# Node.js on AWS Amplify

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/stacks/nodejs-on-aws-amplify/

AWS Amplify documents a generic path that covers Node.js, rather than a dedicated guide.

JavaScript runtime used to run servers and build tooling outside the browser.

## What Node.js needs

Every host claims to run Node.js, so the claim on its own decides nothing. These are the things Node.js requires from the platform underneath it, and what AWS Amplify publishes about each. AWS Amplify documents 2 of the 4.

| Requirement | AWS Amplify | Why it matters |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Persistent processes | Not supported | A long-running process is the point: WebSocket connections, in-memory caches and job queues all die with it. A host that only runs functions cannot keep one alive. |
| Max request duration | 15 minutes (maximum execution time of an SSR compute execution instance) | Anything the process does inside a request — a large upload, a slow query, a streamed response — is bounded by this ceiling. |
| Docker deployment | Not documented | Node apps routinely need a system binary the platform's buildpack does not ship. A Dockerfile is the escape hatch when they do. |
| Scales to zero | Not documented | An always-on process bills while idle. Scaling to zero removes that cost and adds a cold start to the next request instead. |

- Persistent processes source: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amplify/latest/userguide/ssr-deployment-specification.html
- Max request duration source: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amplify/latest/userguide/ssr-deployment-specification.html

## What AWS Amplify documents

> This example explains how to deploy a basic Express server using the Amplify Hosting deployment specification. Limited: Node.js is covered only as a worked Express example of the generic deployment-manifest path, not as a first-class Node.js hosting guide.

Source: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amplify/latest/userguide/deploy-express-server.html

## What it costs to run there

|  | AWS Amplify |
| --- | --- |
| Entry paid plan | No monthly minimum — Amplify Hosting is billed per unit. A representative month for one small app, priced at Amplify's published rates: 100 build minutes ($1.00), 5 GB stored ($0.11), 100 GB served ($15.00), with SSR requests inside the free 500,000 — about $16.11. Our arithmetic on Amplify's rates, not a price Amplify quotes, and it moves with traffic: egress is 93% of it. Recorded without a magnitude for that reason. |
| Pricing model | Usage-based; pay for what you use, with no monthly minimum |
| When you exceed a cap | Billed automatically: pay-as-you-go with no monthly minimums; storage charges keep recurring until the app is deleted |

- Entry paid plan source: https://aws.amazon.com/amplify/pricing/
- Pricing model source: https://aws.amazon.com/amplify/pricing/
- When you exceed a cap source: https://aws.amazon.com/amplify/pricing/

## Whether it suits you

Front-end apps deployed from Git onto AWS with usage-based pricing and no monthly minimum, including 1,000 build minutes and 15 GB of transfer under the free tier.

Consider something else if: Egress beyond the free allowance is $0.15 per GB, which is the highest of the platforms compared here, and SSR compute is capped at 15 minutes.

Written by Palash Bagchi on 2026-09-05. This is a recommendation, not a sourced fact — it carries no citation because it is an opinion.

## Related

- Best hosting for Node.js: https://inetgeek.com/stacks/nodejs/
- AWS Amplify: https://inetgeek.com/hosting/aws-amplify/