What network bandwidth is guaranteed per instance?
In Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), network bandwidth isn't a "one-size-fits-all" guarantee. Instead, it scales based on the size of the instance you rent. Oracle uses a non-oversubscribed network architecture, which means they don't "double-book" their bandwidth; what you are allocated is yours to use.
Here is how the bandwidth is partitioned across different rental types as of 2026:
For flexible VMs (like the AMD E5/E6 or Arm A2), the bandwidth scales linearly with the number of OCPUs (cores) you rent.
The Rule of Thumb: Generally, you get 1 Gbps of bandwidth per OCPU.
The Floor: Even a 1-OCPU instance usually starts with a minimum of 1 Gbps.
The Ceiling: Most standard VM shapes cap out at an aggregate of 40 Gbps.
Specialty VMs: Some optimized shapes (like the VM.Optimized3) offer a higher ratio, reaching 4 Gbps per OCPU.
When you rent the entire physical server, you get the full capacity of its network interface cards (NICs).
Standard/Dense I/O: These typically come with two 50 Gbps NICs (for a total of 100 Gbps) or a single 100 Gbps NIC.
Latest Generations (E6): Newest bare metal shapes have moved to 200 Gbps interfaces to handle the increased throughput of 5th Gen processors.
For AI and high-performance computing, standard networking isn't enough. These instances use RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE v2).
Front-end Network: Up to 400 Gbps for standard internet/storage traffic.
Back-end (Cluster) Network: This is where the magic happens. Using RDMA, nodes can communicate at speeds up to 3,200 Gbps (3.2 Tbps) with ultra-low latency (2–9 microseconds). This is used for "East-West" traffic between GPUs during massive AI training runs.
| Instance Type | Bandwidth Per OCPU | Max Aggregate Bandwidth | Best For |
| Standard VM (AMD/Arm) | 1 Gbps | 40 Gbps | Web servers, generic apps |
| Optimized VM | 4 Gbps | 40 Gbps | Latency-sensitive apps |
| Bare Metal (Standard) | N/A (Fixed) | 100 - 200 Gbps | Databases, heavy I/O |
| AI Supercluster (BM) | N/A (Fixed) | Up to 3,200 Gbps | LLM Training, HPC |
While OCI gives you plenty of bandwidth to move data within their cloud, they are also famous for their Data Egress (outbound to internet) policy:
The first 10 TB per month is FREE.
Beyond that, OCI's rates are roughly 80% lower than AWS or Azure, making it the preferred choice for data-heavy streaming or content delivery.