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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThere is no universal winner: AWS Lightsail has a predictable instance fee, while a mini PC’s ongoing electricity cost depends on its measured power draw and your local tariff. To compare them fairly, include transfer charges, hardware purchase cost, and the same ownership period—not just the monthly electricity bill.
What does AWS Lightsail cost for a 24/7 stream?
AWS’s currently listed Linux/Unix bundles with a public IPv4 address start at $5 per month. A 24/7 stream uses the instance continuously, so budget for a full month of instance time. AWS bills hourly up to the plan’s monthly maximum. The following are listed plan specifications, not guarantees that a particular workload will encode reliably on each size. See AWS Lightsail bundle pricing.
| Listed monthly price | Memory | vCPUs | SSD | Transfer allowance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5 | 0.5 GB | 2 | 20 GB | 1 TB |
| $7 | 1 GB | 2 | 40 GB | 2 TB |
| $12 | 2 GB | 2 | 60 GB | 3 TB |
| $24 | 4 GB | 2 | 80 GB | 4 TB |
Transfer can change the bill
Both inbound and outbound traffic count toward the allowance, but excess fees apply to eligible outbound transfer. A stream contribution feed sent from the instance to YouTube is outbound traffic. Estimate its use from the encoded bitrate and the number of hours streamed, then check the applicable allowance and regional overage rate. AWS’s data-transfer FAQ says allowances are half the standard stated amount in Mumbai, Sydney, Jakarta, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and São Paulo; overage rates vary by region. AWS pricing search results state that rates start at $0.09/GB, so verify the current rate for your region before estimating an overage. See AWS’s transfer allowance FAQ.
Do not assume a high-bitrate stream fits within the smallest plan’s allowance. Calculate expected monthly transfer at your actual stream settings and include any eligible overage in the estimate.
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Stopping an instance does not stop its charges
A stopped Lightsail instance continues accruing charges until it is deleted. If a test or stream is over, delete the instance when you no longer need it rather than relying on the stopped state to end billing. AWS explains this in its billing and account management FAQ.
How do you calculate a mini PC’s electricity cost?
Measure average power at the wall while the mini PC is running the intended stream. Idle specifications and CPU-only figures are not substitutes for measuring the complete running setup.
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Monthly electricity cost = average watts × operating hours ÷ 1,000 × local price per kWh.
For a 30-day month, a meter reading of 15 W continuously works out to 10.8 kWh (15 × 24 × 30 ÷ 1,000). Multiply 10.8 by your tariff to estimate that month’s electricity cost. This is an arithmetic illustration, not a claim that mini PCs generally draw 15 W.
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Electricity is only one part of the mini PC’s total cost. Include its purchase price, any accessories, maintenance or replacement assumptions, and the period over which you expect to use it. The available evidence does not establish a representative mini-PC power draw or a universal electricity tariff, so a single monthly cost or break-even figure would be misleading.
What belongs in a fair cost comparison?
Compare both options over the same period. A cloud total should include the relevant instance fees and possible transfer overage. A mini-PC total should include hardware and accessories, electricity calculated from measured draw and your tariff, and any incremental internet, backup-power, or maintenance costs.
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| Cost or operating factor | AWS Lightsail | Mini PC |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring cost | Listed instance plan fee; possible eligible outbound transfer overage | Measured average watts × hours × local electricity tariff |
| Upfront cost | No hardware purchase figure established here | Include the device and any required accessories |
| Capacity and setup | Plan suitability depends on encoding workload; listed specs do not guarantee workload performance | Depends on codec, resolution, frame rate, overlays, and hardware acceleration |
| Connectivity and power | Compute runs on AWS; the stream process still needs management and recovery behavior | Depends on local power, broadband, router, and potentially backup power |
| Billing or ownership period | Hourly billing up to the monthly maximum; stopped instances still accrue charges until deleted | State the useful life or comparison period used to spread the purchase cost |
A numeric break-even requires your AWS region and plan, expected transfer use, tested stream settings, measured mini-PC watts, electricity tariff, hardware cost, and ownership period. Without those inputs, the listed Lightsail prices can be stated, but no reliable universal comparison total can be calculated.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Will either option handle the stream settings?
The answer depends on the stream you intend to send, not only on the price of the hardware or instance. YouTube’s current official encoder guidance lists RTMP/RTMPS ingestion, H.264, H.265/HEVC, and AV1; frame rates up to 60 fps; CBR encoding; and a recommended two-second keyframe frequency, not exceeding four seconds. YouTube recommends RTMPS. For H.264, its listed recommendations include 10 Mbps at 1080p/30 and 17 Mbps at 1080p/60. Check the YouTube live encoder settings for the settings that match your chosen codec and output.
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Those encoder recommendations do not establish that any particular mini PC or Lightsail plan can encode your stream. Performance depends on codec, resolution, frame rate, overlays, and whether encoding is hardware-accelerated. No specific mini PC has been tested here. Test the exact workload before committing to a device or instance size.
What can interrupt a 24/7 stream?
A locally hosted stream depends on the mini PC’s power supply, broadband connection, router, and any backup power you provide. YouTube advises that upload bandwidth exceed the stream bitrate and recommends leaving 20% headroom. It also recommends testing with similar audio and movement, monitoring stream health, and using a reliable network because connection disruptions can break a stream. See YouTube’s streaming tips.
A Lightsail instance moves the compute off your home PC, but it does not remove the need to manage the streaming process or decide how it recovers if interrupted. Include the recovery behavior you require when comparing the two approaches; an instance price alone does not establish uninterrupted streaming.
Or let it run in the cloud
If you want a YouTube channel to keep playing uploaded videos without leaving a home computer on, StreamNeo is a cloud option: upload a recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key once, and go live. It loops the uploaded video from the cloud; it does not stream from a camera.
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- Nothing has to stay powered on at home.
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