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Akamai Cloud (Linode) vs AWS Lightsail
Entry prices are within a dollar of each other (Akamai Cloud (Linode) $5.00, AWS Lightsail $5.00), so price alone does not decide it. Both list a comparable number of regions. AWS Lightsail is the better pick for teams who want AWS on the invoice and a plausible growth path, at Droplet prices for the first year.
Akamai Cloud (Linode)
$5.00/mo entry
Teams that value platform maturity and stability over the lowest possible invoice.
AWS Lightsail
$5.00/mo entry
Teams who want AWS on the invoice and a plausible growth path, at Droplet prices for the first year.
Specification differences
Entry plans compared line by line. Rows marked with a dash are preferences rather than measurable wins, so we do not pick a side on them.
| Attribute | Akamai Cloud (Linode) | AWS Lightsail | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry plan price / month | $5.00 | $5.00 | |
| Entry plan vCPU | 1 | 2 | AWS Lightsail |
| Entry plan RAM | 1 GB | 0.5 GB | Akamai Cloud (Linode) |
| Entry plan storage | 25 GB | 20 GB | Akamai Cloud (Linode) |
| Included transfer | 1 TB | 1 TB | |
| Listed regions | 20 | 20 | |
| Management model | Unmanaged (you run the OS) | Unmanaged (you run the OS) | |
| Support | Ticket and phone support; paid premium tiers available. | AWS Basic Support included; paid Developer/Business tiers via the parent account. | |
| Billing | Hourly metering, capped at the listed monthly price. | Hourly metering, capped at the listed monthly price for the bundle. | |
| Free tier | No free tier. Trial credit is offered to new accounts from time to time. | AWS says you can get started with Lightsail for free under the AWS Free Tier, but its pricing page names no bundle or duration. Check the Free Tier terms before counting on it. |
Same size, side by side
The cheapest plan from each provider that meets each size, so the comparison is between equal servers rather than two entry plans. Prices include a separately-billed IPv4 address where the provider charges for one.
| Size | Akamai Cloud (Linode) | AWS Lightsail | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 vCPU / 1 GB | $5.00Nanode 1GB · 1 vCPU · 1 GB · 25 GBEntry shared instance. | $7.00General 1GB · 2 vCPU · 1 GB · 40 GBModest RAM but the bundled transfer runs ahead of DigitalOcean and Vultr at the same tier. | Akamai Cloud (Linode) cheaper by $2.00 |
| 2 vCPU / 4 GB | $24.00Linode 4GB · 2 vCPU · 4 GB · 80 GBMid-tier shared instance. | $24.00General 4GB · 2 vCPU · 4 GB · 80 GBStraight lift of the DigitalOcean 4GB tier, on AWS invoicing. | same |
| 4 vCPU / 8 GB | $48.00Linode 8GB · 4 vCPU · 8 GB · 160 GBFour cores with the largest included transfer in the shared range. | $84.00General 16GB · 4 vCPU · 16 GB · 320 GBFirst general bundle with four vCPUs. | Akamai Cloud (Linode) cheaper by $36.00 |
| 8 vCPU / 16 GB | $192.00Linode 32GB · 8 vCPU · 32 GB · 640 GBEight shared cores and 32GB, with 16TB of transfer included. | $164.00General 32GB · 8 vCPU · 32 GB · 640 GBEight vCPUs; double the 16GB bundle for a little under double the price. | AWS Lightsail cheaper by $28.00 |
Every provider at these sizes, ranked: 1 GB RAM · 4 GB RAM · 8 GB RAM · 16 GB RAM
Where each one wins and loses
Akamai Cloud (Linode)
Linode predates most of the budget cloud market and was acquired by Akamai, which folded it into a much larger edge network. The instance shapes and flat pricing remain close to DigitalOcean, and the platform is mature and stable. It is the safe, unexciting choice in this list.
Strengths
- Mature platform with a long operational track record
- Flat pricing and instance shapes broadly comparable to DigitalOcean
- Backed by Akamai edge infrastructure
Weaknesses
- Unmanaged, same operational burden as its peers
- Product direction now set by a much larger parent company
- Smaller developer community than DigitalOcean
Support: Ticket and phone support; paid premium tiers available.
Billing: Hourly metering, capped at the listed monthly price.
Free tier: No free tier. Trial credit is offered to new accounts from time to time.
AWS Lightsail
Lightsail is Amazon’s answer to the DigitalOcean-style Droplet: a small set of flat-priced instances with a simplified console, bundled with the option to graduate onto the rest of AWS once you need a VPC, load balancer or IAM policy. The public-IPv4 bundles include a fixed monthly transfer allowance and there is a cheaper IPv6-only tier for people who can live without an IPv4 address. The catch is that the AWS Console’s reputation for complexity is not entirely fair to Lightsail, but the moment you outgrow it you inherit that complexity.
Strengths
- Flat monthly pricing with generous bundled transfer
- One-click upgrade path onto the wider AWS platform when you need it
- IPv6-only bundles a few dollars cheaper than the equivalent IPv4 tier
- Backed by AWS operational track record
Weaknesses
- Smaller-plan RAM and disk lag the budget-cloud peer group at the same price
- Add-ons like snapshots, load balancers and managed databases are billed separately
- Support is AWS-style ticket support, not developer chat
- Graduating to full AWS surfaces the complexity Lightsail was meant to hide
Support: AWS Basic Support included; paid Developer/Business tiers via the parent account.
Billing: Hourly metering, capped at the listed monthly price for the bundle.
Free tier: AWS says you can get started with Lightsail for free under the AWS Free Tier, but its pricing page names no bundle or duration. Check the Free Tier terms before counting on it.
The full cost stack
What a server costs beyond its sticker price, shown for 2 vCPU / 4 GB. Only figures read from each provider's own documentation appear; a gap says “not captured yet”.
| Item | Akamai Cloud (Linode) | AWS Lightsail |
|---|---|---|
| Plan (2 vCPU / 4 GB) | $24.00 | $24.00 |
| Automatic backups | not captured yet | not captured yet |
| Outbound traffic beyond the allowance | not captured yet | $0.09/GB over allowance |
| Smallest managed load balancer | not captured yet | $18.00/mo |
Sources: aws.amazon.com
Price changes we have logged
No tracked price change for either provider yet.
Full record at the change log.
Every plan
The complete plan ladders, with the date and source of every price, are on each provider's page: Akamai Cloud (Linode) and AWS Lightsail.
All figures are the providers' own published list prices in USD, on-demand monthly. The index was last refreshed 2026-10-14, and every row shows the date its own price was read. Nothing here is live or negotiated pricing. Where a provider bills a public IPv4 address on top, it is added to the monthly price, the ranking and every cost per vCPU or per GB, and the row shows the parts: the server, any disk priced apart, and the IPv4 charge. Some prices exclude VAT or need a commitment; the plan notes say which. Check the provider's pricing page before you commit.
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Where both sell
Akamai Cloud (Linode) and AWS Lightsail both have data centres in these places. Each page ranks every provider there at the price charged in that location.
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Akamai Cloud (Linode) vs AWS Lightsail — frequently asked
Every answer is computed from this pair's own prices and costs.
- Which is cheaper for 1 vCPU / 1 GB, Akamai Cloud (Linode) or AWS Lightsail?
- Akamai Cloud (Linode) Nanode 1GB at $5.00/mo, which is $2.00 (29%) less than AWS Lightsail General 1GB at $7.00/mo.
- How many datacentre locations do Akamai Cloud (Linode) and AWS Lightsail have?
- Akamai Cloud (Linode) lists 20 and AWS Lightsail lists 20.