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Hosting advice : EC2, Workspace or Lightsail ?

Forum|Forum|1 month ago
January 5, 2026
2 replies
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A

+11

Augustin
Flight Specialist | Tier 4

Hi everyone,

My company uses AWS for hosting our virtual machines.

We need to add a new bot runner and we have bought the Automation Anywhere bot runner license.

I was wondering what solution you would recommend : Workspaces, EC2 or Lightsail ?

We have been using Workspaces but I tend to think it is not the best fit as it is more a virtual desktop solution (it is for running unattended bot)

Lightsail seems more relevant and cost-effective than EC2 at first glance, but perhaps I missed a thing.

What are your thoughts on that point ?

Best answer by Aaron.Gleason

@Augustin For unattended runners, EC2 is generally the most common/reliable choice because it’s designed for always-on VM workloads and gives you full control over networking/security and automation (patching, imaging, monitoring, backups).

Workspaces is great for “a human needs a desktop,” but tends to add desktop-session assumptions you don’t need for unattended execution.

Lightsail can look cheaper/simpler, but it’s usually better for straightforward app hosting; teams often outgrow it once they need tighter VPC integration, standardized governance, or more flexibility in instance/storage/network options.

If you’re scheduling the runner to run only part of the day, EC2’s start/stop automation can save money, too.

+14

Aaron.Gleason
Automation Anywhere Team
Answer
Forum|Forum|1 month ago
January 5, 2026

@Augustin For unattended runners, EC2 is generally the most common/reliable choice because it’s designed for always-on VM workloads and gives you full control over networking/security and automation (patching, imaging, monitoring, backups).

Workspaces is great for “a human needs a desktop,” but tends to add desktop-session assumptions you don’t need for unattended execution.

Lightsail can look cheaper/simpler, but it’s usually better for straightforward app hosting; teams often outgrow it once they need tighter VPC integration, standardized governance, or more flexibility in instance/storage/network options.

If you’re scheduling the runner to run only part of the day, EC2’s start/stop automation can save money, too.