Compare / Laravel Cloud vs AWS Lightsail
Laravel Cloud vs AWS Lightsail
Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — Laravel Cloud checked 2026-08-06, AWS Lightsail checked 2026-08-06.
The short version
Laravel Cloud and AWS Lightsail split our comparison — the right pick depends on what your project values.
Price AWS Lightsail
AWS Lightsail is cheaper at most of the stages we model.
Ease Laravel Cloud
Laravel Cloud is easier to get running: connect a Git repository or run cloud ship; Laravel Cloud builds the supported runtime and deploys every push with zero downtime.
Control AWS Lightsail
AWS Lightsail gives you more control over the stack — the flip side of the convenience trade.
Features Laravel Cloud
Laravel Cloud comes out ahead on 4 of the 15 features we track, versus 2.
What developers say about this matchup
We couldn't find a substantive first-person discussion comparing this exact pair. We leave the section empty instead of filling it with vendor marketing or generic SEO comparisons.
At a glance
| Laravel Cloud | AWS Lightsail | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Laravel teams that want the framework, database, queues, scheduler, cache, and deploy workflow managed as one platform. | Projects that want predictable AWS — a fixed-price server with a clear upgrade path into the wider AWS ecosystem. |
| How deploys work | Connect a Git repository or run cloud ship; Laravel Cloud builds the supported runtime and deploys every push with zero downtime. | Pick a blueprint (WordPress, LAMP, Node.js, plain Linux), get SSH in the browser or your terminal, and manage it like any VPS. |
| The tradeoff | The excellent Laravel experience comes from an opinionated runtime, so arbitrary containers and server-level access are out. | Costs more per spec than the European VPS crowd, and stopped instances keep billing. |
| Free tier | New Starter subscriptions get their first month free; after that, Starter costs $5/month and includes $5 in monthly usage credit. | 90-day free trial (750 hours/month) on the $5–$12 Linux bundles and the $15 database, plus $100–$200 in new-account AWS credits. |
What you'd realistically pay
Laravel Cloud AWS Lightsail
| Project stage | Laravel Cloud | AWS Lightsail | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just starting | ≈$5/mo Starter — The $5 subscription includes $5 of monthly usage credit; a small app and database that scale to zero can stay inside it. | ≈$5/mo Nano — 2 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 20 GB SSD, 1 TB transfer. $3.50 as IPv6-only. Free for the first 90 days. | ≈ Tie |
| Steady traffic | ≈$12/mo Starter + always-on Flex 1GB — One always-on Flex 1GB app instance reaches a $12 monthly compute cap; the $5 usage credit offsets the $5 Starter fee. | ≈$12/mo Small — 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 60 GB SSD, 3 TB transfer. | ≈ Tie |
| Growing | ≈$68.90/mo Growth + medium SaaS resources — The official medium-SaaS example is about $53.90 in usage; add the $20 Growth fee and subtract its $5 usage credit. | ≈$39/mo Medium + managed database — $24 Medium (4 GB RAM, 4 TB transfer) plus the $15 managed MySQL/PostgreSQL bundle. | AWS Lightsail |
Laravel Cloud pricing notes
- Every paid plan includes $5 in monthly usage credits, which reset each billing cycle.
- Flex compute bills per second while awake, scales to zero when idle, and is capped at 28 days of runtime per billing cycle.
- Each compute size earns a data-transfer allowance; overage is $0.10/GB.
- Managed databases, caches, queues, object storage, and WebSockets have separate usage charges.
AWS Lightsail pricing notes
- Billed hourly up to the monthly cap — partial months cost less, but stopped instances still bill.
- IPv6-only bundles are 20–30% cheaper; an unattached static IPv4 costs ~$3.60/month.
- Bundles scale up to 64 vCPU / 256 GB RAM ($1,764/month), with compute- and memory-optimized variants.
Our ratings
Ease of use Laravel Cloud
Pricing clarity AWS Lightsail
Free tier AWS Lightsail
Scaling Laravel Cloud
Control AWS Lightsail
Feature by feature
Laravel Cloud wins 4, AWS Lightsail wins 2, with 9 even.
Deploy workflow
| Laravel Cloud | AWS Lightsail | |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy from Git push | Yes Connect a Git repository and every push to the configured branch deploys automatically. | No No deploy pipeline — bring your own CI or scripts. |
| Preview deploys | Partial Starter includes one preview environment; broader preview workflows are available on higher plans. | No Nothing built in. |
| Official CLI | Yes The cloud CLI deploys apps and manages environments, resources, logs, and commands. | Yes The AWS CLI covers Lightsail end to end. |
| Instant rollbacks | Partial You can redeploy an older Git commit, but there is no documented one-click rollback workflow. | Partial Snapshots restore machines ($0.05/GB-month); no deploy-level rollback. |
Platform
| Laravel Cloud | AWS Lightsail | |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains + HTTPS | Yes Custom domains and automatically renewed TLS certificates are included on every plan. | Yes Lightsail DNS zones are included; TLS is yours via certbot or a Lightsail distribution. |
| Built-in CDN / edge network | Yes A Cloudflare-powered global edge network caches static assets and cacheable responses automatically. | Yes Lightsail distributions add a CloudFront-backed CDN from $2.50/month (first year of 50 GB/month free). |
| Serverless functions | No Laravel Cloud runs server-based application compute rather than serverless functions. | No Not in Lightsail — that is the wider AWS (Lambda), with the à la carte billing this product avoids. |
| Docker containers | No The platform builds its own optimized images and does not accept arbitrary Docker images. | Yes Install Docker on any instance, or use the Lightsail container service from $7/month. |
| SSH / shell access | No There is no SSH shell; use one-off commands, Tinker, logs, or the CLI instead. | Yes Full root SSH, including a browser-based terminal. |
| EU hosting region | Yes Frankfurt, Ireland, and London regions are available alongside North America and Asia Pacific. | Yes Frankfurt, Ireland, London, Paris, Stockholm, and Spain. |
Runtime & operations
| Laravel Cloud | AWS Lightsail | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic scaling | Partial Growth can autoscale up to 10 replicas; unlimited scaling requires Business or higher. | No No autoscaling — resize by restoring a snapshot to a bigger bundle. |
| Scale to zero | Yes Flex app compute scales to zero when idle and wakes in under 500 milliseconds. | No Stopped instances bill at full rate; only deletion stops charges. |
| Scheduled jobs | Yes Laravel scheduled tasks are supported and automatically wake sleeping environments. | Yes Classic cron on the box. |
| Managed database | Yes Managed Laravel MySQL and serverless Postgres are provisioned directly from the platform. | Yes Managed MySQL/PostgreSQL bundles from $15/month. |
| Logs & metrics built in | Partial Application logs and CPU and memory metrics are built in, with retention tied to the plan. | Partial Instance metrics and alarms in the console; deeper monitoring means CloudWatch or your own stack. |
Watch out for
Laravel Cloud
- Starter costs $5/month plus usage, although its $5 monthly usage credit can cover a tiny app that frequently scales to zero.
- Autoscaling and dedicated worker clusters require the $20/month Growth plan or higher.
- The platform supports a defined set of frameworks and runtimes; it is not a general-purpose Docker host.
- Databases, caches, object storage, and WebSockets bill separately from app compute.
AWS Lightsail
- Stopped instances bill at the full rate — only deleting an instance (snapshot first, $0.05/GB-month) stops charges.
- Transfer overage costs $0.09/GB in US/EU regions, and some regions (Mumbai, Sydney, São Paulo…) include only half the listed allowance.
- The new-account AWS Free plan expires after 6 months or when credits run out, then the account auto-closes with a 90-day grace period.
- Outgrowing Lightsail means migrating to EC2 — a real project, not a plan toggle.
Read the full reviews: Laravel Cloud and AWS Lightsail. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.