--- title: "Amazon EC2 Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026 | Capterra" description: "With the help of Capterra, learn about Amazon EC2 Software - reviews, pricing plans, popular comparisons to other Virtual Machine products and more." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/219781/EC2/" page_type: "product" language: "en" --- # Amazon EC2 Software Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons Last updated on July 20, 2026 Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Description](#description)[Use cases](#use-cases)[Alternatives](#alternatives)[FAQs](#faqs)[Users](#users)[Pros and Cons](#pros-cons)[Features](#features)[Pricing](#pricing)[Integrations](#integrations)[Support](#support)[Reviews](#reviews) Amazon EC2 ## What is Amazon EC2? Amazon EC2 presents a true virtual computing environment, allowing you to use web service interfaces to launch instances with a variety of operating systems, load them with your custom application environment, manage your network’s access permissions, and run your image using as many or few systems as you desire. ## What is Amazon EC2 used for? [Virtual Machine](https://www.capterra.com/virtual-machine-software/)[Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)](https://www.capterra.com/infrastructure-as-a-service-solutions-software/)[Database](https://www.capterra.com/database-management-software/) Overall rating Based on 173 user reviews Reviews sentiment Positive 94% Neutral 5% Negative 1% Pros & cons Flexible scalable cloud infrastructure Robust managed security features Complex and unpredictable pricing ### Starting price Free trial available Capterra Shortlist charts the highest-rated and most popular products... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Do you work for Amazon EC2?[Manage this product listing](https://digitalmarkets.gartner.com/get-listed/claim-bx?url=https://aws.amazon.com/&name=Amazon EC2) ## Compare with a popular alternative Capterra selects software alternatives based on relevant features, verified user reviews and user interactions. Placement may be influenced by client status. ### Amazon EC2 4.7 (173) VS. [### Microsoft Azure](https://www.capterra.com/p/16365/Azure/) [4.6 (1,972)](https://www.capterra.com/p/16365/Azure/reviews/) Starting Price Contact vendor Starting Price $31.39 Usage Based, Per Month Free Trial Free Version Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version Ease Of Use 4.1 (164) Ease Of Use 4.2 (1,957) Value For Money 4.3 (138) Value For Money 4.2 (1,604) Customer Service 4.1 (128) Customer Service 4.2 (1,575) ## Amazon EC2 alternatives [Vinchin Backup & Recovery](https://www.capterra.com/p/180134/Vinchin-Backup-Recovery/) [4.7 (179)](https://www.capterra.com/p/180134/Vinchin-Backup-Recovery/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 95% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Google Cloud](https://www.capterra.com/p/268690/Google-Cloud-Platform/) [4.7 (2,316)](https://www.capterra.com/p/268690/Google-Cloud-Platform/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 96% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Iperius Backup](https://www.capterra.com/p/129287/Iperius-Backup/) [4.5 (189)](https://www.capterra.com/p/129287/Iperius-Backup/reviews/) Starting price $29.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 92% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars Highest Rated [Atlantic.Net Cloud Platform](https://www.capterra.com/p/248436/AtlanticNet-Cloud-Platform/) [5.0 (24)](https://www.capterra.com/p/248436/AtlanticNet-Cloud-Platform/reviews/) Starting price $0.01 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 100% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [View all alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/219781/EC2/alternatives/) ## FAQs about Amazon EC2 Overview ### What problems does Amazon EC2 solve? Amazon EC2 solves slow server provisioning, expensive upfront hardware purchases, and inflexible infrastructure by letting teams launch, resize, clone, and stop virtual servers on demand. DevOps engineers, developers, IT operations, and startups benefit most when hosting applications, running test environments, managing traffic spikes, and integrating securely with other AWS services. Answer based on 125 reviews Overview ### Which roles and teams benefit most from Amazon EC2? Amazon EC2 is most used by software engineers, developers, DevOps teams, and cloud engineers that need scalable compute for application hosting, testing, and deployment. Technology leaders such as CTOs, CEOs, and founders use it to control infrastructure costs and growth, while consultants, educators, and QA teams support client projects, research, and validation. Answer based on 166 reviews Talk to an expert ### More questions? Ask our experts Overview ### What company size and industries is Amazon EC2 built for? Amazon EC2 is built primarily for small businesses, which make up 63% of reviewers, with strongest use in Information Technology and Services at 28% and Computer Software at 24%. It also serves enterprises at 22% and midsize businesses at 15%, with additional adoption in Telecommunications at 4%. Answer based on 173 reviews Features and Usability ### What are the key features of Amazon EC2? Amazon EC2 includes core cloud computing features like virtual servers, instance management, and load balancing, plus security controls such as access controls/permissions and role-based permissions. Reviewers also focus on flexible operating system and hardware options, snapshots for backup and recovery, server monitoring, and integrations with other AWS services. Answer based on 58 reviews Integrations ### Which third-party tools and platforms does Amazon EC2 integrate with? Amazon EC2 integrates with Amazon S3, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon RDS, WordPress, Docker, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), AWS Fargate, and Google Cloud Compute Engine. These connections cover storage, monitoring, databases, content management, containers, access control, serverless containers, and cross-cloud infrastructure. Answer based on 33 reviews Getting Started and Support ### How easy is it to onboard and train a team on Amazon EC2? Amazon EC2 offers live online sessions, webinars, documentation, and videos to support team training. Technical users and admins often get basic workloads running quickly, sometimes with minimal training, but beginners and nontechnical users usually need more time because the interface, command line, and many configuration options create a clear learning curve. Answer based on 14 reviews Security ### How does Amazon EC2 handle data security and access control? Amazon EC2 uses access controls, dedicated security keys, private and public key authentication, encryption, and flexible networking and security settings. Reviewers also note container isolation, managed security updates in some setups, and monitoring support. However, security configuration, patches, network groups, and ACLs can be complex and require technical expertise. Answer based on 29 reviews Features and Usability ### How easy is it to manage instances in Amazon EC2? Amazon EC2 makes instance management flexible and fast with many instance types, AMIs, scaling options, and snapshot tools. Many IT teams and developers find launching, resizing, stopping, and cloning servers straightforward, though monitoring costs, handling IP changes, and navigating the console can require more experience and ongoing attention. Answer based on 56 reviews Features and Usability ### Is Amazon EC2 easy to use for beginners? Amazon EC2 feels approachable for basic server setup, but beginners often face a real learning curve. Developers and experienced admins usually adapt quickly through documentation, templates, and AWS integrations, while new users may find the dashboard, terminology, command line tasks, and pricing controls confusing at first. Answer based on 37 reviews ## Who uses Amazon EC2? Based on Capterra reviews from the past 6 years Talk to a software expert to get a free software list tailored to your business needs ## Pros and Cons Flexible scalable cloud infrastructure 91% positive reviews out of 47 Most users report cloud computing with EC2 is reliable, cost-effective, and simplifies infrastructure management and scaling. Anonymous User Industry Principal Consultant, 10,001+ employees. "EC2 has accelerate our journey towards cloud computing by enabling us to provision and tear down infrastructure as needed." Complex and unpredictable pricing 57% negative reviews out of 40 Some reviewers find pricing difficult to estimate, with unexpected fees and extra costs for support or resources. vidya P. Cloud engineer, 201 - 500 employees. "It can get expensive if not monitored closely on the EC2 usage." Robust managed security features 95% positive reviews out of 22 Most reviewers indicate security and access control are reliable, flexible, and minimize user concerns about vulnerabilities. Seamless multi-platform integrations 100% positive reviews out of 20 Most reviewers describe integrations as straightforward, enabling effortless connection with AWS services and external platforms. Anonymous User Backend Developer, 2 - 10 employees. "On top of it it provides smooth scalability and easy integration with other AWS services." ## Features AI summary Based on 1,154 Virtual Machine reviews Not all Virtual Machine products cover every must-have feature. Here is what Capterra reviewers flag as essential when choosing a solution: - **Disaster Recovery** (**65%** of reviewers rated this feature as critical) - **Backup and Recovery** (**63%**) - **Virtual Server** (**56%**) Amazon EC2 includes **Backup and Recovery** and **Virtual Server**, giving teams the tools to protect workloads and run scalable compute environments in the cloud. However, it does not offer **Disaster Recovery**. Instead, it provides other highly rated capabilities, including **Cloud Computing** (**56%**), **Secure Data Storage** (**55%**), and **Access Controls/Permissions** (**54%**), helping businesses maintain infrastructure flexibility, protect sensitive data, and manage user access more effectively. Backup and Recovery 4.6 (41) 75.61% of 41 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Create backups and provide methods to recover deleted/lost data Cloud Computing 4.8 (42) 71.43% of 42 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important A network of remote servers which allow businesses to store, manage, and process data through the cloud instead of a local server Secure Data Storage 4.5 (32) 56.25% of 32 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Securely stores data to prevent data loss or breaches Access Controls/Permissions 4.3 (29) 68.97% of 29 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Define levels of authorization for access to specific files or systems Data Security 4.7 (27) 74.07% of 27 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Protect sensitive data for digital privacy Load Balancing 4.7 (26) 69.23% of 26 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Process of distributing a set of tasks over a set of resources, with the aim of making their overall processing more efficient Amazon EC2 49 features ### All Features - Access Controls/Permissions: Define levels of authorization for access to specific files or systems - Activity Dashboard: Dashboard to view the status of ongoing processes, identify current incidents and track past activities - API: Application programming interface that allows for integration with other systems/databases - Application Management: Track, manage and store the applications of potential future members, customers or candidates - Backup and Recovery: Create backups and provide methods to recover deleted/lost data - Cloud Application Security: Identify and respond to security threats to cloud applications - Cloud Computing: A network of remote servers which allow businesses to store, manage, and process data through the cloud instead of a local server - Collaboration Tools: Provides a channel for team members to share AI models, media files, communicate, and work together - Compliance Management: Track and manage adherence to policies for any service, product, process, or supplier - Configurable Workflow: Configure existing workflows to meet your organization's needs - Configuration Management: Identify component attributes like servers, hardware, software, and manage relationships across all services - Customizable Reports: Alter the layout and content of reports - Dashboard Creation: Creation and customization of dashboards - Data Dictionary Management: Stores definitions of the data elements and their relationships (metadata) and how they are retrieved for the user - Data Import/Export: Import and export data to and from software applications - Data Mapping: Track the management and flow of data throughout the organization - Data Migration: Move from one database to another, or upgrade the version of database software being used - Data Security: Protect sensitive data for digital privacy - Data Storage Management: Manage and store data in a database - Data Visualization: Graphical representation of data - Data Warehousing: Central repositories of integrated data from various sources - Database Support: Supports common databases such as MySQL and Oracle - Forecasting: Form predictions based on past and present data/trends - Load Balancing: Process of distributing a set of tasks over a set of resources, with the aim of making their overall processing more efficient - Log Access: Collection, search, and analysis of access logs and audit logs - Monitoring: Observe and track the demand, usage, progress or quality of a system, product, or user - Multiple Data Sources: Allows users to manage data from a number of sources - Network Monitoring: Tracks and makes accessible data on the health of servers and other network components. - Performance Metrics: A set of indicators that tracks the performance of networks, applications, systems, teams, etc. - Performance Monitoring: Monitoring and measurement of relevant metrics to assess the performance of IT resources - Predictive Analytics: Predict future data based on historical data sets - Real-Time Analytics: Analyze and gain insights into data in real-time - Real-Time Data: Receive data and information in real time - Real-Time Monitoring: Active monitoring of systems, applications, or networks - Reporting & Statistics: Collection, analysis, and representation of numerical data and generation of reports to understand various patterns - Reporting/Analytics: View and track pertinent metrics to find patterns and gain insights from data - Role-Based Permissions: Set & manage permission levels based on user roles and restrict access to only authorized individuals - Search/Filter: Search and filter data across systems to locate required information by entering keywords or certain criteria - Secure Data Storage: Securely stores data to prevent data loss or breaches - Server Monitoring: Continuously scan servers on a designated network to monitor health and search for any irregularities or failures - Service Level Agreement (SLA) Management: Set and monitor service level agreements to ensure timely response and resolution - Templates: Sample files or documents that could be customized as needed or used as is - Third-Party Integrations: Set up connections to third-party platforms to improve business processes - Threat Intelligence: Information to prevent, understand and identify cyber threats - Trend Analysis: Review data from past periods to reveal recurring tendencies and predict future performance - User Management: Manage user accounts, profiles, roles, permissions, and other details across applications, devices or networks - Virtual Server: Creates a virtual server that replicates all the functionalities of a dedicated physical server - Virtualization: Create a virtual version of operating systems, storage devices, or computer network resources - Workflow Management: Create, design and manage workflows for repetitive tasks --- Get Advice We can help you find the software with the features you need. Features 4.7 (157) 4.7 Based on 157 reviews ## Pricing Value for money 4.3 (138) ### Starting price Free trial available [View all Pricing Plans](https://www.capterra.com/p/219781/EC2/pricing/) Value for money 4.3 (138) 4.3 Based on 138 reviews ## Integrations [ Amazon S3](https://www.capterra.com/p/174285/Amazon-S3/)[ Amazon RDS](https://www.capterra.com/p/192201/Amazon-RDS/)[ Amazon CloudWatch](https://www.capterra.com/p/204333/Amazon-CloudWatch/) Connect with a Capterra advisor for a free 15-minute consultation Get a personalized software list aligned to your business needs with guidance from our expert advisors. Our team has helped 1 million+ businesses like yours find options that fit their needs. ## Support, customer service and training options Customer Service 4.1 (128) Support - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat Training - In Person - Live Online - Webinars - Documentation - Videos Deployment - Web - Android - iPhone/iPad Typical users - Freelancers - Small businesses - Mid size businesses - Enterprises Customer Service 4.1 (128) 4.1 Based on 128 reviews ## User reviews Overall rating 4.7 Based on 173 reviews Filter by rating 5(129) 4(33) 3(9) 2(1) 1(1) Mentioned topic Sorted by most recent RR Richard R. IT Support Manager Real Estate ### "EC2 automation/simplicity all in one platform" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 June 6, 2025 It is a great tool, easy to use, easy to setup, clonable and each task can have a deedicated instance to run. Pros The EC2 mechanism works great, rent when required, scalable and on demand computing makes this a great platform to use. Cons Whilst it is cost effective, there are times when the cost is prohibitive for some small tasks, but otherwise it works as expected Alternatives considered [Microsoft 365](https://www.capterra.com/p/227157/Microsoft-365/) Reasons for choosing Amazon EC2 Cheaper and easier to use, overall a great perfomance boost was provied once implemented Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. Monica G. Cloud Engineer Telecommunications ### "Good virtual machine service, AMI catalog needs work, auto scaling is magic" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 3.0 3.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 May 28, 2025 Overall, good virtual machine service. The initial setup is difficult, but once done the service is reliable. Easy to setup a highly available application with EC2. Pros The Auto Scaling Groups is where the magic happens. This helps with auto-healing and highly available applications. The launch templates are extremely customizable. The user data (pre boot scripts) are helpful. I appreciate the 3rd party integrations, like our CI/CD tool. The integration with auto scaling groups and ALBs are a must. Cons Searching for AMIs in the AWS console is clunky. There should be better ways to search. The initial setup is tricky, but once you build one image and launch an instance, the deployment process gets easier. Occasionally, I will have to stop/start an instance because the underlying host has an issue. Thank goodness for autoscaling. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. VP vidya P. Cloud engineer Information Technology and Services ### "EC2 is the way to compute on cloud" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 April 10, 2025 Overall this is the first of its kind on cloud to provide compute service and it evolved since its introduced to finest levels Pros Amazon EC2 comes with wide range of compute capacity and processors including graviton which are cheaper bundled with performance Cons It can get expensive if not monitored closely on the EC2 usage. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. VL Vinicius L. Software Engineering Computer Software ### "So Powerful Computing Services" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 February 26, 2025 It helps me manage and host my web servers. Pros Amazon EC2 simply offers so many awesome features. Cons Its princing is not the best in the market. Switched from [Microsoft Azure](https://www.capterra.com/p/16365/Azure/) Azure didn't furnish some services we were expecting. Amazon EC2 did. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AN Anonymous User Intern Computer Software ### "My first Experience of EC2" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 February 15, 2025 I would like to rate it 8 out of 10 as my most of the work got done by using EC2 only. But there are still some complexity in UI as I mentioned above. Pros The thing I liked about EC2 is I can get any operating system image to run my projects. Also without worrying about cpu load I can get as high specifications as I want Cons The UI is little complex as I get to any options when I was just learning it got me too much confused. Switched from [Microsoft Azure](https://www.capterra.com/p/16365/Azure/) [Google Cloud Compute Engine](https://www.capterra.com/p/253623/Google-Cloud-Compute-Engine/) [Google Cloud](https://www.capterra.com/p/268690/Google-Cloud-Platform/) I have done some research and got to know about AWS is at 1st rank in world Alternatives considered [Google Cloud Compute Engine](https://www.capterra.com/p/253623/Google-Cloud-Compute-Engine/) Reasons for choosing Amazon EC2 Cause it is more reliable that Google Cloud Compute Engine Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. SB Swaibu B. AWS Solution Architecture Information Technology and Services ### "Amazon EC2 service" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 February 13, 2025 Amazon EC2 offers flexible, scalable computing power and a wide range of instance options. While it offers strong performance, cost management and instance monitoring require attention. Pros Amazon EC2 offers scalable, on-demand computing power with flexible instance types, making it easy to tailor resources to workloads efficiently. Cons Amazon EC2's pricing can be complex, and managing instances effectively requires careful monitoring to avoid unexpected costs. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AN Anonymous User MERN stack developer Information Technology and Services ### "Scalable and Highly Available EC2 System" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 February 13, 2025 When I shift to ec2, it had many features like security groups, auto scaling and load balancer which made my application highly available and it was cost effective. Pros It made my backend very easy to scale and highly available without lagging. Cons It was not beginner friendly had many complex terminology. Switched from [PythonAnywhere](https://www.capterra.com/p/234268/PythonAnywhere/) [Netlify](https://www.capterra.com/p/154989/Netlify/) [Vercel](https://www.capterra.com/p/203626/Vercel/) 1)PythonAnywhere supported only python. 2)Vercel was not ideal for database or long running background tasks like cron, scheduler, etc. 3)Netlify was not suitable for backend application. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AN Anonymous User Lead Engineer Information Technology and Services ### "Good Experience" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 3.0 3.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 February 5, 2025 Pros Server setup is so easy with this and also my website response is better with better with large services. Cons Its little bit costly for managing different servers. Switched from [Azure Virtual Machines](https://www.capterra.com/p/246720/Azure-Virtual-Machines/) Downtime is too much over their with azure. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. HV Harish V. Software Engineer Information Technology and Services ### "EC2 for scaling business " 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 January 5, 2025 Pros Scaling up and down the instances of EC2 can be really easy task which can can be cost effective. Best part about it is its ability to turn on or off the instances with just one click. Cons It requires some bit of technical expertise to work with EC2 and we have to apply patches and security updates on regularly. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. TZ Terence Z. Technical Support Specialist Information Technology and Services ### "reliable and scalable" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 December 27, 2024 Overall it is amazing to use as the best feature about EC2 is the auto-scalability which saves a lot of money compared to other solutions. Pros The biggest pro about using EC2 is that it is auto-scaling. So this allows for the most cost-efficient solution currently in my situation and allows for the ramp up in resources when necessary as well. Cons No cons about Amazon EC2, it is great and reliable for my use case. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. [View all Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/219781/EC2/reviews/) ## Top-rated software of 2026 ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox. Popular comparisons [Microsoft Azure vs Amazon EC2](https://www.capterra.com/compare/16365-219781/Azure-vs-EC2)[Vinchin Backup & Recovery vs Amazon EC2](https://www.capterra.com/compare/180134-219781/Vinchin-Backup-Recovery-vs-EC2)[Google Cloud vs Amazon EC2](https://www.capterra.com/compare/219781-268690/EC2-vs-Google-Cloud-Platform) [Iperius Backup vs Amazon EC2](https://www.capterra.com/compare/129287-219781/Iperius-Backup-vs-EC2)[Parallels Desktop for Mac vs Amazon EC2](https://www.capterra.com/compare/170006-219781/Parallels-Desktop-for-Mac-vs-EC2)