As somebody with a Linode and an EC2 account, here are some other things to consider:
- Linode's DNS manager is pretty decent, and I've historically used it for both Linode and EC2 machines.
- EC2 t1.micro instances are frustratingly underpowered if you have a CPU spike, and they may "freeze" for as much as a second at time. I'm not convinced that Amazon is price/performance competitive at the very low end.
- EC2's ability to back up volumes to S3 is very handy.
- EC2's ability to spin a new system up alongside your old one, transfer the old IP address to the new system, and then spin down your old system is great.
So if what you want is a low-end Linux box that's online 24 hours a day, Linode can be an excellent choice. And a $100 credit will go a fairly long way.
- Linode's DNS manager is pretty decent, and I've historically used it for both Linode and EC2 machines.
- EC2 t1.micro instances are frustratingly underpowered if you have a CPU spike, and they may "freeze" for as much as a second at time. I'm not convinced that Amazon is price/performance competitive at the very low end.
- EC2's ability to back up volumes to S3 is very handy.
- EC2's ability to spin a new system up alongside your old one, transfer the old IP address to the new system, and then spin down your old system is great.
So if what you want is a low-end Linux box that's online 24 hours a day, Linode can be an excellent choice. And a $100 credit will go a fairly long way.