Amazon Lightsail vs OVHcloud

Updated November 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Amazon Lightsail

AWS's fixed-price virtual servers, bundled with storage, transfer and a static IP.

Paid

Visit Amazon Lightsail Amazon Lightsail profile

OVHcloud

French cloud provider offering VPS, bare-metal servers, public cloud and web hosting.

Paid

Visit OVHcloud OVHcloud profile

The short answer

Amazon Lightsail suits people who want a fixed-price VPS with a static IP and an easy path into the wider AWS ecosystem later. OVHcloud suits those who want cheap VPS or dedicated servers with unlimited traffic, daily backups and DDoS protection included, often with a European data-sovereignty angle. The key difference is ecosystem versus value: Lightsail connects to AWS, while OVHcloud offers more for the price.

Amazon Lightsail or OVHcloud: our take

Lightsail is the simple end of AWS. Servers come as fixed monthly bundles of memory, vCPUs, SSD storage and data transfer, with Linux or Windows images or ready-made apps like WordPress. A static IP, DNS management and browser SSH are included, and managed databases, load balancers, object storage, a CDN and container services are sold at similar flat prices. Because it is AWS, workloads can later connect to other AWS services or move to EC2. New customers can try it under the AWS Free Tier.

OVHcloud, a French company founded in 1999, owns its data centres and network and sells everything from web hosting and VPS to bare-metal servers and a public cloud with GPUs and managed Kubernetes. Anti-DDoS protection is included on all products, and VPS plans come with unlimited traffic and daily backup, though bandwidth can be capped once some regional quotas are reached.

Pricing is close at the bottom. Lightsail starts at $5 USD/month with IPv4, and Windows plans start from $9.50 USD/month. OVHcloud VPS starts from $4.54/month for VPS-1, with VPS-2 from $8.50 a month. Lightsail tends to give lower specs for the price than budget VPS hosts and has smaller transfer allowances in some Asian regions, while OVHcloud's catalogue is large and its control panel and support are less polished. Lightsail also needs an AWS account and billing setup, which can feel heavy for one small server.

Pick Lightsail if you need Windows server plans, already use AWS, or expect to grow into AWS services. Pick OVHcloud if raw value matters most, you want backups and DDoS protection bundled in, you might need dedicated servers, or you prefer a European provider.

Choose Amazon Lightsail if…

People who want a predictable-price VPS that can grow into the wider AWS ecosystem.
You need Linux and Windows, which OVHcloud doesn't list
Fixed monthly bundles including transfer
Static IP and DNS management included

Choose OVHcloud if…

European businesses and hobbyists wanting cheap VPS or dedicated servers with built-in DDoS protection
Anti-DDoS protection included on every product
VPS plans include unlimited traffic and daily backup

What is Amazon Lightsail?

Amazon Lightsail is the simple end of AWS: virtual private servers sold as fixed monthly bundles of memory, vCPUs, SSD storage and data transfer, instead of EC2's many separate meters. You choose a Linux or Windows image or a ready-made app such as WordPress, pick a bundle, and manage it from a console that hides most of AWS's complexity, with a static IP, DNS management and browser SSH included. Alongside servers it offers managed databases, load balancers, block storage, object storage, a CDN and container services at similar flat prices. New customers can try it under the AWS Free Tier. Because it runs on AWS, you can later connect it to other AWS services or move workloads to EC2. Trade-offs include smaller transfer allowances in some Asian regions, IPv4 costing more than IPv6-only bundles, and an AWS account and billing setup that can feel heavy for a single small server.

What is OVHcloud?

OVHcloud is a French infrastructure company and one of the largest hosting providers in Europe. Its range runs from shared web hosting and domains through VPS plans to bare-metal dedicated servers, a public cloud with instances, GPUs, managed Kubernetes and S3-compatible object storage, and hosted private cloud. It owns its data centres and network, includes anti-DDoS protection by default, and is known for water-cooled servers. VPS plans are low-cost and come with unlimited traffic and daily backups, which makes them popular for websites, game servers and VPNs. A recurring selling point is data sovereignty: for European customers, OVHcloud presents itself as an alternative to US hyperscalers. Prices are monthly, or hourly on the public cloud. The trade-offs are a sprawling, sometimes confusing catalogue and a control panel and support that are less polished than smaller developer-focused clouds.

Side by side

Attribute	Amazon Lightsail	OVHcloud
Pricing	Paid	Paid
Open source	No	No
Self-hostable	No	No
Platforms	Web, Linux, Windows	Web
Best for	People who want a predictable-price VPS that can grow into the wider AWS ecosystem.	European businesses and hobbyists wanting cheap VPS or dedicated servers with built-in DDoS protection
Status	Active	Active

Verified facts, compared

Facts both apps publish, checked on each vendor's own site.

Fact	Amazon Lightsail	OVHcloud
Starting price	$3.50 a month (IPv6-only Linux bundle)	From $4.54 a month (VPS-1)