Machine Types
This page gives technical specifications for the machines available on Semaphore Cloud.
Overview
A machine type defines what virtualized hardware to use in your agents.
The machines described in this page only apply to Semaphore Cloud. You can add more types of machines using self-hosted agents.
Performance baseline and resource availability
Each Semaphore machine type is provisioned with a guaranteed baseline of virtual CPUs, memory, and disk as listed in the specifications below.
Depending on host utilization at any given moment, a machine may temporarily receive additional CPU time, disk throughput, network bandwidth, and memory speed beyond its baseline specification. This happens when the physical host running your VM has spare capacity available — for example, during off-peak hours when fewer jobs are running concurrently.
As a result, you may notice that identical jobs sometimes complete faster than previous runs, even when nothing in the job configuration has changed. This is not a sign of performance degradation — these faster runs are benefiting from additional resources temporarily available on the host, and performance may vary between runs.
Linux machines
Linux machines are provided in four generations. The following table shows what operating systems each generation supports and if they support Docker environments.
| Generation | Arch | OS Supported | Docker environments |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Intel x86_64 | Ubuntu 22.04 Ubuntu 24.04 | Yes |
| E2 | Intel x86_64 | Ubuntu 22.04 Ubuntu 24.04 | Yes |
| F1 | Intel x86_64 | Ubuntu 22.04 Ubuntu 24.04 | Yes |
| R1 | ARM | Ubuntu 24.04 ARM | No |
E1 generation
This is the entry-level, cost-effective machine type. E1s are a good choice for less compute and memory intensive tasks.
Implementation details:
- CPU: hyperthreaded on a 3.4GHz Max Turbo 4.0GHz Intel® Core™ i7
- Memory: DDR4 RAM
- Disk: RAM drive (DDR4)
The E1 generation is presented in the following types:
| Type | Virtual CPUs | Memory (GB) | Disk (GB) |
|---|---|---|---|
e1-standard-2 | 2 | 4 | 25 |
e1-standard-4 | 4 | 8 | 35 |
e1-standard-8 | 8 | 16 | 45 |
E1 Generation machine types can be paired with:
E2 generation
The E2 generation balances power with cost. It is a good choice for most tasks.
Implementation details:
- CPU: hyperthreaded on a 3.6GHZ AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Memory: DDR4 RAM
- Disk: NvME storage
The E2 generation is presented in the following types:
| Type | Virtual CPUs | Memory (GB) | Disk (GB) |
|---|---|---|---|
e2-standard-2 | 2 | 8 | 45 |
e2-standard-4 | 4 | 16 | 65 |
E2 machines can also be paired with:
F1 generation
This generation is intended for compute-intensive tasks. They provide the most performance amongst the machines offered in Semaphore Cloud.
Implementation details:
- CPU: hyperthreaded on a 4.6GHz 12th generation Intel i5 125000
- Memory: DDR4 RAM
- Disk: NvME storage
The F1 generation is presented in the following types:
| Type | Virtual CPUs | Memory (GB) | Disk (GB) |
|---|---|---|---|
f1-standard-2 | 2 | 8 | 45 |
f1-standard-4 | 4 | 16 | 65 |
F1 machines can be paired with:
R1 generation
These are ARM machines.
Implementation details:
- CPU: emulated ARM on Ampere Altra Q80-30
- Memory: DDR4 RAM
- Disk: NvME storage
The r1 generation is presented in the following types:
| Type | Virtual CPUs | Memory (GB) | Disk (GB) |
|---|---|---|---|
r1-standard-2 | 2 | 4 | 50 |
r1-standard-4 | 4 | 8 | 65 |
r1-standard-8 | 8 | 16 | 75 |
R1 Generation machine types can only be paired with:
ubuntu2404ARM version
Apple machines
Semaphore Cloud provides the following Apple machine types:
| Type | Virtual CPUs | Architecture | OS Supported | Memory | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a2-standard-4 | 4 | Apple Silicon | macOS Xcode16 macOS Xcode26 | 8 | 150 |
A2 machines can be paired with: