WordPress Hosting on AWS Lightsail (Pros & Cons)
Hosting a WordPress website on AWS has always been thought of as a technically advanced option reserved for developers and system admins. But then Amazon introduced plug-and-play Lightsail instances as a more beginner-friendly alternative to the complex EC2 compute instances.
All you need to do is select a few settings, and in a minute or less, you will have your own Lightsail server instance running a preconfigured software stack with preinstalled WordPress.
The following video walks you through the basic steps of creating and hosting a new WordPress site using an AWS Lightsail instance.
What Are The Advantages of AWS Lightsail For WordPress?
The biggest advantage of hosting a WordPress site on AWS Lightsail is the low cost. For example, you get your own server instance with 1 GB RAM, 2 vCPUs, 40 GB SSD storage and 2 TB monthly bandwidth for just $5 per month.
Scalability is another reason that makes AWS a good choice for websites that expect major growth in size and traffic. You can easily move your WordPress site to a bigger Lightsail instance or even a bigger EC2 instance when needed.
You can also scale horizontally by deploying multiple Lightsail instances connected together using a load balancer.
And another advantage of AWS Lightsail is the different server locations you can choose for your instance (USA, UK, Europe, Asia and others).
What Are The Disadvantages of AWS Lightsail For WordPress?
The main drawback of Lightsail is that, despite its relative simplicity compared to other AWS services, this service is still not recommended for total beginners who have no experience with the Linux command line.
There is no nice and convenient control panel to access and modify your site’s files, databases, etc. You’ll have to use an SSH client to access your server and perform various required tasks using Linux commands. This can be done either via a third-party SSH client or by using the browser-based SSH terminal provided by Amazon.
Remember, this is a self-managed service and you don’t get any support if your website is broken for whatever reason other than a hardware-related issue. So, if you are looking to host a production website, you should probably consider using a managed WordPress hosting service instead.
And another possible disadvantage is that you can only utilize a small percentage of your plan’s allocated vCPU units, which is referred to as CPU utilization baseline. For example, the lowest plan ($3.5 per month) allows you to utilize only 5% of your CPU with some capacity for short-term CPU usage bursts.
In other words, the CPU is shared with other instances and not fully dedicated to your instance. This may put your website at risk of going offline during traffic spikes that raise your CPU usage above the allowed baseline for your instance.
Conclusion: Is AWS Lightsail a Good Choice For WordPress Hosting?
Lightsail instances by AWS make it super easy to deploy a new WordPress installation with a preconfigured server stack that’s automatically installed for you. It’s easier to set up and scale than traditional VPS hosting, and it’s more cost-effective too.
But keep in mind that this is a self-managed service that’s mainly aimed at developers and experienced Linux users.
If you have little experience with the Linux command line and looking to host a production WordPress site, it would be safer to opt for a managed hosting service that includes 24/7 technical support.
Another point to take note of is the limit on CPU utilization for Lightsail instances. If you have a CPU-intensive WordPress site (e.g. WooCommerce store), you should probably consider using a more powerful EC2 instance instead.
If you’re interested in cheap WordPress hosting, check out the recommendations in the following Reddit post:
