Spare Cores: Inventory and Tooling for Cloud Compute Resources

Harnessing the compute resources of the cloud to optimize efficiency and costs of batch and service tasks.

Open Data

Python

Benchmarks

Start a server

PRICE/HOURS

CPU

RAM (GB)

CLOUD VENDOR

SERVER TYPE

t4g.micro

arm64

t4g.small

arm64

t4g.large

arm64

t4g.xlarge

arm64

m7a.medium

arm64

m7a.large

arm64

m7a.2xlarge

arm64

t3a.nano

arm64

t3a.small

arm64

t3a.medium

arm64

t3a.large

arm64

m4.large

arm64

m4.xlarge

arm64

t2.small

arm64

t2.medium

arm64

t2.large

arm64

t2.xlarge

arm64

t2.2xlarge

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

c6a.large

arm64

c6a.xlarge

arm64

c6a.2xlarge

arm64

t4g.large

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

t4g.medium

arm64

c7i.large

x86_64

c7i.large

x86_64

c5n.large

arm64

e2-highcpu-32

x86_64

REGION

Asia Pacific

Jakarta

Europe

Milan

Asia Pacific

Jakarta

Asia Pacific

Jakarta

Asia Pacific

Hyderabad

Middle East

US East

Middle East

Asia Pacific

Hyderabad

US East

Asia Pacific

Melbourne

Asia Pacific

Mumbai

Asia Pacific

Mumbai

Europe

Zurich

Asia Pacific

Mumbai

Asia Pacific

Hyderabad

Africa

Cape Town

Asia Pacific

Hong Kong

Middle East

Europe

Zurich

Asia Pacific

Hong Kong

Asia Pacific

Melbourne

Africa

Cape Town

Asia Pacific

Melbourne

Middle East

Europe

Milan

Asia Pacific

Jakarta

Europe

Zurich

Asia Pacific

Hong Kong

Asia Pacific

Tokyo

US East

Europe

Paris

Europe

Paris

Europe

Milan

us-west-4

Las Vegas

extract_transform_load

We meticulously monitor cloud providers and flexible server providers, tracking details such as their data centers, availability zones, server offerings, and in-depth pricing options. This comprehensive data is openly accessible through our public databases.

Here are some key highlights regarding the information we currently cover.

SQL query to show statistics on the Spare Cores inventory and update frequency

4 (out of 10 planned) vendors

334 availability zones

2014 server types

800,000+ benchmark scores

~275,000 live price records

~5k records updated hourly

~20M historical records

Tracked every 5 mins.

resource_optimization

Only 3 Steps to optimize your compute resources

Screenshot of the server listing page, focusing on the filter elements in the sidebar

Step

Define Your Needs

Utilize our platform's dozens of filters to precisely outline your workload requirements, specifying details like number of vCPUs, amount of memory/storage, or GPU options.

Screenshot of the server listing page, focusing on the search results, showing 3 instance records in a table

Step

Find Optimal Resource

Let Spare Cores narrow down 2,000+ server types and 300,000 pricing options based on your criteria. We prioritize cost efficiency, presenting you with optimal choices.

Running the SC runner CLI tool to start a t4g.nano instance

Step

Deploy with Ease

Use our CLI tool to launch the selected instance in your cloud environment. Our streamlined process ensures it is up and running without unnecessary complexities.

<spare_cores> is 100% committed
to using and contributing to
open-source!

Spare Cores is still in the early development phase, initiated in Q3 of 2023 and gaining momentum in 2024, particularly thanks to the support from NGI Search funding.

Banner image showing NGI (Next Generation Internet) funding for the SC (Spare Cores) project

project_components

The status and brief descriptions of all the existing and planned Spare Cores components:

COMPONENT	STATUS	DESCRIPTION
SC Crawler	Beta	Inventory cloud resources into a SQlite database.
SC Inspector	Beta	Inspect and benchmark cloud resources.
SC Data	Beta	Wrapper around data collected using the Crawler.
SC Keeper	Alpha	API to search the Data.
SC Scanner	Stable	Web frontend and programming language SDKs for Keeper.
SC Runner	Beta	Launching actual cloud instances.

fun_facts

The most expensive server costs over $250 per hour. It comes with 448 vCPUs and 24TB RAM.

Most regions have 3 independent zones.
Some are single-zone, and one have 6 zones.

While spot prices are relatively stable nowadays, they can still fluctuate by up to 10% within a day.

There is a 2500x performance difference between the fastest and slowest nodes.

Some vendors charge 6+ times the price of a public IPv4 address compared to others.

release_notes

We publish case studies, learnings from implementing Spare Cores components, and other project updates from time to time. Find some of our featured articles below:

✅ Amazon Web Services (Done)
✅ Google Cloud Platform (Done)
✅ Hetzner Cloud (Done)
✅ Microsoft Azure (Done)
⚙️ UpCloud (In Progress)
⚙️ Vultr (In Progress)
🗓️ Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (Planned)
🗓️ Scaleway (Planned)
🗓️ Alibaba Cloud (Planned)
🗓️ OVH Cloud (Planned)