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Amazon EC2 vs Amazon Virtual Private Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EC2
Ranking in Compute Service
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud
Ranking in Compute Service
7th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of Amazon EC2 is 5.4%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud is 0.5%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Compute Service
 

Featured Reviews

KatlegoMabila - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers customization and flexibility with great support
Scalability depends on whether the client wants to scale up or scale down. It decreases resources based on demand. The great aspect of scalability is the flexibility to allow business success to optimize resource solutions and cost efficiency. Another crucial aspect of scalability is auto-scaling. When you have the opportunity to auto-scale, it can't always be available for everything. If you have chosen to integrate with auto-scaling, it's marvellous and doesn't require additional effort. Auto-scaling gives you the edge by using the capacity you have efficiently, scaling up or down as needed. These flexibilities within the EC2 feature instances of AWS play a crucial role in helping me utilize AWS EC2 Intelligent efficiently.
Dineshkumar Thulasiraman - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers auto-scaling policies, security groups are very useful and good support
VPC itself is pretty good, but understanding it well is key. One of the challenges for beginners is understanding IP address ranges and subnet concepts. For example, why use a /16 CIDR block for a VPC versus a /24? It's important to understand these concepts before creating a VPC. Once you understand the basics, you can leverage VPC features based on your architecture. For example, a three-tier architecture (web application, database, etc.) can benefit from public and private subnets. The web application can reside in a public subnet for internet access, while the database can reside in a private subnet for security, only accessible through the web application. This helps isolate resources and improve performance. So, the first step is understanding VPC creation and then using subnets (public and private) based on your architecture. Public subnets can connect to the internet, while private subnets cannot by default. For internet access in a private subnet, you can use a NAT Gateway and route tables. Other components include the internet gateway (for public subnet internet access), Elastic IPs (static IP addresses), and more advanced options like VPN connections, AWS PrivateLink, etc. Once you grasp these basic concepts, you can explore the more advanced features.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I would recommend this solution to others who want to start using it."
"The most valuable features of Amazon EC2 are ease of use and the services offered."
"The platform has been quite stable and reliable."
"I use it for NextCloud and for developer purposes."
"My favorite feature of this solution is the flexibility of instance types, which allows for the cost to be tailored to the usage amount and type."
"The ability to bring up servers and then do the computation and deposit means we don't have to maintain a data center. Everything is virtual and the security is also taken care of. It helps us to achieve compliance. Being a small startup with the security features that AWS provides helps us with compliance."
"Amazon EC2 has plenty of scalability options to decrease or increase the number we need. Based on our bandwidth usage we may go for a higher or downgrade level. We can do it ourselves."
"The flexibility of the security features is what is interesting."
"It is a good solution."
"The best feature is that you can run your servers directly on Amazon's premises, and have access to the internet without Amazon utilizing your own internet connection in your office."
"Compared to that of on-premises solutions, the performance of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud is much better."
"In terms of the system, I love the functionality of a NAT Gateway."
"Amazon Virtual Private Cloud administers an entire infrastructure in the cloud. Its ability to create subnets has been helpful for our resource deployment."
"The product can be used to isolate environments."
"One person with capable knowledge can implement the solution."
"It is very easy to provision a VPC and build your network."
 

Cons

"An area for improvement in Amazon EC2 is the cost because it's a bit higher than competitor pricing."
"am concerned about the tool's data security."
"I think the whole AWS stack is very disconnected from each other. in the .NET space, everything just works nicely together. In the AWS stack, there is a lot of head scratching."
"The customization could be simplified."
"Current inability to change the resource service levels."
"One of the challenges is the AMI upgrades."
"Currently in the autoscaling process if we have multiple issues we are not able to connect some of the VPC through the SMS."
"They can build automatic features for ENSS or network drive. They have the Control-M feature. Similarly, they should have a feature for the network drive that can be mapped. I have not seen such a feature. They have a lot of products but those are quite costly. There is no cheaper option available for the EC2 instance for syncing two drives. If these features are available, it would be good."
"The tool is not scalable."
"I recently worked on Transit Gateway, which connects multiple VPCs in one account and enables communication between them. However, I found the documentation unclear, possibly because few people encounter this situation. I figured it out and implemented it, but it required some research. Most people prefer using infrastructure as code rather than the UI for AWS tasks. However, the documentation may not always be up to date."
"One concern is the cost, which can be relatively high compared to other cloud providers like Azure and Google Cloud."
"The overall integration capabilities of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud with third-party tools need to improve."
"While creating a VPC, you can create a private and public subnet. If you forget to automatically assign a public IP address when creating an EC2 instance, the instance will not be able to access the internet. You can enable automatic public IP assignment for your public subnet to avoid this. This is something one always forgets while creating a VPC in infrastructure."
"I would like to see an improvement in the process of peering multiple VPCs."
"They should release a trial version."
"It would be beneficial to introduce more managed features and enhance customization options in the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"EC2 pricing is somewhat transparent, in that AWS provides pricing for all instance types. However, the number of pricing options can be confusing."
"Reducing the price of the solution could lead to an improvement."
"For our usage, the cost is approximately $20,000 to $23,000 per month."
"The tool's pricing is not cheap."
"We are paying about $1,500 a month for one of the services."
"I use the free tier, although I have paid for some services that are not free. The overall cost of this solution depends on the services you use."
"The price of Amazon EC2 could improve. The Google Cloud Platform is more cost-effective."
"It's expensive, and it could be cheaper."
"Amazon is not very transparent with pricing. It's quite complicated to see where you're spending and how you can track it. I was spending $30,000 a year and $3600 monthly on top of that initial payment. However, I have been able to bring the cost down for this year."
"The solution is pricey but worth its money."
"Compared to the other products in the market, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud is available at a low price."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."
"The solution's pricing is on the higher side so is rated a five out of ten."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"VPC itself is free to create and use."
"The solution is reasonably priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EC2?
The scalability and elasticity are helpful.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EC2?
I'm going to mention again that there is quite a bit of complexity within the pricing of EC2 instances. I'm just going to give it six out of ten since there are various standards, upfront and commi...
What needs improvement with Amazon EC2?
There is not much to be improved or enhanced. One of the things that need to be looked into is the complex pricing, which is rather intense. Sometimes, clients don't understand the structures. Thes...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Virtual Private Cloud?
The cost of Amazon VPC depends on the components you put inside the VPC and the traffic volume. While the direct cost of the VPC is usually not problematic, the associated components and their traf...
What needs improvement with Amazon Virtual Private Cloud?
I would look at database options for improvements. There is a specific configuration where I was using a Windows Server, and I could not configure RDS Oracle on it. I believe they need to revise ho...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, EC2
Amazon VPC
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Netflix, Expedia, TimeInc., Novaris, airbnb, Lamborghini
Hess, Expedia, Kelloggs, Philips, HyperTrack
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon EC2 vs. Amazon Virtual Private Cloud and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.