LightSail vs AWS Services
Amazon doesn’t really advertise Lightsail much, and I think a big reason is pricing. Lightsail is packaged and fixed-price, while most of AWS is “pay for exactly what you use,” which can scale to insanely flexible setups (and sometimes insanely confusing bills).
But if we’re talking about small-to-medium projects or solo developers, Lightsail is honestly one of the best places to start. It’s simple, predictable, and it bundles almost everything a typical web app needs without forcing you to learn the entire AWS universe on day one.
Lightsail’s features map to AWS’s main services:
| Feature | Lightsail | AWS | Core Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compute | Instances | EC2 | Pre-sized virtual servers with a more opinionated setup and fewer knobs than full EC2. |
| Database | Database | RDS | Managed database with fewer features and fewer configuration options; simpler scaling/HA choices. |
| Object Storage | Storage | S3 | Same S3 API for common operations, but fewer advanced S3 capabilities. |
| Block Storage | Disks | EBS | Basic attach/detach and simpler lifecycle management; fewer advanced performance options. |
| CDN | Distributions | CloudFront | Easier setup, but fewer caching/routing/security controls than full CloudFront. |
| Load Balancer | Load Balancer | ALB | Simplified HTTP/HTTPS load balancing; fewer rules, integrations, and advanced traffic controls. |
| Domains | Domains & DNS | Route 53 | Straightforward DNS hosting, without advanced routing policies, health checks, etc. |
You can think of Lightsail as a mini AWS ecosystem: it bundles almost everything a web project needs into one place. The catch is that these features are simplified versions of the mainstream AWS services—some advanced capabilities aren’t included. But for small and medium projects, these simplified tools are more than enough.
Why Lightsail is great for small projects
The biggest win is predictable cost. You pay a fixed monthly price per instance/database/load balancer, so you can actually budget without worrying that one traffic spike or misconfiguration will surprise you later.
The same thing that makes it predictable also makes it less customizable. You can’t tweak everything the way you can with EC2 + VPC + ALB + a bunch of supporting services. But for small teams and solo developers, “less to configure” often means “less to break,” and that’s a real advantage.
When you might outgrow it
If your project needs complex networking, fine-grained security and IAM patterns, deep observability, or very customized scaling strategies, you’ll eventually feel the limits. At that point, moving parts of the stack to mainstream AWS services can make sense.
But until you hit those needs, Lightsail is a clean and practical default. For small-to-medium projects and personal apps, it’s a really solid choice.