Use DescribeInstanceTypes with an Amazon SDK or CLI

    /// <summary>
    /// Describe the instance types available.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>A list of instance type information.</returns>
    public async Task<List<InstanceTypeInfo>> DescribeInstanceTypes(ArchitectureValues architecture)
    {
        var request = new DescribeInstanceTypesRequest();

        var filters = new List<Filter>
            { new Filter("processor-info.supported-architecture", new List<string> { architecture.ToString() }) };
        filters.Add(new Filter("instance-type", new() { "*.micro", "*.small" }));

        request.Filters = filters;
        var instanceTypes = new List<InstanceTypeInfo>();

        var paginator = _amazonEC2.Paginators.DescribeInstanceTypes(request);
        await foreach (var instanceType in paginator.InstanceTypes)
        {
            instanceTypes.Add(instanceType);
        }
        return instanceTypes;
    }

###############################################################################
# ec2_describe_instance_types
#
# This function describes EC2 instance types filtered by processor architecture
# and optionally by instance type. It takes the following arguments:
#
# -a, --architecture ARCHITECTURE  Specify the processor architecture (e.g., x86_64)
# -t, --type INSTANCE_TYPE         Comma-separated list of instance types (e.g., t2.micro)
# -h, --help                       Show the usage help
#
# The function prints the instance type and supported architecture for each
# matching instance type.
###############################################################################
function ec2_describe_instance_types() {
  local architecture=""
  local instance_types=""

  # bashsupport disable=BP5008
  function usage() {
    echo "Usage: ec2_describe_instance_types [-a|--architecture ARCHITECTURE] [-t|--type INSTANCE_TYPE] [-h|--help]"
    echo "  -a, --architecture ARCHITECTURE  Specify the processor architecture (e.g., x86_64)"
    echo "  -t, --type INSTANCE_TYPE         Comma-separated list of instance types (e.g., t2.micro)"
    echo "  -h, --help                       Show this help message"
  }

  while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
    case "$1" in
      -a | --architecture)
        architecture="$2"
        shift 2
        ;;
      -t | --type)
        instance_types="$2"
        shift 2
        ;;
      -h | --help)
        usage
        return 0
        ;;
      *)
        echo "Unknown argument: $1"
        return 1
        ;;
    esac
  done

  if [[ -z "$architecture" ]]; then
    errecho "Error: Architecture not specified."
    usage
    return 1
  fi

  if [[ -z "$instance_types" ]]; then
    errecho "Error: Instance type not specified."
    usage
    return 1
  fi

  local tmp_json_file="temp_ec2.json"
  echo -n '[
    {
      "Name": "processor-info.supported-architecture",
      "Values": [' >"$tmp_json_file"

  local items
  IFS=',' read -ra items <<<"$architecture"
  local array_size
  array_size=${#items[@]}
  for i in $(seq 0 $((array_size - 1))); do
    echo -n '"'"${items[$i]}"'"' >>"$tmp_json_file"
    if [[ $i -lt $((array_size - 1)) ]]; then
      echo -n ',' >>"$tmp_json_file"
    fi
  done
  echo -n ']},
    {
    "Name": "instance-type",
      "Values": [' >>"$tmp_json_file"
  IFS=',' read -ra items <<<"$instance_types"
  local array_size
  array_size=${#items[@]}
  for i in $(seq 0 $((array_size - 1))); do
    echo -n '"'"${items[$i]}"'"' >>"$tmp_json_file"
    if [[ $i -lt $((array_size - 1)) ]]; then
      echo -n ',' >>"$tmp_json_file"
    fi
  done

  echo -n ']}]' >>"$tmp_json_file"

  local response
  response=$(aws ec2 describe-instance-types --filters file://"$tmp_json_file" \
    --query 'InstanceTypes[*].[InstanceType]' --output text)

  local error_code=$?

  rm "$tmp_json_file"

  if [[ $error_code -ne 0 ]]; then
    aws_cli_error_log $error_code
    echo "ERROR: AWS reports describe-instance-types operation failed."
    return 1
  fi

  echo "$response"
  return 0
}

The utility functions used in this example.

###############################################################################
# function errecho
#
# This function outputs everything sent to it to STDERR (standard error output).
###############################################################################
function errecho() {
  printf "%s\n" "$*" 1>&2
}

##############################################################################
# function aws_cli_error_log()
#
# This function is used to log the error messages from the AWS CLI.
#
# The function expects the following argument:
#         $1 - The error code returned by the AWS CLI.
#
#  Returns:
#          0: - Success.
#
##############################################################################
function aws_cli_error_log() {
  local err_code=$1
  errecho "Error code : $err_code"
  if [ "$err_code" == 1 ]; then
    errecho "  One or more S3 transfers failed."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 2 ]; then
    errecho "  Command line failed to parse."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 130 ]; then
    errecho "  Process received SIGINT."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 252 ]; then
    errecho "  Command syntax invalid."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 253 ]; then
    errecho "  The system environment or configuration was invalid."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 254 ]; then
    errecho "  The service returned an error."
  elif [ "$err_code" == 255 ]; then
    errecho "  255 is a catch-all error."
  fi

  return 0
}

Example 1: To describe an instance type

The following describe-instance-types example displays details for the specified instance type.

aws ec2 describe-instance-types \
    --instance-types t2.micro

Output:

{
    "InstanceTypes": [
        {
            "InstanceType": "t2.micro",
            "CurrentGeneration": true,
            "FreeTierEligible": true,
            "SupportedUsageClasses": [
                "on-demand",
                "spot"
            ],
            "SupportedRootDeviceTypes": [
                "ebs"
            ],
            "BareMetal": false,
            "Hypervisor": "xen",
            "ProcessorInfo": {
                "SupportedArchitectures": [
                    "i386",
                    "x86_64"
                ],
                "SustainedClockSpeedInGhz": 2.5
            },
            "VCpuInfo": {
                "DefaultVCpus": 1,
                "DefaultCores": 1,
                "DefaultThreadsPerCore": 1,
                "ValidCores": [
                    1
                ],
                "ValidThreadsPerCore": [
                    1
                ]
            },
            "MemoryInfo": {
                "SizeInMiB": 1024
            },
            "InstanceStorageSupported": false,
            "EbsInfo": {
                "EbsOptimizedSupport": "unsupported",
                "EncryptionSupport": "supported"
            },
            "NetworkInfo": {
                "NetworkPerformance": "Low to Moderate",
                "MaximumNetworkInterfaces": 2,
                "Ipv4AddressesPerInterface": 2,
                "Ipv6AddressesPerInterface": 2,
                "Ipv6Supported": true,
                "EnaSupport": "unsupported"
            },
            "PlacementGroupInfo": {
                "SupportedStrategies": [
                    "partition",
                    "spread"
                ]
            },
            "HibernationSupported": false,
            "BurstablePerformanceSupported": true,
            "DedicatedHostsSupported": false,
            "AutoRecoverySupported": true
        }
    ]
}

For more information, see Instance Types in Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide for Linux Instances.

Example 2: To filter the available instance types

You can specify a filter to scope the results to instance types that have a specific characteristic. The following describe-instance-types example lists the instance types that support hibernation.

aws ec2 describe-instance-types \
    --filters Name=hibernation-supported,Values=true --query 'InstanceTypes[*].InstanceType'

Output:

[
    "m5.8xlarge",
    "r3.large",
    "c3.8xlarge",
    "r5.large",
    "m4.4xlarge",
    "c4.large",
    "m5.xlarge",
    "m4.xlarge",
    "c3.large",
    "c4.8xlarge",
    "c4.4xlarge",
    "c5.xlarge",
    "c5.12xlarge",
    "r5.4xlarge",
    "c5.4xlarge"
]

For more information, see Instance Types in Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide for Linux Instances.

    // Get a list of instance types.
    public static String getInstanceTypes(Ec2Client ec2) {
        String instanceType;
        try {
            DescribeInstanceTypesRequest typesRequest = DescribeInstanceTypesRequest.builder()
                .maxResults(10)
                .build();

            DescribeInstanceTypesResponse response = ec2.describeInstanceTypes(typesRequest);
            List<InstanceTypeInfo> instanceTypes = response.instanceTypes();
            for (InstanceTypeInfo type : instanceTypes) {
                System.out.println("The memory information of this type is " + type.memoryInfo().sizeInMiB());
                System.out.println("Network information is " + type.networkInfo().toString());
                System.out.println("Instance type is " + type.instanceType().toString());
                instanceType = type.instanceType().toString();
                if (instanceType.compareTo("t2.2xlarge")  == 0){
                    return instanceType;
                }
            }

        } catch (SsmException e) {
            System.err.println(e.getMessage());
            System.exit(1);
        }
        return "";
    }

import {
  paginateDescribeInstanceTypes,
  DescribeInstanceTypesCommand,
} from "@aws-sdk/client-ec2";

import { client } from "../libs/client.js";

// List at least the first arm64 EC2 instance type available.
export const main = async () => {
  // The paginate function is a wrapper around the underlying command.
  const paginator = paginateDescribeInstanceTypes(
    // Without limiting the page size, this call can take a long time. pageSize is just sugar for
    // the MaxResults property in the underlying command.
    { client, pageSize: 25 },
    {
      Filters: [
        { Name: "processor-info.supported-architecture", Values: ["x86_64"] },
        { Name: "free-tier-eligible", Values: ["true"] },
      ],
    }
  );

  try {
    const instanceTypes = [];

    for await (const page of paginator) {
      if (page.InstanceTypes.length) {
        instanceTypes.push(...page.InstanceTypes);

        // When we have at least 1 result, we can stop.
        if (instanceTypes.length >= 1) {
          break;
        }
      }
    }
    console.log(instanceTypes);
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(err);
  }
};

// Get a list of instance types.
suspend fun getInstanceTypesSc(): String {
    var instanceType = ""
    val filterObs = ArrayList<Filter>()
    val filter =
        Filter {
            name = "processor-info.supported-architecture"
            values = listOf("arm64")
        }

    filterObs.add(filter)
    val typesRequest =
        DescribeInstanceTypesRequest {
            filters = filterObs
            maxResults = 10
        }
    Ec2Client { region = "us-west-2" }.use { ec2 ->
        val response = ec2.describeInstanceTypes(typesRequest)
        response.instanceTypes?.forEach { type ->
            println("The memory information of this type is ${type.memoryInfo?.sizeInMib}")
            println("Maximum number of network cards is ${type.networkInfo?.maximumNetworkCards}")
            instanceType = type.instanceType.toString()
        }
        return instanceType
    }
}

class InstanceWrapper:
    """Encapsulates Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance actions."""

    def __init__(self, ec2_resource, instance=None):
        """
        :param ec2_resource: A Boto3 Amazon EC2 resource. This high-level resource
                             is used to create additional high-level objects
                             that wrap low-level Amazon EC2 service actions.
        :param instance: A Boto3 Instance object. This is a high-level object that
                           wraps instance actions.
        """
        self.ec2_resource = ec2_resource
        self.instance = instance

    @classmethod
    def from_resource(cls):
        ec2_resource = boto3.resource("ec2")
        return cls(ec2_resource)


    def get_instance_types(self, architecture):
        """
        Gets instance types that support the specified architecture and are designated
        as either 'micro' or 'small'. When an instance is created, the instance type
        you specify must support the architecture of the AMI you use.

        :param architecture: The kind of architecture the instance types must support,
                             such as 'x86_64'.
        :return: A list of instance types that support the specified architecture
                 and are either 'micro' or 'small'.
        """
        try:
            inst_types = []
            it_paginator = self.ec2_resource.meta.client.get_paginator(
                "describe_instance_types"
            )
            for page in it_paginator.paginate(
                Filters=[
                    {
                        "Name": "processor-info.supported-architecture",
                        "Values": [architecture],
                    },
                    {"Name": "instance-type", "Values": ["*.micro", "*.small"]},
                ]
            ):
                inst_types += page["InstanceTypes"]
        except ClientError as err:
            logger.error(
                "Couldn't get instance types. Here's why: %s: %s",
                err.response["Error"]["Code"],
                err.response["Error"]["Message"],
            )
            raise
        else:
            return inst_types