Amazon Lightsail vs IBM Public Cloud comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM are both solutions in the PaaS Clouds category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #7 with an average rating of 9.0, while IBM is ranked #15 with an average rating of 6.7. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 2.0% mindshare in PSP, compared to IBM’s 3.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Amazon Lightsail

Read 13 Amazon Lightsail reviews

990 Views
990 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Public Cloud

Read 18 IBM Public Cloud reviews

2,196 Views
2,020 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Amazon Lightsail

IBM Public Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

IBM Public Cloud and Amazon Lightsail compete in cloud solutions, with Amazon Lightsail having an upper hand in accessibility and simplicity, while IBM Public Cloud excels in robust enterprise features.

Features: IBM Public Cloud provides AI integration, large-scale data processing, and compliance certifications, suitable for enterprises. Amazon Lightsail offers virtual servers, databases, and networking services, designed for small businesses and developers seeking ease and speed.

Room for Improvement: IBM Public Cloud could improve deployment speed and integrate more intuitive user interfaces for small businesses. Amazon Lightsail might enhance scalability options, bolster security features, and offer more enterprise-grade support for growing businesses.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon Lightsail ensures intuitive deployment through pre-configured blueprints and extensive documentation, suitable for quick launches. IBM Public Cloud offers extensive support for complex environments, which, while thorough, may require longer setup times for comprehensive operations.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Public Cloud has higher initial setup costs but offers ROI with its scalability and extensive features for large enterprises. Amazon Lightsail provides a cost-effective model with predictable monthly costs, yielding favorable ROI for smaller operations given its lower expenses.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Lightsail vs. IBM Public Cloud Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Lightsail vs. IBM Public Cloud

September 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 Lightsail

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

7th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM Public Cloud

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

15th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IoT Platforms (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the PaaS Clouds category, the mindshare of Amazon Lightsail is 2.0%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Public Cloud is 3.1%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

PaaS Clouds Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Amazon Lightsail	2.0%
IBM Public Cloud	3.1%
Other	94.9%

PaaS Clouds

Featured Reviews

VictorAugusto De Souza E Silva

Cloud Engineer at Leek Solucoes

Has simplified website migration and reduced hosting costs significantly

Amazon Lightsail should have some kind of scale service. To be more clear, if I need to scale up my instance or VPS, I need to create a snapshot and create a new instance from this snapshot with more resources, such as CPU, RAM, or disk. It would be beneficial to have a welcome instance where we can just set the instance, go there to edit and select a greater instance from large to x-large or 2x-large. I do not see the need to scale down, but it would be good too. When we are on an x-large for testing purposes and need to do a rollback to a large one, we need to scale down. We do not have this capability on Amazon Lightsail.

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Premnath Jaganathan

Product Manager at Uop Ipl

Affordability and security improve our cloud experience while learning new systems

I'm not working with any AI features in IBM Public Cloud, but they are in the process of building it.I am very satisfied with the security that IBM Public Cloud provides. I would rate IBM Public Cloud eight out of ten, where one is worst and ten is the best.

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

"Implementations are completed with a few clicks, allowing efficient transitions to other development stages, and setup is easy whether for online support or basic business requirements."

"We use Amazon Lightsail for hosting security components in-house and AI modules."

"EC2 instances are pre-configured and upgraded, so you can simply select and instantly pay for an EC2 instance to set up WordPress, Node.js, or a server container using Docker."

"The instances optimized for WordPress are very lightweight and straightforward in configuration."

"In Lightsail, they simplified to do it in as few clicks as possible. So, around ten clicks, I have a virtual machine deployed."

"The benefit of using Amazon Lightsail over the AWS console management is that it is a small platform that is easy to understand, as it has only the instance, DNS, Route 53, snapshots, backups, and load balancing network."

"I find Lightsail particularly valuable for hosting WordPress as it is easier to set up than a bare metal server, which requires extensive configuration and package installations."

"The intuitive management console of Amazon Lightsail is very good because it is simple; with just a few clicks, I can set a blog online, a WordPress blog online, a new e-commerce online, or just a new application with NodeJS."

More Amazon Lightsail pros

"The initial setup was very easy. It's quite straightforward. Deployment took about fifteen minutes. Everything is well organized."

"The price of IBM Cloud is most valuable for us. The service is personable and gives us a good rapport. I can't say it's the best, but it was enough for our needs."

"The beauty of cloud service providers, especially public cloud service providers, is that they are scalable every time when you need them because their payment model is pay-as-you-go."

"The most valuable feature of IBM Public Cloud is the AI integrations."

"The availability is second to none. Customer support is very good."

"For non-complex applications, the IBM Cloud works fine and the price is much lower than the competitors."

"It's straightforward, has a good environment and is cost-effective."

"I've found the stability to be excellent. The performance is good."

More IBM Public Cloud pros

Cons

"The product's network features need enhancement."

"The solution could be smoother than it is."

"It would be beneficial if Lightsail allowed easier upgrade and change processes, similar to EC2 instances, without needing to fully back up and reinstall configurations."

"Amazon Lightsail should have some kind of scale service. To be more clear, if I need to scale up my instance or VPS, I need to create a snapshot and create a new instance from this snapshot with more resources, such as CPU, RAM, or disk."

"The main area for improvement in Lightsail is the difficulty in scaling down resources."

"Based on my limited exploration of Amazon Lightsail so far, I would like to see improvements in the console, particularly in user behavior and some cost-related aspects."

"Backward compatibility and the flexibility to choose software versions while installing would be improvements."

"The disadvantage I see is data storage; if any data crash occurs in the cloud server, that will lead to significant losses for the customer."

More Amazon Lightsail cons

"Maybe performance enhancers and reports could be better improved. If they do so, it would be better. Of all the drawbacks I saw, this would be the biggest enhancement."

"While they have about 99% of what we need, the only exception, perhaps, was the push notification feature that was discontinued. They delayed the replacement product."

"The deployment can be a bit of a pain. There are a lot of packages and a lot of options and it can require complex configuration to get it right."

"I would like to see a more user-friendly deployment process in the next release of this solution."

"The connectivity and speed of IBM Public Cloud are much lower compared to the competition."

"They do not have a very good virtual network implemented, and the VPC is the most important feature that needs to be improved."

"They could improve on customizing reporting capabilities."

"There is not a lot of support for this solution, which is something that needs to be improved."

More IBM Public Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's very cheap."

"Lightsail is available at an affordable cost starting from five dollars per month."

"The prices are better than EC2 machines, for instance, because they are simplified management, but it works well, and I am able to run everything that I need on it."

"Amazon Lightsail is a bit cheaper than Amazon EC2."

"The services that it provides are good for the price."

"A few months ago, Lightsail's pricing increased, likely due to the addition of the new VPC feature."

"The affordability of starting at five dollars makes it an attractive option for startups and medium-sized companies, aligning with budget considerations while offering essential cloud services."

"In order to be competitive, you have to commit to a contract for at least one year, but you pay a fixed monthly fee."

"Pricing is not as fair as Amazon or Azure."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."

"IBM Public Cloud is pretty cheap. They have an ongoing free tier that basically won't expire, so as long as your solution is small enough, you can have a test set that you can use for demos, which will cost you almost nothing."

"It pretty much has a standard price. There is no hidden price with IBM Public Cloud."

"IBM has a lesser price compared to other cloud service providers like Azure and AWS."

"The licensing fees are straightforward and predictable."

"The price of IBM Cloud is very cheap compared to competitors AWS and Azure."

More IBM Public Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

University

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

University

16%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Lightsail?

In Lightsail, they simplified to do it in as few clicks as possible. So, around ten clicks, I have a virtual machine deployed.

See all answers

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

Lightsail is available at an affordable cost starting from five dollars per month. This cost may increase with additional features like a static IP.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon Lightsail?

See all answers

Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?

IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud?

The front end is not pervasive, so it is very difficult get the status of your current services or account from a mobile device.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Public Cloud?

The prices are relatively lower compared to others. It is a good option for medium-sized businesses. However, businesses should also consider other vendors to ensure they meet their specific securi...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Azure vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 32% of the time

Google Cloud vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 28% of the time

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 10% of the time

AWS Elastic Beanstalk vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 8% of the time

Google App Engine vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 8% of the time

More Amazon Lightsail Competitors

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 30% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 28% of the time

Amazon AWS vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 22% of the time

Dell ObjectScale vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs IBM Public Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

More IBM Public Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Lightsail

October 2025

Download Amazon Lightsail product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Public Cloud

October 2025

Download IBM Public Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

IBM Bluemix

Overview

Lightsail is ideal for simpler workloads, quick deployments, and getting started on AWS. It’s designed to help you start small, and then scale as you grow.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

IBM Cloud is a full-stack cloud platform that spans public, private and hybrid environments. Build with a robust suite of advanced data and AI tools, and draw on deep industry expertise to help you on your journey to the cloud.

IBM

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Uvionics Tech, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Alpha Modus, Inventive, Web Business Consulting, FindBrok, SilverHook Powerboats, United Way of Allegheny County

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Lightsail vs. IBM Public Cloud

September 2025

Free Report: Amazon Lightsail vs. IBM Public Cloud

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Lightsail vs. IBM Public Cloud and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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