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Sreeju S
Sreeju S

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Install AWS locally!!

Install AWS Locally: The Best Free & Open Source AWS Alternatives (Windows & Linux Guide)

Learn how to run AWS services like EC2, S3, and Lambda locally without a credit card using free and open-source tools like LocalStack, OpenStack, MinIO, and more.

tags: aws, devops, opensource, linux, cloud


Hey Techies! 👋

It’s been a long time—hope you all are doing well. 🌤️

I’m Sreeju, a student who's passionate about DevOps and cloud computing. Recently, I had a wild idea...

I wanted to learn AWS, but... the free tier needs a credit card, and yeah—I didn’t have one. 💳❌

So I asked myself:

"Can I run AWS services locally?"

Turns out… YES! 💥

There are open-source alternatives and local AWS emulators that you can install on your Windows, Ubuntu, or other Linux distros. Here’s what I discovered 👇


💎 Gem: LocalStack – Mock AWS Locally for Free!

LocalStack is an AWS cloud emulator that runs entirely on your machine via Docker.

✅ Supported AWS services:

  • Lambda, S3, DynamoDB, API Gateway, EC2, SNS, SQS, CloudWatch, and more!
  • Compatible with Terraform, AWS CLI, CDK, and more!

🌐 Website:

https://localstack.cloud/


🛠️ How to Install LocalStack

🪟 For Windows Users

Prerequisites:

Run LocalStack:

  1. Download LocalStack binary:

    LocalStack Windows Installer

  2. Run via PowerShell:

.\localstack.exe start
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🐧 For Ubuntu/Debian/Linux Users

Prerequisites:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker.io -y
sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker
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Install LocalStack:

wget https://github.com/localstack/localstack/releases/latest/download/localstack
chmod +x localstack
./localstack start
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You can still use it through CLI

🖥️ LocalStacheadingk Desktop GUI (Recommended)

Localstack Resource Browser

Cross-platform GUI to manage AWS-like services locally.

Download:

https://app.localstack.cloud/download

Linux AppImage:

chmod +x LocalStack-Desktop*.AppImage
./LocalStack-Desktop*.AppImage
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Terminal in lackstack desktop

🔥 Why This Is Awesome

With this stack, you can:

  • Learn AWS architecture without spending ₹₹₹
  • Build and test Lambda/S3/DynamoDB apps locally
  • Practice DevOps workflows using real tools
  • Skip the credit card drama

🌐 Top Open-Source AWS Alternatives You Can Run Locally

1. OpenStack(Alternative to EC2, S3, EBS, VPC, etc.)


2. Ceph(Alternative to AWS S3 & EBS)


3. MinIO(Alternative to AWS S3)

  • Lightweight, blazing-fast object storage that speaks S3 API.
  • https://min.io/

4. Apache CloudStack(Alternative to EC2 & Networking)


5. Kubernetes + Kubeflow / OpenShift(Alternative to EKS/ECS)


6. Terraform(Alternative to AWS CloudFormation)


7. Apache Kafka(Alternative to AWS Kinesis)


8. PostgreSQL / MariaDB(Alternative to AWS RDS)


9. Prometheus + Grafana(Alternative to CloudWatch)


10. OpenNebula / Proxmox VE(Alternative to EC2 & VMs)



🙌 Let’s Connect!


📢 Over to You!

  • Have you tried running AWS services locally?
  • Got any tools you love that I missed?
  • Wanna build your own "Mini-AWS"?

Drop your thoughts below ⬇️
Let’s geek out together! 🤓

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