---
title: "Edge Compute vs AWS EC2"
description: "Compare Edge Compute to AWS EC2. Per-resource pricing without instance-type complexity, zero egress fees, and prepaid billing with no surprise bills."
url: https://edge.network/compute/compare/aws/
---

# Edge Compute vs AWS EC2

[Compute](https://edge.network/compute)

Compute Comparison

# Edge vs AWS EC2

A detailed comparison of Edge Compute and Amazon EC2 for cloud virtual machines.

## How we compare to AWS EC2

AWS EC2 is the industry default, with unmatched breadth: hundreds of instance
types, every conceivable integration, and deep enterprise tooling. If your
architecture depends on the wider AWS ecosystem — RDS, Lambda, SQS, IAM — EC2
is the natural home for your compute.

That breadth comes at a cost: pricing complexity, separate charges for storage
and bandwidth, and bills that are hard to predict. Edge Compute has three
published [per-resource rates](https://edge.network/pricing) —
vCPU, RAM, and NVMe disk — billed hourly from a prepaid balance, with zero
egress fees and no separate storage line items.

For teams running VMs, object storage, DNS, and a CDN,
[Edge Compute](https://edge.network/compute) delivers
the essentials at a fraction of the cost and complexity. See the
[compute docs](https://edge.network/docs/compute) to get started.

### Key Differences

- **Three published rates** – vCPU, RAM, disk — no instance-type matrix
- **Zero egress fees** – EC2 charges $0.09/GB to serve your users
- **Prepaid billing** – A surprise bill is impossible by design
- **Free signup, no card** – Deploy without an enterprise procurement process

## Feature Comparison

How Edge and AWS EC2 compare feature by feature.

| Feature | Edge | AWS EC2 |
| Pricing Model | Per resource | 750+ instance types |
| Custom vCPU / RAM / Disk |
| Egress Fees | Free | $0.09/GB |
| Billing | Hourly, prepaid | Per second, postpaid |
| Surprise Bills Possible |
| Storage Included | NVMe included | EBS billed separately |
| DDoS Protection | Included | Extra cost (Shield Advanced) |
| Deploy Time |

## Price Comparison

Monthly pricing for comparable VM configurations. Edge prices are calculated from our
published [per-resource rates](https://edge.network/pricing).

| VM Specs | Edge | AWS EC2 |
| 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB | $19.24 | ~$36 |
| 2 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB | $32.63 | ~$70 |
| 4 vCPU / 16 GB / 320 GB | $65.26 | ~$140 |
| 8 vCPU / 32 GB / 640 GB | $130.52 | ~$280 |

* AWS estimates based on comparable t3/m-family on-demand instances in us-east-1 plus gp3 EBS storage, as published at the time of writing. Excludes egress, which AWS bills separately at ~$0.09/GB. Prices vary by region — check AWS's current pricing.

## When to Choose Edge

AWS has unmatched breadth. Here's when Edge makes more sense.

### You serve real traffic

EC2 egress at $0.09/GB means 10 TB out costs around $900 on top of your instances. Edge includes transfer at no charge.

### You want a bill you can predict

AWS bills arrive after the fact and famously surprise people. Edge Compute is prepaid — when your balance runs out, VMs stop and data is retained.

### You don't need 200+ AWS services

If your workload is VMs, storage, DNS, and a CDN, Edge covers it without IAM policies, VPC wizards, or a pricing calculator.

## Ready to try Edge?

Create a free account — no card required — and deploy your first VM in under a minute.

[Get Started with Edge Compute](https://edge.network/account) [View All Comparisons](https://edge.network/compute/compare)