Small API
2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 24/7
Sealos 72% lower
As AI technology advances, choosing the right platform is crucial for your team's speed, governance, and long-term success. Both Sealos and AWS have their strengths. The sections below compare them across developer experience, scalability, and total cost of ownership.
As AI technologies evolve, delivering and scaling applications has become essential for powering modern businesses, from AI startups to large-scale enterprises. There are various solutions available, including comprehensive cloud operating systems, managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and traditional IaaS. Selecting the right platform is crucial for your team's velocity, governance, and long-term success.
Sealos and AWS both bring unique strengths to application delivery, each with its own capabilities and limitations. The best choice depends on your specific use case and requirements. In the following sections, we'll compare both platforms regarding developer experience, scalability, and total cost of ownership, helping you determine the most suitable option for your needs—even if it's not us.
| Infrastructure | Standard Kubernetes | AWS-managed PaaS |
| Source Available | 100% source-available (Apache 2.0) | |
| Deployment Options | Cloud Self-hosted Hybrid | AWS cloud only |
| Free Trial | 7 days, 4 vCPU + 4GB (no credit card) | AWS free tier (limited) |
| Max vCPU per Service | Plan-based (4-64 vCPU) | Plan-based (EC2 instance types) |
| Max RAM per Service | Plan-based (4-128 GB) | Plan-based (EC2 instance types) |
| Custom Domains | Unlimited | (Route 53 / ALB) |
| Replicas per Service | Unlimited (within quota) | Plan-based (Auto Scaling) |
| Cron Jobs | Unlimited | CloudWatch/EventBridge |
| Log Retention | Configurable | Configurable (CloudWatch) |
| Scale-to-Zero | ||
| App Marketplace |
Cost evidence
Estimates use the listed average CPU and RAM for a 30-day month. Storage and egress are excluded unless a platform note says otherwise.
Small API
2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 24/7
Medium App
8 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 24/7
Production Stack
16 vCPU, 32GB RAM, 24/7
2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 24/7
Sealos 72% lower
8 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 24/7
Sealos 60% lower
16 vCPU, 32GB RAM, 24/7
Sealos 15% lower
Plan prices include the resource package listed on the Sealos pricing page.
AWS calculation: EC2 + ELB + CloudWatch over 720 hours/month
Sealos is an AI-native Cloud Operating System built on Kubernetes that unifies the entire application lifecycle, from development in Cloud Development Environments (CDEs) to production deployment and management. It is perfect for building and scaling modern AI applications, SaaS platforms, managed databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB) and complex microservice architectures. The platform is 100% source-available, and for production you can choose either a fully managed cloud service or self-host on your own infrastructure.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a mature AWS-native PaaS that automates deployment and scaling on top of EC2, ELB, Auto Scaling, and CloudWatch. It supports multiple runtimes, integrates deeply with AWS services, and lets teams deploy via the EB CLI or console. Beanstalk simplifies infrastructure management while keeping you inside the AWS ecosystem and cost model.
Predictable costs for 24/7 production workloads
Cloud Development Environment (CDE) for consistent dev/prod environments
Self-hosting option for data sovereignty or compliance (100% source-available)
Kubernetes-native control with full API access
100+ ready-to-deploy apps from the marketplace
Enterprise multi-tenancy with granular RBAC and resource quotas
Need deep integration with AWS services (RDS, S3, Lambda, etc.)
Require enterprise compliance (SOC, HIPAA, PCI)
Want deployment in multiple AWS regions worldwide
Need advanced Auto Scaling with custom metrics
Already invested in AWS infrastructure and expertise
Require VPC isolation and networking control
Everything you need to know about Sealos and AWS.