Compute comparison
Edge vs AWS EC2
EC2 has unmatched breadth. Edge has three published rates, free bandwidth and a bill that can't run away from you. Here's how to decide which fits.
The honest answer
When AWS EC2 is the better choice
EC2 is the industry default for good reasons. If your architecture leans on the wider AWS ecosystem, that's where your compute belongs.
Choose AWS EC2 if…
- You depend on RDS, Lambda, SQS, IAM or other AWS services
- You need specialist instance families — hundreds of them
- You need GPU instances today
- Your procurement, compliance and tooling are already built around AWS
Feature by feature
Edge and AWS EC2, side by side
| AWS EC2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | 3 per-resource rates | 750+ instance types |
| Custom vCPU, RAM and disk | ||
| Egress | Free | $0.09/GB |
| Billing | Hourly, prepaid | Per second, postpaid |
| Surprise bills possible | ||
| Block storage | NVMe included | EBS billed separately |
| DDoS protection | Included | Extra cost (Shield Advanced) |
| Deploy time | <60s | 2–5 min |
| GPU instances | Coming soon | |
| Managed services ecosystem | Core infrastructure | 200+ services |
| Decentralised infrastructure |
Where the money goes
The line item that never appears on an Edge invoice
The instance is only part of an EC2 bill. Serve 10 TB a month and data transfer alone adds around $900 — more than twenty times the cost of the VM. On Edge, that line is $0 at any volume.
- No per-GB transfer charges, in or out
- Storage included in the VM price
- Prepaid: spend can't overtake your balance
Monthly price for comparable VMs
| VM | Edge | AWS EC2 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB | $19.24 | ~$36 | Edge $16.76 less |
| 2 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB | $32.63 | ~$70 | Edge $37.37 less |
| 4 vCPU / 16 GB / 320 GB | $65.26 | ~$140 | Edge $74.74 less |
| 8 vCPU / 32 GB / 640 GB | $130.52 | ~$280 | Edge $149.48 less |
Edge prices are calculated from our published per-resource rates. AWS figures are estimates for comparable t3/m-family on-demand instances in us-east-1 plus gp3 EBS storage, as published at the time of writing. They exclude egress (~$0.09/GB) and any Savings Plan or Reserved Instance discounts. Prices vary by region — check AWS's current pricing.
When to choose Edge
Where Edge makes more sense
You serve real traffic
Egress at $0.09/GB turns busy months into big invoices. Edge includes transfer at no charge.You want a bill you can predict
AWS bills arrive after the fact. Edge is prepaid — when the balance runs out, VMs stop and data is kept.You don't need 200+ services
If the workload is VMs, storage, DNS and a CDN, Edge covers it without IAM policies, VPC wizards or a pricing calculator.
Migration
Moving from AWS EC2
Follow the steps below yourself, or have our expert services team run the move with you.
- 01
Map what you run
List instances, their vCPU and memory, and how much of each EBS volume you actually use. Our AWS migration guide maps common instance types. - 02
Recreate on Edge
Create matching VMs in the nearest region with the same OS image, SSH keys and a startup script for your stack. - 03
Sync and test
Copy data across while EC2 keeps serving. Transfer into and out of Edge is free, so test as long as you need. - 04
Switch DNS
Point your records at the new VMs, watch traffic move, then shut the old instances down.
FAQ
Edge vs AWS EC2, answered
Is Edge always cheaper than EC2?
At on-demand list prices our comparable builds come in at roughly half, before egress. If you've committed to Savings Plans or Reserved Instances for steady workloads, the gap narrows — compare against what you actually pay.
AWS bills per second. Does hourly billing cost me more?
For very short-lived jobs, per-second billing can work out cheaper. For servers that run for days or months, the difference is negligible next to egress and storage charges.
Can I run Edge alongside AWS?
Yes. Many teams move bandwidth-heavy services first — web servers, media, downloads — and keep AWS-specific pieces where they are.
Does Edge offer GPU instances like EC2?
Not yet. GPU instances are coming soon; if you need GPUs today, EC2 is the better choice for that workload.
Try Edge next to AWS EC2
Create a free account — no card needed — and deploy a VM with exactly the resources you want. Compare the bill for yourself.
Prepaid billing: top up when you're ready, stop any time.