The free LocalStackreplacement

LocalStack is no longer free. MiniStack is.33 AWS services on a single port — with real Postgres, Redis, and Docker containers. No account, no license key, no telemetry.

$docker run -p 4566:4566 nahuelnucera/ministackcopy

33

AWS Services

~2s

Startup

~30MB

RAM at idle

150MB

Docker Image

763

Tests passing

⚠️

LocalStack moved core services behind a paid plan. If you relied on LocalStack Community for local dev and CI/CD, MiniStack is your free, MIT-licensed drop-in replacement. No sign-up, no API key, no telemetry.

ministack — bash

Start MiniStack

$ docker run -p 4566:4566 nahuelnucera/ministack

Works with any AWS tool — no config changes

$ aws --endpoint-url=http://localhost:4566 s3 mb s3://my-bucket make_bucket: my-bucket

Real database — RDS spins up actual Postgres

$ aws --endpoint-url=http://localhost:4566 rds create-db-instance
--db-instance-identifier mydb --engine postgres
--master-username admin --master-user-password secret ✓ Real Postgres container running on localhost:15432

Real Redis via ElastiCache

$ aws --endpoint-url=http://localhost:4566 elasticache
create-cache-cluster --cache-cluster-id my-redis --engine redis ✓ Real Redis container running on localhost:16379

33 Services

Everything you need, locally

Core AWS services plus real infrastructure — RDS runs actual databases, ElastiCache runs real Redis, ECS starts real Docker containers, Athena executes real SQL via DuckDB (when installed).

🪣

S3

Buckets, objects, versioning, encryption, lifecycle, CORS, Object Lock, replication

REST/XML

📨

SQS

Queues, FIFO, DLQ, batch, visibility

JSON+Query

📢

SNS

Topics, subscriptions, fanout to SQS, batch publish

Query/XML

🗃️

DynamoDB

Tables, CRUD, query, scan, transactions, TTL, GSI

JSON

⚡

Lambda

Real Python execution, warm workers, SQS event source mapping, Layers

REST/JSON

🔐

IAM

Users, roles, policies, groups, instance profiles, OIDC

Query/XML

🎫

STS

CallerIdentity, AssumeRole, GetSessionToken

Query/XML

🔑

Secrets Manager

CRUD, versioning, rotation, resource policies

JSON

📊

CW Logs

Groups, streams, retention, subscription filters, metric filters, Insights

JSON

📐

SSM Params

String, SecureString, paths, labels, tags

JSON

🚌

EventBridge

Buses, rules, targets, Lambda dispatch, archives, permissions

JSON

🌊

Kinesis

Streams, split/merge shards, consumers, encryption, monitoring

JSON

📈

CW Metrics

Metrics, alarms, composite alarms, dashboards, alarm history

Query/CBOR

✉️

SES

Send email/raw/templated, identities, configuration sets

Query/XML

🔄

Step Functions

Full ASL engine, sync execution, task tokens, all state types

JSON

🌐

API Gateway v2

HTTP APIs, Lambda proxy, path params, execute-api data plane

REST/JSON

🔌

API Gateway v1

REST APIs, resources, methods, integrations, stages, MOCK, Lambda proxy format 1.0

REST/JSON

🐘

RDS

Real Postgres/MySQL containers

Real Docker

🔴

ElastiCache

Real Redis/Memcached containers, users, user groups

Real Docker

🐳

ECS

RunTask starts real containers, capacity providers

Real Docker

🧪

Glue

Catalog, crawlers, jobs, triggers, workflows

Real Exec

🔍

Athena

Real SQL via DuckDB (optional), data catalogs, prepared statements

DuckDB

🚒

Firehose

Delivery streams, PutRecord/PutRecordBatch, S3 delivery, encryption, tags

REST/JSON

🌐

Route53

Hosted zones, record sets (CREATE/UPSERT/DELETE), health checks, tags, alias records

REST/XML

🔒

Cognito

User pools, auth flows, TOTP MFA, identity pools, federated credentials

JSON

🖥️

EC2

Instances, VPCs, subnets, security groups, route tables, ENIs, elastic IPs, NAT gateways, NACLs, flow logs, VPC peering, DHCP options, egress-only IGWs

Query/XML

⚡

EMR

Clusters, steps, instance groups/fleets, bootstrap actions, tags — Pro-only on LocalStack

JSON

💾

EBS

Volumes, snapshots, attach/detach, modify, copy — Pro-only on LocalStack

Query/XML

📁

EFS

File systems, mount targets, access points, lifecycle, backup policy — Pro-only on LocalStack

REST/JSON

⚖️

ALB / ELBv2

Load balancers, target groups, listeners, rules, Lambda targets + live data-plane routing — Pro-only on LocalStack

Query/XML

🔐

ACM

Request, import, describe certificates; DNS validation records; SANs; tags

JSON

✉️

SES v2

SendEmail, identities, configuration sets, account suppression — REST API

REST/JSON

🛡️

WAF v2

WebACLs, IP sets, rule groups, resource associations, LockToken enforcement — Pro-only on LocalStack

JSON

Comparison

LocalStack vs MiniStack

Same developer experience. Fraction of the cost and footprint.

Feature LocalStack Free LocalStack Pro MiniStack ⚡

Core services (S3, SQS, DDB…) Now paid ✅ ✅ Free

Lambda, IAM, SSM, EventBridge Paid ✅ ✅ Free

RDS (real DB containers) ❌ ✅ ✅ Real Postgres/MySQL

ElastiCache (real Redis) ❌ ✅ ✅ Real Redis

ECS (real Docker) ❌ ✅ ✅ Real Docker

Athena (real SQL) ❌ ✅ ✅ DuckDB (optional)

Glue Catalog + Jobs ❌ ✅ ✅

API Gateway v2 (HTTP APIs) ✅ ✅ ✅ + data plane

API Gateway v1 (REST APIs) ✅ ✅ ✅ + data plane

Firehose ✅ ✅ ✅ S3 delivery

Route53 ✅ ✅ ✅

Cognito (user pools + identity) Paid ✅ ✅ Free

EC2 (instances, VPC, subnets, SGs) Paid ✅ ✅ Free

EMR (clusters, steps, instance groups) Paid ✅ ✅ Free

EBS (volumes, snapshots, attach/detach) Paid ✅ ✅ Free

EFS (file systems, mount targets, access points) Paid ✅ ✅ Free

ALB / ELBv2 (LBs, listeners, rules + Lambda data plane) Paid ✅ ✅ Free

SNS→SQS fanout + SQS→Lambda ESM ❌ ✅ ✅

Startup time ~15-30s ~15-30s ~2s

Memory at idle ~500MB ~500MB ~30MB

Docker image ~1 GB ~1 GB 150 MB

License BSL (restricted) Proprietary MIT

Price Now paid $35+/mo $0 forever

Built different

Real infrastructure, not mocks

Where it matters most — RDS, ElastiCache, and ECS run real Docker containers. No fake endpoints, no stubbed responses.

🐘

Real databases via RDS

CreateDBInstance spins up an actual Postgres or MySQL Docker container. Connect with psycopg2 — it's a real database.

🔴

Real Redis via ElastiCache

CreateCacheCluster starts an actual Redis container. Use redis-py, run SUBSCRIBE, use it as your session store.

🐳

Real containers via ECS

RunTask pulls and starts real Docker containers via the Docker socket. Test your ECS task definitions locally.

🔍

Real SQL via Athena

Queries execute via DuckDB when installed. Query S3 data with actual SQL, get actual result sets back. Falls back to mock results without it.

🔌

Full SDK compatibility

Works with boto3, AWS CLI, Terraform, CDK, Pulumi — any tool that speaks the AWS API.

🔓

MIT licensed forever

No BSL, no feature gates, no "community" vs "pro". Every service is free. Fork it, embed it. MIT is MIT.

Stop paying for local development

One command. 33 services. Real infrastructure. Free.

$docker run -p 4566:4566 nahuelnucera/ministackcopy