Our primary use case is for migrating Linux boxes to Windows boxes. We deal mainly with small and medium-sized businesses that are looking to move away from on-prem hardware to the cloud. We are customers and I'm an MSP architect.
MSP Architect at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Reliable with good technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The ethernet configuration is stable and the product is reliable."
- "The most valuable feature of this product is its reliability, as its ethernet configuration is stable and they provide good technical support."
- "Lacks sufficient tools to help users minimize their costs."
- "I'd like to see more tools to help our clients minimize their costs."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of this product is its reliability. Its ethernet configuration is stable and they provide good technical support.
What needs improvement?
I'd like to see more tools to help our clients minimize their costs. The company could provide tips on savings. A couple of our clients have taken a pay-as-you-go model when they configure and they're paying a lot more money than they need to.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable as is the backend infrastructure.
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May 2026
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is good whether you scale horizontally or vertically. A couple of clients scale out horizontally and the load balances help with that.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is actually quite good. They've been able to fix or guide me on the solution.
How was the initial setup?
I have experience with this product so the initial setup is easy for me. Some small businesses have their IT people, but others don't have the knowledge so I carry out an assessment for them. My medium sized clients have a couple of IT people who maintain the network side of things and the instances or the server aspect. If they have applications, then they have their own application people that take care of the application. Maintenance requires around three to five people.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost varies depending on how many instances you have and how long you run it. Our most recent customers were running around four instances, and their bill was between $1,500 to $2,000.
What other advice do I have?
It's important to have somebody familiar with the solution on board, especially if it's an organization that wants to move quickly.
I rate this solution nine out of 10.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Application Architect - BI at IBM
Reliable, helpful support, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "Amazon EC2's most valuable feature I have heard from clients is easy provisioning. Provisioning is very quick and easy."
- "Amazon EC2's most valuable feature I have heard from clients is easy provisioning."
- "Amazon EC2 could improve by reducing the price."
- "We have difficulty convincing potential clients of the benefits of using Amazon EC2, from their on-premise setup, when the cost is similar."
What is our primary use case?
We had a client which has a legacy application that wanted to move to the cloud without a cloud-native solution. What they did was they moved to Amazon EC2 and asked for virtual machines. They had an Oracle database and licenses, they were all provided by the client, and then they all moved to the Amazon EC2 environment.
What is most valuable?
Amazon EC2's most valuable feature I have heard from clients is easy provisioning. Provisioning is very quick and easy.
What needs improvement?
Amazon EC2 could improve by reducing the price.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon EC2 for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon EC2 is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Amazon EC2 is good.
Our client was a large company with approximately 1,000 using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Amazon EC2 is good.
What was our ROI?
The ROI is similar to an on-premise version of my client's operations.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The clients have found the billing of Amazon EC2 good, but the price could be less high. There is a monthly subscription to use the solution.
We have difficulty convincing potential clients of the benefits of using Amazon EC2, from their on-premise setup, when the cost is similar. They don't see the benefits. We face a lot of issues convincing them
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Amazon EC2 an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Buyer's Guide
Amazon EC2
May 2026
Learn what your peers think about Amazon EC2. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Systems Engineer at NTT DATA
It's easy to provision and set up
Pros and Cons
- "EC2 has the typical advantages of using the cloud. It's easy to provision and set up."
- "EC2 has the typical advantages of using the cloud; it's easy to provision and set up."
- "I would like to see more variety in the operating system images used to create test environments in EC2. There should be more versions and releases. Sometimes, you want to test an update from an old release to a higher version, but you can’t do that with the new images available. You have to use your own."
- "I would like to see more variety in the operating system images used to create test environments in EC2."
What is our primary use case?
We use EC2 for test and dev environments.
What is most valuable?
EC2 has the typical advantages of using the cloud. It's easy to provision and set up.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see more variety in the operating system images used to create test environments in EC2. There should be more versions and releases. Sometimes, you want to test an update from an old release to a higher version, but you can’t do that with the new images available. You have to use your own.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used EC2 for three or four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon EC2 is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
EC2 is scalable. There is an auto-scale setting in the configuration.
How are customer service and support?
I've never had to use tech support. I think most of the documentation is adequate.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up EC2 is straightforward. It takes a few minutes, and you can do it by yourself.
What was our ROI?
Pricing is based on consumption, so when we don't want to use it, we just turn it off. The expense is negligible.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay for a monthly license. The price is fair.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Amazon EC2 nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Systems Administrator at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Stable, scalable and simple to implement
Pros and Cons
- "Stable, scalable, and simple to implement."
- "This is a great solution that's stable, scalable and simple to implement."
- "Current inability to change the resource service levels."
- "We sometimes need to change the resource service levels, whether it's to expand or contract. Amazon doesn't offer that option so the way things work now, changes can't be made without scheduling downtime or preventing users from using the service for a period while changes are made."
What is our primary use case?
EC2 and VPC are two services that are quite interconnected. EC2 is the Amazon console that uses the host resources in the data centers to launch servers, instances and services with VPC as the networking part.
What is most valuable?
This is a great solution that's stable, scalable and simple to implement.
What needs improvement?
We sometimes need to change the resource service levels, whether it's to expand or contract. Amazon doesn't offer that option so the way things work now, changes can't be made without scheduling downtime or preventing users from using the service for a period while changes are made. I would like to see servers upgrading or downgrading on the fly without the end user even noticing the change. It would be life-changing for us.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for about four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. There are instances storage servers distributed on multiple hosts in the data centers and even if there's a failure we're unaware of the disruptions. The solution is stable 24/7, 365 days a year, and we know we can rely on it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable, we have over 1,000 users.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing costs are paid monthly for the whole package. That includes the resources that the server is utilizing, plus the operating system along with any database license, such as Microsoft SQL, that you are using. It's quite expensive.
What other advice do I have?
This is an amazing solution although it's not suitable for every company.
They lose one point because the price is quite high so I rate this product nine out of 10.
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.
Senior Database Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Highly scalable, good performance, and secure
Pros and Cons
- "The best features of Amazon EC2 are its high performance and security."
- "Amazon EC2 is the right choice for cloud services processing."
- "Amazon EC2 could improve its dashboards and UI, they need to be more user-friendly."
- "Amazon EC2 could improve its dashboards and UI, they need to be more user-friendly."
What is our primary use case?
Amazon EC2 is used if you are looking for a process serving cloud service.
What is most valuable?
The best features of Amazon EC2 are its high performance and security.
What needs improvement?
Amazon EC2 could improve its dashboards and UI, they need to be more user-friendly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon EC2 for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon EC2 is a stable and reliable
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon EC2 is a highly scalable solution.
We have over 100 users using this solution and we have plans to increase the usage.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Amazon EC2 is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Amazon EC2 is straightforward. It only took us a few minutes to complete.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation ourselves.
We do not need a special team to implement this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Amazon EC2 has a pay-as-you-use cost model.
What other advice do I have?
Amazon EC2 is the right choice for cloud services processing.
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Amazon EC2 a nine 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.
Solutions Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
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."
- "A very good feature of this solution is the customizable AMI."
- "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."
- "They have a lot of products but those are quite costly."
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.
Lead Data Engineer at Seven Lakes Enterprises, Inc.
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."
- "The most valuable features are the scalability options, low maintenance, and options to upgrade; AWS support is also pretty good, and 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."
- "Support doesn't share or give insights on OS-based issues."
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.
IT Instructor Coordinator at ELFA MEDICAMENTOS SA
Extremely scalable, reliable, and simple to set up
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is straightforward."
- "It is a little too expensive."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution as a server.
What is most valuable?
The scalability is very good.
It is very stable.
The initial setup is straightforward.
What needs improvement?
We'd like to be able to scale without turning down the EC2 server. As of now, we have to turn it off in order to scale resources and then turn it on again. We'd like to upgrade and/or downgrade the server without shutting it down.
It is a little too expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for a year or two. I haven't used it for that long.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable. I'd rate the scalability a ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I've never used the solution's technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm also familiar with other cloud providers.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not difficult at all. It is not overly complex. I'd rate the ease of setup eight out of ten.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I've found the pricing to be very expensive. I find it pricey compared to other options.
What other advice do I have?
We're customers and end-users.
I'd advise new users to practice sizing and try to keep their environment according to their needs. If you have an oversized server, it will cost too much money.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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You may simply scale your EC2 instances up or down based on traffic or workload demands with AWS EC2 Auto Scaling. This makes it a very valuable feature because it helps to guarantee top performance and financial effectiveness.