🆚 AWS S3 Static Website Hosting vs AWS Amplify Hosting — Explained with Example

Hey folks! 👋

If you're planning to host a static website on AWS, you might be confused between S3 static hosting and AWS Amplify hosting. I was too! 😅

So I decided to try both and break down the differences — with examples — so anyone can understand.

Let’s go! 🚀

💡 What is a Static Website?

Before we dive in…

A static website is just HTML, CSS, and JS files. No backend. Perfect for portfolios, blogs, documentation, or single-page apps like React/Vue.

☁️ Option 1: Hosting on AWS S3

🪣 What is it?

AWS S3 (Simple Storage Service) is mainly for file storage, but you can enable static website hosting. Your HTML files live inside an S3 bucket, and S3 serves them as a website.

⚙️ How it works?

• Create an S3 bucket
• Upload your files
• Enable “Static Website Hosting”
• Make files public or connect CloudFront for HTTPS
• Done ✅

🧪 Example:

Let’s say I have a portfolio site built with HTML and CSS.

• Upload the files to S3
• Enable website hosting
• Open the public S3 URL

That’s it. It’s live! 🔥

✅ Pros:

• Super cheap
• Easy to set up for simple sites
• No build time

❌ Cons:

• No built-in CI/CD (but we can fix this with CodePipeline!)
• You manage public access, HTTPS, headers manually

⚡ Option 2: Hosting on AWS Amplify

🌐 What is it?

Amplify Hosting is a fully managed hosting service from AWS — designed for modern web apps.

It’s perfect if you’re using React, Vue, Angular, etc., and want Git-based deployments, HTTPS, previews, and more.

⚙️ How it works?

• Go to AWS Amplify Console
• Connect your GitHub repo
• It auto-detects your frontend framework
• Every Git push triggers build + deploy

🧪 Example:

My React app is in GitHub.

• Connect repo to Amplify
• Amplify runs npm install && npm run build
• It deploys to a global CDN
• Done!

✅ Pros:

• Auto CI/CD from Git
• SSL, custom domains, caching — all managed
• Easy preview of branches

❌ Cons:

• Slightly costlier than S3
• Less control over build process (compared to CodePipeline)

🔄 Wait, Can We Do CI/CD with S3?

Yes! 💡

Even though S3 doesn’t have built-in CI/CD, you can use AWS CodePipeline.

Here’s the flow

GitHub (or CodeCommit)
   ↓
CodePipeline
   ↓
(Optional) CodeBuild (e.g., for React build)
   ↓
S3 (Deploy build folder)

This setup gives you full automation: push code ➝ site auto-deploys.

Example buildspec.yml

version: 0.2

phases:
  install:
    commands:
      - npm install
  build:
    commands:
      - npm run build

artifacts:
  base-directory: build
  files:
    - '**/*'

🔍 S3 vs Amplify — Summary Table

💬 So, Which One Should You Use?

🔚 Final Thoughts

Both are great options! Pick what fits your project and team.

✅ Want total control + cost savings → Use S3 + CodePipeline
✅ Want speed + built-in CI/CD → Use Amplify Hosting

Hope this helped you understand the difference clearly! 🙌