Are you considering using AWS but not sure if it’s the right fit for your business? You’re not alone. There are a number of alternative cloud services providers that may be a better fit for your organization. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the best AWS Alternatives and what sets them apart.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud services platform by Amazon which allows you to host websites by running web servers as well as application servers. It also enables secure storage of files through managed databases (e.g. Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, Postgre, and SQL) for easy access wherever you are.
With the help of a Content Delivery Network (C.D.N.), it delivers files quickly to any destination and Amazon SES can be used to send bulk emails. In a nutshell, AWS is a full-service platform for web developers and engineers to be able to run a website, manage and host a mobile application, and much more.
AWS allows you to choose the exact solutions you need and to pay for only what was used. However, there are quite a number of limitations with the AWS which include-
AWS Service Limits
There are default limits set based on the needs of an average user, whereas some companies require more resources above the limits set. The service limits prevent you from spending too much money on your first encounter with the platform.
This limit can be changed; however, some can’t be changed, such as EC2 security groups having a limit of 500 per instance and a limit of 100 permissions per security group. It also has a limit of 100 security groups per EC2-VPC.
Deep Knowledge is Needed
AWS is a sophisticated infrastructure, hence, to be able to have all the useful services of AWS at your disposal, an in-depth understanding of AWS is needed. This means a lot of investment is required to get educated on how to manage your AWS platform successfully.
- Extra training fees are necessary for dedicated tech support.
- Billings can befuddle small business owners who might make it better to work with a reseller.
Amazon’s vertical business expansion raises some concerns as Amazon has an avenue to exclusive data of businesses, and nobody knows how much data are used, especially on the platform of a strong competitor.
The Top 7 AWS Alternatives In 2023:
Below are some industry leaders in unmanaged cloud hosting service providers. You rely on them for all your compute server needs.
1. Linode
Linode is a virtual private server hosting service used for remote hosting online. It is ideal to web-host with high speed and reliability and is a great option for Node, Flask, React, and Django backends.
With Linode, private servers can be resized at any time. Linode allows more RAM, dedicated CPU as well as dedicated graphics. The GPUs are high-end RTX6000 series cards.
The servers are very easy to rebuild from an image immediately. It is not recommended if you are not familiar with Bash and using Nano; however, it can still be used.
The pricing plan starts from $10 a month; however, there are also Nanodes- smaller versions of Linode with smaller features and resources for $5 a month. Linode is certainly awesome for all sorts of workloads.
Features of Linode
Hosting Plans
Linode is a web hosting company that offers high-quality service for your website. Linode has been in business for over 12 years and they have an extensive amount of experience in providing hosting to their customers.
Linode provides many different hosting plans to suit the needs of all customers. They also offer Dynamic IP Addressing and Dedicated IP Addresses to meet the needs of your website.
Linode provides its services in over 130 different data centers around the world, making sure that there is always a server nearby to provide you with great customer service and help you get started with your website quickly and easily.
Support
Linode also offers 24/7 customer support so if you need help troubleshooting something with your site, they will be able to help you with it.
The average reply time of their customer support is 15 minutes, which means that even if your website goes down and needs immediate attention, they will be able to handle the problem for you as soon as possible.
Services
Linode also provides many different tools and services for its customers so that they can help them get started quickly and easily. They offer LAMP stacks, PERL stacks, Python stacks, and Ruby on Rails stacks. If you are not familiar with these terms, they refer to the different types of programming languages used for the web. Linode also offers SSH Access so that you will be able to work directly on your server without needing to use FTP.
High-performance Server
Linode also offers PHP-FPM, which is a high-performance server for the PHP programming language. If you are using WordPress or Drupal on your website, you should be able to get much better speed and performance with PHP-FPM enabled.
Linode also offers Git Deployment so that you will be able to deploy your scripts quickly and easily without needing to use FTP. Linode offers a lot of different tools and services that you will be able to use on your website, all of which are included in the monthly price for your hosting plan. This makes it easy to get started quickly and easily without needing to pay anything extra for the time being.
Pricing of Linode
Linode is a hosting company that offers different packages. There are 4 plans to choose from.
The first plan has 1GB of storage space and it costs $5 per month.
The second plan offers 2GB of storage space and it costs $10 per month.
The third plan offers 4GB of storage space and it costs $20 per month.
Fourth offers 8GB at a cost of $40/mo.
Linode also provides more storage space for a higher price, but there is no internet connection on the more expensive plans.
Pros & Cons of Linode
Pros
- Linode’s affordable pricing structure is a big plus for many startups.
- For the price of a few hundred dollars per month, you can have your own virtual server on Linode with an operating system of your choice and as much disk space as you want.
- In contrast to more expensive competitors, Linode’s setup process takes minutes, not hours or days.
- The level of control that Linode offers is unprecedented, from managing versions to more granularly controlling backup snapshots.
- also provides recovery controls for systems that are inaccessible via SSH.
- The service is extremely simple and straightforward, making it a great choice for most startups.
Cons
- Linode’s web interface design is clunky and often difficult to use.
- In addition, it can be unclear when it’s time to upgrade VMs, which can lead to frustration and lost time.
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2. Contabo
Contabo is a great AWS alternative that will never be a burden on your pocket. No matter what your usage is, the smaller VPS will cost you just $6.99 per month. This VPS S SSD will give you 8GB of ram and enough cores of CPU to make your website run faster.
I have already been using the VPS M SSD that costs just $11.99 for a powerful VPS that is loaded with 400GB of SSD storage and 16 GB RAM.
Features of Contabo
1. Ease of Use
Ease of use is one of the best features of Contabo. It’s a service that is very developer-friendly with its many inbuilt web tools. Developers who have experience with it have found it extremely easy to set up and use.
The reason for this is that Contabo provides the server management service, meaning that you don’t have to worry about setting up or running any software on your end. You get to enjoy all of Contabo’s perks such as affordable rates, ease of use, and no extra hassle (no installation required).
On the flip side, if you’re not a skilled technician, you’ll be better off opting for a managed hosting service instead.
2. Backups
At Contabo, we offer backups as a standard service. This means that your data is always safe with us, and can be restored quickly and easily if needed. Our backups are also stored off-site, so in the event of a disaster, your data will still be safe.
3. Control Panel
Another great feature of our control panel is the ability to create manual backups yourself. This gives you complete control over your data, and makes it easy to Restore it if needed. Plus, our control panel is easy to use, so you’ll be able to get started right away.
Pricing of Contabo
Contabo’s VPS hosting starts at $6.99/mo. Other options include shared hosting ($3.99/mo), VDS ($49.99/mo), and dedicated servers ($139.99/mo). While shared, VDS and dedicated plans are nothing exceptional with their pricing, VPS is definitely affordable.
VPS S – 4 CPUs, 8GB RAM, 50GB NVMe or 200GB SSD, 1 snapshot and 32TB bandwidth.
VPS M – 6 CPUs, 16GB RAM, 100GB NVMe or 400GB SSD, 2 snapshot and 32TB bandwidth.
VPS L – 8 CPUs, 30GB RAM, 200GB NVMe or 800GB SSD, 3 snapshot and 32TB bandwidth.
VPS XL – 10 CPUs, 60GB RAM, 400GB NVMe or1.6TB SSD, 4 snapshot and 32TB band
Pros & Cons of Contabo
Pros
1. Powerful VPS servers
2. Fast NVMe storage
3. Great server and datacenter security
4. Servers across 3 continents
5. 24/7 customer service
6. 99.9% uptime guarantee
7. Award-winning company
8. 30-day money-back guarantee
9. Fair prices
10. Free VPN with unlimited bandwidth
11. Good affiliate program
Cons
1. The complex pricing structure can be difficult to understand.
2. The advanced hosting solution may be too complex for some users.
3. There have been complaints about the customer service.
3. SkySilk
VPS plans on SkySilk start from as low as USD2 per month. The basic VPS includes these specs:
- 1 V CPU
- 25GB SSD Storage
- 512MB RAM
- 12Mb/s Bandwidth
- 500GB Transfer.
Each of the pricing plans is also scalable and you can also boost up the resources at a given point in time. You get the option to choose the number of IPv4 or you can deploy a server without IPv4 as well.
In the standard plans, 1 IPv4 is included. You are also allowed to build your own cloud VPS to your taste. SkySilk has embedded security measures that make user data inaccessible from their servers.
It has numerous LinuxOS (40+) as well as Open Source App Templates including WordPress, CentOS, Ubuntu, Fedora, GitLab, Grafana, Prestashop, and others to quickly deploy and launch your website.
SkySilk data-centers are fully Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) compliant and all communications are sent over SSL for access to the internal API and public website.
Features of SkySilk
Two prominent features on SkySilk are SkyPoints and SkySilk Support.
SkyPoints
SkyPoints is the SkySilk Rewards program, where you earn SkyPoints with the Skysilk standard VPS or Premium (10x Points) plan. You can redeem these points later on to renew, deploy a new server, or for a gift of your choice! Some of the options include Amazon, Starbucks, and Best Buy.
Support
The SkySilk Support team is also known for its quick response, usually within 24hrs, and a community available to you on discord from the moment you join.
Last but not least, a backup feature is available at a low price. Overall, it is a well-optimized and secure Cloud Platform, which is a very excellent alternative for AWS.
Backups
SkySilk is a cloud hosting provider that offers Manual backups, anywhere from 100 MB/s to 800 MB/s bandwidth, Replicated SSD storage, and Up to unlimited transfer.
With an automatic backup feature, SkySilk is the only cloud hosting provider with a built-in scheduler. This means that administrators can schedule their backups to occur at any time they set.
This is beneficial because it ensures that admins will always have access to recent data, whether it’s for recovery purposes or just retrieving files. However, it’s advised that admins keep their backups on a separate partition, as it cannot be used to host websites.
Support
Skysilk.com is a web hosting service provider that offers its customers the capability to host files for free. Skysilk also provides a number of packages from which clients can choose. The packages range from Personal to Business and Enterprise levels. Skysilk provides a live chat, phone, and email support system that is available 24/7.
Pricing of SkySilk
SkySilk offers three pricing plans: BASIC, STANDARD, and PREMIUM.
The BASIC plan costs $4.00/month and includes 1 CPU core, 1GB RAM, and 10GB storage.
The STANDARD plan costs $10.00/month and includes 2 CPU cores, 2GB RAM, and 50GB storage.
The PREMIUM plan costs $20.00/month and includes 4 CPU cores, 4GB RAM, and 100GB storage.
Pros & Cons of SkySilk
Pros
1. Low prices for servers – SkySilk offers some of the lowest prices for servers on the market. You can get a server for as little as $2.50/month!
2. One-month subscription is available – If you’re not sure if SkySilk is right for you, you can try it out for a month with no commitment.
3. Provides Skypoints that can be used to pay – SkyPoints are SkySilk’s virtual currency that can be used to pay for services like domain registration, SSL certificates, and more.
4. Brute force and DDoS protection – SkySilk provides brute force and DDoS protection so you can rest assured your website is safe from bots and DDoS attacks.
Cons
- SkySilk doesn’t offer shared hosting.
- They have a one-time payment of $219 for their domain. There are no refunds available with this company, so be sure that you are sure before purchasing.
4. Vultr
A cloud hosting service is operating out of 14 countries around the world. They provide high-performance SSD cloud servers which are one of the best in the world. It uses the latest generation Intel CPUs on a control panel embedded with many features, all of which can be easily installed with one click.
Vultr’s pricing plan starts from as low as $5 per month, and an extra $5 is added to an account on signup. Vultr stands out in providing flexible options at a ridiculously low price, mostly for individual entrepreneurs and small businesses. Other features of Vultr are Instant Server Deployment, Quick View Server Health, Easy Snapshots, and Intuitive Interface.
Features of Vultr
Vultr is a cloud hosting provider that offers storage limits, bandwidth allowance, and email hosting.
Storage limits are the maximum amount of data that you can store in your account.
Bandwidth allowance is the maximum amount of data that you can send and receive each month.
Email hosting allows you to create an email address with your own domain name.
Control Panel Integration: Customers can manage their Vultr deployments through a single control panel. This panel provides an easy-to-use interface for creating, starting, stopping, and cloning servers. It also provides an overview of all of the customer’s deployments, as well as detailed billing information.
CMS Support: Customers can install popular content management systems on their Vultr servers with a simple command. These CMSes are installed in a pre-configured environment that is optimized to ensure fast performance and security.
Pros & Cons of Vultr
Pros
1. Overall, flexible pricing – Vultr offers a wide range of options when it comes to pricing, which makes it a great choice for a variety of users.
2. Nice range of quality cloud products – Vultr offers a good range of cloud products, which makes it easy to find the perfect one for your needs.
3. Great performance – Vultr is known for its great performance, which is perfect for those who demand the best.
4. Easy to use interface – The interface is easy to use and navigate, which makes it perfect for beginners and experts alike.
5. Variety of locations – Vultr has a large number of data centers located all over the world, so you can always find one that is close to you.
6. Great customer support – Vultr provides fantastic customer support, which makes it easy to resolve any issues you might have in a snap.
Cons
- Number of pricing plans for different services.
5. Interserver
Interserver is a web hosting platform with a wide range of clients. Everything relating to their web hosting is done personally right from server building, developing their fiber-optic network, and configuring their Linux kernels.
Interserver provides top-quality hardware and ensures top-quality performance and uptime (almost 100%) no matter the plan chosen. Their facilities also have top security including biometric entry points, HVAC units, superfluous power, and elevated floors to shield servers from water damage.
However, there is a daily limit of 100 for a signup, but this is to ensure top-notch customer service. The amount agreed to on signup is the amount paid forever except alterations are made to the plan.
Features of Interserver
Interserver is a company that focuses on providing hosting services. Interserver specializes in secure architecture for the enterprise, cloud computing, and web technologies. Interserver was founded by Marcel Deelman and Walter Van Erp in 1996.
Infrastructure
Interserver has an infrastructure that has been developed over the course of 15 years and is able to meet the needs of customers that range from small and medium-sized enterprises to large multinational corporations.
Security
Security is at the forefront of what this company does and it offers a full suite of content protection features such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, antivirus software, domain security measures, DDoS mitigation systems, and more.
- Interserver also offers daily signup limits as well as hosting plans which are aimed at both coders and developers.
- The company also offers cloud services that have been developed in-house. This is to ensure optimum performance for customers using their products.
- It has servers located in multiple data centers throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Pros & Cons of Interserver
Pros
1. Unlimited data Storage and bandwidth: Interserver offers the most storage space you can find for a web host, at no extra cost to you. You also get unlimited bandwidth and email accounts (unlimited with free domains), and you can host an unlimited number of domains and MySQL databases.
2. Less number of websites on each server: At Interserver, we don’t oversell our servers as many hosting companies do. We refuse to overload our network, so your website always loads fast and without interruption. Our customers truly enjoy the performance boost they get when they switch to Interserver.
3. 461 scripts available for 1 click install: With the most scripts of any web host (461) offered, you get access to over 200 cms tall with a one-click install! This gives your website an easy start and makes it possible for almost anyone to create a professional-looking website in a matter of minutes.
4. Free website migration for new customers: Interserver is so confident in our services that we even offer free unlimited site transfers for New Customers switching from other hosting companies. This is the only way you can get a guaranteed 100% move-in success rate because any previous poor experiences with migrating sites to a different host can introduce errors that cause downtime.
5. 24/7 technical support by phone, chat, and ticketing system: Interserver offers a three-tier support system for all customers, but our priority is always our New Customers.
Cons
There are a few cons to using Interserver.
- Firstly, they offer limited services – you can only host a website, you can’t use their domain name for free, and their load speeds are slower than some of the other providers out there.
- Secondly, their customer service isn’t always as responsive as you might like, which can be frustrating if you need help with something.
- Finally, their prices are a little bit more expensive than some of the other providers.
6. DigitalOcean
It is a peculiar cloud hosting provider that offers cloud computing services by deploying DigitalOcean applications that run parallel across multiple servers without having any negative effect on the output performance.
It is the perfect cloud provider to manage scalable web applications. The cloud servers programmatically control data. It has a functional and artistic interface which makes it a whole lot easy to access the features.
DigitalOcean provides simple APIs for ease. It also provides high-quality performance and is one of the first providers of SSD based virtual machines and one of the first to utilize IPv6. The cloud servers are on powerful Hex Core machines with dedicated ECC RAM and RAID SSD storage.
Its documentation is very extensive, accurate, and resourceful. Its basic pricing plan starts from $5 per month, and it also allows hourly payment options.
Features of DigitalOcean
1. Security
DigitalOcean is one of the world’s most reliable web hosting providers. They take security seriously, with over 300K servers on their platform, you can rest assured that your website will be safe.
DigitalOcean has taken many steps to ensure the data and network of its clients are secure.
From SSL certificates on all site traffic to providing encrypted backups on all droplets, DigitalOcean makes sure that your data is protected end-to-end. Their servers also go through continuous security audits to make sure they uphold industry standards of security.
2. Backups
DigitalOcean offers automatic backups that are stored on hard disks. You can always restore data up to 7 days before your most recent backup. This is helpful in the event of any hardware failures.
When you create a new Droplet, your data will be automatically backed up daily for 7 days. You can also take manual backups and store them in the cloud using DigitalOcean Block Storage (and send them to an external location).
3. Customizable Pricing
DigitalOcean offers a customizable pricing feature that lets you change the resources you use on their platform. You can select the amount of site storage, CPU usage, bandwidth, database size, and memory that you need.
This is a great advantage if you’re an advanced user who knows exactly what they need. It can also save you money if you only need a fraction of the resources offered by DigitalOcean.
Pros & Cons of DigitalOcean
Pros
1. Fantastic uptime of 99.99% – You can count on DigitalOcean to be up and running almost all the time, which is ideal for businesses and developers who rely on their hosting services.
2. Lightning-Fast Load Times – With a load time of 268 ms, DigitalOcean is one of the fastest hosting providers out there.
3. Developer-Friendly Product Ecosystem – From Droplets to Spaces, DigitalOcean has a wide range of products that are designed with developers in mind.
4. Customizable Pricing – You can adjust your pricing plan to fit your needs, whether you need a small server for personal use or a large server for business use.
5. Easy–Use Interface – You can manage everything from a simple and easy-to-use dashboard.
6. Free DNS – You get free access to DigitalOcean’s DNS tools, available through Web Apps.
Cons
- The final con of DigitalOcean is the lack of customer support.
- While their site advertises an average response time of 10 minutes, that’s not always what you’ll get as they don’t have a chat service.
- Their official Twitter account doesn’t respond often with general questions and their knowledge base isn’t detailed for customers to use as a way to contact them.
7. Upcloud
Upcloud cloud hosting provider offers Linux and Windows Virtual machines on their M.A.X.I.O.P.S. (a proprietary storage technology built on enterprise-grade SSDs 2x faster than standard cloud servers) infrastructure which is billed as I.A.A.S. (Infrastructure-as-a-service).
Its features include Virtual Machine Provisioning, Backups and Snapshots, Load Balancing, Auto Scaling, Containers, Migrations, Cloudinit, Inventory, Lifecycle Management and Resize, Remote console and Periodic Synchronization. Its host billing starts from $5 a month.
Upcloud allows you to sell VPS Hosting by reselling Upcloud instances due to its integration with HostBill. Clients are also able to control resources from the client area though the access to these functions is controlled by the Admin. Upcloud allows clients to create, start, stop and restart their virtual machines, inject S.S.H. keys, manage virtual machine’s firewall, and access no VNC console.
Features of Upcloud
1. Speed
UpCloud is a company that provides cloud-based hosting services. They claim that their scalable MaxIOPS block storage provides twice as fast and twice as reliable performance in comparison with industry-standard SSD cloud servers.
I put their speed performance to the test by using GTmetrix. The time it took to fully load the site was 6.8 seconds, which is better than the average of 8.1, but I was hoping for a result of fewer than 3.5 seconds. Most of the vital web metrics were around the average, resulting in an average overall score.
2. Support
Support at Upcloud offers the opportunity to receive personalized help through a live chat which you can initiate by contacting their customer service team. They are available Monday-Friday between 11 am and 6 pm GMT+1, so internationally they are available 24 hours a day.
If you prefer to contact them by email, the general support team responds within one business day (excepting weekends and holidays). For more urgent matters they also have an emergency mailbox which they aim to answer within 4 hours.
If you are the type of person who likes reading documentation before asking for help then UpCloud has written extensive tutorials.
Pros & Cons of Upcloud
Pros
UpCloud offers a wide range of benefits and advantages.
- With UpCloud, you will be able to take advantage of 24/7 customer support and swift server deployment.
- They also have a large network of data centers that are fairly priced and flexible hosting solutions.
- You’ll be able to get thorough tutorials, detailed documentation, responsive, resourceful, and friendly support staff with your purchase too.
Cons
UpCloud is a great cloud hosting provider with many features, but it does have a few drawbacks.
- One downside is that it can be a bit difficult to use for beginners, as there is no option for one-click installs and no shared hosting plans.
- Additionally, UpCloud is not the cheapest provider on the market, so it may not be suitable for budget-conscious users.
Quick Links
FAQs related to AWS Alternatives
🙆 Who is AWS biggest competitor?
Upcloud and DigitalOcean are 2 biggest competitors of AWS.
💁♀️ What is AWS?
AWS stands for Amazon Web Services. It provides cloud hosting at a very reasonable price.
🙇♂️ Is UpCloud any good?
UpCloud has a variety of features for hosting and beginners alike. With their easy-to follow tutorials, you will be able to launch your site in no time! Up Cloud provides cloud based storage that is perfect if accessibility or data security are concerns while also having 24/7 customer support available at all times so any questions can always get answered quickly when it comes down your search queries.
🤷♀️ Is DigitalOcean any good?
It's no surprise that Digital Ocean has been able to deliver such excellent performance with an average of 99.99% uptime over the last year - since April 2020 they haven't had more than 14 outages and 23 minutes downtime!
🧏♂️ Is Vultr better than DigitalOcean?
Vultr offers dedicated servers instead of the higher priced tiers, but Digital Ocean's storage instances can be mounted onto existing hardware.
🤷♀️ Who are DigitalOcean competitors?
Top Digital Ocean Alternatives & Competitors Hostwinds, Linode, Vultr and OVH Cloud are top competitors to get maximum benefits from the services offered by this company.
🙎♂️ Which is better linode or DigitalOcean?
Digital Ocean is a simple cloud server for developers, whereas Linode offers more features and options but often struggles with user friendliness.
🧏 Is InterServer good hosting?
InterServer is great for those who are looking to take their hosting experience up a notch. Built by webhosting geeks, the company offers premium services and support that you can't find elsewhere at an affordable price point!
🙋 Does UpCloud use AWS?
The prices for Amazon Web Services are constantly higher than those from UpCloud.
Conclusion: Best AWS Alternative In 2023
In 2023, you will see many unmanaged cloud providers claiming that they are the best in the business. However, it is important to see which provider has been working for so long time to better serve your needs. Every alternative mentioned in my list is a perfect fit for your website or mobile application.
All you have to do is – better estimate the number of resources you would need to run a website successfully.
If you’re more comfortable with SSH commands or have been using a cloud control panel like Cloudstick, I would recommend you to go for Contabo only.
