better	Sustained memory bandwidth	Best
Good	Better	I/O performance	Best
Good	Better	Memory per cache node	Best
Good	Better	Price point per GiB of RAM	Best

T1/M1 to T2

T2 nodes are Burstable Performance Nodes that provide a baseline level of CPU performance with the ability to burst above the baseline. They are recommended for workloads that don't use the full CPU often or consistently, but occasionally need to burst to higher CPU performance, such as test and development environments, as well as small workloads. T2 nodes are less expensive than m1.small, m1.medium, and t1.micro nodes in most regions.

T1/M1.small		T2
No	Latest Intel Xeon Processors	Yes
No	Turbo up to 3.3GHz	Yes
M1 only	Supports Backup and Restore for Redis	No

Previous Generation Node Details & Pricing

Just like our current nodes, Previous Generation Nodes give you access to the capabilities of a familiar Memcached and Redis engines.

Previous Generation Node Details

Cache Node Type	vCPU	Memory (GiB)	Network Performance
Standard - Previous Generation
cache.m1.small	1	1.3	Low
cache.m1.medium	1	3.35	Moderate
cache.m1.large	2	7.1	Moderate
cache.m1.xlarge	4	14.6	High
cache.m3.medium	1	2.78	Moderate
cache.m3.large	2	6.05	Moderate
cache.m3.xlarge	4	13.3	High
cache.m3.2xlarge	8	27.9	High
Memory Optimized - Previous Generation
cache.m2.xlarge	2	16.7	Moderate
cache.m2.2xlarge	4	33.8	Moderate
cache.m2.4xlarge	8	68	High
cache.r3.large	2	13.5	Moderate
cache.r3.xlarge	4	28.4	Moderate
cache.r3.2xlarge	8	58.2	High
cache.r3.4xlarge	16	118	High
cache.r3.8xlarge	32	237	10 Gigabit
Compute Optimized - Previous Generation
cache.c1.xlarge	8	6.6	High
Micro - Previous Generation
cache.t1.micro	1	0.213	Very Low

Previous Generation On-Demand Node Prices

Pricing is per instance-hour consumed for each instance, from the time an instance is launched until it is terminated or stopped. Each partial instance-hour consumed will be billed as a full hour.

Previous Generation Reserved Nodes

Reserved Nodes give you the option to make a low, one-time payment for each node you want to reserve and in turn receive a significant discount on the hourly charge for that instance. Amazon ElastiCache provides three Reserved Node types (Light, Medium, and Heavy Utilization Reserved Nodes) that enable you to balance the amount you pay upfront with your effective hourly price.

Based on your application workloads and the amount of time you plan to run them, Amazon ElastiCache Reserved Nodes may provide substantial savings over running on-demand nodes.