Lightsail Pricing Calculator - Instances, Containers & Databases

For simple workloads, Lightsail is often cheaper due to its bundled pricing. A $5/month Lightsail instance includes 1 vCPU, 0.5 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD, and 1 TB transfer. Equivalent EC2 resources with EBS storage and data transfer would typically cost more. However, EC2 offers more flexibility and deeper discounts through Reserved Instances and Savings Plans.

Yes! New Lightsail users get 3 months free on select bundles: Linux $5-$12, Windows $9.50-$22, the $15 database bundle, and the $10 container service. Plus 50 GB CDN free for 12 months and 5 GB object storage free for 1 year. Only one bundle per account qualifies.

IPv6-only instances are about 30% cheaper than IPv4 instances ($3.50 vs $5 for Linux Nano). If your application works without a public IPv4 address—such as internal services, APIs behind a load balancer, or IPv6-ready apps—you can save significantly with IPv6-only bundles.

Lightsail container services charge per node per month, starting at $7/month for Nano (0.25 vCPU, 0.5 GB RAM). The Micro tier at $10/month is free tier eligible for 3 months. Each tier includes 0.5 TB of data transfer. Scale by adding nodes—pricing is linear.

Lightsail managed databases start at $15/month for the Micro tier (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD). The $15 bundle is free tier eligible for 3 months. Enable High Availability for automatic failover at 2x the standard price. Supports MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Each Lightsail bundle includes: vCPU, RAM, SSD storage, monthly data transfer, a static IP address, DNS management, server monitoring, SSH/RDP access, and the Lightsail console. No hidden fees—one predictable monthly price for everything you need.

Choose Lightsail for simple websites, WordPress, blogs, development environments, and small apps where predictable pricing matters. Choose EC2 when you need specific instance types, advanced networking, Reserved Instances, or Savings Plans for larger discounts at scale.