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it_user8928 - PeerSpot reviewer
Owner at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Amazon EC2 monthly price tables for SaaS-relevant configurations, in euros

EC2 is Amazon’s cloud service for flexible use of virtual machines. One of the big advantages of this service is that Amazon’s hourly prices also include the cost for the Windows and/or SQL Server license. Amazon has just announced lower prices for Windows EC2 instances.

It’s not always easy to calculate total monthly costs for various configurations, so in this post I will try to give an indication of montly costs for configurations that would be relevant for SaaS applications with 1,000 – 50,000 customers.
Note: In the monthly prices below I have incorporated the upfront costs for 1- and 3-year contracts in the monthly prices (spread out over the full term).
All prices are calculated for the EU region (Ireland).

Windows web server. No additional storage.

Configuration Resources On-demand (hourly) p/m 1-year term p/m 3-year term p/m
M1 large instance 2 cores, 7.6 GB memory €200 €131 €99
M1 extra large instance 4 cores, 15 GB memory €400 €262 €198
M3 double extra large instance 8 “second-generation” cores, 30 GB memory €859 €554 €419

Traffic out (to the internet) is an additional €92 per TB.

Load-balanced high-activity Windows web server.

Amazon Elastic Load Balancer
3 M3 double extra large EC2 instance on 3-year terms
5 TB of internet traffic per month
Total cost per month = €1763

Database server, EC2 instance with Windows server 2008/2012 and SQL Server Web Edition 2008/2012.

Prices below include 1TB of database storage on EBS (Elastic Block Storage, Amazon’s virtual drives). For instances without guaranteed I/O I have included 500 million I/O requests per months. Upfront costs have been spread over the months of the term.

Configuration Resources Guaranteed I/O On-demand (hourly) p/m 1-year term p/m 3-year term p/m
High-memory extra-large instance 2 cores, 17 GB memory (no guaranteed I/O) €463 €292 €249
High-memory double extra-large instance 4 cores, 34 GB memory 500 Mbps €798 €467 €384
High-memory quadruple extra-large instance 8 cores, 68 GB memory 1000 Mbps €1491 €829 €666

Note that you would also need additional storage for database backups, which could add €100-500 per month, depending on backup methods and backup retention.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
ManuelVallejo - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Provides valuable features like Cloud Management, but the hybrid cloud could have better support
Pros and Cons
  • "Cloud Management has been a valuable feature."
  • "In some scenarios, Azure will support hybrid cloud better while AWS offers direct connection."

What is our primary use case?

I am an integrator. 

We get some courses and communications from the technology, so we update our knowledge about how to use that kind of technology for the cloud.

What is most valuable?

Cloud Management has been a valuable feature. It depends on how we meet our business challenge head-on with the cloud computing services because sometimes you find that the computing is working fine with Google, and sometimes it's Azure, and sometimes it's Amazon.

One customer is going to work with Azure, and the next year they'll change everything and work with AWS because in our environment the most sensitive data is kept in the on-premise environment the majority of the time. It's more frequent that you can find an environment that has hybrid implementation.

What needs improvement?

I think in some situations the key difference between Azure and AWS is how they support the hybrid cloud. In some scenarios, Azure will support hybrid cloud better while AWS offers direct connection. Azure provides security by offering information on the whole account where AWS security provides an easy find row. It depends on what the customer wants to have in the environment or how they want to work with that or what is the customer's budget.

Most of the issues are that because it's a hybrid environment, the configuration is restricted with the firewalls. The most common issue that they have found is generated by the person who administers these kinds of solutions.

It would be great if you could find a way to make an architect design and just click one button and put that in the cloud.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for more than six years.

How was the initial setup?

It's simple because the customer will get familiar with the technology. The customer has to know his company. He has to know it's a new technology and everything gets complicated if the person doesn't adapt to changes. It depends on how they approach all the adoption from this kind of multi-cloud solution.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 7 out of 10.

My advice is to read about the solution. All of the learning is logical, and you can follow it and put it in practice. I believe it's a great product and great technology.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Amazon AWS
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about Amazon AWS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
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reviewer922707 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Product Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
MSP
You can scale it up and down as you need, which is much easier than adding and provisioning new servers
Pros and Cons
  • "The environment is a rich playground, and if you tried to do the same things on-premises that you do on AWS, it would be a lot more challenging to execute. You can open up a virtual machine on AWS, run some experiments, and be done with it. It's much easier than buying new servers, provisioning them, etc"
  • "You'll probably experience some sticker shock with AWS. You attempt to understand the cost, but you don't realize what you're paying until you get your first bill. I don't know if Amazon does that on purpose, but costs can get out of control quickly if you don't have someone who specializes in AWS cost management."

How has it helped my organization?

The most valuable feature of AWS is that you can scale it up and down as you need. The environment is a rich playground, and if you tried to do the same things on-premises that you do on AWS, it would be a lot more challenging to execute. You can open up a virtual machine on AWS, run some experiments, and be done with it. It's much easier than buying new servers, provisioning them, etc. 

For how long have I used the solution?

Most of the companies that I've worked for deal with AWS. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I don't know how many servers they say they have, but AWS is a highly reliable platform. I'm sure they've had outages because it's all over the news when they do, but it's stable overall.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cloud solutions like AWS are supposed to have near-infinite scalable. That's the point. You can just keep going and make them as big or small as you need. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

AWS is like all the other cloud providers. They're all like vacuum salesmen, where they come in, and they say, "Do you want to buy this hose or this vacuum?" And you're like, "Yeah, it's not that expensive. It's a hose." And then they say, "How about these extra bags?" And you're like, "Okay. I'll buy the bags. It's not that much." Then, at the end of the day, you've bought an entire vacuum store's worth of stuff. You don't know upfront what it will cost, but they have cost calculators and other things like that.

You'll probably experience some sticker shock with AWS. You attempt to understand the cost, but you don't realize what you're paying until you get your first bill. I don't know if Amazon does that on purpose, but costs can get out of control quickly if you don't have someone who specializes in AWS cost management.

I don't even know how many microservices they have now. It seems like hundreds, so what do you do. What would you tell them to do with Aurora compared to their other stuff? There's just so much there that it's tough to get a comprehensive understanding of what you're getting into with AWS. And that's just the nature of AWS. It's a giant ecosystem. Azure is the same. I'm not familiar with GCP, but I'm sure it's the same. They do their best to make it as clean as possible from a sales perspective, but the AWS sticker shock is real.

I'm not sure about the exact costs. When I used to do stuff with Commvault and stuff, I knew the ingress and egress fees and the data cost for storage on AWS, but that was a long time ago.

What other advice do I have?

I guess I would rate Amazon AWS eight out of 10. AWS works as advertised, but they're expensive if you don't know what you're doing. I'm not sure if I can knock them for not being transparent about pricing. Cloud costs are challenging. There's an entire industry popping up for managing cloud costs with consultants who can tell you how to get the most out of your AWS allocation. 

I don't have a lot of advice. If you're planning to implement a cloud solution, just pick one. I mean, if you're a Microsoft shop, it probably makes more sense to go Azure. If you're not, then I would recommend AWS. It depends on what you're looking to get out of it. 

There are references, architectures, case studies, and a million other things that would off better advice on whether to go with AWS or not. But if you're looking to go to the cloud, AWS is as good as everybody else. AWS is probably better than Azure and GCP, but that's a tricky thing to pin down. It depends on what your goals and requirements are. My best advice is to evaluate your goals before making a decision.

I hope that people take what I say about AWS with a massive grain of salt because it's like asking an ant about an elephant. What's an ant going to know about an elephant? It's just too big for any one person to know.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1561038 - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Real User
A stable cloud computing solution with a valuable load balancing feature
Pros and Cons
  • "I like S3, load balancers, and Route 53."
  • "The price could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We use Amazon AWS for storage, networking, and remote computing.

What is most valuable?

I like S3, load balancers, and Route 53.

What needs improvement?

The price could be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon AWS is quite stable.

How are customer service and technical support?

There are so many references that I can refer to, and their technical support is great.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price, in general, could be better.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to potential users.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Amazon AWS an eight.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
An on-demand cloud computing platform with a useful storage feature, but the price could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the storage, all the codes like Lambda and Amazon EMR."
  • "The price could be better."

What is most valuable?

I like the storage, all the codes like Lambda and Amazon EMR.

What needs improvement?

The price could be better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Amazon AWS for seven to eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon AWS is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Amazon AWS is scalable. Scalability has been good for us.

How was the initial setup?

I didn't take part in the initial setup on a very hands-on level. However, I hear from my architects and the development team that it's straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It could be cheaper, and Amazon could also be more transparent with its pricing. I would first expect any product vendor to give me the utmost transparency on pricing information. There shouldn't be any hidden costs.

Their service offerings have a bit of segmentation, and they focus more on SMBs. They brought them onto the cloud and encouraged them to use solutions on the cloud. But strategically, they should probably improve that and offer some credits.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise potential users to use Azure if they want more stability, but I always warn about the costs. That's why I don't bring infrastructure to the business, and I find the customers with their own environment. There are multiple portions, and it's not straightforward for anybody to do. That's the bad side of it, but anybody can prepare.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Amazon AWS a seven.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1463712 - PeerSpot reviewer
Utilities WAM consultant at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Consultant
Reliable, scalable, with S3 feature included, and priced well
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of this solution is the S3."
  • "The initial setup was very complex."

What is our primary use case?

Most of our applications are installed on the AWS. The enterprise solutions are installed on AWS.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of this solution is the S3.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for a couple of years.

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very reliable. We have not had any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a scalable solution. We have 25 users in our organization.

How are customer service and technical support?

We do not contact them directly. We reach out to our contractor and they contact AWS technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very complex.

What about the implementation team?

We have a reseller who helped with the deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The costing model is very confusing.

The cost is on a monthly basis. 

We are happy with the pricing.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate Amazon AWS a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Co-Founder & Chief Evangelist at WonderLend Hubs
User
It offers durability, high availability, fault tolerance, and a high TCO benefit
Pros and Cons
  • "It offers durability, high availability, fault tolerance, and a high TCO benefit."
  • "AWS should provide even more support and engagement to accelerate the adoption of new services and features."

What is our primary use case?

IaaS, PaaS, and a wide range of AWS services, including Aurora Postgre.

We use this for two solutions that we provide to our clients.

  • Channel Management automation
  • Digital Lending Hub

How has it helped my organization?

We are an ISV. AWS helped us to dramatically transform our business model into a cloud based subscription service.

What is most valuable?

RDS (Relational database service), specifically Aurora. It offers durability, high availability, fault tolerance, and a high TCO benefit.

What needs improvement?

The rate of new services and features released by AWS has dramatically accelerated. AWS should provide even more support and engagement to accelerate adoption.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Network & Server Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Real User
We can spin up the server anytime and have root access to it
Pros and Cons
  • "We can spin up the server anytime and have root access to it."
  • "We can easily upgrade and downgrade the Instance."
  • "It has the technical support features, but they need to be improved. It has lots of users, but they need to be managed accordingly."

What is our primary use case?

We hosted our website in the Amazon AWS. This is very easy to use and the user-friendly dashboard. 

How has it helped my organization?

Amazon AWS has improved our organization. It has all the features which we need. We can spin up the server anytime and have root access to it. We built our website and hosted the Amazon server. We also set up the RDS database, which has the capability to help the MySQL queries. The user interface is very user-friendly, and you can assign Elastic IP anytime. Overall, this is the best IaaS for hosting the website and the database.

What is most valuable?

  1. Spin up the server when we need it: We can spun up the new server. 
  2. Elastic IP: Sometimes, our website gets hacked with malware and it is easy to change the IP of the Instance.
  3. Snapshot: We can easily create a snapshot in Amazon AWS, then restore it.
  4. RDS: Manages all the database queries.
  5. Instance upgrade and downgrade: We can easily upgrade and downgrade the Instance.

What needs improvement?

Technical support: It has the technical support features, but they need to be improved. It has lots of users, but they need to be managed accordingly.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

One of the best things in Amazon AWS is you are billed for the service you use. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: February 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.