Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale cloud computing easier for developers. Amazon EC2’s simple web service interface allows you to obtain and configure capacity with minimal friction. It provides you with complete control of your computing resources and lets you run on Amazon’s proven computing environment. Amazon EC2 reduces the time required to obtain and boot new server instances to minutes, allowing you to quickly scale capacity, both up and down, as your computing requirements change. Amazon EC2 changes the economics of computing by allowing you to pay only for capacity that you actually use. Amazon EC2 provides developers the tools to build failure resilient applications and isolate them from common failure scenarios.
BENEFITS
ELASTIC WEB-SCALE COMPUTING
Amazon EC2 enables you to increase or decrease capacity within minutes, not hours or days. You can commission one, hundreds, or even thousands of server instances simultaneously. You can also use Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling to maintain availability of your EC2 fleet and automatically scale your fleet up and down depending on its needs in order to maximize performance and minimize cost. To scale multiple services, you can use AWS Auto Scaling.
COMPLETELY CONTROLLED
You have complete control of your instances including root access and the ability to interact with them as you would any machine. You can stop any instance while retaining the data on the boot partition, and then subsequently restart the same instance using web service APIs. Instances can be rebooted remotely using web service APIs, and you also have access to their console output.
FLEXIBLE CLOUD HOSTING SERVICES
You have the choice of multiple instance types, operating systems, and software packages. Amazon EC2 allows you to select a configuration of memory, CPU, instance storage, and the boot partition size that is optimal for your choice of operating system and application. For example, choice of operating systems includes numerous Linux distributions and Microsoft Windows Server.
INTEGRATED
Amazon EC2 is integrated with most AWS services such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) to provide a complete, secure solution for computing, query processing, and cloud storage across a wide range of applications.
RELIABLE
Amazon EC2 offers a highly reliable environment where replacement instances can be rapidly and predictably commissioned. The service runs within Amazon’s proven network infrastructure and data centers. The Amazon EC2 Service Level Agreement commitment is 99.99% availability for each Amazon EC2 Region.
SECURE
Cloud security at AWS is the highest priority. As an AWS customer, you will benefit from a data center and network architecture built to meet the requirements of the most security-sensitive organizations. Amazon EC2 works in conjunction with Amazon VPC to provide security and robust networking functionality for your compute resources.
INEXPENSIVE
Amazon EC2 passes on to you the financial benefits of Amazon’s scale. You pay a very low rate for the compute capacity you actually consume.
EASY TO START
There are several ways to get started with Amazon EC2. You can use the AWS Management Console, the AWS Command Line Tools (CLI), or AWS SDKs. AWS is free to get started.

Amazon Lightsail is an Amazon cloud service that offers bundles of cloud computing power and memory for new or less experienced cloud users. Amazon Lightsail is the easiest way to get started with AWS for developers who just need virtual private servers. Lightsail includes everything you need to launch your project quickly - a virtual machine, a managed database, SSD-based storage, data transfer, DNS management, and a static IP - for a low, predictable price. You manage those Lightsail servers through the Lightsail console or by using the API or command-line interface (CLI). The Lightsail API Reference describes the API actions, data types, and exceptions for working with Lightsail programmatically. We also provide the Lightsail SDK for download for Java, Python, Ruby, PHP, .NET (C#), Go, JavaScript (Node.js and browser), and C++. You can use the See Also links to navigate directly to a reference topic in one of those languages. Lightsail features: Everything you need, right at your fingertips Lightsail Virtual Private Server (VPS) Experience the power and reliability of AWS. Deploy in seconds and manage from the intuitive Lightsail management console or API. Your Lightsail instance is a virtual private server (also called a virtual machine). When you create your instance, you choose an image that has an operating system (OS) on it. You can also choose an instance image that has an application or development stack on it, including the base OS. Powerful API Use the simple and flexible Lightsail API to extend your application or integrate it with external applications. High availability storage Every Lightsail server comes with high-performing, persistent SSD-based block storage. Benefits of Lightsail block storage are highly availability, easy management, low-latency performance, scalable, secure. Speedy & secure networking Lightsail servers run at warp speed on the AWS network. Configure your network simply and securely, including your IP addresses, DNS, firewall, and more. Snapshots Protect your data, clone your server, and more with Lightsail snapshots. Take and manage snapshots for $0.05 USD/GB per month. A snapshot is a way to create a backup image of your Lightsail instance (a virtual private server) for reference, if you might need it later. For example, before you delete an instance, you create a snapshot of it so that if you change your mind, you have a backup to help you redo that instance as it was. The snapshot we create is a copy of the system disk and also stores the original machine configuration (memory, CPU, disk size, and data transfer rate). If you choose to create a new instance from this snapshot, you can create the same size or larger instance. You cannot create a smaller instance. Important! When you create a new instance from a snapshot, Lightsail lets you create an instance bundle that is either the same size or larger size. We do not currently support creating a smaller instance size from a snapshot. The smaller options will be grayed out when you create a new instance from a snapshot. To create a larger instance size from a snapshot, you can use the Lightsail console, the create-instances-from-snapshot CLI command. or the CreateInstancesFromSnapshot API operation. Access to AWS Services Extend the capabilities of your Lightsail server by connecting it to popular AWS services, including managed databases, CDN, and many others. Amazon Lightsail uses a focused set of AWS services like Amazon EC2 and AWS Identity and Access Management to make it easier to get started. But that doesn't mean you're limited to those services! You can integrate Lightsail resources with other AWS services through Amazon VPC peering. Simplified load balancing Add load balancing to your application to distribute traffic across multiple instances and keep your app up and running. Benefits of Lightsail load balancer are scalable, highly availability, automated health checks, simple interface, secure. Managed databases Launch a fully configured MySQL database in minutes and leave the maintenance to AWS. Use managed databases to scale your application or to run standalone databases. Upgrade to EC2 As your cloud ideas expand, you can easily move to EC2. With a simple, guided experience, Lightsail can move your instance to EC2. How do I know if I should move to EC2? Chances are, you got started on Lightsail because it was easy to get your web app, website, or software into the cloud. While you might continue to find this a natural fit for your growth, you also might find that you need a different set of resources or features. For example, you might want to consider exporting if you need:

• an instance type that is optimized for specific workloads, including machine learning, high-performance computing, and graphic-intensive applications.
• complete control over your networking settings like VPC, security groups and internet gateways.
• dynamic scaling for your resources, like auto scaling for your instances behind a load balancer, or elastic file storage.
• a specialized instance type, operating system, software package or a consumption option that Lightsail doesn’t offer.

Once you begin using EC2, you’ll incur its cost structure. Unlimited growth, unlimited potential Many of the AWS platform's 90+ services can be connected to your Lightsail application using VPC peering. You can manage these powerful AWS services from the AWS management console, while still keeping your day-to-day VPS management in the Lightsail console. It's the best of both worlds! Grow and scale your Lightsail-hosted applications over time by connecting AWS services, including:

• Managed databases (RDS, DynamoDB)
• Content delivery network (CloudFront)
• Object storage (S3)
• Dozens of other services

Operating system & application templates Preconfigured images allow you to launch your favorite Linux distribution, Windows Server, or popular web applications with a single click, including WordPress, Magento, LAMP, and more. Operating systems:

• Amazon Linux
• Ubuntu
• Debian
• FreeBSD
• OpenSUSE
• Windows Server

Applications:

• WordPress
• Magento
• Drupal
• Joomla!
• Redmine
• Plesk

Stacks:

• Node.js
• GitLab
• LAMP
• MEAN
• Nginx