AWS Elastic Load Balancing
AWS Elastic Load Balancing: Broad Layer 4 and Layer 7 load balancing for AWS production environments. Ranked #1 of 31 in Load Balancing Software by our editors (9.3/10); pricing: Paid; best for AWS-native production workloads.
At a glance
- Editor score9.3 / 10
- PricingPaid
- Best forAWS-native production workloads
- Free planNo
- Layer 7 routingYes
- Facts checked20 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- Supports Layer 4, Layer 7, and gateway load balancing
- Automatic scaling, health checks, and Availability Zone high availability
- Deep integrations across AWS compute, networking, and observability services
Where it doesn't
- Usage-based pricing varies by AWS Region and traffic dimensions
- The AWS Free Tier is limited to eligible new AWS customers
- Classic Load Balancer is intended for legacy workloads
Our verdict on AWS Elastic Load Balancing
AWS Elastic Load Balancing is a managed cloud service that distributes incoming traffic across registered targets in one or more Availability Zones. It is designed for AWS-native web applications, APIs, container workloads, network services, and virtual network appliances. Application Load Balancer handles HTTP, HTTPS, and gRPC traffic with content-based routing, while Network Load Balancer supports TCP, UDP, and TLS. Gateway Load Balancer supports virtual appliances, and Classic Load Balancer covers legacy workloads.
Its strongest fit is an AWS environment that needs traffic distribution alongside native compute, networking, deployment, certificate, security, and monitoring services. Integrations include Amazon EC2, Amazon ECS, AWS Auto Scaling, AWS CloudFormation, AWS Certificate Manager, AWS CloudWatch, AWS CloudTrail, AWS CodeDeploy, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Amazon Route 53, and AWS WAF. Health checks route traffic only to healthy targets, while TLS termination, certificate management, sticky sessions, logging, metrics, and CloudTrail integration support common production requirements.
Pricing is paid and usage-based. The AWS Free Tier provides included usage for eligible new AWS customers, but it is time-limited rather than a permanent free plan. Application Load Balancer uses an hourly running charge plus an LCU usage charge; Network Load Balancer uses an hourly running charge plus an NLCU usage charge; Gateway Load Balancer uses an hourly running charge plus a GLCU usage charge; and Classic Load Balancer uses an hourly running charge plus a data transfer charge. Choose it for broad AWS integration and multiple traffic layers. Teams seeking a fixed-price service or working outside the AWS ecosystem should consider another option.
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AWS Elastic Load Balancing pricing
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AWS Elastic Load Balancing fact sheet
| Free plan | No |
|---|---|
| Paid from | Not verified |
| Managed service | Yes |
| Layer 7 routing | Yes |
| Layer 4 routing | Yes |
| Global traffic management | Yes |
| TLS termination | Yes |
| Backend limit | Not verified |
| Deployment | Cloud |
| Platforms | Web |
| Support | Docs |
| Built for | Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise (editorial estimate) |
| Integrations | 12 integrations: Amazon EC2, Amazon ECS, AWS Auto Scaling, AWS CloudFormation, AWS Certificate Manager, AWS CloudWatch … |
| Pricing | Paid (source) |
| Website | aws.amazon.com |
| Facts checked | 20 Sep 2026 |
AWS Elastic Load Balancing integrations
AWS Elastic Load Balancing lists 12 integrations on its own site.
- Amazon EC2
- Amazon ECS
- AWS Auto Scaling
- AWS CloudFormation
- AWS Certificate Manager
- AWS CloudWatch
- AWS Config
- AWS CloudTrail
- AWS CodeDeploy
- AWS Elastic Beanstalk
- Amazon Route 53
- AWS WAF
Alternatives to AWS Elastic Load Balancing
- Google Cloud Load BalancingA managed load balancer for global, regional, Layer 4, and Layer 7 traffic.9.2
- Alibaba Cloud Server Load BalancerA broad Alibaba Cloud balancing service with Layer 4/7 routing and a low published entry price.9.1
- Cloudflare Load BalancingAffordable global traffic steering with health-based routing, analytics, and failover.9.0
See all AWS Elastic Load Balancing alternatives →
AWS Elastic Load Balancing vs the competition
- AWS Elastic Load Balancing vs Google Cloud Load Balancing
- AWS Elastic Load Balancing vs Alibaba Cloud Server Load Balancer
- AWS Elastic Load Balancing vs Cloudflare Load Balancing
- AWS Elastic Load Balancing vs Progress Kemp LoadMaster
- AWS Elastic Load Balancing vs NGINX Plus
- AWS Elastic Load Balancing vs HAProxy Community Edition
Compare AWS Elastic Load Balancing with any tool side by side →
Also Ranked In
AWS Elastic Load Balancing is ranked in 2 of our directories.
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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