Container Resource Calculator

Calculate optimal Kubernetes CPU and memory requests/limits from observed usage.

Avg CPU usage (millicores)

Peak CPU usage (millicores)

Avg memory usage (MB)

Peak memory usage (MB)

Number of replicas

CPU headroom %

Memory headroom %

Tab to move between fields

CPU request (millicores)

300

CPU limit (millicores)

880

Memory request (MB)

320

Memory limit (MB)

640

CPU request (cores)0.3

CPU limit (cores)0.88

Memory request (Gi)0.31

Memory limit (Gi)0.63

Total CPU (all replicas)900

Total memory (all replicas)960

CPU request/limit ratio %34

Memory request/limit ratio %50

How to Use This Calculator

Enter Average and Peak CPU Usage (millicores) from your monitoring system.
Input Average and Peak Memory Usage (MB) per container replica.
Set the number of Replicas, CPU Headroom %, and Memory Headroom %.
Review CPU Request, CPU Limit, Memory Request, and Memory Limit values to paste into your Kubernetes manifest.
Use these values as Kubernetes resource requests and limits to prevent OOMKills and CPU throttling.

How the result changes with Avg CPU usage (millicores)

Avg CPU usage (millicores)	CPU request (millicores)	CPU limit (millicores)	Memory request (MB)
6,400	7,680	880	320
22,400	26,880	880	320
41,600	49,920	880	320
57,600	69,120	880	320

Avg CPU usage (millicores): Average CPU utilization in millicores (1000m = 1 full CPU core).
Peak CPU usage (millicores): P99 or observed peak CPU usage in millicores.
Avg memory usage (MB): Average memory footprint of the container in MB.
Peak memory usage (MB): P99 or observed peak memory usage in MB.
Number of replicas: How many pod replicas are running for this workload.
CPU headroom %: Safety margin above observed CPU usage (20% is a good starting point).
Memory headroom %: Safety margin above observed memory usage (25% recommended to avoid OOMKills).

CPU request (millicores): Recommended resources.requests.cpu value.
CPU limit (millicores): Recommended resources.limits.cpu value.
Memory request (MB): Recommended resources.requests.memory value.
Memory limit (MB): Recommended resources.limits.memory value.
CPU request (cores): CPU request expressed as fractional cores.
CPU limit (cores): CPU limit expressed as fractional cores.
Memory request (Gi): Memory request in GiB.
Memory limit (Gi): Memory limit in GiB.
Total CPU (all replicas): Total CPU requested across all replicas in millicores.
Total memory (all replicas): Total memory requested across all replicas in MB.
CPU request/limit ratio %: How close request is to limit (high = tighter fit, less burst capacity).
Memory request/limit ratio %: How close memory request is to limit.

Identify Input Parameters
4 parameters
Avg CPU usage (millicores) = 250, Peak CPU usage (millicores) = 800, Avg memory usage (MB) = 256, Peak memory usage (MB) = 512 = 7 input(s) provided
Calculate CPU request
CPU request
300 = 300
Calculate CPU limit
CPU limit
880 = 880
Calculate Memory request
Memory request
320 = 320
Calculate CPU request
CPU request
0.3 = 0.3
Calculate CPU limit
CPU limit
0.88 = 0.88