If you want granularity and a massive range of configuration options, go with EC2. Lightsail tops out at eight cores and 32 GB of memory EC2 instances can get to 128 cores and 3,900 gibibytes (GiB) of memory.īut, again, the point of Lightsail is not endless options. Lightsail has seven virtual server sizes EC2 has more than 250. When it comes to compute options, there is no comparison. All pricing listed below is based on the U.S. IT teams need to connect AWS' flagship compute service with any number of other AWS offerings - each with its own pricing structure - to create a viable environment to build and deploy applications.įor the purposes of this comparison, we'll spotlight some Lightsail features and contrast those with what could be done natively in AWS when you use EC2 as the linchpin.
The packaged nature of Lightsail makes it difficult to have a 1-to-1 comparison with EC2.
The instances run on top of EC2 and are bundled with other AWS resources, though those services are abstracted so it's not visible to the user. Lightsail is designed for speed and simplicity. However, the service is not ideal for applications that require a highly configurable environment or consistently high CPU performance, such as video encoding or analytics. Lightsail presents a handful of options deployable at a predictable monthly price. This also makes it an attractive staging environment for testing out new applications or features before deploying them on live instances. With Lightsail, the same basic template can be created in a few clicks. To do the same thing in EC2, you would need to provision the instance, add Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) block storage or Amazon S3 object storage, provision the image, and then configure all the different resources and applications. The load balancer works to deliver media content for a WordPress site. The following diagram illustrates how media content is delivered within Lightsail using its load balancer, database and S3 for WordPress. For example, to set up and configure a WordPress blog, you just select a platform and a blueprint, such as a preconfigured WordPress instance. Why use Lightsail?Īmazon Lightsail is for businesses that want to spin up a server without having to work through all the pricing, configuration and management details associated with a typical AWS deployment.ĭevelopers can use it to build simple projects, such as a blog, website or basic e-commerce application, using standard applications and configurations. EC2 debate to see if you or your IT team could benefit from this VPS offering and if the pricing fits your budget. Let's take a closer look at the Lightsail vs. But, for a subset of users, Lightsail will be the better fit. It also remains the dominant AWS offering, alongside Amazon S3. Amazon EC2 opens the door to far more ways to build, deploy and manage applications.
Still, this simplicity comes with tradeoffs. It also has built-in capabilities that include a managed database, load balancer, support for containers and a content delivery network (CDN). Lightsail is a virtual private server (VPS) that bundles compute, storage, networking and DNS.