Sold by: Center for Internet Security
Deployed on AWS
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This product has charges associated with the pre-built hardening to the CIS Benchmarks™ and recurring maintenance. The CIS Hardened Images® are hardened in accordance with the associated CIS Benchmarks, an industry best practice for secure configuration. Reduce cost, time, and risk by building your AWS solution with CIS AMIs.
4.2
Overview
The CIS Hardened Image Level 2 on Amazon Linux 2 is a pre-configured image built by the Center for Internet Security (CIS®) for use on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). It is a pre-configured, security-hardened image that aligns with the robust security recommendations, the CIS Benchmarks, making it easier for organizations to meet regulatory requirements.
Not only is this image pre-hardened to the CIS Benchmarks guidance, but it is also patched monthly in alignment with the updates from the software vendor.
Key Benefits
This image is hardened against the corresponding Level 2 profile which is intended for environments or use cases where security is paramount, acts as a defense in depth measure, and may negatively inhibit the utility or performance of the technology. No packages are installed on or removed from this image outside of those already present on the base image or as recommended in alignment with the corresponding CIS Benchmark recommendations.
To demonstrate conformance to the CIS Amazon Linux 2 Level 2 Benchmark, industry-recognized hardening guidance, each image includes an HTML report from CIS Configuration Assessment Tool (CIS-CAT® Pro). Each CIS Hardened Image contains the following files:
These reports are located in /home/CIS_Hardened_Reports.
For customized pricing options or private offers, reach out to us at cloudsecurity@cisecurity.org .
To learn more or access the corresponding CIS Benchmark, please visit https://www.cisecurity.org/cis-benchmarks or sign up for a free account on our community platform, CIS WorkBench, https://workbench.cisecurity.org/ .
Highlights
- Hardened according to a Level 2 CIS Benchmark that is developed in a consensus-based process and that is accepted by government, business, industry, and academia.
- Helps with compliance to PCI DSS, FedRAMP, DoD Cloud Computing SRG, FISMA, select NIST publications, and more.
- Pre-configured to align with industry best practices that are developed and supported by CIS, this image has hardened account and local policies, firewall configuration, and computer-based and user-based administrative templates.
Details
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64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
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Operating system
AmazonLinux 2
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Dimension | Cost/hour |
|---|---|
t3a.small Recommended | $0.022 |
t3.micro | $0.022 |
t2.micro | $0.02 |
m5.24xlarge | $0.06 |
r5a.large | $0.022 |
m7i.metal-24xl | $0.06 |
r5a.8xlarge | $0.05 |
m6id.2xlarge | $0.026 |
m5n.xlarge | $0.024 |
c5d.metal | $0.06 |
Vendor refund policy
Refunds through AWS are not available at this time. You will only be billed for actual time of instance use. As with all CIS security products, our aim is always 100 percent customer/member satisfaction.
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Request a private offer to receive a custom quote.
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Delivery details
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.
Version release notes
NA
Additional details
Usage instructions
Once the instance is running, connect using SSH. Use "ec2-user" as the username. Immediately apply latest security updates after launching the instance.
Resources
Support
Vendor support
Questions, feedback, and support accessing CIS-developed AMIs is provided by contacting
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AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
Updated weekly
By Center for Internet Security
By Canonical Group Limited
By Arara Solutions
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Sentiment is AI generated from actual customer reviews on AWS and G2
Functionality
Ease of use
Customer service
Cost effectiveness
Positive reviews
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Negative reviews
AI generated from product descriptions
Security Hardening Standard Compliance
Image hardened according to CIS Benchmark Level 2 profile developed through consensus-based process and accepted by government, business, industry, and academia.
Regulatory Compliance Support
Supports compliance with PCI DSS, FedRAMP, DoD Cloud Computing SRG, FISMA, and select NIST publications.
Pre-configured Security Controls
Includes hardened account and local policies, firewall configuration, and computer-based and user-based administrative templates aligned with industry best practices.
Conformance Assessment and Reporting
Includes CIS Configuration Assessment Tool (CIS-CAT Pro) HTML reports demonstrating conformance to CIS Amazon Linux 2 Level 2 Benchmark, with baseline and post-hardening assessment documentation.
Regular Security Updates
Patched monthly in alignment with software vendor updates to maintain alignment with latest security standards.
FIPS Certification
FIPS 140-2 certified kernel and cryptographic modules included out of the box with ongoing security updates
Extended Security Coverage
Security patches available for over 23,000 open source packages in the Ubuntu Universe repository with 10 years of support through Expanded Security Maintenance
Compliance Hardening Profiles
CIS and DISA-STIG hardening profiles accessible through Ubuntu Security Guide tooling for guided compliance configuration
Cryptographic Module Updates
FIPS-certified cryptographic components with continuous security updates maintained throughout the support lifecycle
Long-term Support
10-year security coverage period for the operating system and included packages
Operating System Hardening
Amazon Linux 2 configured with STIG Benchmark High standard for enhanced security posture
Security Standards Compliance
Implementation of Defense Information System Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) for system hardening
EMR Compatibility
Tested and compatible with Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR) for distributed computing workloads
Continuous Security Updates
Access to continuous security updates available through new versions of the image
Multi-Application Support
Suitable for deployment across various applications beyond EMR environments
Standard contract
No
No
Customer reviews
Janindra Janekumaradi
Automation has improved proactive monitoring and currently supports efficient cloud operations
Reviewed on Mar 30, 2026
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
In my day-to-day work, the main use cases for Amazon Linux involve a wide variety of tasks with a common theme of optimization for Amazon Cloud. Since recently updating my project, I have been using it for automation to monitor CPU utilizations and hosting backend services including REST APIs and web applications on EC2 instances, running production microservices that integrate with services including Amazon ECS and AWS Lambda , and as the defaulting operating system for EC2 instances in a SaaS platform. Additionally, I use Amazon Linux as base images for Dockerfile, node groups for Amazon EKS Kubernetes clusters, and powering CI/CD pipelines acting as Jenkins agents or building servers, using it with infrastructure as code to spin up consistent environments for development, staging, and production.
The most valuable use case involving my work is the scripting that runs automatically via cron, which is a time-based scheduler on Amazon Linux EC2 instances. The script accomplishes mainly two groups: resource dashboarding and proactive monitoring. In resource dashboarding, I utilize the command line interface, specifically AWS CLI, to list all running resources including EC2 instances, S3 buckets, Lambda functions, and configurations to implement in the daily dashboard sent to management. Additionally, I check logs and help prevent unexpected storage issues, and these are the activities I have been using in my daily work.
In my organization, Amazon Linux is deployed using a multi-cloud hybrid approach, supporting all four environments we have mentioned. Public cloud is the most common deployment, where I use Amazon Linux directly on Amazon EC2 to scale from small web servers to massive machine learning clusters. I also deploy it on private premises for added security.
I primarily use AWS for my Amazon Linux deployments.
What is most valuable?
In my experience, the best features Amazon Linux offers are the resource dashboarding and proactive monitoring systems that I have been utilizing in day-to-day work. Most cases are centered around using a Linux base image for containerizing applications, particularly in production on ECS or by deploying on ECS, and I am deploying my servers in EKS. Currently, I also manage automation scripting and container-based images to find EC2 instances and what servers are running in the background as part of my day-to-day activities using Amazon Linux.
Since using Amazon Linux, I have noticed a positive impact on my organization as it has become an industry standard for AWS native development. The benefits include much better resource isolation and more accurate monitoring for memory, CPU, and input-output. It makes running Docker or Kubernetes yield more predictable container performance with fewer out-of-memory kills that are hard to diagnose. Using Amazon Linux smooths the application running on Docker and Kubernetes, making it very efficient for deploying applications on cloud platforms including Amazon, Azure , and GCP.
What needs improvement?
I see definite areas where Amazon Linux could improve because it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The single biggest pain point for long-time users is the lack of direct in-place upgrades from Amazon Linux to AL2, as moving to a new version requires launching new instances and manually migrating applications instead of simply running a command similar to some DNF system update. A migration tool that could handle the heavy lifting and configurations would save thousands of engineering hours. I have noticed that since 2023 does not support EPEL directly, AWS has introduced supplementary packages for Amazon Linux, which has been an adjustment.
I chose eight out of ten because, while there are many positives, some issues arise at the end of the line for Amazon Linux. I have faced some challenges when deploying clusters in AWS, particularly with some recent updates that have changed since version twenty-three, leading me to believe there is room for improvement.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is stable and more flexible, allowing easy scalability at no cost. It is designed by the same engineers who created the underlying hardware, EC2, as well as the orchestration services, ECS and EKS, effectively removing many traditional bottlenecks associated with scaling large fleets.
In terms of container scalability, I find it to have deterministic reliability, no broken scale-outs, and it boosts speed and safety in container orchestrations with dynamic scaling. It provides resource control and consistency, contributing to Amazon Linux's reputation for stability.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for Amazon Linux is good, as they quickly guide me through issues whenever I contact them, resolving problems within a short time.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before switching to Amazon Linux two thousand twenty-three, I typically used Amazon Linux two, Ubuntu , CentOS , and Red Hat. The end of life for those older distributions was a primary reason for switching, as security updates for Amazon Linux are ending in June two thousand twenty-six. Amazon Linux two thousand twenty-three provides modern features such as cgroup v2 and systemd-timers that older versions lack, and while Ubuntu is good for development, it is not tuned for AWS hardware out of the box. Amazon Linux two thousand twenty-three offers better performance under Graviton chips and significantly faster operations.
How was the initial setup?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Amazon Linux is very straightforward and completely free. I simply select it from the quick start tab when launching an EC2 instance with no additional cost or complex licensing terms to manage. The operating system is free, and I only pay for infrastructure, such as approximately zero cost for a T3 small instance, where the EC2 instances charge about zero point zero two one per hour.
What was our ROI?
I see that return on investment is usually measured in efficiency gains rather than in a simple monetary form. Since the operating system itself is free and by using Amazon Linux two thousand twenty-three, many organizations have been qualifying this transaction through a mix of cloud-based operations.
Since switching to Amazon Linux, I have seen improvements clearly shown in infrastructure metrics. Some wins commonly seen after switching, particularly when moving from general-purpose distributions such as Ubuntu, include approximately twenty to forty percent better price-performance ratio. The outcomes combine massive savings of over one million in under a year by migrating workloads to Graviton-based instances running Amazon Linux, as AL two thousand twenty-three is optimized for ARM at the compiler level, allowing applications to run more effectively and function on smaller instances. I have also noted faster deployments, including a forty to sixty percent reduction in AMI size, significantly faster boot times, and a boost in faster auto-scaling to reduce cold start latencies, with zero downtime regarding patching for critical vulnerabilities.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated several options, including Ubuntu and CentOS . As previously mentioned, Ubuntu is great for development but not optimized for AWS, and CentOS's move to a streamed model is less stable for production. Many organizations moved to Amazon Linux for a more flexible long-term support cycle.
What other advice do I have?
The biggest advantage I find in using Amazon Linux is the ability to determine updates throughout the version repositories. In older versions, I ran a yum update, but now I can pin different packages based on commands I run. This advantage allows me to test updates in a staging environment and be one hundred percent certain that the exact same packages will be applied in production, eliminating issues where something worked on one machine or worked yesterday. It is also beneficial as it boosts faster boot times, supports Amazon Graviton ARM processors, and optimizes the operating system for those processors. Moreover, it efficiently uses fewer resources including CPU and RAM, allowing my applications to run on smaller, cheaper instance types with secure by default configurations.
I recommend Amazon Linux for its free use, stable performance, faster control, and scalability, making it suitable for everyone.
To clarify, I did not purchase Amazon Linux through the AWS Marketplace because it is directly provided by AWS at no additional cost, so a purchase or subscription is not required. Unlike many other enterprise Linux distributions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux that require a paid subscription, Amazon Linux is offered by AWS as a free operating system for use on EC2 instances. There is no need to visit the marketplace to buy it.
Overall, I would rate Amazon Linux at an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
reviewer2805456
Learning cloud commands has transformed how I host class projects and share them anywhere
Reviewed on Mar 29, 2026
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
I am using Amazon Linux as part of my practical study in my seventh semester. In my cloud computing subject, there are chapters that include Amazon Linux where I can learn about it. Amazon Linux is a tool where I can work with it as part of my college learning and practical work, helping me understand how Linux commands and systems work with actual cloud environments.
As part of my college activities, I created a small application with Amazon Linux. I developed a to-do list application where users can perform basic tasks including edit, delete, and save functions. I also made this application with React, focusing on the front-end and including a small part of the database to learn about Amazon Linux. When I initially created the to-do list website, it worked only on my local desktop. Without Amazon Linux, I could not access it elsewhere. I then learned to use Amazon with AWS to host my website on Amazon Cloud Service. After hosting it, I can access it through the link of the live server from anyone's laptop anywhere, and users do not need to install any packages or other tools.
If you want to host your website, you can use Amazon Linux where you can learn about Linux commands. Amazon Linux provides good hosting services with the AWS community. Therefore, I encourage you to try it out.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux is lightweight, easy to handle, easy to understand, and optimized for performance. It runs smoothly even with big data or on low resources, which makes it suitable for students who are learning and experimenting in this field. I use it for my practical basic commands and practical uses, including installing packages and managing services, which helps me build confidence in Linux where I can learn.
Another advantage is the strong integration with AWS. It provides AWS service where I can host my websites in Amazon. It is particularly useful for performing cloud-based projects or learning for deployment, where I can deploy my college website in the cloud so that many people can reach my website. Otherwise, it would only work on a local machine if I were not hosting it. As it is designed to work well with AWS service, I also face some challenges as a beginner because I do not know much about Linux commands. As part of my journey with Amazon Linux, I continue to learn more.
Amazon Linux is lightweight and is a beginner-friendly tool that provides a good, smooth experience at a beginner level. It is also fast and good for learning Linux commands because when I do not know about them, I can use Amazon Linux to learn both Linux commands and its strong AWS integrations. It is stable for practical knowledge and small projects and is best for beginner-level learning projects. Additionally, command-line arguments are easy to understand.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes, command arguments are difficult to remember and challenging for beginners because at a beginner level, I may not understand the proper meaning or the necessary Linux commands. So sometimes it is challenging to grasp Linux commands. I find there is less community support compared to Ubuntu and other options, and it requires some prior knowledge about Linux. This is not a disadvantage; rather, it is an advantage when I use it positively, enabling me to learn more about Amazon and Amazon Linux. Everything has its negative side, but I must choose between the positive and the negative.
It would be helpful if Amazon Linux could provide some tutorials for beginners on how to learn Linux commands and how it works, but nothing else stands out to me.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is scalable because at a single time, many users can use it without issues.
How are customer service and support?
I have never used customer support for Amazon Linux.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not use a different solution before Amazon Linux, but I learned about other options including Ubuntu , Google App Engine , and some other tools during my college journey in cloud computing. I learned about those approximately 7 to 10 months ago.
How was the initial setup?
I went with the free command, free tool, and free-trial experience for Amazon Linux, so I did not focus on the technical setup cost or licensing. However, I understand that Amazon Linux provides options for students, where I may need to pay just one rupee to receive 10,000 points or credits for one year. After that, I pay based on usage. It is a good service AWS provides, as it is easier and smoother.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment from using Amazon Linux because it saves time and money. I only pay for the amount I am using, with no other costs involved.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The reason Amazon Linux saves me time and energy is that if I am on my local PC and I need to work on the same project on my friend's laptop, I have to install every package and provide them my code and everything. By using Amazon, I can host my website, and with just one link, I can access it from my friend's laptop without needing to install all the necessary tools. One example that comes to mind is I have encountered various such instances, but I will go with this example.
What other advice do I have?
Many conflicts happened during my learning process, where I speak and you speak, then we both stop at the same moment, but it is acceptable. Before using Amazon Linux, I did not know about Linux commands. After using Amazon Linux, I became familiar with Amazon or Linux commands. I now know about hosting websites, and it saves my time and energy. I have learned many valuable lessons from Amazon Linux as I progress. I gave this review a rating of eight out of ten.
BasilJiji
Cloud platform has transformed security and cut operating costs for high-traffic workloads
Reviewed on Mar 28, 2026
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Amazon Linux is cloud-optimized application hosting. I use it as a standard OS for Amazon EC2 instances to run web servers, container hosts, and microservices. Because it is tuned for AWS infrastructure, it is provided at low latency and best performance. During peak traffic, our system automatically launches new EC2 instances running Amazon Linux . These instances come pre-baked with AWS CLI and security tools, which allows them to integrate with our S3 buckets and RDS database immediately.
What is most valuable?
The best features Amazon Linux offers include remote sharing features such as AWS Systems Manager Session Manager. This allows our remote DevOps team to share secure terminal access to an instance via the browser, which eliminates the need for us to manage SSH keys or open port 22. This makes it much easier and safer for remote collaboration and troubleshooting.
Amazon Linux has significantly improved our security and deployment speed. By using an OS that is secure by default and pre-integrated with AWS tools, our team spends less time on basic configuration and more time on high-value application development. Around 75% of our time has been reduced since the basic hardening concepts are reduced. We do not need to apply all the hardenings to the new VMs that we are creating. By default, the image provided by Amazon has hardening applied, so our 75% of time has been reduced and has been allocated to application development purposes.
What needs improvement?
Amazon Linux could be improved by providing more third-party software packages. They could expand the repositories for many cutting-edge development tools that are not included in the core release yet. I feel Amazon Linux offers the best balance of modern features and security. Making sure about the kernel live patching is a great game changer that it is already offering. So there is still room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon Linux for about three years as our primary operating system for hosting production workloads and cloud-native applications on AWS.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is extremely stable. AWS provides long-term support for versions such as Amazon Linux 2, and the newer Amazon Linux 2023 is designed with a predictable release cycle. Since it is purpose-built for the cloud, it lacks the bloat of traditional desktop-focused distributions, which leads to fewer crashes and higher uptime.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is built for hyperscale because it is highly optimized for the AWS Nitro System and lightweight in nature. We can launch hundreds of instances in an auto-scaling group. It scales effortlessly from the smallest nano instance to high-performance computing clusters.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for Amazon Linux is providing great help. All the requirements that we give to them are met immediately with their assistance, and they are doing a great job.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used CentOS . We switched to Amazon Linux because we wanted an OS with a more predictable lifecycle and tighter integration with AWS support. Moving to a distribution that is officially maintained by Amazon gave us better peace of mind regarding long-term security patches and performance tuning.
How was the initial setup?
The experience with Amazon Linux pricing, setup cost, and licensing was seamless. The standard Amazon Linux image is provided for free by AWS. We have used the AWS Marketplace to deploy the CIS hardened versions of Amazon Linux. The licensing is straightforward and billing is consolidated directly into our AWS account, which makes the procurement very easy.
What about the implementation team?
I purchased Amazon Linux through the AWS Marketplace .
What was our ROI?
The ROI with Amazon Linux is high because there are zero licensing fees. By switching the compute fleet from a paid distribution to Amazon Linux, we have reduced our OS-related overhead cost by 100%. Additionally, optimized performance has allowed us to run the same workloads on slightly smaller instance types, saving us roughly 10% on monthly compute spend.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Amazon Linux, CentOS was the major solution we considered, but we finally ended up choosing Amazon Linux.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for others looking into using Amazon Linux is to embrace Amazon Linux 2023 for all new projects. It offers the best balance of modern features and security. The live kernel patching is a great feature that Amazon Linux offers for people who are going to use the system securely without having a scheduled maintenance window for reboots.
Amazon Linux is truly a performance-first choice for anyone operating in the cloud. It turns the operating system from a management burden into a strategic advantage, providing a high-security environment without the premium price tag of other enterprise Linux distributions. I would rate this product a 9 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Pranay Jain
Efficient cloud workflows have improved how we deploy microservices and manage user data
Reviewed on Mar 25, 2026
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
Amazon Linux is used for hosting back-end applications created in Node.js, databases, and DevOps purposes. Microservices, such as Docker services, are deployed on Amazon Linux .
Amazon Linux is used with EC2 , the AWS EC2 service, which is the primary service for deploying back-end services. A microservice architecture is implemented using EC2 instances for deploying particular services in Amazon.
Amazon Linux is also used for RDBMS and SQL databases deployed in Amazon for database purposes.
Amazon S3 bucket is used for storing resumes of candidates because the application is a hiring platform, requiring resume file storage for retrieval and pre-signed URL generation. Whenever resumes need to be stored, an S3 bucket is used. CloudWatch is used to monitor the changes occurring during application deployment in EC2 instances.
What is most valuable?
Amazon Linux offers multiple services such as EC2, S3 bucket, EKS, and CloudWatch, which are valuable for application requirements.
A specific example of how Amazon Linux has positively impacted the organization involves storing images and resumes with quick and faster retrieval. Although other options were checked, S3 was the quickest option because it provided 99.9% availability and very reliable performance. Resumes are stored in an S3 bucket in the respective file, and pre-signed URLs are fetched and stored in the SQL database tables. Whenever a resume is needed, the S3 URL is used directly to fetch the resume.
Amazon Linux and S3 services, including live trail functionality, provide better visibility of changes being deployed to particular services. When a service is deployed, the ability to check if it is failing and at what point it is failing is crucial. After deployment, live trails can be checked and logs put in the code can be viewed in the live trail. The EC2 instance is very effective because it can be scaled according to application needs. With currently over 10,000 users, scalability becomes important if growth reaches over 1 lakh users. Amazon Linux provides very good scalability.
What needs improvement?
Amazon Linux could be improved in the user interface part, as it is quite complicated for new users. Compared to Ubuntu or CentOS , Amazon Linux has a smaller community, resulting in fewer available tutorials. Additionally, there is less flexibility outside of AWS services. Amazon Linux is best optimized for AWS but is not ideal for local development or multi-cloud environments.
For how long have I used the solution?
Amazon Linux has been used for two years throughout my career.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is quite stable and very reliable for the type of application in use.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is very scalable. The organization has grown from 10,000 users to 1 lakh users, and the service provided is very reliable and highly scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is great, though it has not been needed because the service is working quite well and has not required customer support assistance.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, Linux on Amazon or Ubuntu was used, but Ubuntu was not very beginner-friendly and the setup was more difficult. Amazon Linux was chosen due to its advantages over Ubuntu.
How was the initial setup?
Deployment is faster and visibility is achieved very quickly, making it more reliable overall.
Amazon Linux setup is somewhat challenging initially, but once familiarity with the system is gained, it works very well for applications. For full-stack web-based applications or mobile applications, Amazon Linux provides very good support for back-end and front-end deployments and the entire CI/CD process. The service can be utilized directly without extensive preliminary work.
What about the implementation team?
Amazon Linux is deployed independently; since it runs on AWS infrastructure, separate deployment is not necessary as it is publicly available.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is very good. The setup could be more beginner-friendly, and regarding licensing, there is limited knowledge, but it is free to use. Payment is only required for the EC2 instance and for data transfer or storage. Setup on AWS EC2 is very quick, typically within minutes, making it cost-effective and easy to deploy.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
No other options have been searched for or considered except for Amazon Linux.
What other advice do I have?
Amazon Linux and S3 services, including live trail functionality, provide better visibility of changes being deployed to particular services. When a service is deployed, the ability to check if it is failing and at what point it is failing is important. After deployment, live trails can be checked and logs put in the code can be viewed in the live trail. The EC2 instance is very effective because it can be scaled according to application needs. With currently over 10,000 users, scalability becomes significant if growth reaches over 1 lakh users. Amazon Linux is highly scalable and very reliable, making it an excellent choice overall. This review has been rated 9 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Francisco Javier Vergara
Hosted critical applications reliably and now focus development time on features instead of images
Reviewed on Mar 10, 2026
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Amazon Linux is to host my company's applications, internal applications, and automations.
For example, I host my own application called IriusRisk on Amazon Linux . I also deploy internal applications such as GoCD , which is a CI/CD solution, and I deploy agents that report information to my SIEM .
What is most valuable?
The best features Amazon Linux offers include how easy it is to deploy; I can launch a new EC2 instance from an AWS Amazon Linux image, and it helps significantly with maintenance since I do not have to maintain the image itself as it is already provided by AWS .
The easy deployment and managed images have helped my team by making it completely transparent for my engineers; we do not need to generate the images, we do not have to maintain the packages, and we only have to consume Amazon Linux images to always get the latest version.
Amazon Linux has positively impacted my organization by providing a great solution for hosting all of my applications, and it has helped my team focus only on the development of my applications since we do not have to worry about maintaining any base image.
Specific outcomes that show how Amazon Linux has helped my team include fewer issues since we do not have to worry about my own images or keep track of package versioning, which already comes within AWS Amazon Linux and translates into more performance since the images are already built; I cannot provide a metric since we have already used this image, and we have never had to build my own images.
What needs improvement?
Amazon Linux can be improved by providing security updates more frequently.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon Linux for eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon Linux is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Amazon Linux is really good since I can consume it every time I need.
How are customer service and support?
I have never had to use customer support for Amazon Linux, but I have used AWS customer support service, and it is really helpful with a very short response time.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not previously use a different solution.
What was our ROI?
I do not have any specific ROI metrics since I have always used Amazon Linux for deploying my products, but I know that I have some other images that I build myself, and I know that building them, maintaining them, and deploying them is much less effective than deploying an Amazon Linux image because I have to maintain them and keep an eye on the packages used to ensure they are up to date and do not have any security issues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is very easy and straightforward; I just fill a form and my instance is already running if using the image, and as for the pricing, it is included within the AWS cloud usage, so no extra fees are added by Amazon Linux.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Amazon Linux, I did not evaluate other options.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Amazon Linux a 10 out of 10.
I chose a 10 because it helps speed up deployments, it is really scalable, and it saves me a lot of headaches.
I do not purchase Amazon Linux through the AWS Marketplace ; I use AWS Amazon Linux from within the EC2 application and do not have to buy it in the marketplace.
My advice to others looking into using Amazon Linux is to use it, and you will find new use cases for it; it will help you significantly in shipping faster.
My overall review rating for Amazon Linux is 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)