I Thought AWS Beanstalk Was a Salad… Until I Tried to Deploy My Website

When I first heard about AWS Elastic Beanstalk, I didn’t think it had anything to do with code. It sounded like a healthy lunch option.

But I was trying to host a small HTML/CSS/JS website online, and Beanstalk showed up in my search results with this beautiful line:

“Just upload your code — we’ll do the rest.”

I thought, “Great! I don’t want to deal with EC2, S3, or whatever all that is.”
So I zipped my website files, uploaded them into Beanstalk, clicked Create Environment…

…and then waited.

😵 What Went Wrong

Here’s what happened next (and what I learned as a beginner):

1️⃣ Static websites don’t need a backend environment

Elastic Beanstalk is made to handle applications — things like Node.js, Python, Java apps — that run on a server.

But my site? Just index.html, some CSS, maybe a few animations. No backend. No database.

Beanstalk tried to launch a full EC2 instance for it. It was like renting a truck to carry a pencil.

2️⃣ I picked a random platform (mistake)

During setup, Beanstalk asked me what platform I was using. I had no idea, so I just picked something that sounded techy — like “Node.js.”

Bad move.

Since my project had no package.json or server code, Beanstalk didn’t know how to start it. The environment turned red. I panicked.

3️⃣ It still taught me a lot

Even though it didn’t work out, I learned:

• AWS creates EC2 instances behind the scenes

• It sets up load balancers and logs

• Beanstalk expects apps to have something like a “start” command

• You can’t just throw in HTML files and expect it to run

✅ What I Should Have Used Instead

For static sites like mine, I later learned that Amazon S3 + CloudFront is way better and actually free tier eligible.

But hey — at least now I know what Elastic Beanstalk is (and what it’s not for).

💡 Final Thoughts

Elastic Beanstalk isn’t bad. It’s just not the right tool for static websites. If you’re a beginner like me, don’t be afraid to try things — even if you break a few environments (just delete them later to stay in the free tier!).

Now when someone says “Elastic Beanstalk,” I no longer think of salad. I think of EC2s, logs, and a mild heart attack.