An instance is a virtual server in the AWS Cloud. You launch an instance from an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). The AMI provides the operating system, application server, and applications for your instance.
When you create your AWS account, you can get started with Amazon EC2 for free using the AWS Free Tier. Your Free Tier benefits depend on when you created your AWS account. If your created your AWS account before July 15, 2025 and it's less than 12 months old, you can use the Free Tier to launch and use a t2.micro instance for free (in Regions where t2.micro is unavailable, you can use a t3.micro instance under the Free Tier). You incur charges for your instance or usage that counts against your Free Tier limits while the instance is running, even if it remains idle. For more information, see Amazon EC2 pricing. If you created your AWS account on or after July 15, 2025, you can use t3.micro, t3.small, t4g.micro, t4g.small, c7i-flex.large, and m7i-flex.large instance types for 6 months or until your credits are used up. For more information, see Free Tier benefits before and after July 15, 2025.
When you launch your instance, you can launch your instance in a subnet that is associated with one of the following resources:
An Availability Zone â This option is the default.
A Local Zone â To launch an instance in a Local Zone, you must opt in to the Local Zone, and then create a subnet in the zone. For more information, see Get started with Local Zones.
A Wavelength Zone â To launch an instance in a Wavelength Zone, you must opt in to the Wavelength Zone, and then create a subnet in the zone. For information about how to launch an instance in a Wavelength Zone, see Get started with AWS Wavelength.
An Outpost â To launch an instance in an Outpost, you must create an Outpost. For information about how to create an Outpost, see Get started with AWS Outposts.
After you launch your instance, you can connect to it and use it. To begin, the instance state is pending. When the instance state is running, the instance has started booting. There might be a short time before you can connect to the instance. Note that bare metal instance types might take longer to launch.
Depending on how you plan to connect to your instance, you might want to make certain configurations while launching your instance. These configurations could include specifying inbound security group rules for certain traffic or associating an instance profile role. For more information on the connection methods you can use to connect and their requirements, see Connect to your EC2 instance.
The instance receives a public DNS name that you can use to contact the instance from the internet. The instance also receives a private DNS name that other instances within the same VPC can use to contact the instance.
When you're finished with an instance, to avoid incurring unnecessary costs, be sure to terminate it. For more information, see Terminate Amazon EC2 instances.
The following methods are some of the ways that you can launch an instance.
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