This topic describes the instance families that support instance type changes. If your instance type does not meet the current needs of your business, check whether you can change the instance type or instance family of your instance and what options are available to change to. Then select a method to change the instance type.

Impact of instance type changes

The impact of instance type changes varies with the network type of instances:
  • Classic network-type instances:
    • For phased-out instance types, when a non-I/O optimized instance is upgraded to an I/O optimized instance, instance information including the private IP address, disk device names, and software authorization codes will be changed. For Linux instances, device names of basic disks (cloud) will be changed to the form of xvda or xvdb, while device names of ultra disks (cloud_efficiency) and standard SSDs (cloud_ssd) will be changed to the form of vda or vdb.
    • If the instance belongs to an available instance family, the private IP address of the instance will be changed.
  • VPC-type instances:

    For phased-out instance types, when a non-I/O optimized instance is upgraded to an I/O optimized instance, the software authorization codes and the device names of the disks will be changed. For Linux instances, device names of basic disks (cloud) will be changed to the form of xvda or xvdb, while device names of ultra disks (cloud_efficiency) and standard SSDs (cloud_ssd) will be changed to the form of vda or vdb.

Instance families not supporting instance type changes

The following instance families do not support instance type changes between instance families or within an instance family:
  • d1 and d1ne
  • i1, i2, and i2g
  • vgn5i, gn5, and gn6i
  • ga1
  • f1 and f3
  • ebmgn6e, ebmgn6v, ebmgn6i, ebmc6, ebmg6, ebmr6, ebmhfc6, ebmhfg6, ebmhfr6, ebmc5s, ebmg5s, ebmr5s, ebmhfg5, ebmc4, and ebmg5
  • sccg5, scch5, and sccgn6

Instance families supporting instance type changes

The following tables list instance families that support instance type changes. The destination instance families apply to both subscription and pay-as-you-go instances.
Note Some instance types may not be available in all zones. Before you change the instance type of an instance, check whether the destination instance type or instance family is available in the current zone.
Table 1. Entry-level instance families
Source instance family Destination instance family (type)
t6 t6
t5
  • t5
  • sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, cm4, ce4, hfc5, hfg5, g5, r5, c5, ic5, re4, n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
  • n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
  • sn1, sn2, se1, n1, n2, e3, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, cm4, ce4, hfc5, hfg5, g5, r5, c5, ic5, re4, and t5
Table 2. Enterprise-level instance families
Source instance family Destination instance family (type)
g6, c6, and r6
  • g6, c6, and r6
  • hfc6, hfg6, and hfr6
g5, r5, c5, and ic5
  • g5, r5, c5, and ic5
  • sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, cm4, ce4, hfc5, hfg5, re4, t5, n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
sn1ne, sn2ne, and se1ne
  • sn1ne, sn2ne, and se1ne
  • c4, cm4, ce4, hfc5, hfg5, g5, r5, c5, ic5, re4, t5, n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
se1
  • se1
  • sn1, sn2, n1, n2, e3, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, cm4, ce4, hfc5, hfg5, g5, r5, c5, ic5, re4, t5, n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
re4
  • re4
  • sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, cm4, ce4, hfc5, hfg5, g5, r5, c5, ic5, t5, n4, mn4, xn4, e4, and ecs.se1.14xlarge
hfc6, hfg6, and hfr6
  • hfc6, hfg6, and hfr6
  • g6, c6, and r6
hfc5 and hfg5
  • hfc5 and hfg5
  • sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, cm4, ce4, g5, r5, c5, ic5, re4, t5, n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
gn4 gn4
gn5i gn5i
gn6e gn6e
gn6v gn6v
t1, s1, s2, s3, m1, m2, c1, and c2
  • t1, s1, s2, s3, m1, m2, c1, and c2
  • sn1, sn2, se1, n1, n2, e3, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, cm4, ce4, hfc5, hfg5, g5, r5, c5, ic5, re4, t5, n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
n1, n2, and e3
  • n1, n2, and e3
  • sn1, sn2, se1, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, cm4, ce4, hfc5, hfg5, g5, r5, c5, ic5, re4, t5, n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
sn1 and sn2
  • sn1 and sn2
  • se1, n1, n2, e3, sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, c4, cm4, ce4, hfc5, hfg5, g5, r5, c5, ic5, re4, t5, n4, mn4, xn4, and e4
c4, ce4, and cm4
  • c4, ce4, and cm4
  • sn1ne, sn2ne, se1ne, hfc5, hfg5, g5, r5, c5, ic5, re4, t5, n4, mn4, xn4, and e4