Sold by: ClearScale
Deployed on AWS
AWS Free Tier
A high-performance, production-ready Windows Server 2016 Datacenter base image. Pre-hardened to CIS Level 1 benchmarks for immediate compliance, stripped of unnecessary services and fully supported by Clearscale.
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Overview
This is a hardened, enterprise-ready operating system image optimized for AWS deployments. Built-in security hardening and ongoing lifecycle maintenance are included for an additional charge.
Leverage the reliability and security of Windows Server 2016 Datacenter, engineered specifically for AWS environments. This Amazon Machine Image (AMI) delivers a highly secure, stable foundation right out of the box, drastically reducing the time required for initial configuration and manual security patching.
Core Capabilities:
- Latest Updates: Windows Server 2016 Datacenter deployed with the most recent security updates applied at build time.
- CIS Hardening: CIS Level 1 Benchmark configurations applied to guarantee a secure baseline.
- IMDSv2 Enforced: Strictly enforced metadata service to protect against SSRF vulnerabilities.
- Seamless Management: Native AWS Systems Manager (SSM) Agent pre-installed for streamlined remote management.
- Clean OS: Zero unnecessary telemetry agents and absolutely no cross-cloud bloatware.
- AWS Optimized: AWS EC2Launch v2 configured for optimal boot performance and sysprep execution.
Operational Advantages:
- Rapid Deployment: Spin up fully hardened, compliant instances in minutes rather than hours or days.
- Reduced Overhead: Eliminates the tedious need for manual OS hardening, patching, and agent installation before deploying workloads.
- Audit-Ready Infrastructure: Pre-configured to align with strict industry security standards, easing the burden of compliance audits and security reviews.
Use Cases:
- Enterprise Workloads: The perfect foundation for deploying and managing mission-critical applications or services at scale.
- Regulated Environments: Highly recommended for industries requiring strict security baselines, such as finance, healthcare, and public sector.
- Development and Testing: Provides a secure, highly predictable environment for software engineering teams to iterate and stage safely.
Accelerate your AWS journey with Windows Server 2016 Datacenter and build your cloud strategies on a secure, optimized infrastructure.
Highlights
- CIS Level 1 Compliant Out of the Box: Strict GPOs applied, IMDSv2 enforced, and insecure legacy protocols disabled. Every control is applied at build time, not as an afterthought.
- Built Fresh & Verified: Built clean from the latest AWS Windows Server 2016 Datacenter source. Guaranteed to have the latest AWS PV Drivers, SSM Agent, and EC2Launch v2.
- Zero Bloatware: Free from unnecessary third-party telemetry and cross-cloud agents. Just a clean, fast, and secure Windows environment optimized for AWS.
Details
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Delivery method
Delivery option
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Latest version
Operating system
Win 2016
Deployed on AWS
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Features and programs
Financing for AWS Marketplace purchases
AWS Marketplace now accepts line of credit payments through the PNC Vendor Finance program. This program is available to select AWS customers in the US, excluding NV, NC, ND, TN, & VT.
Pricing
Pricing is based on actual usage, with charges varying according to how much you consume. Subscriptions have no end date and may be canceled any time.
Additional AWS infrastructure costs may apply. Use the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate your infrastructure costs.
If you are an AWS Free Tier customer with a free plan, you are eligible to subscribe to this offer. You can use free credits to cover the cost of eligible AWS infrastructure. See AWS Free Tier for more details. If you created an AWS account before July 15th, 2025, and qualify for the Legacy AWS Free Tier, Amazon EC2 charges for Micro instances are free for up to 750 hours per month. See Legacy AWS Free Tier for more details.
Dimension | Cost/hour |
|---|---|
t3.xlarge Recommended | $0.24 |
t2.micro | $0.19 |
t3.micro | $0.06 |
c6a.12xlarge | $2.88 |
z1d.xlarge | $0.24 |
m5dn.16xlarge | $3.84 |
m7a.large | $0.12 |
t3.medium | $0.12 |
r5n.metal | $3.02 |
r6a.2xlarge | $0.48 |
Dimensions summary
You pay by the hour for support tied to your running Windows Server 2016 instance. Each dimension maps to a specific EC2 instance type, so your rate follows the instance you choose. Smaller instances like t2.nano or t3.small carry lower hourly rates, while larger compute, memory, storage, and GPU instances like x1e, r8i, and p5 carry higher rates. Pricing scales with instance size and family, not with fixed tiers. You are billed only for the hours each instance runs. Choose the instance type that fits your workload, and support pricing aligns with it.
Top-of-mind questions for buyers
The charge covers support for your running Windows Server 2016 instance, provided by ClearScale. It is a support service billed per hour, matched to the EC2 instance type you run. You pay for the vendor's assistance with your Windows workload, not for the underlying compute or operating system license itself.
Support charges meter running instance-hours. When your instance is stopped, no hourly support charge accrues for that time. Billing resumes when the instance runs again. Note that stopped instances may still incur separate AWS storage fees, which are unrelated to this support charge.
Each dimension maps to one EC2 instance type. Your hourly rate follows the instance you select. Compute, memory, storage, and GPU families each carry their own rate. If you resize or switch families, your support rate changes to match the new instance type you run.
clearscale.com
Helpful?
Vendor refund policy
Usage is billed by AWS on a pay-as-you-go basis by the hour. The Windows Server 2016 instance can be stopped or terminated at any time to stop incurring additional software charges. Refunds are not available once launched. To completely avoid future costs, ensure you terminate the instance and cancel your AWS Marketplace subscription.
Legal
Vendor terms and conditions
Upon subscribing to this product, you must acknowledge and agree to the terms and conditions outlined in the vendor's End User License Agreement (EULA) .
Content disclaimer
Vendors are responsible for their product descriptions and other product content. AWS does not warrant that vendors' product descriptions or other product content are accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free.
Delivery details
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.
Version release notes
[Release v15AUG26] ClearImages Windows Server 2016 Full stage build (x86_64). CIS Level 1 hardening, IMDSv2 enforced, SSM + CloudWatch agents pre-installed.
Additional details
Usage instructions
- Launch via AWS Marketplace 1-Click or EC2 console.
- Select t3.large or larger. Ensure your security group allows inbound RDP (port 3389) from your IP.
- Retrieve your Windows Administrator password from the EC2 console using your Key Pair.
- Connect via RDP client to the public IP. Or use AWS Systems Manager Fleet Manager from the EC2 console (no RDP port required).
Resources
Vendor resources
Support
Vendor support
Email support for this AMI is available through the following: https://clearscale.com/clearimages/support OR clearimages-support@clearscale.com
AWS infrastructure support
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
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Customer reviews
reviewer2858658
Automated hardening has standardized our servers and reduces effort for secure Windows workloads
Reviewed on Jun 18, 2026
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
We use ClearScale Windows Server 2025 as the base image for our .NET and IIS application servers on EC2.
These instances host internal line of business web applications and Windows services, and several are domain joined to our AD environment. We needed a stable, secure, and consistently configured Windows base across our fleet.
How has it helped my organization?
It removed the manual Windows hardening and configuration step we used to run on every new server.
Because the image arrives CIS Level 1 hardened with the AWS tooling already in place, our servers come up patched, locked down, and ready to join the domain without a separate build-out pass.
That has improved consistency across our fleet, reduced configuration drift between servers, and made our internal security reviews noticeably faster.
What is most valuable?
The CIS Level 1 hardening applied through Group Policy at build time is the most valuable part.
Insecure legacy protocols are already disabled and IMDSv2 is enforced, so we start from a known-good, audit-ready baseline.
The AWS integration is also excellent.
The SSM Agent, EC2Launch v2, and the latest AWS PV drivers are pre-installed, so sysprep, boot performance, and remote management all work cleanly out of the box.
Being able to manage servers through SSM Fleet Manager without opening RDP to the internet is a real security win.
The absence of third-party telemetry and cross-cloud agents keeps the OS clean and predictable.
What needs improvement?
The first-boot time is longer than a stock Windows AMI.
Sysprep and the initial hardening pass add a noticeable delay before the instance is reachable, which is something to account for if you autoscale and need nodes ready quickly.
The hardened defaults also occasionally trip up common installers and agents.
A few of our deployment and monitoring tools assumed services or policies that the image had locked down, so we had to add exceptions.
A short compatibility checklist of what the hardening changes from a default Windows install would have saved us that debugging.
I would also like the option of a CIS Level 2 build for our more sensitive workloads since the image currently only ships a Level 1 baseline. Thanks.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the ClearScale hardened image for around 6 months and have 15+ years of experience running Windows Server overall.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously launched AWS's own Windows Server AMI and applied our own hardening with Group Policy and scripts/user-data after boot.
We switched to the ClearScale Windows Server 2025 image so the hardening and AWS tooling are already baked in and maintained for us, which removed a slow and error-prone post-launch step.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The software charge sits on top of the underlying Windows EC2 cost, which is already higher than Linux, so model both together before you commit to a large fleet.
The hourly model suited our autoscaling pattern, but if you run steady, always-on servers it is worth pricing out annual or reserved EC2 commitments alongside it rather than assuming hourly is cheapest.
For us, the per-hour charge was easy to justify against the labor we removed, but I would advise running a short pilot on your actual instance mix to get a real per-server number before standardizing on it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated staying on the base AWS Windows Server AMI with our own hardening automation and building an internal hardened golden image ourselves before selecting the ClearScale Windows image.
What other advice do I have?
Treat the hardened local policy as your floor and test your domain GPOs against it in a non-production OU before you roll the image out widely.
That surfaced a couple of policy conflicts for us early and saved pain later.
Build the image into a launch template with a sensible default instance type so right-sizing is consistent across the fleet, and fold its monthly refresh into your existing Patch Tuesday process rather than treating it as a separate track.
If you run a mix of full Desktop Experience and headless workloads, look at the Server Core variant for the headless tier to trim cost and attack surface.
Used that way it has been a dependable, low-maintenance Windows base.
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
reviewer2855640
Modernized Windows workloads have improved security and simplified hybrid integrations
Reviewed on Jun 11, 2026
Review from a verified AWS customer
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is running enterprise Windows-based workloads, including Active Directory services, internal business applications, IIS-hosted web services, and hybrid cloud integrations within a Microsoft-centric infrastructure.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution has improved infrastructure consistency and reduced administrative overhead through standardized deployment patterns and centralized management.
It has also strengthened integration with cloud environments and improved security posture through updated Windows Server capabilities and ClearScale's deployment support.
What is most valuable?
Deep integration with Microsoft ecosystem services such as Active Directory and Azure.
Improved security baselines and built-in hardening configurations.
Enhanced virtualization and container support via Windows Server features.
Simplified cloud deployment and scaling through ClearScale’s implementation guidance.
Strong compatibility with legacy enterprise applications.
What needs improvement?
Initial configuration complexity can still be high for teams without prior Windows Server expertise.
Some advanced cloud automation scenarios require additional scripting or third-party tooling to fully streamline operations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the solution for approximately 4–5 months.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used a mix of Ubuntu Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for general workloads.
We switched specific workloads to Windows Server because of tighter integration with Microsoft services, Active Directory requirements, and compatibility with legacy enterprise applications.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Windows Server licensing and support can be more expensive than open-source alternatives, so it is important to evaluate the total cost of ownership.
However, for organizations already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, the productivity gains and integration benefits can justify the cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Windows Server, Linux-based alternatives such as Ubuntu Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server before choosing the ClearScale-supported Windows Server 2025 environment.
What other advice do I have?
Windows Server 2025 is a strong fit for enterprise environments heavily reliant on Microsoft technologies.
It is especially valuable when paired with proper planning for hybrid cloud architecture and automation strategies to reduce long-term operational overhead.