Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Rackspace Technology: Complete 2026 Comparison
In-depth comparison of these two hosting providers across pricing, performance, features, and support.
Result
It's a Tie!
- Both hosts are evenly matched
- Choose based on your specific needs
Category Winners
Best Price
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
$5.00/mo vs $Infinity/mo
Best Value
Tie
Similar renewal pricing
Best Performance
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
99.99% uptime, 3.5/5 rating
Best Support
Rackspace Technology
Live chat, Phone, 24/7
Best for WordPress
Tie
Similar WordPress features
Best for Developers
Tie
Similar developer features
Best for Beginners
Rackspace Technology
Higher ease of use score (4.0/10)
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Essential Info | ||
| Hosting Type | Cloud Infrastructure | Cloud Infrastructure |
| Monthly Price | $5.00/mo | — |
| Renewal Price | $5.00 | — |
| Renewal Markup | 0% | 0% |
| Overall Rating | 3.5/5 | 3.0/5 |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.99% | 100% |
| Trustpilot Rating | 1.3/5 | 1.2/5 |
| Trustpilot Reviews | 361 | 286 |
| Free SSL | ||
| Free Domain | ||
| Free Migration | ||
| Pricing Details | ||
| First Year Cost | $60.00 | $2388.00 |
| Second Year Cost | $60.00 | $2388.00 |
| Money Back Guarantee | — | — |
| Setup Fee | Free | Free |
| Monthly Billing | ||
| Minimum Contract | 0 months | 1 months |
| Technical Specs | ||
| Storage | 40 GB | — |
| Storage Type | SSD | SSD/HDD (VARIES BY PLAN) |
| Bandwidth | 2000 GB | — |
| Max Websites | — | — |
| Max Databases | — | — |
| PHP Versions | — | — |
| SSH Access | ||
| Git Deployment | ||
| Staging Environment | — | — |
| Cron Jobs | ||
| Redis Available | ||
| Programming Languages | ||
| Node.js Support | ||
| Python Support | ||
| Ruby Support | ||
| WordPress Features | ||
| WordPress Optimized | ||
| WordPress Auto-Install | ||
| WordPress Auto-Updates | ||
| WordPress Staging | ||
| WooCommerce Optimized | ||
| LiteSpeed Cache | ||
| Object Caching | ||
| WP Multisite | ||
| WP-CLI Access | ||
| Security | ||
| DDoS Protection | ||
| DDoS Protection Level | AWS Shield Standard (free); Shield Advanced ($3000/mo+) | Enterprise DDoS mitigation included |
| Malware Scanning | ||
| Malware Removal | ||
| Firewall Included | ||
| Backup Frequency | Manual/Snapshot-based | Daily |
| Backup Retention | — | 7 days |
| Backup Restore Fee | Free | Free |
| On-Demand Backup | ||
| Two-Factor Auth | ||
| Wildcard SSL | ||
| Dedicated IP | ||
| Support | ||
| Support Channels | Ticket, Phone, Chat, Knowledge Base, Forums | Phone, Ticket, Chat, Knowledge Base |
| Live Chat | ||
| Live Chat Hours | Paid support plans | 24/7 |
| Phone Support | ||
| Phone Support Hours | 24/7 with paid support | 24/7/365 |
| Ticket Support | ||
| Priority Support | ||
| Support Languages | English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | English |
| Knowledge Base Quality | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Avg Support Wait | — | — |
| Email Accounts | ||
| Email Account Limit | 0 | — |
| Mailbox Size | — | 25 GB |
| Webmail Access | ||
| Spam Filter | ||
| Email Forwarding | ||
| Performance | ||
| CDN Included | ||
| CDN Provider | CloudFront (additional cost) | Akamai/CloudFlare (partner integrations) |
| Server Locations | US East (Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), US West (California), Canada (Central), Canada West (Calgary), South America (Sao Paulo), Europe (Ireland), Europe (London), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (Paris), Europe (Stockholm), Europe (Milan), Europe (Spain), Europe (Zurich), Middle East (Bahrain), Middle East (UAE), Africa (Cape Town), Asia Pacific (Mumbai), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Osaka), Asia Pacific (Hong Kong), Asia Pacific (Jakarta), Asia Pacific (Melbourne), Asia Pacific (Hyderabad), China (Beijing), China (Ningxia), Israel (Tel Aviv), Thailand (Bangkok), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) | Dallas (US), Chicago (US), Virginia (US), London (UK), Hong Kong, Sydney (Australia) |
| Server Location Count | 38 | 6 |
| Choose Server Location | ||
| HTTP/2 Support | ||
| Brotli Compression | ||
| Uptime SLA Credit | ||
| Platform Support | ||
| Drupal Support | ||
| Joomla Support | ||
| Magento Support | ||
| Laravel Support | ||
| Django Support | ||
| Next.js Support | ||
| Rails Support | ||
| Static Site Support | ||
| Control Panel | ||
| cPanel Included | ||
| Control Panel | AWS Console / Lightsail Console | MyRackspace Portal |
| Softaculous | ||
| Website Builder | ||
| Builder Name | — | — |
| Migration | ||
| Migration Websites Limit | 0 | — |
| Migration Turnaround | — | — |
| Paid Migration Cost | — | — |
| Migration Quality | — | — |
| Compliance | ||
| GDPR Compliant | ||
| PCI Compliant | ||
| HIPAA Compliant | ||
| Data Center Certs | SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, ISO 9001, PCI DSS Level 1, HIPAA, FedRAMP | SOC 1, SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, PCI DSS Level 1, HIPAA, HITRUST CSF, FedRAMP, FISMA, NIST 800-53, NIST 800-171, ITAR, FIPS 140-2 |
| Ratings | ||
| Value for Money | 3.0/10 | 2.0/10 |
| Performance Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Support Quality | 2.0/10 | 2.5/10 |
| Security Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Features Rating | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Ease of Use | 2.5/10 | 3.0/10 |
| Transparency Rating | 2.0/10 | 2.0/10 |
| Suitability Scores | ||
| For Bloggers | 2.0/10 | 1.0/10 |
| For E-commerce | 4.0/10 | 3.0/10 |
| For Agencies | 4.0/10 | 3.0/10 |
| For Developers | 5.0/10 | 3.0/10 |
| For Beginners | 1.0/10 | 1.0/10 |
| For Enterprise | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Policies | ||
| Bandwidth Overage | 2TB included on $5 Lightsail; overage $0.09/GB | Varies by contract; typically metered |
| Storage Overage | Pay for additional volumes/snapshots | Varies by contract |
| Adult Content Allowed | ||
| Gambling Sites Allowed | ||
| Crypto Sites Allowed | ||
| Reseller Hosting | ||
| White Label | ||
| API Access | ||
| Company Info | ||
| Year Founded | 2006 | 1998 |
| Headquarters | United States | United States |
| Parent Company | Amazon.com Inc. (subsidiary) | Independent (publicly traded; owned by Apollo Global Management since 2016) |
| Green Hosting | ||
| Instant Activation | ||
| Managed WordPress | ||
| Managed WP Available | ||
| Pricing Model | — | — |
| Monthly Visit Limit | — | — |
| Visit Overage Cost | — | — |
| PHP Workers | — | — |
| Plugin Restrictions | — | — |
| Dev Environment | — | — |
| Dev Env Name | — | — |
| Regional Info | ||
| Best Countries | United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, India, Canada | United States, United Kingdom, Australia |
| Local Currencies | USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, SGD, BRL, INR, CAD | USD, GBP, AUD |
| Support Languages | English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | English |
| Data Sovereignty | GDPR, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP, SOC 2, ISO 27001 | GDPR, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2 |
| External Ratings | ||
| G2 Rating | 4.6/5 | 4.2/5 |
| BBB Rating | NR | A+ |
| Advanced Technical | ||
| Inode Limit | — | — |
| Max DB Size | — | — |
| Max Upload Size | — | — |
| Database Type | MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL/MSSQL/Oracle | MySQL, PostgreSQL, MSSQL, Oracle |
| Elasticsearch | ||
| Image Optimization | — | — |
| PHP Switching | — | — |
| Subdomains | — | — |
| FTP Accounts | — | — |
| Additional Pricing | ||
| Free Domain Duration | — | — |
| Money Back Exclusions | Pay-as-you-go; No traditional refund; Free tier available for 12 months | Enterprise contracts; no traditional refund policy |
| Payment Methods | Credit Card, Debit Card, ACH Direct Debit, Wire Transfer, AWS Credits | Credit Card, Invoice, Wire Transfer, Enterprise Agreement |
| Auto Renewal Default | ||
| Domain Privacy Included | — | |
| Domain Privacy Cost | — | — |
| SSL Provider | AWS Certificate Manager (free SSL for AWS resources) | Let's Encrypt / Custom certificates |
| Dedicated IP Cost | — | — |
| Additional Support | ||
| Phone Support Countries | Global | United States, United Kingdom, Australia |
| Priority Support Cost | — | — |
| Community Forum | ||
| Support Outsourced | ||
| Object Cache Type | — | — |
| Business & Affiliate | ||
| Affiliate Program | ||
| Commission Type | Per sale | — |
| Commission Amount | Varies by service; AWS Partner Network available | — |
| Additional Policies | ||
| File Hosting Allowed | ||
| Proxy/VPN Allowed | ||
| Bandwidth Overage Cost | $0.09 | — |
| Account Suspension Policy | Violation of ToS; non-payment; abuse | Violation of ToS; non-payment |
| Malware Removal Cost | — | $0.00 |
| Downloadable Backups | ||
| Additional Platforms | ||
| PrestaShop | ||
| Ghost | ||
| Shopify Migration | ||
| Wix Migration | ||
| Squarespace Migration | ||
| Webflow Export | ||
| Editorial Info | ||
| Best For | Enterprise deployments needing AWS ecosystem; Developers comfortable with cloud infrastructure; Businesses needing compliance certifications (HIPAA, PCI, FedRAMP); Global deployments with 38 regions; Those already invested in AWS ecosystem | Large enterprises needing multi-cloud management; Organizations requiring managed services across AWS/Azure/GCP; Companies needing 24/7 expert support; Compliance-heavy industries |
| Avoid If | Beginner wanting simple hosting; Need included support; Want managed WordPress; Budget-conscious without cloud expertise; Need predictable billing | Small business or startup; Need affordable hosting; Want simple self-service; Budget-conscious; Need quick support responses |
| Known Issues | Extremely poor Trustpilot rating (1.3) due to billing complaints and support issues; Complex pricing can lead to unexpected bills; Support costs extra (free tier has no support); Not beginner-friendly; EC2 pricing confusing; Lightsail less flexible than competitors | Very poor Trustpilot rating (1.2) despite 'Fanatical Support' brand; Support quality reportedly declined after outsourcing; Expensive for what you get; Complex contracts; Slow response times reported; Not suitable for small businesses; Apollo acquisition led to cost-cutting |
| Unique Selling Point | Market-leading cloud provider with 38 regions, most compliance certifications, and Lightsail for simplified VPS at $5/month | Multi-cloud managed services provider with 'Fanatical Support' across AWS, Azure, and GCP |
| Ideal Customer | Enterprise or developer needing global cloud infrastructure with extensive compliance certifications and AWS ecosystem integration | Enterprise needing managed multi-cloud services with 24/7 support and compliance requirements |
| Best Alternative To | Google Cloud Platform | Self-managed multi-cloud |
| Primary Competitors | Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, Vultr | Cloudways, AWS Managed Services, Azure Managed |
We strive for accuracy, but pricing and features change frequently. Some data may be outdated. Report an error and we'll update it promptly.
Our Verdict
Choose Amazon Web Services (AWS) if you...
- Want higher-rated hosting (3.5/5)
- Need enterprise-grade features
- Want more server locations (38 available)
Choose Rackspace Technology if you...
- Require 24/7 live chat support
- Need free website migration