---
last_verified: 2026-04-24
service: OCI Compute
category: compute
oci_color: "#4F7B6E"
changelog:
  - date: "2026-04-24"
    change: "Added missing shapes surfaced by discover+WebFetch: VM/BM.Standard.E6.Ax, VM/BM.Standard.A4.Ax, and full X12 family (VM.Standard4.Ax.Flex 39 OCPU / 360 GB, BM.Standard4.Ax.120 latest-gen bare metal). Verified against docs.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/Compute/References/computeshapes.htm."
---

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: 126
    memory_per_ocpu_gb: "1-64 GB per OCPU"
    use_for: "General purpose, most workloads"
  - name: VM.Standard.E6.Flex
    processor: "AMD EPYC 9J45 (Turin)"
    max_ocpu: 126
    max_memory_gb: 1454
    memory_per_ocpu_gb: "1-64 GB per OCPU"
    network_gbps: 99
    use_for: "Latest generation general purpose"
  - 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: 78
    memory_per_ocpu_gb: "1-64 GB per OCPU"
    use_for: "Arm-compatible workloads, cost optimization"
  - name: VM.Standard.A4.Flex
    processor: "Arm"
    max_ocpu: 45
    max_memory_gb: 700
    network_gbps: 100
    use_for: "Latest Arm generation, cloud-native workloads"
  - 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.Standard.E6.Ax.Flex
    processor: "AMD EPYC (Ampere-branded E6 variant)"
    max_ocpu: 94
    max_memory_gb: 712
    network_gbps: 99
    use_for: "E6 Ampere-variant general purpose"
  - name: VM.Standard.A4.Ax.Flex
    processor: "Arm (A4 Ampere-branded variant)"
    max_ocpu: 45
    max_memory_gb: 720
    network_gbps: 100
    use_for: "A4 Ampere-variant Arm workloads"
  - name: VM.Standard4.Ax.Flex
    processor: "AMD EPYC (X12 Ampere-branded)"
    max_ocpu: 39
    max_memory_gb: 360
    network_gbps: 99
    use_for: "X12-generation general purpose (latest)"
  - name: BM.Standard.E5
    processor: "AMD EPYC 9J14 (Genoa)"
    ocpus: 192
    use_for: "Bare metal general purpose"
  - name: BM.Standard.E6
    processor: "AMD EPYC 9J45 (Turin)"
    ocpus: 256
    use_for: "Bare metal latest generation"
  - name: BM.Standard.E6.Ax.192
    processor: "AMD EPYC (E6 Ampere-branded variant)"
    ocpus: 192
    max_memory_gb: 1536
    network_gbps: 200
    use_for: "Bare metal E6 Ampere-variant"
  - name: BM.Standard.A4.48
    processor: "Arm (A4)"
    ocpus: 48
    max_memory_gb: 768
    network_gbps: 100
    use_for: "Bare metal A4 Arm general purpose"
  - name: BM.Standard.A4.Ax.48
    processor: "Arm (A4 Ampere-branded variant)"
    ocpus: 48
    max_memory_gb: 768
    network_gbps: 100
    use_for: "Bare metal A4 Ampere-variant Arm"
  - name: BM.Standard4.Ax.120
    processor: "AMD EPYC (X12 Ampere-branded)"
    ocpus: 120
    max_memory_gb: 1152
    network_gbps: 200
    use_for: "Bare metal X12 latest generation"
  - 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"
  - name: BM.GPU.H200.8
    processor: "NVIDIA H200 (8 GPUs)"
    gpu_count: 8
    use_for: "AI/ML training, large model inference (higher memory bandwidth)"
  - name: BM.GPU.B200.8
    processor: "NVIDIA B200 (8 GPUs)"
    gpu_count: 8
    use_for: "Next-gen AI training and inference"
  - name: BM.GPU.B300.8
    processor: "NVIDIA B300 (8 GPUs)"
    gpu_count: 8
    use_for: "Next-gen AI training and inference"
  - name: BM.GPU.GB200.4
    processor: "NVIDIA GB200 (4 GPUs)"
    gpu_count: 4
    use_for: "Grace Blackwell superchip, AI training"
  - name: BM.GPU.GB300.4
    processor: "NVIDIA GB300 (4 GPUs)"
    gpu_count: 4
    use_for: "Grace Blackwell next-gen AI"
  - name: BM.GPU.MI300X.8
    processor: "AMD Instinct MI300X (8 GPUs)"
    gpu_count: 8
    use_for: "AMD GPU AI/ML workloads"
  - name: BM.GPU.MI355X.8
    processor: "AMD Instinct MI355X (8 GPUs)"
    gpu_count: 8
    use_for: "AMD GPU next-gen AI/ML workloads"
  - name: BM.GPU.L40S.4
    processor: "NVIDIA L40S (4 GPUs)"
    gpu_count: 4
    use_for: "AI inference, graphics, video"

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"