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Ibidapo Ibrahim - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT Infrastructure at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Good bandwidth, easy setup, and does not crash
Pros and Cons
  • "The amount of bandwidth has been most valuable."
  • "They have to provide clarity on pricing. It's not transparent."

What is our primary use case?

I've used it as a VBI. I've used it as a web application server. I'm also using it as an RGS server.

How has it helped my organization?

AWS has always been my go-to for labs, as I can't afford massive machines at home. Therefore, I go to AWS to test new services. It's a space and energy saver. 

What is most valuable?

The amount of bandwidth has been most valuable. 

It is stable and does not crash.

The product can scale.

Initially, setting up the product is easy.

What needs improvement?

They have to provide clarity on pricing. It's not transparent. I've never gone to production on AWS, as I've never been clear on what it would cost.

I'd like to test the sign-ons of AWS with Google or Microsoft.

Buyer's Guide
Amazon EC2
September 2025
Learn what your peers think about Amazon EC2. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I started using the solution since 2016.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. I've never had a machine go down. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'd rate the scalability very high. It can scale to however big you want. 

How are customer service and support?

I've never used technical support. I cannot speak to how helpful or responsive they would be. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It is not overly complex. 

What was our ROI?

We have witnessed an ROI while using the solution. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is too complex. I can't understand it. If I have a service and want to launch in AWS, I need to know what it would cost to run it over the course of the year. I need to know the cost of bandwidth and storage. They need to lay out what they are charging and what clients can expect. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did not evaluate other options previously. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using. 

I'd advise others to make sure they understand pricing before diving in.

I would rate the solution nine out of ten. I really don't have anything bad to say about its capabilities. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Owner at MATR
Real User
Top 5
Beneficial VMs, highly scalable, and straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Amazon EC2 is the virtual machines that are available."
  • "We have had some downtime using the solution."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Amazon EC2 for automation testing.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Amazon EC2 is the virtual machines that are available.

What needs improvement?

If the cost of the solution was lower it would be a benefit.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon EC2 for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have had some downtime using the solution.

I rate the stability of Amazon EC2 a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately 25 people using the solution. We do not plan to increase our usage.

I rate the scalability of Amazon EC2 a ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The support in my limited usage was satisfactory.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I did not use other solutions similar to Amazon EC2.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Amazon EC2 was straightforward and did not take long approximately 20 minutes. We deployed the solution manually.

What about the implementation team?

The solution was deployed in-house with two to three people.

What was our ROI?

We have received a return on investment using Amazon EC2.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Reducing the price of the solution could lead to an improvement.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Amazon EC2 a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Amazon EC2
September 2025
Learn what your peers think about Amazon EC2. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Mati Cohen - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Algorithms at Stealth Startup
Real User
Stable solution with straightforward deployment
Pros and Cons
  • "I would recommend this solution to others who want to start using it."
  • "I would like to see as much automation for data validation as possible in the future."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case for Amazon EC2 is running specific Windows programs on the cloud and collecting data from them.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see as much automation for data validation as possible in the future.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Amazon EC2 for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I think it's a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

My impression is that this solution is scalable. We currently have four people using this solution and we have plans of expanding that number.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate Amazon's tech support team a nine out of ten, with one being bad and one being excellent.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The setup was straightforward and easy. While the initial setup was simple, we had some problems with Glue scripts. We ran into some problems, but we found a way around them. 

It took around 20% of our staff to do this deployment and maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I think this is a very expensive solution and I would like it to be cheaper.

What other advice do I have?

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

I would rate Amazon EC2 a nine out of ten, with one being poor and 10 being excellent.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Pawan Rawal - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Solution Manager - WebSphere SWG Services at IBM
Real User
A stable and scalable solution that is easy to manage
Pros and Cons
  • "The most important aspects are that the solution is scalable and easy to manage."
  • "The initial setup could be easier because many keys are required for access."

What is our primary use case?

Our company provides customers with business solutions for APIs, data warehousing, and process automation. 

We have many clients and a hybrid model. Certain customers prefer on-premises and the rest run the solution from the cloud.  

What is most valuable?

The most important aspects are that the solution is scalable and easy to manage.

Amazon provides great services. 

What needs improvement?

The initial setup could be easier because many keys are required for access. A more concise or shorter cycle for setup is desired. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for six months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is definitely stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is definitely scalable because it is in the cloud. That is the benefit of moving to cloud-based solutions. 

How are customer service and support?

We have not needed technical support. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is definitely complex. 

What about the implementation team?

We implement the solution for customers. We have a skilled team so deployments are pretty fast with no challenges. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Victor Bergman - PeerSpot reviewer
Executive Head of Technology at Imbali Customised Solutions (Pty) Ltd.
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
It is simple to install and deploy, but it makes installing an LLS certificate on WordPress difficult
Pros and Cons
  • "The flexibility of the security features is what is interesting."
  • "The only issue with EC2 is that it makes it difficult to install an LLS certificate on your WordPress website that you have deployed inside that virtual machine. That becomes complicated."

What is our primary use case?

We use Amazon EC2 for our virtual machines. For example, if a client wants thier website to work with WordPress, we can use EC2 to spin up a virtual machine and then run WordPress in that environment.

What is most valuable?

The flexibility of the security features is what is interesting.

What needs improvement?

The only issue with EC2 is that it makes it difficult to install an LLS certificate on your WordPress website that you have deployed inside that virtual machine. That becomes complicated. S3 is straightforward. But when you're hosting with EC2 then it becomes a problem.

I would like to see more user-friendly WordPress licensing. I am referring to WordPress LLS certificates. WordPress-hosted websites, otherwise, are very stable because the RDP never has these issues. 

I am a software developer, I also use it to host my own application service. In our company, we also create systems. I use it to run other servers inside an EC2 virtual machine. It's accessible, and it is stable.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Amazon EC2 for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon EC2 is very stable. I have no issues with the stability of Amazon EC2.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Amazon EC2 is a scalable solution.

We have two Amazon EC2 clients.

How are customer service and support?

I have never had to use technical support for Amazon Web Services in general.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I am a consultant on all of the services that I have listed. F3, EC2, WorkMail. Obviously, F3 goes with Route 53.

I have been working with all of the products listed for three years.

I am starting from scratch with support and everything.

WorkMail is a bit expensive per user. That is something they must correct.

They provide excellent service, but it is too expensive for South Africans. We are losing clients because the price my clients pay for email alone is nearly equal to the price they pay for an entire Microsoft Office license, which includes email.

Where they will have Microsoft Word and other productivity tools, as well as email. And you will pay nearly that much for an email with WorkMail. It's far too costly. That is unaffordable.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

It works immediately. It's fast.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

You pay as you use it.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate Amazon EC2 a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
BharathKumar2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Database Administrator at Cartrack
Real User
You can adjust the instance type according to your needs
Pros and Cons
  • "EC2 provides a lot of flexibility. If you don't want to have a separate on-premise database, you can put it on the cloud with EC2. You can adjust the instance type according to your needs. You select a size and get a certain amount of specific memory, CPUs, etc. You set the redirect limit, and from there, you install the software, database servers, application servers, and whatever you want."
  • "The monitoring part could be improved. When we're building and configuring things or doing database replication, EC2's monitoring could provide more information. It's hard to find the information I need in the graphs they provide."

What is our primary use case?

We are using EC2 only for our test and backup servers, not really as a proxy server. Few users are working with EC2. It's only 10 people.

What is most valuable?

EC2 provides a lot of flexibility. If you don't want to have a separate on-premise database, you can put it on the cloud with EC2. You can adjust the instance type according to your needs. You select a size and get a certain amount of specific memory, CPUs, etc. You set the redirect limit, and from there, you install the software, database servers, application servers, and whatever you want. 

What needs improvement?

The monitoring part could be improved. When we're building and configuring things or doing database replication, EC2's monitoring could provide more information. It's hard to find the information I need in the graphs they provide.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using EC2 for about seven years.

How are customer service and support?

Amazon support is good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't switch to EC2 per se. We are still using all the solutions we had before. We still have our on-premise databases.

How was the initial setup?

Installing EC2 is straightforward. You set your user access and build it. It only takes about 10 to 20 minutes next. A single person can deploy it.

What was our ROI?

EC2 costs more than typical on-prem solutions, but there are tradeoffs because you can reduce infrastructure and staffing costs.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of EC2 is on the higher end. There is no license. You pay for server data and usage like Amazon RDS.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Amazon EC2 10 out of 10. I highly recommend EC2. You should go for it if you can afford it.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
ASHOK YADAV - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Customizable AMI, good on-prem connectivity, and good load balancing
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the AMI-related features. A very good feature of this solution is the customizable AMI. It is a very good feature provided by Amazon. The encryption technologies are also very good. We are using KMS, etc."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

We are using EC2 for a couple of things. We have integration with Control-M. We have on-prem integration with the on-prem Control-M systems, and we are using EC2 for that. We are also using EC2 for ECS as a worker node.

What is most valuable?

I like the AMI-related features. A very good feature of this solution is the customizable AMI. It is a very good feature provided by Amazon. The encryption technologies are also very good. We are using KMS, etc.

Load balancing of EC2 is another good feature. If we have a group of EC2s, automated load balancing or auto-scaling is there. Auto Scaling features are very good features.

The connectivity with on-prem is also very much supported. We didn't face any problems there. We had a requirement to integrate with the Control-M system, which transfers the files from one system to another system. For some reason, we were not able to use the ready-made or out-of-box feature provided by Amazon. We had to basically simulate the whole thing with EC2, and we didn't face any problems with this integration.

Another good feature is that we can go and create EC2 over the cloud service. It has also been very useful for data science purposes.

What needs improvement?

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.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable. So far, there have been no issues. I didn't get any complaints regarding EC2.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There might be more than 200 people working on EC2.

How are customer service and support?

I didn't contact them for this solution.

How was the initial setup?

It is straightforward. When I first brought up the EC2 instance, I was still learning, and it hardly took 5 to 10 minutes.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others. I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
VinayKumar2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Data Engineer at Seven Lakes Enterprises, Inc.
Real User
Low-maintenance solution that provides scalability options and simple generation upgrades
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the scalability options, low maintenance, and options to upgrade. AWS support is also pretty good. The generation upgrade is pretty simple and standardized."
  • "Support doesn't share or give insights on OS-based issues. That needs to improve because if someone is buying an EC2 instance with the Windows server and SQL license, the client expects that there will be a minimum level of support."

What is our primary use case?

I'm using this solution for my company. We use multiple versions according to our needs and different types of instances and OS, like Windows, Linux, or auto-based.

The solution is deployed on a private cloud.

We have collaborated with AWS on different new service launches and POC, but we are not partners officially. We are a third party.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the scalability options, low maintenance, and options to upgrade. AWS support is also pretty good. The generation upgrade is pretty simple and standardized. Earlier when I gave a review, we were struggling with it, but now the process is straightforward and standardized. We would love it to be automated, but the way it is right now is okay.

What needs improvement?

We buy EC2 instances, we buy OS, and we also pay for OS licenses. Support doesn't share or give insights on OS-based issues. That needs to improve because if someone is buying an EC2 instance with the Windows server and SQL license, the client expects that there will be a minimum level of support. We are not looking for Dell support or troubleshooting, but we definitely look for issues that are complex at the OS level, generally.

We would also like to see a better logging mechanism, which can be helpful for the product or generation. An additional feature should be better OS-level support for loggings, which are visible only to AWS support. There should be a way to at least have admin-level access to those so that we can analyze better, or if they come up with the automated generation upgrade. Once you deploy those solutions, you end up using them for years, and in that generation change for those EC2 instances happen. So, automating those will be key.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution for almost five months.

How are customer service and support?

Support is pretty good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have had a little bit of experience with Microsoft Azure. We evaluated it directly in the cloud.

If we compare different cloud providers, Microsoft has its own advantages, but EC2 is catching up quickly.

The advantage Microsoft has just depends on the typical use case. If you are a Microsoft customer and have been a customer for a few years, then you will probably find it easier to handle Azure than AWS. AWS has its certified AMIs available. But native support of Azure is better in terms of those technologies. Similarly, people generally find that AWS is a bit cheaper, but there are personal preferences or design concepts, which will be handled better depending upon the use case or tech stack in different cloud providers.

How was the initial setup?

Gradually, it has improved. Initially, it was complex but it's pretty standard now. It will depend upon who is installing it, their experience, and their familiarity with that cloud provider. Given that we have two rounds of experience, we found it to be pretty straightforward. If someone is new to AWS, it will probably take more time.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price is reasonable, but there is definitely an opportunity to lower it in instances which are of a higher configuration, because they have been typically used for the long term. There should be custom plans that cater to certain customers who have their uses. The reserved instances prices for SQL server are not that great. We definitely look for such things. 

We are exploring different managed database services, like RDS and Serverless Aurora. There is a scope of implementation on those services, which are pretty new, and most capabilities which are available in instance-based services are not available in Aurora Serverless.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 7 out of 10. 

I will say AWS EC2 is a great place to start. Microsoft Azure is also good. The solution will be dependent upon the exact use case, but AWS EC2 is a good place to start.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user