AWS alternatives: where to go, and how to leave without paying egress
Five destinations in detail, one per reason to leave, and an eight-step migration plan.
The short answer: DigitalOcean if you want a simple bill, Akamai Cloud (Linode) if transfer is your biggest cost, Vultr for the lowest price from a US provider, Hetzner if you can run your own servers and want the most compute per dollar, Azure if you need managed services and already live in Microsoft. One thing first: AWS waives data transfer out for your migration if you ask its support before you move. We compared the five destinations in this guide and checked their prices on official pages in 2026.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why the AWS bill catches people off guard
AWS is still the most complete cloud, and plenty of teams are happy there. People leave because of line items they never saw when they launched their first instance. Six reasons, all taken from official pricing pages or from teams that left in 2025 and 2026.
Data transfer out costs $0.09 per GB
The first 100 GB sent to the internet each month are free, across all services and regions. After that, in us-east-1, it's $0.09 per GB up to 10 TB, then $0.085 up to 50 TB. Concretely, 1,000 GB out in a month costs $81, and 5,000 GB costs $441. The t3.medium server itself is about $30. One team that reviewed two years off AWS put bandwidth at 22% of its old bill.
The NAT gateway, paid twice
For a private server to reach the internet, AWS routes it through a NAT gateway: $0.045 an hour, about $32.85 a month, plus $0.045 for every GB it processes. A big internal download through it is billed by the GB. On r/aws the advice comes up again and again: a self-managed NAT instance, or IPv6, before you even think about leaving.
Public IPv4, billed even when idle
Every public IPv4 address costs $0.005 an hour, in use or idle, in every commercial region: about $3.65 a month. Ten forgotten addresses add $36.50 a month for nothing.
A bill that grows with your success
One software company saw its file delivery bill go from $370 to $2,457 in a single month, simply because its product took off. On a small setup around $1,000 a month, an r/aws user sums it up: data costs are what get you, not compute. CloudWatch logs, the load balancer, cross-zone traffic: each line is small, the total isn't.
Complexity you pay for in hours
IAM policies, VPCs, subnets, security groups, NAT: AWS gives you every lever, and someone has to understand them. For a three-person startup, that's time not spent on the product. That's the gap simpler hosts like DigitalOcean and Vultr fill.
Leaving costs work, not necessarily transfer
The real price of leaving is managed services: RDS, IAM, Lambda and SQS each need a replacement. The good news few guides share: AWS waives data transfer out for migrations, on request to support. And over 90% of customers already pay nothing for transfer out, thanks to the 100 GB a month plus 1 TB free through CloudFront. Check you're not one of them before you move everything.
You're leaving because… go to…
The right AWS alternative depends on what's pushing you out. Usually only one line applies. Each card jumps to the full profile below.
One server, one price, 4,000 GiB of transfer included.
Data transfer out dominates your billAkamai Cloud (Linode)4 TB of transfer on the $24 plan.
You want the cheapest VM from a US providerVultr2 vCPU, 4 GB for $20 a month with 3 TB.
You want maximum compute per dollarHetznerCPX22 at €19.99 a month with at least 20 TB in the EU.
You need your data hosted in EuropeHetznerGerman provider, prices and traffic set for EU locations.
You want to keep managed servicesMicrosoft AzureComparable catalog, tied into Microsoft 365.
AWS alternatives, provider by provider
For each provider: why to move there, who it fits, its limit, how to migrate from AWS, and what it costs. We compare on a common base, a 2 vCPU server, then on what really drives the bill: outbound transfer, IPv4 and object storage. On-demand Linux prices shown in 2026, before tax, in the currency each provider lists.
DigitalOcean: a bill you can read in ten seconds
Simplest switchWhy switch to DigitalOcean. Plenty of teams don't leave AWS over the price of a server. They leave over IAM policies, subnets, NAT gateways and a bill with forty line items. DigitalOcean sells a server at a flat price with transfer included. The 2 vCPU, 4 GiB Droplet costs $24 a month and comes with 4,000 GiB of transfer. Spaces, its object storage, starts at $5 a month with 250 GiB stored and 1 TiB of outbound transfer.
Who it's for. The small dev team or solo founder who wants to ship without hiring a cloud architect.
Who it's not for. A company that depends on dozens of specialized managed services, or one leaving AWS for data sovereignty: DigitalOcean is a US company too.
Its limit. Past the bundles, the meter runs again: $0.02 per GiB stored and $0.01 per GiB of outbound transfer on Spaces. And the catalog is narrower, so a Lambda-heavy or DynamoDB-heavy app needs a rethink.
How to migrate. Spaces speaks the S3 API, so rclone or any S3 tool copies your buckets across. Pull up your AWS data transfer line before you size anything. If you push 3 TB a month to the internet, the $24 Droplet covers it; on AWS those 3 TB cost about $261 (2,900 billable GB at $0.09).
Price. 2 vCPU, 4 GiB Droplet at $24/month with 4,000 GiB transfer; Spaces from $5/month.
- 2 vCPU server
- $24/month
- Transfer included
- 4,000 GiB
- S3-compatible storage
- Spaces from $5/month
- Limit
- smaller catalog, US company
Akamai Cloud (Linode): plain VMs with generous transfer
Bandwidth-friendlyWhy switch to Akamai Cloud. Akamai Cloud is what Linode became after Akamai bought it, and the product is still the same idea: a VM, a price, a transfer allowance. The Linode 4 GB plan gives you 2 vCPU, 80 GB of storage and 4 TB of transfer for $24 a month ($0.036 an hour). If your AWS bill is mostly data transfer out, that allowance is the point.
Who it's for. Indie developers and agencies who host client projects and want predictable transfer costs.
Who it's not for. Teams that rely on a deep bench of managed services. You'll run more of your own software here.
Its limit. The managed catalog is shorter than AWS's, and the brand change from Linode to Akamai means older tutorials and forum answers can point to renamed products. Read the current docs, not a five-year-old blog post.
How to migrate. Rebuild your servers from your deployment scripts rather than copying disk images, then cut DNS over once the new boxes answer correctly. For files, use rclone from S3. Ask AWS for free data transfer out before you start the copy (step 2 of the plan below).
Price. Linode 4 GB: 2 vCPU, 80 GB, 4 TB transfer, $24/month.
- 2 vCPU server
- $24/month ($0.036/hour)
- Transfer included
- 4 TB
- Storage
- 80 GB
- Limit
- shorter managed catalog
Vultr: the lowest sticker price among US providers here
Cheapest US optionWhy switch to Vultr. Vultr's regular cloud compute plan with 2 vCPU, 4 GB of RAM and 80 GB of storage costs $20 a month ($0.027 an hour), with 3 TB of bandwidth included. That's the cheapest 2 vCPU option from a US provider on this page, and a t3.medium in us-east-1 runs about $30.37 a month before you pay for a single GB of transfer or a public IPv4.
Who it's for. Startups and side projects that want a cheap, simple VM in many locations and are comfortable managing it.
Who it's not for. Workloads that push far beyond 3 TB a month. Check the overage rate on the official pricing page for your plan before you commit.
Its limit. It's infrastructure, not a platform. You get servers, storage and networking, not the hundreds of managed services AWS offers, so plan who will patch and back up the boxes.
How to migrate. Same pattern as any VM host: rebuild from code, copy data with rclone, lower your DNS TTL a few days before the switch, then cut over. Keep AWS read-only for a week or two so you can roll back.
Price. 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 80 GB, 3 TB bandwidth at $20/month.
- 2 vCPU server
- $20/month ($0.027/hour)
- Bandwidth included
- 3 TB
- Storage
- 80 GB
- Limit
- infrastructure only
Hetzner: the name in every "we left AWS" story
Most compute per dollarWhy switch to Hetzner. Hetzner shows up in almost every write-up about leaving AWS, and the numbers explain why. In its EU locations, the CPX22 server (2 AMD vCPU, 4 GB, 80 GB) costs €19.99 a month, and each server includes at least 20 TB of traffic, then €1 per TB. One software company watched its CloudFront file delivery bill jump from $370 to $2,457 in a single month; moved to one Hetzner server, it cost €36.75 the next month. A widely discussed Hacker News thread describes a team cutting about $24,000 a year of AWS spend by roughly ten times with Hetzner and OVHcloud.
Who it's for. Engineers who run their own servers, backups and updates, and want the lowest price per core.
Who it's not for. A company with nobody to run servers, or one built on RDS: on Hetzner you run and back up the database yourself.
Its limit. The prices above are for EU locations, billed in euros; US locations are priced separately, so check the US rate before you plan around it. In that same Hacker News thread, commenters warn that support can take "at least 24 hours" and that servers have been shut off without notice after abuse reports. Keep a backup somewhere else. To compare its servers with other hosts, see our best VPS hosting ranking.
How to migrate. Hetzner Object Storage speaks S3, so rclone copies your buckets across. One quirk: it bills from the moment a bucket exists, even an empty one. Create it on copy day, not before.
Price. CPX22 at €19.99/month in EU locations; Object Storage €6.49/month with 1 TB stored and 1 TB egress, then €1 per extra TB of traffic.
- 2 vCPU server
- CPX22: €19.99/month (EU)
- Traffic included
- at least 20 TB, then €1/TB
- S3-compatible storage
- €6.49/month with 1 TB
- Limit
- no managed database like RDS
Microsoft Azure: leave AWS, keep managed services
Stay with a hyperscalerWhy switch to Azure. You need managed services and don't want to rebuild them, but you're done with AWS. Azure has a comparable catalog and plugs straight into Microsoft 365 and Entra ID if your company already runs on them. The B2s VM (2 vCPU, 4 GB) in East US costs $0.0416 an hour, about $30.37 a month.
Who it's for. The company already on Microsoft that wants one directory and one vendor.
Who it's not for. Anyone leaving AWS for a simpler bill. Azure's invoice reads a lot like AWS's, and its compute prices sit in the same range.
Its limit. You change vendors, not economics. Outbound data still costs money once you pass the 100 GB free each month; in its France Central region, for example, Microsoft lists €0.0766 per GB over its own network.
How to migrate. Map every AWS service you use to its Azure counterpart before you move anything (S3 to Blob Storage, RDS to Azure's managed databases). Then request free data transfer out from AWS so the copy itself costs nothing.
Price. B2s in East US at $0.0416/hour, about $30.37/month; first 100 GB of outbound transfer free each month.
- 2 vCPU VM
- B2s: about $30.37/month
- Outbound transfer
- 100 GB/month free
- Strength
- Microsoft 365 and Entra ID
- Limit
- same billing complexity
AWS and its 5 alternatives side by side
Our default pick: DigitalOcean for a startup that wants simplicity, Hetzner for an engineering team that wants to pay as little as possible. For scale, take a 2 vCPU server that sends 1 TB a month to the internet. On AWS in us-east-1: about $30.37 for the server, $3.65 for the IPv4 and $81 for transfer, so about $115. On DigitalOcean or Akamai: $24, transfer included. On Vultr: $20, transfer included. Left column, the server; right column, transfer and object storage.
| 2 vCPU server | Outbound transfer and object storage | |
|---|---|---|
| AWSWhere you start | t3.medium in us-east-1: $0.0416/hour, about $30.37/month; IPv4 about $3.65/month | 100 GB/month free, then $0.09/GB; S3 at $0.023/GB-month |
| DigitalOceanSimplest | Droplet 2 vCPU, 4 GiB: $24/month | 4,000 GiB included; Spaces $5/month with 250 GiB and 1 TiB out |
| Akamai CloudBandwidth-friendly | Linode 4 GB: $24/month ($0.036/hour) | 4 TB included |
| VultrCheapest US option | 2 vCPU, 4 GB: $20/month ($0.027/hour) | 3 TB included |
| HetznerMost compute per dollar | CPX22: €19.99/month in EU locations | At least 20 TB included, then €1/TB; Object Storage €6.49/month with 1 TB |
| Microsoft AzureManaged services | B2s East US: $0.0416/hour, about $30.37/month | 100 GB/month free, then billed per GB |
On-demand Linux prices before tax for a 730-hour month, subject to change. Euro amounts are what the provider lists for its EU locations.
Leaving AWS in eight steps
Order matters. Step two alone can save you hundreds of dollars in transfer fees: don't start any copy until it's done.
Read your AWS bill line by line
Day 1Before you pick a destination, find out what you actually pay for. On small setups the story repeats: compute is the smallest line, and NAT, the load balancer, logs and data transfer make up the rest. Sort each line into three buckets: moves as-is (servers, storage), gets replaced (managed database, queues), disappears (NAT, idle IPv4).
One team that published a two-year review after leaving AWS found bandwidth was 22% of its AWS bill, and Savings Plans did nothing for it. If your transfer share looks like that, a host with transfer included changes the math.
- Time
- half a day
- Risk if rushed
- wrong destination
Ask AWS support for free data transfer out, before any copy
CriticalAlmost no AWS alternatives guide mentions this: AWS waives data transfer out for customers moving off the platform. You have to contact AWS support before you start the transfer. Your account must be in good standing, and you need to be leaving AWS entirely, or at least moving a whole service. Customers outside the EU get 180 days to complete the move.
Start copying before you have approval and you pay the normal rate: $0.09 per GB after the first 100 GB.
- Window (outside EU)
- 180 days
- Condition
- ask before transferring
Pick a replacement for every managed service
Longest stepA server moves easily. An RDS database, an SQS queue, a Lambda function or your IAM setup does not. For each one, choose: a managed equivalent at the destination, open-source software you'll run yourself, or a simplification. In the big Hacker News thread on leaving AWS, engineers point out that RDS, IAM and Systems Manager are exactly where the savings leak away.
Price the ops time. A team that moved to colocated hardware reports about 14 engineer-hours a month to keep it running. Put that cost next to the savings before you sign.
- Risk if rushed
- savings eaten by ops time
Copy object storage with rclone
DigitalOcean, Hetzner and most VM hosts offer S3-compatible object storage. rclone copies from an AWS bucket to the new one without downloading everything to your laptop. Run one full copy, then repeated syncs until cutover day so only new files move.
Compare object counts and total size on both sides afterwards, and keep your AWS access keys until you've checked.
- Tool
- rclone
- Risk if rushed
- missing files
Move the database with a short write freeze
For a small database, dump and restore during a maintenance window. For a bigger one, set up replication to the new database, let it catch up, then freeze writes for a few minutes while you switch. Rehearse it once on a copy.
Match your engine version from RDS at the destination. Upgrading during a migration doubles the ways it can go wrong.
- Risk if rushed
- lost writes
- Tip
- one full rehearsal
Rebuild networking and prepare DNS
Recreate firewall rules, private networks and certificates at the destination. A few days before cutover, drop your DNS TTLs to a few minutes so the switch propagates fast and a rollback stays possible.
Plan one public IPv4 per exposed machine. On AWS each one costs about $3.65 a month, in use or idle.
- To do
- TTL lowered before cutover
Cut over, then keep AWS read-only
D-dayPoint DNS at the new setup, watch errors and response times for a few hours, then leave the old stack read-only for one to two weeks. If something breaks, you roll back with a single DNS change.
- Overlap
- one to two weeks
Shut down every AWS resource, region by region
An idle public IPv4 still costs $0.005 an hour. A forgotten NAT gateway costs about $32.85 a month doing nothing ($0.045 an hour). Delete snapshots, volumes, buckets and addresses in every region you used, then check next month's bill: it should read zero.
- Trap
- idle IPv4 still billed
- Check
- next bill at zero
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
What makes an AWS exit go wrong
The same mistakes show up in write-ups from teams that left and on forums. None of them is a technology problem: they're incomplete math and things nobody wrote down.
Copying data before support says yes
Free egress has to be requested before the transfer. A copy started too early is billed at the normal rate, $0.09 per GB after 100 GB. For 10 TB, that's close to $900 for nothing.
Comparing server prices instead of bills
The server is rarely the biggest line. Compare on your real bill: transfer out, NAT, IPv4, storage, logs. A host with a cheaper server can still cost more if it meters every GB. For a steady, heavy workload, a dedicated server often beats VMs on price; for small machines, see our best VPS hosting ranking.
Forgetting the cost of running things yourself
On a small AWS bill, the savings from a budget host may not cover the hours spent running databases and backups yourself. One team that left AWS logs about 14 engineer-hours a month. Run the numbers with a real hourly rate.
Moving to a provider with the same legal exposure
If you're leaving for data sovereignty, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Akamai and Azure are US companies, like AWS. Only a European provider such as Hetzner changes that. Check where the company is incorporated, not just where the servers sit.
Having no backup outside the new provider
Customers of budget hosts describe servers switched off without notice after abuse reports and support that takes a day to reply. Keep a copy of your data elsewhere, at least for the first few months.
Leaving AWS resources running
Idle IPv4 addresses, NAT gateways, snapshots, detached volumes: they all keep billing. Walk through every region, not just your main one. Our ranking of the best public cloud scores every provider, and our guide to switching from Cloudflare helps if your DNS lives there too.
- AWS bill sorted line by line
- Free data transfer out requested and approved by support
- Replacement picked for every managed service
- Ops time priced in
- Storage copied with rclone and counted on both sides
- Database replicated and cutover rehearsed
- DNS TTL lowered before cutover
- Backup kept outside the new provider
- AWS kept read-only for one to two weeks
- IPv4, NAT, volumes and snapshots deleted in every region
AWS alternatives: frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to AWS?
It depends on why you're leaving. DigitalOcean for simplicity, Hetzner for the lowest price if you run your own servers, Azure if you need managed services. For most small teams, the deciding line is data transfer out, so pick a host that includes it. Our best public cloud ranking compares the big names too.
How much can I save by leaving AWS?
It depends on your bill's shape. If transfer out is a large share, savings can be dramatic: one team cut a file delivery bill from $2,457 to €36.75 a month. If most of your spend is managed services, savings shrink once you count the hours to replace them.
Does AWS charge you to move your data out?
Not if you ask first. AWS waives data transfer out for customers leaving the platform, on request to support before the transfer, for a full exit or a whole service. Outside the EU you get 180 days. Without that request, you pay $0.09 per GB after 100 GB.
Is migrating off AWS hard?
Servers and storage are easy: rebuild from code, copy with rclone. The hard part is replacing managed services like RDS, IAM, Lambda and SQS. Budget a few days for a simple site and several months for a stack built on managed services.
What about Google Cloud?
It's a fair option if your product revolves around data and AI, next to BigQuery and Vertex AI. An e2-medium (2 vCPU, 4 GiB) in us-central1 starts at about $24.46 a month. We left it out of the ranking because we couldn't pin down its outbound transfer rates from consistent official figures in 2026, and transfer is the line this page is about.
What is a simpler alternative to AWS for a small startup?
DigitalOcean or Vultr. Both sell a 2 vCPU server at a flat monthly price ($24 and $20) with transfer included, and their dashboards fit on one screen. You give up AWS's catalog in exchange for a bill you can predict.
Is there an S3-compatible alternative to Amazon S3?
Yes. DigitalOcean Spaces and Hetzner Object Storage both speak the S3 API, so your code mostly changes endpoint and keys. Spaces starts at $5 a month with 1 TiB out; Hetzner at €6.49 with 1 TB out. Check advanced features you rely on, like lifecycle rules, before you switch.
Can I cut my AWS bill without leaving?
Often, yes. Replace the NAT gateway with a small self-managed NAT instance, move to IPv6 where you can, put CloudWatch logs on infrequent access and release unused IPv4 addresses. Graviton instances also cost less than the equivalent x86 ones.
Get the next migration guide in your inbox
One tool to leave, one destination, one migration plan. Nothing else.