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What's the Difference Between AWS Local Zones and AWS Outposts?

Compare AWS Local Zones and AWS Outposts side by side — features, pricing, and ideal use cases to help you choose the right product.

Compare side-by-side

Comparisons
AWS Local Zones
AWS Outposts
Category

Compute, Edge Computing

Compute, Hybrid

Description

Infrastructure to deploy latency-sensitive workloads near end users

Fully managed solutions for on-premises and edge workloads

Best for
  • Media content creation
  • Real-time gaming
  • Live video streaming
  • Machine learning inference
  • Low-latency workloads
  • Local data processing
  • Data residency
  • Hybrid applications
Key features
  • Low-latency compute
  • VPC extension
  • Multiple services available
  • Direct Connect support
  • Metro-area deployment
  • Fully managed
  • AWS APIs on premises
  • Local compute & storage
  • Consistent hybrid experience
  • Multiple form factors
Pricing model

Pay for underlying resources used

Fully managed; 3-year term pricing

Free tier

No

No

Expert take

“Local Zones bring AWS infrastructure to metro areas for single-digit millisecond latency to end users. Deploy the same APIs and services without managing edge hardware.”
— Oleksii Bebych, re:Post Top Contributor [profile]

“Outposts is for workloads that must stay on premises due to latency or data residency constraints but still need the same AWS APIs and tooling. Think of it as extending your VPC into your data center rather than building a separate environment.”
— Riku Kobayashi, re:Post Top Contributor [profile]

Product page

When to use AWS Local Zones or AWS Outposts

Use AWS Local Zones when:

  • Media content creation
  • Real-time gaming
  • Live video streaming
  • Machine learning inference

Learn more about AWS Local Zones »

Use AWS Outposts when:

  • Low-latency workloads
  • Local data processing
  • Data residency
  • Hybrid applications

Learn more about AWS Outposts »

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