Deploy a Full Website on EC2 with Apache/Nginx (Using AWS Free Tier) 🚀

“Can I host a full-blown website on AWS... for free?”

YES, you can — and today I’ll show you exactly how to do it using EC2, Apache or Nginx, and zero jargon. Let’s go from idea to live website in under 30 minutes. 💡💻

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🧠 Why Use EC2 to Host a Website?

Think of EC2 like renting a house (server) where you can host anything — your website, backend, or portfolio. You get full control, root access, and scalability.

Real-world analogy: EC2 is like leasing your own plot of land (server) in the cloud, and Apache/Nginx is the building you construct on top to serve guests (visitors).

And with the AWS Free Tier, your first 750 hours/month (t2.micro instance) are completely free for 12 months. 🎉

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🧰 What You’ll Need

• An AWS account (Free Tier enabled)

• A simple website (HTML/CSS/JS files)

• Basic terminal skills (copy-paste works too!)

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🏗 Step-by-Step: Launch Your EC2 Instance

1. Go to the EC2 Dashboard

• https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2

2. Launch a New Instance

• Name: my-website-server

• AMI: Amazon Linux 2 (or Ubuntu)

• Instance Type: t2.micro (Free Tier)

• Key Pair: Create new one, download .pem file

• Security Group: Allow ports 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), and optionally 443 (HTTPS)

3. Launch and Connect

Once it’s running, click “Connect” and follow the instructions for SSH:

chmod 400 my-key.pem
ssh -i my-key.pem ec2-user@<your-ec2-ip>

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🔧 Install Apache or Nginx

Choose one:

Option A: Install Apache

sudo yum update -y
sudo yum install httpd -y
sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl enable httpd

Visit http://<your-ec2-ip> — you’ll see the Apache test page 🎉

Option B: Install Nginx (Ubuntu example)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx -y
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

Now go to your EC2 IP in the browser — Nginx is live!

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📁 Upload and Host Your Website

1. Replace Default Files

cd /var/www/html  # Apache
cd /var/www/      # Nginx (usually /var/www/html or /usr/share/nginx/html)

2. Create an index.html

echo "<h1>My EC2 Website is Live! 🚀</h1>" | sudo tee index.html

3. Or Upload Your Site Files

Use scp (from your local machine):

scp -i my-key.pem * ec2-user@<your-ec2-ip>:/var/www/html/

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🌍 Optional: Add a Custom Domain (Bonus)

• Buy a domain from GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.

• Point your domain’s A record to your EC2 public IP

• BOOM — your website is live with your domain 🚀

Want HTTPS? You can install a free SSL using Let’s Encrypt + Certbot (ask in comments and I’ll write a full guide!)

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🧠 Quick Recap

You now have a fully deployed, production-ready static site running in the cloud 💪

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🙌 Final Thoughts

There’s something empowering about deploying your own website using real servers.
You’re not just learning AWS—you’re building confidence as a developer.

Want to go further? Add SSL, host a blog, or automate deployments with CI/CD.

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💬 Your Turn!

Did this guide help you go live on EC2? What did you deploy — a portfolio, a side project, or a meme site? 😄

👇 Drop a comment, smash ❤️ if this saved you hours, and share with someone ready to ditch shared hosting forever!

Let’s build cool things in the cloud — together. 🧡