Best Amazon EC2 Alternatives in 2026
Updated
20 platforms from container build tools ranked against Amazon EC2 on the same published basis.
- 1Amazon EC2 vs Buildah
- 2Amazon EC2 vs BuildKit
- 3Amazon EC2 vs AWS CodeBuild
- 4Amazon EC2 vs kpack
- 5Amazon EC2 vs Earthly
- 6Amazon EC2 vs Google Cloud Build
- 7Amazon EC2 vs werf
- 8Amazon EC2 vs Depot
- 9Amazon EC2 vs ko
- 10Amazon EC2 vs Tilt
- 11Amazon EC2 vs Cloud Native Buildpacks Pack
- 12Amazon EC2 vs Dagger
- 13Amazon EC2 vs Garden
- 14Amazon EC2 vs Jib
- 15Amazon EC2 vs Kaniko
- 16Amazon EC2 vs Paketo Buildpacks
- 17Amazon EC2 vs rules_docker
- 18Amazon EC2 vs Source-to-Image
- 19Amazon EC2 vs nix2container
- 20Amazon EC2 vs apko
Amazon EC2 alternatives compared
| # | Platform | Score | Free plan | From | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buildah | 7.4 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, self-hosted |
| 2 | BuildKit | 7.4 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 3 | AWS CodeBuild | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, Web, Windows |
| 4 | kpack | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | API, self-hosted |
| 5 | Earthly | 7.0 | No | — | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 6 | Google Cloud Build | 6.9 | No | $0.01/mo | API, Linux, Web |
| 7 | werf | 6.9 | No | — | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 8 | Depot | 6.8 | No | $20/mo | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 9 | ko | 6.0 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 10 | Tilt | 6.0 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 11 | Cloud Native Buildpacks Pack | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 12 | Dagger | 5.9 | Free plan | $50/mo | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 13 | Garden | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 14 | Jib | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 15 | Kaniko | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Linux, self-hosted |
| 16 | Paketo Buildpacks | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Linux, self-hosted |
| 17 | rules_docker | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac |
| 18 | Source-to-Image | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 19 | nix2container | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Linux |
| 20 | apko | 5.6 | No | — | Linux, Mac, self-hosted |
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Questions about Amazon EC2 alternatives
What is the best alternative to Amazon EC2?
Buildah, number 1 in container build tools with a score of 7.4 out of 10. The others here: BuildKit, AWS CodeBuild, kpack and 16 more.
What is the best free alternative to Amazon EC2?
Buildah is the best-ranked alternative with a free plan. 15 of the 20 alternatives here publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
How are these alternatives ranked?
Ranked on what each maker publishes, open and connectable first: a public API, open-source code, the depth of its documentation and a free tier to try it on. Model lists are sorted by the figure in their title, exactly as each provider publishes it.