---
last_verified: 2026-03-14
service: OCI Compute
category: compute
oci_color: "#4F7B6E"
---

what: Virtual machines and bare metal instances. Flexible shapes allow custom
  OCPU/memory ratios. AMD, Intel, and Arm options available.

shape_families:
  - name: VM.Standard.E5.Flex
    processor: "AMD EPYC 9J14 (Genoa)"
    max_ocpu: 94
    memory_per_ocpu_gb: "1-64 GB per OCPU"
    use_for: "General purpose, most workloads"
  - name: VM.Standard3.Flex
    processor: "Intel Xeon (Ice Lake)"
    max_ocpu: 32
    memory_per_ocpu_gb: "1-64 GB per OCPU"
    use_for: "Intel-optimized workloads"
  - name: VM.Standard.A2.Flex
    processor: "Ampere Altra (Arm)"
    max_ocpu: 80
    memory_per_ocpu_gb: "1-64 GB per OCPU"
    use_for: "Arm-compatible workloads, cost optimization"
  - name: VM.Optimized3.Flex
    processor: "Intel Xeon (Ice Lake)"
    max_ocpu: 18
    memory_per_ocpu_gb: "1-64 GB per OCPU"
    use_for: "High-frequency trading, HPC"
  - name: VM.GPU.A10.1
    processor: "NVIDIA A10"
    gpu_count: 1
    use_for: "AI/ML inference, GPU workloads"
  - name: BM.GPU.H100.8
    processor: "NVIDIA H100 (8 GPUs)"
    gpu_count: 8
    use_for: "AI/ML training, large model inference"

when_to_use:
  - Traditional VM-based applications
  - Applications not suited for containers
  - Database clients and application servers
  - Bastion hosts and jump boxes
  - GPU workloads (AI/ML, rendering)

when_NOT_to_use:
  - Containerized microservices (use OKE)
  - Serverless event-driven workloads (use Functions)
  - Managed database workloads (use ADB/DBCS)

features:
  flexible_shapes: true
  burstable: "Burstable instances available (VM.Standard.E5.Flex.Burstable)"
  preemptible: "Preemptible instances at reduced cost"
  dedicated_hosts: true
  live_migration: true
  boot_volume_backup: true
  instance_pools: true
  autoscaling: "Instance pool autoscaling"

pricing:
  model: per_ocpu_per_hour
  e5_flex_per_ocpu: 0.0230
  standard3_flex_per_ocpu: 0.0360
  a2_flex_per_ocpu: 0.0100
  memory_per_gb: 0.0015
  preemptible_discount: "~50% off on-demand"
  notes:
    - "Flexible shapes: OCPU + memory billed separately"
    - "Always Free tier: 1 VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro (AMD)"
    - "Preemptible instances can be reclaimed with 30s notice"