Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Fly.io
- ✦ EC2 Compute
- ✦ S3 Storage
- ✦ Lambda Serverless
- ✦ Edge Deployment
- ✦ Docker Containers
- ✦ Fly Machines
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Fly.io are both Cloud Hosting tools. Compare features, pricing, and ratings below to find the best fit for your team.
When to Choose Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Fly.io
The question that matters: “In what situation will I regret choosing A over B after 3 months?”
AWS ECS/EKS deploys new container revisions while health checks verify readiness and API Gateway shifts traffic - all without dropping a single request.
Fly Machines start in under 3 seconds, enabling zero-downtime rolling deploys without load balancer warm-up delays or deployment scheduling windows.
S3 stores assets and CloudFront caches them at 600+ edge locations globally, serving a 50MB file to Tokyo in 50ms instead of 2 seconds.
Anycast Networking directs players to the nearest Global Region, cutting latency from 120ms to 30ms. Auto-scaling Fly Machines absorb sudden player count spikes seamlessly.
Edge Deployment runs identical app instances across 30+ regions from one Docker image. Private Networking isolates databases per region - no separate cloud accounts required.
Pricing Comparison & PlansHigh· Verified May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Plans
Free tier available
AWS Free Tier
FreeBest for: Ideal for new users to explore AWS services without upfront costs
- ✓Access to over 30 always-free services up to specified limits
- ✓$100 USD credits upon sign-up for new customers
- ✓Earn up to an additional $100 USD credits by exploring foundational services
- ✓Free account plan for up to 6 months, no charges until upgrade to paid plan
- ✓Ideal for experimenting and building proof of concepts
Pay-as-you-go (On-Demand)
Contact SalesBest for: Offers maximum flexibility with no long-term commitments
- ✓Pay only for the individual services you need
- ✓No upfront costs or long-term contracts
- ✓Pay for services only for as long as you use them
- ✓Easily adapt to changing business needs without overcommitting budgets
- ✓Billed per hour, per second, per GB, or per request depending on the service
Savings Plans
Contact SalesBest for: Provides significant discounts over On-Demand pricing in exchange for a 1-year or 3-year commitment to a consistent amount of compute usage.
- ✓Save over On-Demand pricing with a commitment to a specific amount ($/hour) of usage
- ✓Discounts up to 72% compared to On-Demand rates
- ✓Includes Compute Savings Plans (up to 66% off, flexible across EC2, Fargate, Lambda)
- ✓Includes EC2 Instance Savings Plans (up to 72% off, specific instance family in a region)
- ✓Includes Database Savings Plans (up to 35% off, covers various database services)
Reserved Instances
Contact SalesBest for: Offers a discount compared to On-Demand pricing by committing to a specific instance configuration for a 1-year or 3-year term.
- ✓Significant discount (up to 75%) compared to On-Demand Instance pricing
- ✓Capacity reservation when used in a specific Availability Zone
- ✓Available for Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS
- ✓Standard RIs offer flexibility to change AZ, instance size, networking type
- ✓Convertible RIs offer flexibility to change instance families, OS, tenancies (up to 66% discount)
Spot Instances
Contact SalesBest for: Leverages unused EC2 capacity for up to 90% savings compared to On-Demand prices
- ✓Access to unused AWS capacity
- ✓Up to 90% discount off On-Demand prices
- ✓Pay-as-you-go model for interruptible workloads
- ✓Ideal for fault-tolerant and interruption-tolerant workloads
- ✓Instances can be reclaimed by AWS with a two-minute warning
Enterprise Discount Program (EDP)
Contact SalesBest for: Designed for large enterprises with substantial AWS spend, offering custom discounts and terms based on negotiated agreements.
- ✓Tailored discount program for enterprise cloud users
- ✓Requires demonstrated history of significant AWS cloud usage (typically $1M+ annually)
- ✓Negotiated discounts on total AWS billing
- ✓Commitment period typically 1-5 years
- ✓Access to benefits like Enterprise Support, dedicated teams, prototyping support, and training credits
Fly.io Plans
Free tier available
Hobby
$5/moBest for: This plan is perfect for individuals or small projects needing basic cloud hosting resources
- ✓Up to 3 shared-cpu-1 x 256 MB VMs
- ✓3 GB persistent volume storage
- ✓160 GB outbound data transfer
- ✓Full access to Fly Machines, regions, and CLI
- ✓Unlimited apps, orgs, and team members
Standard Support
$29/moBest for: Choose this plan for enhanced support beyond the free tier, suitable for growing applications
- ✓Email support with 36-hour response SLA
- ✓Technical guidance on architecture
- ✓Full access to Fly.io infrastructure and features
- ✓Access to our dedicated team of engineers
HIPAA Compliance
$99/moBest for: Essential for businesses handling protected health information, ensuring your applications meet strict regulatory requirements
- ✓Everything needed for HIPAA-compliant workloads
- ✓Business Associate Agreements (BAAs)
- ✓SOC2s
Premium Support
$199/moBest for: This plan is designed for businesses requiring high-priority support and faster resolution for complex deployments
- ✓Access to our dedicated team of engineers
- ✓Enhanced support compared to Standard
Enterprise Support
Contact SalesBest for: Contact sales for custom pricing tailored to large organizations with specific infrastructure and support needs
- ✓Dedicated contact
- ✓Real-time support
- ✓Access to our dedicated team of engineers
- ✓Customizable support options
Capability Breakdown
8 differences found across 18 standardized features
- •EC2 Compute
- •S3 Storage
- •Lambda Serverless
- •RDS Databases
- •CloudFront CDN
- •ECS/EKS Containers
- •API Gateway
- •IAM Security
- •CloudWatch Monitoring
- •Route 53 DNS
- •SageMaker AI/ML
- •VPC Networking
- •Elastic Beanstalk
- •Lightsail
- •200+ Services
- •CloudFormation Templates
- •CodePipeline CI
- •CodeBuild Automation
- •CodeCommit Version
- •CodeArtifact Repos
- •XRay Tracing
- •CloudTrail Logging
- •Config Compliance
- •OpsWorks Management
- •Workspaces Desktop
- •Workdocs Storage
- •Directory Service
- •Cognito Identity
- •Pinpoint Marketing
- •SES Email
- •SQS Messaging
- •SNS Notifications
- •MQ Messaging
- •MSK Streaming
- •Kinesis Analytics
- •Glue ETL
- •Lake Formation
- •OpenSearch Service
- •QuickSight Analytics
- •Rekognition Vision
- •Transcribe Audio
- •Comprehend Text
- •Lex Chatbots
- •Connect Contact
- •Step Functions
- •AppFlow Integration
- •AppSync GraphQL
- •CloudHSM Security
- •Key Management
- •Certificate Manager
- •Shield Protection
- •WAF Firewall
- •Firewall Manager
- •Resource Groups
- •Tag Editor
- •Cost Explorer
- •Budgeting Alerts
- •Trusted Advisor
- •Support Hub
- •Well Architected
- •Control Tower
- •CloudDevelopment Kit
- •AWS Cloud9
- •CodeGuru Review
- •DevOps Guru
- •XRay Insights
- •Performance Hub
- •Edge Deployment
- •Docker Containers
- •Fly Machines
- •Anycast Networking
- •Persistent Storage
- •Private Networking
- •Auto-scaling
- •Global Regions
- •PostgreSQL
- •Redis
- •CLI Tools
- •API
- •Custom Domains
- •SSL
- •Monitoring
Strengths & Limitations
Evaluative strengths and weaknesses: not feature lists
- +Unmatched breadth of 200+ fully-featured services
- +Most extensive global cloud infrastructure and availability zones
- +Deepest enterprise adoption and third-party ecosystem support
- +Mature, robust services for compute, storage, and databases
- +Pioneering serverless (Lambda) and managed container services
- −Complex pricing models can lead to unexpected, high costs
- −Steep learning curve due to the sheer number of services
- −Data egress fees are significantly higher than competitors'
- −Inconsistent UI/UX across different service consoles
- −Premium support plans are expensive for smaller teams
- +Runs full-stack apps, not just static sites, on the edge
- +Uses lightweight Firecracker MicroVMs for better isolation
- +Built-in global request routing and private networking
- +Postgres clusters deploy globally alongside your application
- +Generous free tier includes compute, storage, and databases
- −Steeper learning curve than PaaS like Heroku or Render
- −Limited region availability compared to major cloud providers
- −Documentation can be sparse for advanced or niche use cases
- −No built-in serverless functions; requires running a server
- −Monitoring and observability tools are less mature than AWS/GCP
At a Glance
Recent Price History
Amazon Web Services (AWS) removed the "Savings Plans & Reserved Instances" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) added a new "Savings Plans" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) removed the "Pay-as-you-go" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) added a new "Pay-as-you-go (On-Demand)" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) added a new "Spot Instances" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Fly.io removed the "Enterprise" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Fly.io removed the "Scale" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Fly.io removed the "Launch" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Fly.io added a new "HIPAA Compliance" plan at $99/mo
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Fly.io added a new "Enterprise Support" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Comparisons
Sources & Data Trail · Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-30)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.5/5 · 80 reviews
- 4.Capterra·Capterra verified reviews · 4.6/5
- 5.TrustRadius·TrustRadius verified reviews
- 6.PeerSpot·PeerSpot enterprise peer reviews
- 7.StackShare·StackShare developer community
Sources & Data Trail · Fly.io
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-30)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.3/5 · 5 reviews