Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Amazon EKS VS Amazon EC2

Compare Amazon EKS VS Amazon EC2 and see what are their differences

Amazon EKS logo Amazon EKS

Amazon EKS makes it easy for you to run Kubernetes on AWS without needing to install and operate your own Kubernetes clusters.

Amazon EC2 logo Amazon EC2

Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.
  • Amazon EKS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-30
  • Amazon EC2 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-06

Amazon EKS features and specs

  • Managed Service
    Amazon EKS is a managed Kubernetes service, which means AWS handles the control plane, saving time and operational overhead.
  • Scalability
    EKS integrates with AWS's scaling tools such as Auto Scaling groups, allowing for seamless scaling of applications.
  • Security
    Offers integration with AWS IAM for authentication and supports network policies and encryption for securing applications.
  • AWS Ecosystem Integration
    Deeply integrated with other AWS services like VPC, IAM, CloudWatch, and more, providing a streamlined experience.
  • Community and Ecosystem Support
    Being a Kubernetes service, it benefits from the extensive Kubernetes ecosystem and community support for tools and extensions.

Possible disadvantages of Amazon EKS

  • Cost
    While EKS simplifies management, it comes with additional costs over using self-managed Kubernetes clusters.
  • Complexity
    EKS, like Kubernetes itself, can be complex to manage and configure, needing skilled personnel to handle deployments.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Reliance on AWS services can make it hard to migrate to another cloud provider or an on-premises solution if needed.
  • Steeper Learning Curve
    Organizations new to Kubernetes might find the learning curve steep when adopting EKS, requiring significant training and adjustment.
  • Regional Availability
    EKS might not be available in all AWS regions, limiting deployment flexibility for global applications.

Amazon EC2 features and specs

  • Scalability
    Amazon EC2 allows you to quickly scale your resources up or down based on demand. This flexibility helps you manage your compute needs efficiently without overcommitting resources.
  • Pay-as-you-go pricing
    With Amazon EC2, you only pay for the instances you use. This usage-based pricing model can help reduce costs, especially for businesses with variable compute workloads.
  • Wide range of instance types
    EC2 offers a variety of instance types optimized for different use cases, such as compute-intensive or memory-intensive applications, allowing you to choose the most suitable instance for your needs.
  • Global availability
    Amazon EC2 is available in multiple regions around the world, enabling you to deploy your applications closer to your users for reduced latency and improved performance.
  • Integration with other AWS services
    EC2 integrates seamlessly with other AWS services such as S3, RDS, and VPC, providing a comprehensive cloud infrastructure for your applications.
  • Security and compliance
    Amazon EC2 provides a range of security features, including VPC, IAM roles, and encryption, to help you protect your data and comply with regulatory requirements.

Possible disadvantages of Amazon EC2

  • Complexity
    Managing EC2 instances can be complex, especially as your infrastructure grows. This may require specialized knowledge and skills to properly configure, monitor, and maintain the instances.
  • Cost management
    Although the pay-as-you-go model can be cost-effective, it can also lead to unexpected expenses if resources are not managed carefully. Overprovisioning or forgetting to shut down instances can quickly increase costs.
  • Performance variability
    While EC2 offers high performance, there can be variability in resources allocated to your instances, especially in the shared tenancy model. This can lead to occasional performance inconsistencies.
  • In-depth knowledge required
    To fully leverage Amazon EC2, a good level of expertise in AWS services, cloud computing concepts, and best practices is required. This can be a barrier for organizations without adequate technical skills.
  • Vendor lock-in
    Relying heavily on Amazon EC2 can lead to vendor lock-in, making it challenging to migrate to alternative platforms or cloud providers without significant effort and potential downtime.
  • Privacy concerns
    Although AWS provides robust security measures, some organizations may have concerns about storing sensitive data on a third-party managed service and prefer managing their own infrastructure.

Amazon EKS videos

Amazon EKS Architecture Introduction

More videos:

  • Review - AWS re:Invent 2018: [REPEAT 1] Deep Dive on Amazon EKS (CON361-R1)
  • Review - AWS re:Invent 2020: Looking at Amazon EKS through a networking lens
  • Review - Amazon EKS Roadmap - Nathan Taber
  • Review - AWS re:Invent 2023 - The future of Amazon EKS (CON203)
  • Review - Amazon Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes (Amazon EKS)

Amazon EC2 videos

Introduction to Amazon EC2 - Elastic Cloud Server & Hosting with AWS

More videos:

  • Review - What is Amazon EC2? (Part 1) | AWS Training

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Amazon EKS and Amazon EC2)
Cloud Computing
28 28%
72% 72
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Infrastructure
0 0%
100% 100
Cloud Hosting
28 28%
72% 72

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Social recommendations and mentions

Amazon EC2 might be a bit more popular than Amazon EKS. We know about 73 links to it since March 2021 and only 70 links to Amazon EKS. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Amazon EKS mentions (70)

  • Vector: A lightweight tool for collecting EKS application logs with long-term storage capabilities
    In this article, we present an architecture that demonstrates how to collect application logs from Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) via Vector, store them in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for long-term retention, and finally query these logs using AWS Glue and Amazon Athena. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
  • Comparing the Top 10 Managed Kubernetes Providers (2025 Edition)
    Amazon EKS Deep AWS integration (just bring your patience). - Source: dev.to / 15 days ago
  • Top 8 Docker Alternatives to Consider in 2025
    AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) provide managed container orchestration platforms integrated with AWS infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Securing Applications Using Keycloak's Helm Chart
    Kubernetes cluster: You need a running Kubernetes cluster that supports persistent volumes. You can use a local cluster, like kind or Minikube, or a cloud-based solution, like GKE%20orEKS or EKS. The cluster should expose ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) for external access. Persistent storage should be configured to retain Keycloak data (e.g., user credentials, sessions) across restarts. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • HardenEKS: The Easy Way to keep your AWS EKS clusters secure and compliant
    HardenEKS is a potent Python-based Command Line Interface (CLI), capable of systematically assessing whether Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) clusters comply with the strict guidelines laid out in the AWS EKS Best Practices Guide (EBPG). This comprehensive guide covers six fundamental pillars of best practices for Amazon EKS clusters:. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
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Amazon EC2 mentions (73)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Amazon EKS and Amazon EC2, you can also consider the following products

Google Kubernetes Engine - Google Kubernetes Engine is a powerful cluster manager and orchestration system for running your Docker containers. Set up a cluster in minutes.

DigitalOcean - Simplifying cloud hosting. Deploy an SSD cloud server in 55 seconds.

Kubernetes - Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers

Linode - We make it simple to develop, deploy, and scale cloud infrastructure at the best price-to-performance ratio in the market.

Azure Container Service - Azure Container Service is a solution that optimizes the configuration of popular open-source tools and technologies specifically for Azure, it provides an open solution that offers portability for both users containers and users application configu…

Microsoft Azure - Windows Azure and SQL Azure enable you to build, host and scale applications in Microsoft datacenters.