> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://karansingh.gitbook.io/aws-saa-c02/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://karansingh.gitbook.io/aws-saa-c02/virtual-private-cloud-vpc/nat-gateways.md).

# NAT Gateways

* It has the **same purpose as a NAT Instance** but instead, this has much **less configuration, higher bandwidth and better availability**.<br>
* You are **charged for creating and using a NAT gateway** in your account.<br>
* Each NAT gateway is **created in a specific Availability Zone and implemented with redundancy in that zone**.
  * To create an Availability Zone-independent architecture, **create a NAT gateway in each Availability Zone** and configure your routing to ensure that resources use the NAT gateway in the same Availability Zone.

## NAT gateway vs NAT instance

| Attribute    | NAT gateway                                                                                                       | NAT instance                                                                                    |
| ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Availability | <p></p><ul><li>NAT gateways in each Availability Zone are <strong>implemented with redundancy</strong>.</li></ul> | <ul><li>Use a <strong>script to manage failover between instances</strong>.</li></ul>           |
| Bandwidth    | <ul><li>Can <strong>scale up to 45 Gbps</strong>.</li></ul>                                                       | <ul><li><strong>Depends on</strong> the instance type.</li></ul>                                |
| Maintenance  | <ul><li><strong>Managed by AWS</strong>.</li></ul>                                                                | <ul><li><strong>Managed by you</strong>.</li></ul>                                              |
| Performance  | <ul><li><strong>Software is optimized</strong> for handling NAT traffic.</li></ul>                                | <ul><li>A <strong>generic Amazon Linux AMI</strong> that's configured to perform NAT.</li></ul> |