Linux on AWS: The Cost of Free

AWS is still the 800-pound gorilla of cloud computing. While platforms like Azure Cloud, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Alibaba Cloud have gained market share, AWS is still the most popular IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) platform today. This means there is a compelling reason for aspiring IT pros to get familiar with the platform.

Similarly, different flavors of Linux are the norm in everything from web servers to IoT devices to information security. As a result, there is also a precedent for up-and-coming IT mavericks to know their way around a Linux box.

Due to the popularity of Linux and AWS, running Linux on AWS can be highly beneficial. It provides businesses with a way to run Linux workloads in the cloud. For those studying for IT certification exams, it provides a way to get hands-on experience at a low cost — or even for free. Here, we'll look at what you can get from AWS's Linux offering and explore the pros and cons.

Linux on AWS: The Operating Systems

The Linux on AWS offering is quite robust. Many of the major distributions can be easily deployed as AMIs (Amazon Machine Images). There are many combinations of operating systems and configurations to choose from. Here we'll help you sort through the basics.

Understanding Hardened Images

Before diving into Linux distributions, it’s important to understand the concept of a hardened image. These are pre-configured virtual machine images built to meet specific security standards, such as the Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks or OpenSCAP profiles.

Many hardened AMIs are available in the AWS Marketplace, including options for distributions like Amazon Linux 2023, Ubuntu Pro, Rocky Linux, and AlmaLinux. These images are a great way to streamline deployments and meet compliance requirements out of the box.

That said, if your goal is hands-on learning or certification prep, you may prefer a minimal install, which gives you more control and a chance to configure services and security settings yourself.

Popular Linux Distros on AWS

You can run a wide variety of operating systems on AWS. However, some have more support and documentation than others. Additionally, there are a small handful of flavors of Linux that can generally cover a wide variety of use cases. Let's look at those popular versions that should be fairly easy to get started with.

Debian

Debian is a popular operating system; it has served as the launchpad for many other flavors of Linux. For example, Ubuntu, Kali, and Linux Mint are based on Debian. This operating system has a reputation for stability and user control. Debian also values the concept of free (as in freedom) software. The result is a stable, customizable operating system, but not necessarily the easiest to work with. If you're willing to accept a steeper learning curve than something like Ubuntu, consider Debian.

Kali Linux

While AWS has their own suite of security tools, Kali Linux is effectively a must-have for infosec pros. It comes baked-in with the tools for pen-testing and security audits. If your studies are security-focused, AWS + Kali may prove to be a quick way to hit the ground running.

Red Hat

Plenty of enterprises trust Red Hat and run their workloads on RHEL. Under the hood, RHEL and CentOS are mostly the same, but there are a few differences here and there. If you want to get the true RHEL experience, it's possible to run RHEL on the AWS free tier.

SUSE

SUSE fits into many of the same use cases as Red Hat with a few differences. One of the most notable is SUSE's use of YaST out of the box. Whether you should pick Red Hat or SUSE probably comes down to the fields you'd like to work in or cert you are studying for.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a very popular distro for the LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP/Perl)/LEMP (Linux Nginx MySQL PHP/Perl) stacks many apps use. If you're looking for a distro powerful enough for production use, but has a manageable learning-curve, Ubuntu may work for you.

Amazon Linux

With all the Linux distros out there, many may wonder if we need another, and what makes Amazon Linux different. From a nuts and bolts perspective, Amazon Linux AMI (and Amazon Linux 2023) is basically Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) optimized to run on AWS. This idea here is simple: with Amazon Linux you get images that are performant, secure, and supported by AWS. From a business perspective, that makes Amazon Linux an attractive operating system.

Linux on AWS: Things You Can Do on the Free Tier

The AWS Free Tier gives you a lot to work with. Coupled with the "free" nature of most Linux operating systems, this means there is plenty you can build at no dollar cost. For those looking to get hands-on experience with Linux operating systems, the 750 monthly hours of EC2 t2.micro or t3.micro instances for 12 months is useful.

Because there are only 744 hours in 31 days, you should be able to get as much access as you need over the course of a year. Coupled with comparable free storage and database server options, you can build out a variety of projects to help sharpen your skills. Further, aspiring security pros can run Kali on the AWS free tier.

Note: To help make sure you don't exceed free-tier limits, check out AWS's How do I make sure I don't incur charges when I'm using the AWS Free Tier? FAQ.

Non-AWS Certs AWS on Linux Might Help You With

It's a no-brainer that using AWS is useful for AWS certifications. However, there are a number of situations where AWS on Linux might prove useful for other certifications too. Here are a few examples:

• CompTIA Linux+:The latest Linux+ exam objectives still mention access to a computer that supports virtualization or a cloud service provider. Spinning up Linux instances on AWS is a great way to meet this requirement and get hands-on with real-world scenarios.

• Linux Professional Institute LPIC-1: Linux Administrator: While LPIC-1 and CompTIA Linux+ used to be linked, they’re now entirely separate certifications. Still, LPIC-1 expects you to understand how to work with Linux from the command line—and cloud-hosted Linux boxes on AWS are a flexible, low-cost way to gain that experience.

• CompTIA Security+: Section 3.7 of the SY0-701 exam touches on cloud and virtualization concepts. Practicing with cloud-based Linux machines can help reinforce these topics. Plus, AWS supports Kali Linux, which is still one of the most popular pentesting distributions and is called out in CompTIA’s suggested tools list.

Linux on AWS: What You'll Need to Pay For

Not everything on AWS is free. They didn't become a profit-generating machine by giving it all away. If you exceed free-tier usage, you'll be billed. This means you can expect to pay for things like:

• EC2 instances larger than the free-tier eligible t4g.micro (or t2/t3.micro for older accounts)

• Services outside of the Free Tier, like certain S3 storage classes or paid support plans

• Exceeding your usage caps—for example, exceeding 750 hours of EC2 per month, surpassing 5GB of S3 storage, or using more than 750 hours of RDS or ELB

Fortunately, for those of you simply studying and experimenting, it should be easy to stay under the caps.

Linux on AWS: What You Don't Get

AWS may dominate the cloud space, but it still doesn’t offer everything a Linux pro might need. Here are two key gaps to keep in mind:

• Hands-On Hardware Experience: Cloud computing abstracts away the physical side of IT. You won’t get to install RAM, swap out SSDs, or troubleshoot power issues in AWS. If your goal is to learn physical server setup—or practice for a role in data center ops—you’ll need to get hands-on with real hardware. Home labs, Raspberry Pi clusters, or virtualized environments like Proxmox are great complements to your AWS learning.

• Exposure to Other Cloud Platforms: Running Linux on AWS helps you build cloud and Linux skills—but it won’t teach you how to deploy in Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or other providers like Oracle Cloud or DigitalOcean. In today’s multi-cloud world, many employers value experience across platforms. If you’re aiming for a well-rounded cloud career, be sure to branch out beyond AWS when you're ready.

Final Thoughts: Everything is a Tradeoff

There’s a lot you can do for free with AWS and Linux, but free doesn’t always mean it’s the best fit. Tools like dual-booting, WSL 2 (which now supports systemd and Docker), VirtualBox, VMware Workstation Player, and even Docker Desktop give you powerful ways to experiment with Linux locally, especially if Windows is your primary OS.

What works best really depends on your goals. If you're looking to build cloud skills alongside Linux knowledge, AWS is a solid platform to explore. But if you're just tinkering with a new distro or want to scan devices on your local network, you're probably better off staying local.

In the end, it's all about tradeoffs: cost, convenience, control, and learning outcomes. Whether you're spinning up a cloud instance or booting into a VM, the key is to pick the tool that fits your path forward.