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Amazon EC2 vs Vultr: What are the differences?
Both Amazon EC2 and Vultr are cloud computing platforms that offer virtual servers. Let's explore the key differences between them.
Scalability and Flexibility: Amazon EC2 provides a highly scalable infrastructure that allows users to easily scale up or down based on their needs. It offers a wide range of instance types and configurations, giving users the flexibility to choose the resources that best fit their requirements. On the other hand, Vultr also offers scalable cloud servers, but the range of instance types and configurations is comparatively more limited.
Global Infrastructure: Amazon EC2 has an extensive global network of data centers spread across various regions, which allows users to deploy their applications closer to their target audience, resulting in lower latency. Vultr, on the other hand, has a smaller network of data centers compared to Amazon EC2, which limits the options for geographic diversity.
Pricing Model: Price is another differentiating factor between Amazon EC2 and Vultr. Amazon EC2 offers a more complex and flexible pricing model, which can be beneficial for businesses with varying demands. It provides options such as reserved instances and spot instances, allowing users to optimize costs based on their usage patterns. In contrast, Vultr offers a simpler pricing model that is more straightforward and easier to understand.
Managed Services: Amazon EC2 provides a wide range of managed services, such as databases, AI services, and data analytics tools, which can significantly simplify the development and management of applications. These services are integrated with EC2 instances, allowing users to leverage them seamlessly. Vultr, on the other hand, primarily focuses on providing virtual servers and does not offer a comprehensive set of managed services like Amazon EC2.
Integration with Other AWS Services: Amazon EC2 is part of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ecosystem, which offers a wide range of cloud services. This integration with other AWS services allows users to leverage a comprehensive suite of tools and services for their applications. Vultr, on the other hand, is a standalone platform and does not offer the same level of integration with other cloud services.
Support and Documentation: Lastly, Amazon EC2 has a robust support system and extensive documentation, making it easier for users to find answers to their queries or troubleshoot any issues they may encounter. They also offer various support plans with different levels of assistance. Vultr also provides support but may not have the same level of documentation and support offerings as Amazon EC2.
In summary, Amazon EC2 is a widely-used cloud service provider with a comprehensive range of instance types, storage options, and global availability zones, making it suitable for a wide range of use cases. On the other hand, Vultr provides simpler pricing plans and a straightforward user interface, appealing to developers and small businesses looking for cost-effective cloud hosting solutions without the complexity of larger providers like AWS.
DigitalOcean was where I began; its USD5/month is extremely competitive and the overall experience as highly user-friendly.
However, their offerings were lacking and integrating with other resources I had on AWS was getting more costly (due to transfer costs on AWS). Eventually I moved the entire project off DO's Droplets and onto AWS's EC2.
One may initially find the cost (w/o free tier) and interface of AWS daunting however with good planning you can achieve highly cost-efficient systems with savings plans, spot instances, etcetera.
Do not dive into AWS head-first! Seriously, don't. Stand back and read pricing documentation thoroughly. You can, not to the fault of AWS, easily go way overbudget. Your first action upon getting your AWS account should be to set up billing alarms for estimated and current bill totals.
We first selected Google Cloud Platform about five years ago, because HIPAA compliance was significantly cheaper and easier on Google compared to AWS. We have stayed with Google Cloud because it provides an excellent command line tool for managing resources, and every resource has a well-designed, well-documented API. SDKs for most of these APIs are available for many popular languages. I have never worked with a cloud platform that's so amenable to automation. Google is also ahead of its competitors in Kubernetes support.
GCE is much more user friendly than EC2, though Amazon has come a very long way since the early days (pre-2010's). This can be seen in how easy it is to edit the storage attached to an instance in GCE: it's under the instance details and is edited inline. In AWS you have to click the instance > click the storage block device (new screen) > click the edit option (new modal) > resize the volume > confirm (new model) then wait a very long time. Google's is nearly instant.
- In both cases, the instance much be shut down.
There also the preference between "user burden-of-security" and automatic security: AWS goes for the former, GCE the latter.
Most bioinformatics shops nowadays are hosting on AWS or Azure, since they have HIPAA tiers and offer enterprise SLA contracts. Meanwhile Heroku hasn't historically supported HIPAA. Rackspace and Google Cloud would be other hosting providers we would consider, but we just don't get requests for them. So, we mostly focus on AWS and Azure support.
Pros of Amazon EC2
- Quick and reliable cloud servers647
- Scalability515
- Easy management393
- Low cost277
- Auto-scaling271
- Market leader89
- Backed by amazon80
- Reliable79
- Free tier67
- Easy management, scalability58
- Flexible13
- Easy to Start10
- Widely used9
- Web-scale9
- Elastic9
- Node.js API7
- Industry Standard5
- Lots of configuration options4
- GPU instances2
- Simpler to understand and learn1
- Extremely simple to use1
- Amazing for individuals1
- All the Open Source CLI tools you could want.1
Pros of Vultr
- Affordable3
- Cloud Based3
- <a href="https://hostandprotect.com/">secure</a>3
- Easy to use1
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Cons of Amazon EC2
- Ui could use a lot of work14
- High learning curve when compared to PaaS6
- Extremely poor CPU performance3
Cons of Vultr
- Why can't i delete a cons?1
- Ưefwef0
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