Zayo vs AWS VPC
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Zayo and AWS VPC.
Quick Verdict
3.3/5
Zayo
0 reviews
4.1/5
AWS VPC
0 reviews
AWS VPC is rated higher (4.1 vs 3.3). More than 240,000 route miles and 34 million fiber miles worldwide across North America, Europe and global reach (2026 figures) AWS VPC provides isolated virtual network environments in AWS. Subnets, route tables, internet gateways, NAT gateways, and security groups. Foundation of all AWS networking.
Zayo Fiber network and colocation carrier |  AWS VPC Amazon Virtual Private Cloud for AWS infrastructure | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.3 (0 reviews) | 4.1 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Enterprises, carriers and content operators buying dedicated transport capacity — dark fiber, 100G/400G wavelengths, private networks and colocation cross-connects — across North America and Western Europe | AWS-committed teams that need segmented networks, private subnets, and hybrid connectivity; overkill for single simple servers |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | eu datacenterus datacenterprivate networking | free tierapi accessus datacentereu datacenterapac datacenter |
| Visit Zayo → | Visit AWS VPC → | |
Zayo
Pros
- + Tier-1 backbone: 240,000+ route miles, 11+ unique North American long-haul routes and genuine path diversity
- + Specific published SLAs (99.9% unprotected, 99.95% protected; 100% CloudLink guarantee) rather than marketing uptime claims
- + Real network-based DDoS mitigation (50 Tb+ capacity) with 24/7 NOC and SOC operations
- + Deep transport portfolio — dark fiber, 400G/800G wavelengths, Ethernet, IP transit, colocation — under one contract
Cons
- - No public pricing and no self-serve anything: quote-based, multi-year, engineer-installed
- - Procurement and install timelines are long; not viable for small or urgent deployments
- - APAC presence is subsea reach and partner interconnect, not owned metro fiber
- - Carrier-grade support experience is inconsistent in public enterprise forums; negotiate escalation terms
AWS VPC
Pros
- + Free core service — no charge for VPCs, subnets, route tables, or security groups
- + Deepest virtual networking feature set available: peering, Transit Gateway, PrivateLink, flow logs, traffic mirroring
- + 39 Regions / 120+ Availability Zones with real multi-AZ fault isolation
- + Native IPv6 (dual-stack and IPv6-only) at no extra charge
- + Free baseline DDoS protection via AWS Shield Standard
Cons
- - NAT gateways add up fast: $0.045/hour per AZ plus $0.045/GB processed
- - No SLA attached to VPC itself
- - Architecture-level cost opacity — public IPv4, cross-AZ and egress charges interact
- - Steep learning curve and AWS lock-in once topology grows
Stay in the loop
Get weekly updates on the best new hosting and infrastructure providers, deals, and comparisons.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.