How to Get an AWS vCPU Limit Increase?

AWS vCPU limits (formally called service quotas for EC2) control how many virtual CPUs you can have running simultaneously across EC2 instances in a specific region. New accounts start with conservative limits, and increasing them requires either submitting official requests or purchasing accounts that already have elevated quotas.

The official process to increase vCPU limits involves navigating to the AWS Service Quotas console in the AWS Management Console, finding EC2 under AWS services, locating the specific quota you want to increase (such as "Running On-Demand Standard (A, C, D, H, I, M, R, T, Z) instances"), and clicking "Request quota increase." You specify the desired new limit and provide a business justification explaining why you need more vCPUs. AWS reviews these requests manually through their support team.

The approval timeline for vCPU limit increases varies significantly. Simple requests with clear business justifications may be approved within 1–3 business days. Requests for very high quotas (256+ vCPUs) often require multiple rounds of communication and can take 1–2 weeks. AWS may ask for additional information about your use case, expected spend, and historical usage patterns before approving large limit increases. There is no guaranteed approval, and AWS can deny requests they consider unusual for the account age and history.

For users who need elevated vCPU limits immediately — such as those with time-sensitive research deadlines, game launch dates, or rendering projects — waiting a week or more for approval is not viable. Our vCPU-configured accounts solve this problem by providing accounts with pre-approved quotas ranging from 8 vCPUs ($35) to 512 vCPUs ($299). These accounts are delivered within 2–8 hours and the vCPU limits are already in place when you log in.

It is worth noting that vCPU limits are region-specific. If you need high vCPU limits in multiple regions, you would need separate quota increases for each region. Our accounts are typically configured for US, UK, or CA regions depending on the tier. For multi-region deployments, we can advise on the best account configuration for your specific needs — contact our support team.