diff --git a/services/terraform/self-host/aws_db.tf b/services/terraform/self-host/aws_db.tf
--- a/services/terraform/self-host/aws_db.tf
+++ b/services/terraform/self-host/aws_db.tf
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
   identifier             = "mariadb-instance"
   engine                 = "mariadb"
   engine_version         = "10.11"
-  instance_class         = "db.m6g.large"
+  instance_class         = var.db_instance_class
   vpc_security_group_ids = [aws_security_group.keyserver_mariadb_security_group.id]
   db_subnet_group_name   = aws_db_subnet_group.public_db_subnet_group.name
   username               = var.mariadb_username
diff --git a/services/terraform/self-host/variables.tf b/services/terraform/self-host/variables.tf
--- a/services/terraform/self-host/variables.tf
+++ b/services/terraform/self-host/variables.tf
@@ -48,3 +48,9 @@
   type        = string
   default     = "https://identity.commtechnologies.org:50054"
 }
+
+variable "db_instance_class" {
+  description = "The instance class for the MariaDB RDS instance"
+  type        = string
+  default     = "db.t4g.medium"
+}