AWS spans 37 geographic regions across the globe, each equipped with multiple availability zones. I’ve personally seen this infrastructure drive the performance of countless applications, mine included, and it remains one of cloud computing’s biggest competitive advantages. To fortify high-availability and high-speed performance for applications that have users everywhere, you need a solid grasp of how these regions and zones truly work.
Whether you are launching that cautiously budgeted “first I sipped coffee during this working prototype” (I’ve definitely cradled that coffee) or you are strategically gearing up for a broad international expansion, the choice of AWS regions and zones weighs heavily on latency, compliance obligations, and pricing.
I’ve compiled the details into one concise guide that wraps together all the region and zone essentials, seasoned with gotchas, capacity tips, and performance curveballs, all drawn from wearing many T-shirts, many towns, and too many time zones.
What is AWS Global Infrastructure?
AWS Global Infrastructure underpins cloud computing by linking thousands of interconnected data centers into a cohesive network spread across every continent. This far-reaching architecture allows organizations to place applications nearer to customers while guaranteeing resilient performance and minimal downtime.
Three integrated layers form the foundation of the infrastructure:
AWS Regions are discrete geographic domains, each housing multiple grouped data centers. Because every region functions entirely autonomously, you can confine data and services to specific areas to meet legal, regulatory, or performance mandates.
Availability Zones, contained within each region, are purpose-built and physically distinct facilities connected by multiple low-latency, high-throughput links. The zones are engineered so that the failure of one facility has no impact on others, presenting a seamless failover capability.
Edge Locations operate at the outskirts of the AWS backbone, strategically caching and serving copy data to reduce round-trip time. Integrated into the global content delivery network, they enhance application performance for users regardless of geographic distance.
AWS Regions and Availability Zones Explained
Understanding AWS Regions
Think of AWS regions as different cities where you can launch and expand your business. Each region is a complete environment where you can host your apps, run your data, and serve your customers, totally independent of the others. As of today, there are 37 regions worldwide, and more are in the works, including locations in New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Chile, and the upcoming AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
The region codes are pretty straightforward. Here’s how a few line up with their locales:
us-east-1: US East (N. Virginia)
eu-west-1: Europe (Ireland)
ap-south-1: Asia Pacific (Mumbai)
ap-southeast-1: Asia Pacific (Singapore)
Inside each region, you’ll find multiple availability zones, your first layer of operational insurance.
Availability Zones: Your Safety Net
Think of Availability Zones as individual towers in the same city, each built to withstand its own set of earthquakes. Every zone operates with separate power, cooling, and networking, so a mishap in one tower doesn’t rattle the others.
Take the US East (N. Virginia) region as an example. It is home to six zones:
us-east-1a
us-east-1b
us-east-1c
us-east-1d
us-east-1e
us-east-1f
AWS designs these zones to maintain a linkage of less than 1 millisecond, enabling you to keep data mirrored and applications synchronized across buildings.
Complete List of AWS Regions and Zones
Parent Region | Region ID | Region Name | Availability Zones | Location |
North America | us-east-1 | US East (N. Virginia) | us-east-1a, us-east-1b, us-east-1c, us-east-1d, us-east-1e, us-east-1f | Virginia, USA |
North America | us-east-2 | US East (Ohio) | us-east-2a, us-east-2b, us-east-2c | Ohio, USA |
North America | us-west-1 | US West (N. California) | us-west-1a, us-west-1b, us-west-1c | California, USA |
North America | us-west-2 | US West (Oregon) | us-west-2a, us-west-2b, us-west-2c, us-west-2d | Oregon, USA |
North America | ca-central-1 | Canada (Central) | ca-central-1a, ca-central-1b, ca-central-1c | Montreal, Canada |
North America | ca-west-1 | Canada West (Calgary) | ca-west-1a, ca-west-1b, ca-west-1c | Calgary, Canada |
North America | mx-central-1 | Mexico (Central) | mx-central-1a, mx-central-1b, mx-central-1c | Queretaro, Mexico |
North America | us-gov-east-1 | AWS GovCloud (US-East) | us-gov-east-1a, us-gov-east-1b, us-gov-east-1c | Virginia, USA |
North America | us-gov-west-1 | AWS GovCloud (US-West) | us-gov-west-1a, us-gov-west-1b, us-gov-west-1c | Oregon, USA |
South America | sa-east-1 | South America (São Paulo) | sa-east-1a, sa-east-1b, sa-east-1c | São Paulo, Brazil |
Europe | eu-west-1 | Europe (Ireland) | eu-west-1a, eu-west-1b, eu-west-1c | Dublin, Ireland |
Europe | eu-west-2 | Europe (London) | eu-west-2a, eu-west-2b, eu-west-2c | London, UK |
Europe | eu-west-3 | Europe (Paris) | eu-west-3a, eu-west-3b, eu-west-3c | Paris, France |
Europe | eu-central-1 | Europe (Frankfurt) | eu-central-1a, eu-central-1b, eu-central-1c | Frankfurt, Germany |
Europe | eu-central-2 | Europe (Zurich) | eu-central-2a, eu-central-2b, eu-central-2c | Zurich, Switzerland |
Europe | eu-north-1 | Europe (Stockholm) | eu-north-1a, eu-north-1b, eu-north-1c | Stockholm, Sweden |
Europe | eu-south-1 | Europe (Milan) | eu-south-1a, eu-south-1b, eu-south-1c | Milan, Italy |
Europe | eu-south-2 | Europe (Spain) | eu-south-2a, eu-south-2b, eu-south-2c | Madrid, Spain |
Middle East | me-south-1 | Middle East (Bahrain) | me-south-1a, me-south-1b, me-south-1c | Bahrain |
Middle East | me-central-1 | Middle East (UAE) | me-central-1a, me-central-1b, me-central-1c | United Arab Emirates |
Middle East | il-central-1 | Israel (Tel Aviv) | il-central-1a, il-central-1b, il-central-1c | Tel Aviv, Israel |
Africa | af-south-1 | Africa (Cape Town) | af-south-1a, af-south-1b, af-south-1c | Cape Town, South Africa |
Asia Pacific | ap-south-1 | Asia Pacific (Mumbai) | ap-south-1a, ap-south-1b, ap-south-1c | Mumbai, India |
Asia Pacific | ap-south-2 | Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) | ap-south-2a, ap-south-2b, ap-south-2c | Hyderabad, India |
Asia Pacific | ap-northeast-1 | Asia Pacific (Tokyo) | ap-northeast-1a, ap-northeast-1b, ap-northeast-1c, ap-northeast-1d | Tokyo, Japan |
Asia Pacific | ap-northeast-2 | Asia Pacific (Seoul) | ap-northeast-2a, ap-northeast-2b, ap-northeast-2c, ap-northeast-2d | Seoul, South Korea |
Asia Pacific | ap-northeast-3 | Asia Pacific (Osaka) | ap-northeast-3a, ap-northeast-3b, ap-northeast-3c | Osaka, Japan |
Asia Pacific | ap-east-1 | Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) | ap-east-1a, ap-east-1b, ap-east-1c | Hong Kong SAR |
Asia Pacific | ap-southeast-1 | Asia Pacific (Singapore) | ap-southeast-1a, ap-southeast-1b, ap-southeast-1c | Singapore |
Asia Pacific | ap-southeast-2 | Asia Pacific (Sydney) | ap-southeast-2a, ap-southeast-2b, ap-southeast-2c | Sydney, Australia |
Asia Pacific | ap-southeast-3 | Asia Pacific (Jakarta) | ap-southeast-3a, ap-southeast-3b, ap-southeast-3c | Jakarta, Indonesia |
Asia Pacific | ap-southeast-4 | Asia Pacific (Melbourne) | ap-southeast-4a, ap-southeast-4b, ap-southeast-4c | Melbourne, Australia |
Asia Pacific | ap-southeast-5 | Asia Pacific (Malaysia) | ap-southeast-5a, ap-southeast-5b, ap-southeast-5c | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
China | cn-north-1 | China (Beijing) | cn-north-1a, cn-north-1b, cn-north-1c | Beijing, China |
China | cn-northwest-1 | China (Ningxia) | cn-northwest-1a, cn-northwest-1b, cn-northwest-1c | Ningxia, China |
Australia & NZ | ap-northeast-4 | Asia Pacific (Osaka Local) | ap-northeast-4a, ap-northeast-4b, ap-northeast-4c | Osaka, Japan |
Australia & NZ | ap-northeast-5 | Asia Pacific (Taiwan) | ap-northeast-5a, ap-northeast-5b, ap-northeast-5c | Taipei, Taiwan |
Australia & NZ | ap-southeast-6 | Asia Pacific (Thailand) | ap-southeast-6a, ap-southeast-6b, ap-southeast-6c | Bangkok, Thailand |
Australia & NZ | ap-southeast-7 | Asia Pacific (New Zealand) | ap-southeast-7a, ap-southeast-7b, ap-southeast-7c | Auckland, New Zealand |
How to Select AWS Regions for Your Needs
Choosing where to deploy on AWS requires weighing several key factors:
Geographic Proximity
Choose regions that are nearest to your primary user base. Shorter distances lower network latency, which boosts responsiveness. For example, European audiences usually see faster load times when you host in eu-west-1 (Ireland) instead of us-east-1 (Virginia).
Data Residency Requirements
Certain companies must store data within specified jurisdictions to meet laws like GDPR. AWS’ global region design helps you fulfil these residency mandates by confining data to the required countries or blocs.
Service Availability
Not every AWS offering launches in every region right away. To ensure the services you need are supported in your preferred regions, check the service availability listed above.
Pricing Variations
AWS pricing varies across regions according to local costs. Established regions, especially us-east-1, typically post lower prices, whereas regions that opened more recently tend to charge higher premiums.
Disaster Recovery Planning
For workloads that are mission-critical, deploying across multiple regions enhances resiliency. This strategy mitigates the risk of a regional outage, but requires disciplined design around data synchronization and automated failover.
Compliance and Security on AWS
AWS maintains rigorous security and compliance across all its global regions, aligning with established industry benchmarks to safeguard your data and workloads. Each AWS region observes major compliance directives, among them:
SOC 1, 2, and 3: Covers audit and control reporting.
ISO 27001, 27017, and 27018: International standards for information and cloud security.
PCI DSS Level 1: For processing secure payment transactions.
FedRAMP: Offered in selected regions to satisfy U.S. federal security requirements.
Regional Compliance Differences
AWS regions are configured to satisfy the compliance expectations of users in different jurisdictions. For example:
AWS GovCloud (US): Built for federal workloads, it implements stringent security controls to fulfil federal mandates.
Local Compliance: Regions established in particular countries are fine-tuned to align with domestic data protection laws, helping customers maintain compliance with local requirements.
AWS lets you choose the region that most closely meets your required compliance and security posture.
Cut AWS Cloud Costs with Pump
I understand better than anyone how budget management works, especially when I see the cloud costs soaring while scaling across AWS regions. Pump has been a lifesaver for startups and growing companies in the era of cloud costs.
With Pump, one can save up to 60% on cloud costs with the combination of group buying power and AI optimization. The following makes it powerful:
Group Buying Discounts: We gather spend commitments from multiple companies of every size, allowing startups to access the kind of discounts.
AI Optimization: Pump's AI guarantees savings that are being left on the table by analyzing the spending and purchasing Reserved Instances and Savings Plans automatically. This guarantees that there are savings while maintaining flexibility.
Risk-Free Commitments: Unlike other companies, Pump has a 30-day money-back guarantee. This ensures that unused capacity has the ability to be reallocated or sold, making the savings risk-free.
With Pump, cloud cost optimization is simple, with time and resources becoming available to concentrate on company growth. If looking to scale smarter and economically, Pump just might be exactly what you need!
Conclusion
AWS infrastructure is globally recognized, and its services enable businesses to build applications that are scalable and resilient to be used by a global user base. Knowing regions, availability zones, and deployment strategies can be used to enhance the performance and cost effectiveness of a business.
Are you ready to easily scale operations whilst cutting cloud costs at the same time? With Pump, you can reduce AWS costs by 10-60% without risk or upfront investment. Over a thousand startups are already leveraging these savings in the Pump ecosystem, so what are you waiting for?
