AWS EC2 t3.small alternatives
Killing ~$15/mo + bandwidth (~$180/yr) — here are 2 verified escapes, honest trade-offs included.
head-to-head
| AWS EC2 t3.small | |
|---|---|
| price | ~$15/mo + bandwidth |
| self-hostable | no |
| license | proprietary |
| verified | — |
free & open source (0)
cheaper, but not open source (2)
Hetzner CX22 cheaper
~€4.5/mo (≈$5) with 20TB traffic
Dedicated vCPU/RAM VPS at a third of the price — beloved by indie hackers.
trade-offs: Fewer managed services than AWS · EU/US/SG regions only
Oracle Cloud Always Free cheaper
Free tier (4 ARM cores, 24GB RAM)
The most generous always-free VPS tier in the industry.
trade-offs: Capacity availability is spotty · Account reclamation of idle resources
faq
What is the best free alternative to AWS EC2 t3.small?
No fully free open-source alternative covers AWS EC2 t3.small well yet; see the cheaper options below.
How much can I save by switching from AWS EC2 t3.small?
AWS EC2 t3.small costs ~$15/mo + bandwidth, so switching to a free alternative saves roughly $180/year per seat.
Can AWS EC2 t3.small be self-hosted?
AWS EC2 t3.small itself cannot be self-hosted, but check each alternative's badges above for self-hosting support.