Amazon EC2 vs Amazon Virtual Private Cloud comparison

Amazon EC2 and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud are both solutions in the Compute Service category. Amazon EC2 is ranked #6 with an average rating of 9.1, while Amazon Virtual Private Cloud is ranked #7 with an average rating of 9.0. Amazon EC2 holds a 5.4% mindshare in CS, compared to Amazon Virtual Private Cloud’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Amazon EC2 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud users who would recommend it.

Amazon EC2

Read 67 Amazon EC2 reviews

966 Views
502 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

Read 36 Amazon Virtual Private Cloud reviews

159 Views
11 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Amazon EC2

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Amazon EC2 and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) cater to cloud infrastructure and networking within AWS offerings. Amazon EC2 seems to have the upper hand due to its unmatched flexibility and scalable computing capacity, alongside the ability for cost transparency despite VPC offering excellent networking and security capabilities.

Features: Amazon EC2 is recognized for its scalable computing capacity, customizable AMIs, and auto-scaling capabilities, which provide flexibility and ease of use without upfront costs. VPC is lauded for its robust security features, including configurable subnets and network access control lists, ensuring seamless integration with AWS services.

Room for Improvement: Amazon EC2 could enhance integration efficiency and simplify pricing and configuration updates. Users request improved networking features and less complex migration processes. For VPC, users need better peering configurations and more accessible documentation. Both services could benefit from cost optimization and more intuitive management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon EC2 provides scalable deployment with extensive documentation, though cost management complexity and varied technical support quality are noted issues. VPC benefits from AWS's dedicated support, yet sometimes falls short in offering configuration solutions.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon EC2 operates on a usage-based pricing model, offering potential cost savings through reduced infrastructure. VPC achieves cost-effectiveness with direct cost relativity to resource usage but is praised for its transparent pricing. Both show favorable ROI though EC2 pricing complexity requires careful cost management.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon EC2 vs. Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EC2 vs. Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

June 2025

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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

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

Ranking in Compute Service

7th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of Amazon EC2 is 5.4%, down from 7.5% 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

Senior AWS Account Manager at Silicon Overdrive

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.

Read full review

Carl Seguya

Aws Solutions Architect at Italemwa hub

Reliable traffic management with good cost reduction and a straightforward setup

In terms of the system, I love the functionality of a NAT Gateway. For instance, when I was using it, it was easy to refuse certain traffic from penetrating into my other availability zone. I had to use a NAT Gateway to transition traffic only to the desired portal. Due to using Amazon VPC, it was reliable, efficient in operations, and cost-effective. For scalability, it was beneficial when one instance was down in an availability zone, as we had a standby instance. This ensured that when an availability zone in South Africa went down, another one in the US was available. We used methods like backup, restore, and pilot standby to recover data, and AWS Trusted Advisor guided us on cost optimization. We achieved an average of 70% cost reduction through savings plans for reserved instances and Spot Instances for short-term development servers.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like EC2 because of its simple workload and the ability to configure VPCs and security groups."

"Amazon EC2's most valuable feature I have heard from clients is easy provisioning. Provisioning is very quick and easy."

"I would recommend this solution to others who want to start using it."

"What I found most valuable in Amazon EC2 is that you only pay for what you use, versus an on-premise deployment that requires you to pay for the cost of the server. When it's on-premise, you'll need to meet more specifications and requirements, and the purchasing process even takes time. As Amazon EC2 is cloud-based, you'll only pay when you use the service."

"The serverless architecture solutions are most valuable, and the ability to start with little cost, and then expand as needed."

"Its ease of use is valuable."

"EC2 has helped us to deploy various Microsoft applications efficiently. It has also facilitated our workstation operations."

"The tool's performance, reliability, security and flexibility are good. We can use it remotely. The autoscaling functionality of EC2 is quite good. I appreciate the DevOps suite for tracking development tasks. This functionality is important for pure software development."

More Amazon EC2 pros

"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."

"The product’s firewall is very good."

"One person with capable knowledge can implement the solution."

"Subnet is an important feature as it helps to save network and route traffic."

"You can get a direct link to AWS to your data even if you are a large organization with a huge data center."

"The product can be used to isolate environments."

"It is very easy to provision a VPC and build your network."

"I like that within the same AWS account, you can have different scenarios and workloads. You can isolate workloads using different VPCs, reducing the exposure of critical services."

More Amazon Virtual Private Cloud pros

Cons

"We found Amazon EC2 to be pricey."

"I think the pricing needs to be adjusted and better security."

"We're expecting to have Graviton instances. Graviton means it's not internal, it's a low-cost instance. At present time, Graviton is not supported for a few packages."

"In terms of improvement, they could build some client-side desktop tools that provide easier connectivity to Amazon."

"They have to provide clarity on pricing. It's not transparent."

"Amazon EC2 is very expensive, and it would be helpful if they decreased the pricing."

"Built-in and/or integration with other services to proactively identify potential failures before they occur."

"An area for improvement in Amazon EC2 is the cost because it's a bit higher than competitor pricing."

More Amazon EC2 cons

"There could be better documentation for specific services."

"The solution could improve its price."

"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."

"There are some differences in the route tables between public and private subnets, which is something that is not properly documented."

"It is a bit difficult to find things because you don't have a single pane of glass or dashboard for every resource."

"The initial setup is complex."

"Based on my experience, there are aspects of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud that could be improved to enhance the solution."

"They should release a trial version."

More Amazon Virtual Private Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Amazon EC2 has a pay-as-you-use cost model."

"It has helped to reduce costs with infrastructure."

"The pricing of this solution is variable. There is an open-source variant that is accessible via the public cloud, and then tiers that range in price depending on the level and amount of usage that is required."

"The price can be improved."

"The licensing of Amazon EC2 is expensive. Microsoft Windows Servers are expensive to license."

"The tool's pricing is not cheap."

"It's expensive, and it could be cheaper."

"It's competitive but can vary based on instance types and usage patterns."

More Amazon EC2 pricing and cost advice

"It is a free-to-use service."

"The product is expensive."

"I would rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"VPC itself is free to create and use."

"Compared to the other products in the market, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud is available at a low price."

"The solution is not very expensive."

"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's pricing is on the higher side so is rated a five out of ten."

More Amazon Virtual Private Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

23%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EC2?

Amazon EC2 is a bit expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon EC2?

The main thing that needs improvement is the cost. Other than that, there is nothing that needs improvement.

See all answers

What do you like most about Amazon Virtual Private Cloud?

The solution is secure.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon Virtual Private Cloud?

There is always a chance to improve.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 26% of the time

AWS Fargate vs Amazon EC2

Compared 20% of the time

AWS Lambda vs Amazon EC2

Compared 18% of the time

Google Compute Engine vs Amazon EC2

Compared 14% of the time

Google App Engine vs Amazon EC2

Compared 11% of the time

More Amazon EC2 Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EC2

June 2025

Download Amazon EC2 product report

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

June 2025

Download Amazon Virtual Private Cloud product report

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, EC2

Amazon VPC

Overview

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.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) lets you provision a logically isolated section of the AWS Cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a virtual network that you define. You have complete control over your virtual networking environment, including selection of your own IP address range, creation of subnets, and configuration of route tables and network gateways. You can use both IPv4 and IPv6 in your VPC for secure and easy access to resources and applications.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Sample Customers

Netflix, Expedia, TimeInc., Novaris, airbnb, Lamborghini

Hess, Expedia, Kelloggs, Philips, HyperTrack

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EC2 vs. Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

June 2025

Free Report: Amazon EC2 vs. Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

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