# Amazon Lightsail Documentation

With Amazon Lightsail and Amazon Lightsail for Research, everyone—including developers, academics, and researchers—can get started with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

## Amazon Lightsail

Lightsail includes the features you need to launch projects, quickly: instances (virtual private servers), managed databases, object storage, load balancers, content delivery network (CDN) distributions, SSD-based block storage, static IP addresses, IPv6, domain registration, DNS management, and snapshots (backups). These features are all available for a low, predictable monthly price.

- [User Guide](/lightsail/latest/userguide/): Describes how to get started with Lightsail to create a development environment or an application.
- [API Reference](/lightsail/2016-11-28/api-reference/Welcome.html): Describes all the API operations for Lightsail in detail. Also provides sample requests, responses, and errors for the supported web services protocols.

## Amazon Lightsail for Research

Lightsail for Research provides academics and researchers access to virtual computers with pre-configured work applications. You can also configure rules to manage resource usage and cost.

- [User Guide](/lightsail-for-research/latest/ug/): Describes key concepts of Lightsail for Research and provides instructions for setting and tracking monthly spend limits.
- [API Reference](/lightsail/2016-11-28/api-reference/API_Amazon_Lightsail_for_Research.html): Describes the API operations for Lightsail for Research. Lightsail for Research uses API operations from the Amazon Lightsail service.

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## Related Links

- [AWS Glossary](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/glos-chap.html)
- [Getting Started with AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/documentation/gettingstarted/)
- [SDKs & Tools](https://aws.amazon.com/tools/)
- [AWS General Reference](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/Welcome.html)
- [AWS Training](https://aws.amazon.com/training/)
- [AWS Case Studies](https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/)
- [AWS Whitepapers & Guides](https://aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/)