| Factor | Easy AWS Privacy VPN | Commercial VPN | AWS EC2 OpenVPN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy to setup | 🟡 | 🟢 | 🔴 |
| Performance | 🟢 | 🟢 | 🔴 |
| Quick session start | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Simple session stop (no extra $ for forgetting to stop an AWS backend) | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🟢 |
| Unlimited use for flat rate | 🔴 | 🟢 | 🟡 |
| $0 when not in use | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🔴 |
| Cheap for one-time or occasional use | 🟢 | 🔴 | 🟢/🔴 |
| Resilient (fewest SPOF) | 🟡 | 🟢 | 🔴 |
AWS Free Tier gives you the first 100GB of data transfer per month free, even after your first 12 months.
Traffic over 100GB/month is charged as described here.
Using the VPN incurs the following costs:
- $0.10/hour for each Subnet associated to a Client VPN endpoint; plus
- $0.005/hour for each Public IP address in use (required for the above); plus
- $0.05/hour for each VPN client connected.
Risk: If you only stop the VPN client connection, the backend in AWS continues to run at a cost of $0.105/hour. You need to remember to stop the AWS backend when you're done using the VPN.
Various prices, but generally flat rate for unlimited use and discounted for 1+ year terms.
It isn't always free...
This solution has the same AWS Data Transfer costs as described above. i.e. Over 100GB/month of data transfer isn't free.
After you've had your AWS account for 12 months, the AWS OpenVPN solution will cost:
- $0.0116/hour for the t2.micro EC2 instance: $8.70/month
- $0.005/hour for the Public IP address: $3.75/month
- $0.08/GB-month for (default) 8GB EBS: $0.64/month
See the AWS Free Tier FAQs for more details.
The total will be $13.09/month. That's roughly the same cost as using Easy AWS Privacy VPN for 85 hours per month.