Short answer
As of October 23, 2026, Bluehost VPS wins more of the head-to-head checks (6 vs 2) and ranks higher overall (#40 of 160). Amazon Lightsail is cheaper to start ($5.00 vs $5.69 a month) and Amazon Lightsail has more locations (19 vs 9).
Verdict
Amazon Lightsail is cheaper to start: Linux 512 MB costs $5.00 per month against $5.69 at Bluehost VPS, but Bluehost VPS gives more RAM for the money ($3.62 vs $7.00 per GB, median).
Amazon Lightsail has the wider footprint with 19 locations in 17 countries, against 9 in 8 at Bluehost VPS; both offer Ashburn, Frankfurt, London, Mumbai, Singapore and Sydney.
On features, only Amazon Lightsail offers Windows Server, only Amazon Lightsail bills hourly, only Amazon Lightsail offers dedicated-CPU plans and only Bluehost VPS offers a managed option.
Customers rate Bluehost VPS higher on Trustpilot: 4.5 from 31,911 reviews versus 1.3 from 429.
Overall Bluehost VPS ranks #40 and Amazon Lightsail #73 of 160 providers we track. Choose Bluehost VPS if you want a managed server or customer ratings weigh heavily for you; choose Amazon Lightsail if price matters most or you need a wider choice of locations.
Bluehost and Lightsail side by side
| Bluehost VPS | Amazon Lightsail | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | NVMe 2: $5.69/mo | Linux 512 MB: $5.00/mo |
| Entry plan specs | 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB NVMe, unmetered traffic | 2 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 20 GB SSD, 1 TB traffic |
| Cheapest Windows plan | No Windows | Windows 512 MB: $9.50/mo |
| Median price per GB RAM | $3.62 | $7.00 |
| Data-center locations | 9 in 8 countries | 19 in 17 countries |
| Regions | Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania | Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America |
| Virtualisation | KVM (reported by VPSBenchmarks; Bluehost does not state the hypervisor) | KVM (AWS Nitro) |
| Hourly billing | No | Yes |
| NVMe storage | Yes | No |
| DDoS protection | Yes | Yes |
| Backups | None | Paid |
| Managed option | Yes | No |
| Payment methods | card, paypal, other | card, sepa, other |
| Money-back | 30 days | Not published |
| Uptime SLA | 99.99% | 99.99% region-level (multi-AZ deployment); 99.5% per single instance |
| Trustpilot | 4.5 (31,911 reviews) | 1.3 (429 reviews) |
| Founded / HQ | 2003, Jacksonville US | 2006, Seattle US |
Highlighted cells mark the better value where the comparison is objective (lower price, more locations, higher rating).
Plans at the same size
The closest matching plans by RAM from each provider.
| RAM | Bluehost | $/month | Lightsail | $/month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | no plan | — | Linux 1 GB (2 vCPU, 40 GB) | $7.00 |
| 2 GB | NVMe 2 (1 vCPU, 50 GB) | $5.69 | Linux 2 GB (2 vCPU, 60 GB) | $12.00 |
| 4 GB | NVMe 4 (2 vCPU, 100 GB) | $11.99 | Linux 4 GB (2 vCPU, 80 GB) | $24.00 |
| 8 GB | NVMe 8 (4 vCPU, 200 GB) | $28.99 | Linux 8 GB (2 vCPU, 160 GB) | $44.00 |
| 16 GB | NVMe 16 (8 vCPU, 450 GB) | $49.99 | Linux 16 GB (4 vCPU, 320 GB) | $84.00 |
Locations
Bluehost VPS operates 9 locations (Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania); Amazon Lightsail operates 19 (Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America).
Cities both offer: Ashburn, Frankfurt, London, Mumbai, Singapore and Sydney.
Only Bluehost: Amsterdam, Phoenix and Toronto.
Only Lightsail: Columbus, Dublin, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Montreal, Paris, Portland, Sao Paulo, Seoul and 3 more.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bluehost VPS or Amazon Lightsail better?
As of October 23, 2026, Bluehost VPS wins more of the head-to-head checks (6 vs 2) and ranks higher overall (#40 of 160). Amazon Lightsail is cheaper to start ($5.00 vs $5.69 a month) and Amazon Lightsail has more locations (19 vs 9).
Is Bluehost VPS cheaper than Amazon Lightsail?
Amazon Lightsail has the lower entry price: $5.00 against $5.69 per month. The plans-at-equal-RAM table compares them size by size.
Which has more data centers, Bluehost VPS or Amazon Lightsail?
Amazon Lightsail, with 19 locations in 17 countries versus 9 at Bluehost VPS. Both operate in Ashburn, Frankfurt, London, Mumbai, Singapore and 1 more.
Do Bluehost VPS and Amazon Lightsail offer Windows VPS?
Only Amazon Lightsail offers Windows Server.
Sources
Prices, plans and locations were read from these pages; last checked October 23, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the provider's site before you buy.