Table of Contents
An earlier version of this URL reported a CPU score of 3,800, disk figures of 40K and 35K IOPS, 900 Mbps, and 0.8 ms latency, framed as this site's own test. Those figures have been removed.
1. Two Linux $5 cards
A $5 label on the Linux pricing tables is two cards. The public-IPv4 card is 0.5 GB, 2 vCPUs***, 20 GB SSD, and 1 TB. The IPv6-only card is 1 GB, 2 vCPUs, 40 GB SSD, and 2 TB. The data-transfer article calls the $5 plan with 1 TB bundleId nano_3_0, and the $3.50 IPv6 plan with 1 TB bundleId nano_ipv6_3_0. The billing article says "Static IPs cannot be attached to IPv6-only instances."
| Card | Price | Memory | vCPU | Disk | Transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public IPv4 Linux | $5 USD/mo | 0.5 GB | 2 vCPUs*** | 20 GB SSD | 1 TB |
| IPv6-only Linux | $5 USD/mo | 1 GB | 2 vCPUs | 40 GB SSD | 2 TB |
The pricing page's WordPress example prints a third $5 shape: a Linux bundle with 1 GB memory, one core processor, a 40 GB SSD, and 2 TB transfer. That sentence is the example. It is not the public-IPv4 card, and the "one core" is not the 2 vCPUs on the IPv6-only card.
Further down the same page, after the container prices, a $5 USD/month bundle is 250 GB of storage and 500 GB of transfer. The $1 USD/month bundle above it is 5 GB of storage and 25 GB of transfer, the same shape as the object-storage bucket in that WordPress example. That $5 is storage, not an instance.
The IPv6-only $3.50 card, which is not a $5 card, is 512 MB, 2 vCPUs, 20 GB SSD, and 1 TB. The tables below leave the IPv6-only Windows ladder off. That ladder is on the pricing page, starting at $8 USD/month for 512 MB, 30 GB SSD, and 1 TB.
2. The public-IPv4 ladder and the Windows disk
The asterisk on the pricing page says "Virtual servers created on or before June 29, 2023 have 1 vCPU." On that page the mark is on the $5, $7, and $12 public-IPv4 Linux rows. The $24 and $44 rows do not show it. The IPv6-only block's footnote does not include that sentence, so the 1-vCPU line stays on the rows that carry the mark.
| Price | Memory | vCPU as printed | Disk | Transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5 USD/mo | 0.5 GB | 2 vCPUs*** | 20 GB SSD | 1 TB |
| $7 USD/mo | 1 GB | 2 vCPUs*** | 40 GB SSD | 2 TB |
| $12 USD/mo | 2 GB | 2 vCPUs*** | 60 GB SSD | 3 TB |
| $24 USD/mo | 4 GB | 2 vCPUs | 80 GB SSD | 4 TB |
| $44 USD/mo | 8 GB | 2 vCPUs | 160 GB SSD | 5 TB |
The public-IPv4 Windows card at $9.50 USD/month is 0.5 GB, 2 vCPUs***, 30 GB SSD, and 1 TB. The baseline table's shared row "Linux or Unix $5 and Windows $9.50" prints 20 GB of storage. Both numbers stay. For a new Windows order, the disk on the pricing card is 30 GB. Linux $5 is 20 GB on both pages. The billing article says Windows plans start at $0.0127 USD/hour ($9.50 USD/month). That hourly is not multiplied out here, and the $4.50 gap between $5 and $9.50 is not a license fee on an otherwise identical disk.
3. $0.0067, the 46-cent example, and a stopped instance
The billing article says "For every Lightsail plan you use, we charge you the fixed hourly price, up to the maximum monthly plan cost." The same article says the least expensive plan starts at $0.0067 USD/hour ($5 USD/month). The following example uses that least expensive plan for 100 hours and charges 46 cents, written as 100*0.0046. 100 × 0.0046 = $0.46. 100 × $0.0067 = $0.67. The $0.67 figure is arithmetic on the rate in the first sentence. It is not the 46 cents in the example. Both rates stay under the sentence that names $5. The billing article does not give the $3.50 IPv6 card an hourly price.
The billing article says these resources accrue charges even when they are stopped. Instances and managed databases accrue until they are deleted. Delete before the month ends and the article says the charge is prorated for the hours used. Lightsail for Research is a different line on that page: $0.00685 USD/hour while stopped. That rate is not the $5 plan.
A static IPv4 attached to an instance has no separate charge on the billing article. Unattached for more than one hour, the fee is $0.005 USD/hour. That rate is not turned into a monthly total here.
4. Transfer, the six regions, and the 4 TB example
The pricing page footnote says "Both inbound and outbound data transfer count towards your data transfer allowance. Only outbound data transfer in excess of your plan's data transfer allowance is subject to overage charges." The data-transfer page also says data transfer IN to Lightsail instances and databases is always free. Both sentences stay. Inbound counts toward the instance allowance, and excess inbound is not what the overage charges. Private-IP transfer counts toward the allowance and is free even after the allowance is exceeded.
Plans in Mumbai, Sydney, Jakarta, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and São Paulo include half the transfer on the card. Half of the public-IPv4 $5 card's 1 TB is 0.5 TB, labelled as that half rule. Half is not a higher overage rate. On the instance list, Hong Kong is $0.09 USD/GB, the same as US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), and US West (Oregon). São Paulo on that instance list is $0.15 USD/GB. Sydney on that instance list is $0.17 USD/GB. The object-storage overage grid on the pricing page prints Sydney transfer at $0.114 USD/GB. Those are two tables. 100 GB × $0.09 = $9, labelled arithmetic on the instance rate, not a second plan price.
The data-transfer article's own $5 example uses 1 TB as 1,000 GB. 500 GB out plus 400 GB in is 900 GB. Another 200 GB out is 1,100 GB, so the excess outbound is 100 GB and is charged. Another 200 GB in after that is not charged. Two nano_3_0 bundles in that article's second example are 2 TB combined, because each card is 1 TB.
The pricing page's example 2 says something else. It says two $5 dual-stack bundles in Ohio provide 4 TB combined, then 2.2 TB in and 2.1 TB out, then an overage of 100 GB × $0.09 = $9. 2.2 + 2.1 = 4.3, and 4.3 − 4 = 0.3 TB, which is not 100 GB. The 4 TB stays inside that example. It is not the allowance of two current $5 cards, which is 2 TB. The 100 GB in the example is not rewritten as 300 GB.
Managed databases on the data-transfer page count only outbound transfer against their allowance. That rule stays on the database sentence. It does not carry over to the one free month of the $15 database plan, which is a separate offer for new Lightsail customers.
5. The 5% baseline, and two different June 29 cuts
The Lightsail FAQ says "Lightsail uses burstable performance instances that provide a baseline level of CPU performance with the additional ability to burst above the baseline." The baseline table is headed as dual-stack plans, and that page says the baselines are per vCPU. The 5% row is "Linux or Unix $5 and Windows $9.50": 2 vCPUs, 512 MB, 20 GB. The 10% row is the $7 plan: 1 GB and 40 GB. The page says an IPv6-only plan has a different price and the same baselines. It does not print an IPv6 table, and it does not say whether "the same" follows the price or the memory. The IPv6-only $5 card gets neither 5% nor 10% on this page.
| Row | vCPUs | Memory | Storage | Baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current dual-stack $5 | 2 | 512 MB | 20 GB | 5% |
| Created before June 29, 2023, $5 | 1 | 512 MB | 20 GB | 5% |
| Current dual-stack $7 | 2 | 1 GB | 40 GB | 10% |
| Created before June 29, 2023, $7 | 1 | 1 GB | 40 GB | 10% |
| Current dual-stack $12 | 2 | 2 GB | 60 GB | 20% |
| Created before June 29, 2023, $12 | 1 | 2 GB | 60 GB | 20% |
June 29, 2023 is two cuts, and that calendar day sits in both. The asterisk says virtual servers created on or before that date have 1 vCPU. The accrual page says instances created before that date lose accrued burst capacity when stopped, and instances created on or after that date keep it for seven days between a stop and a start. A machine created on June 29, 2023 is inside the asterisk's 1 vCPU line and inside the accrual page's seven-day line. Those are not one "before June 29" machine.
Accrued burst capacity is 4.17% per hour, and the instance stops accruing when that percentage reaches 100%. 4.17 × 24 = 100.08, labelled arithmetic. The cap printed for accrued capacity is 100%. Launch CPU burst capacity does not count toward that limit. The accrual page says the metric graph will appear as over 100% when unspent launch capacity sits on top of further accrual. The Linux or Unix exception on that page is $380 and larger. The Windows exception is $570 and larger. The baseline table's starred rows, which burst automatically and do not use burst capacity, start at Linux or Unix $384 and Windows $574. On the pricing page the IPv6-only 64 GB Linux card is $380 and the public-IPv4 64 GB Linux card is $384. The matching Windows cards are $570 and $574.
6. What stays off these tables
Memory-optimized plans, compute-optimized plans, containers, the CDN bundles, and the $18 USD/month load balancer are on the pricing page and are not in the tables above. Snapshots, manual and automatic, are $0.05 USD per GB-month. The billing article's example of a 28 GB snapshot kept for a month is $1.40, and 28 × $0.05 = $1.40. If the next snapshot changes 2 GB, that second snapshot is $0.10 a month. Block storage is $0.10 USD per GB per month. The 8 GB card is $0.80, and 8 × $0.10 = $0.80.
Short-term Lightsail free trials are no longer available to new customers. The billing article points new customers at the AWS Free Tier and up to $200 USD in credits. A trial that started before the offer was removed runs until that trial ends. The one free month of the $15 database plan is the database plan. A port speed is not on the $5 cards. An IOPS number is not on the pricing page or the baseline table. A VAT or sales-tax rate is not on the pricing page or the billing article opened on October 3, 2026. Read the AWS bill for the tax line.
This page does not state a refund window. Read the AWS Customer Agreement linked from the billing article before you count on one. The Lightsail review is a separate page. Use this one for the two $5 cards and the two hourlies.