The product is easy to use. Its availability and support are its biggest strengths.
Manager - Solution Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
A scalable and reasonably priced solution that is easy to use and has a high availability
Pros and Cons
- "The product is easy to use."
- "IAM must be made simple and straightforward."
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
IAM must be made simple and straightforward. It is a little bit complicated compared to GCP.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three to four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
My company had signed up for professional support. We did not have any issues with support. It would be really tough to reach out to the support team on a personal level. For personal users, I rate the support a three to four out of ten. For professional users, I rate it a nine out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are also using Google Cloud Platform. The choice of the product depends on people’s familiarity and their inclination toward using a certain product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool’s pricing is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend the solution. Overall, I rate the product a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
President at Global Retail Technology Advisors, LLC
Very fast with good stability and great for microservice architecture
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has good speed. It's very fast."
- "While AWS often is at the top of my list to recommend to people, I always have to tell them, "Hey, you got to be careful because if they don't like you, they can shut you down in a heartbeat. And they can kill an entire company by doing that.""
What is our primary use case?
The solution is a critical part of modern retail architecture. There are as many as 3,000 different use cases, and each client uses it differently.
How has it helped my organization?
This video explains the whole microservice architecture of which AWS is a key player: (3) Microservice POS Design - YouTube Enjoy
What is most valuable?
It's been a while since I've looked at the AWS model, however, just at a high level, of course, being able to build a microservice architecture, that's the heart of modern retail. That's where they have to go. COVID has driven everybody to realize that's what you got to do. That's one of the key components of AWS. The cloud piece is a nice supporting concept and it's necessary to make the microservices features work and make the whole architecture really agile. That's a critical component of it as well.
Of course, being able to figure out how you want to coordinate services - that whole service management piece - is critical. You could have thousands of services and I'm pretty sure you'd just be overwhelmed due to the fact that you've lost track of everything and you're back to the way things were when you had the big monolithic models.
The stability is excellent.
The solution has good speed. It's very fast.
The execution is fantastic.
What needs improvement?
I haven't delved down deep enough into the solution in order to come up with an answer for what may be lacking.
The only real downside to AWS is they can easily shut you down if they want to.
Clients ask us "Well, what happens if I go and put this on AWS and they don't like me for some screwy reason and all of a sudden they shut me down, they've killed my entire company?"
While AWS often is at the top of my list to recommend to people, I always have to tell them, "Hey, you got to be careful because if they don't like you, they can shut you down in a heartbeat. And they can kill an entire company by doing that."
For how long have I used the solution?
I've had a good understanding of how AWS works for a while. It's likely been about three or four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is excellent. It doesn't crash or freeze. There aren't bugs or glitches. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is extremely scalable. You can be a small company or a multi-billion dollar company and it will work for you. It's number one on my list of recommendations due to its scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I've never reached out to technical support in the past. I can't speak to how knowledgeable or responsive they are.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't actually set up an operating AWS model on my computer. Therefore, it would be difficult to discuss the initial setup.
I tell clients to use it, however, I don't go into building one on my own. I don't have a need for it here, and I don't have applications to run on it. In my case, it's more an architectural world rather than a physical world.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I work on the technology side, I don't work on the financial side. Therefore, I really don't have any clue how much it costs.
What other advice do I have?
I'm just a consultant. I don't have a partnership with AWS or any other company.
AWS is a key part of the whole microservice cloud computing.
I would recommend the solution to other organizations.
However, if I'm a multi-billion dollar retailer and I need to depend on something, how do I trust a company that can shut me down on a whim? That's a real problem. That moves AWS down and it moves Azure up just on my recommendation list.
From a technology perspective, it's well-proven, it's extensive, it covers just about everything you want to do. That's what I talk about with clients mostly, is the technology side.
While I used to rate the solution ten out of ten, the fact that Amazon can just kill a company on a whim makes me lower my rating. Currently, I'd rate it at an eight out of ten. It's great in almost every way. However, a company needs to understand that AWS can kill your company in a moment if it feels like it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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November 2024
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Director Of Sales Marketing at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Many merits regarding stability, scalability, and availability
Pros and Cons
- "Amazon AWS has many merits, in terms of scalability, stability, and availability. I have loved using this tool."
- "Amazon AWS could be improved with cheaper licensing costs."
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case of AWS is cloud computing. I have been using the EKS, EFS, S3, and Lambda. I have a lot of experience with the Kubernetes cluster service, as well as AWS, Azure, and GCP.
This solution is cloud-based.
What is most valuable?
Amazon AWS has many merits, in terms of scalability, stability, and availability. I have loved using this tool.
What needs improvement?
Amazon AWS could be improved with cheaper licensing costs.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon AWS for more than four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable.
In my organization, there are approximately 500 to 1,000 users of Amazon AWS.
How are customer service and support?
Amazon's technical support is excellent. I am very satisfied with their support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very simple. I have been using Terraform as an infrastructure as code tool, and with Terraform, it's very simple. Within one day, I can provision the AWS Infrastructure as a Service tool and install our platform based on the cloud and data analytics.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
From a cost perspective, Amazon AWS is excellent. You need to pay for a license to use AWS, and the license could be cheaper, but in each of the cases and instances I've used AWS, there has been a good chance to save money.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Amazon AWS a ten out of ten. I usually recommend AWS because I have loved using this tool. Most of the time, I recommend it as a real-time information and patching service with Lambda.
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.
Head of Implementation and Security at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
It makes deployment and management of infrastructure easier
Pros and Cons
- "AWS's containerization is the most useful feature for us."
- "I'd like to see AWS implement consolidated billing for businesses operating under one group. We want to consolidate the functionalities but keep the billing separate. That is a challenge we've faced, and I feel it's something they can improve on. For example, maybe you have three businesses that are operating under one group, and you want each entity to have a separate bill for the respective workload that they're using."
What is our primary use case?
AWS makes deployment and management of infrastructure easier. We are using so many features, including Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, Elastic Container Service, EC2 instances, and Landing Zone. We rely heavily on AWS, and we're constantly taking advantage of new features as they come out to see how they can add value to the business.
What is most valuable?
AWS's containerization is the most useful feature for us.
What needs improvement?
I'd like to see AWS implement consolidated billing for businesses operating under one group. We want to consolidate the functionalities but keep the billing separate. That is a challenge we've faced, and I feel it's something they can improve on. For example, maybe you have three businesses that are operating under one group, and you want each entity to have a separate bill for the respective workload that they're using. But in terms of technical expertise, you want to consolidate the technical support and function of the three accounts. That's an area where AWS is struggling.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Amazon AWS for about four or five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
AWS is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
AWS is scalable. We're serving close to 7,000 or 8,000 end-users with it.
How are customer service and support?
AWS support is good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
AWS is pay as you go.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We reviewed the main three cloud providers: GCP, Azure, and AWS.
What other advice do I have?
I rate AWS 9.5 out of 10. I would recommend it.
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.
Founder CEO at PROZM Knowledge Services Pvt Ltd
Has good compute features and Relational Database services
Pros and Cons
- "The features that I have found most valuable are their compute and their Relational Database Service."
- "The features that should be improved are that there should be better clarity on their invoicing. There are so many things they charge for - high line items in the invoice. I think there should be more clarity and more ease of use with their billing. I'd like to see better ease of use of with the billing console and a clear dashboard to understand the usage."
What is our primary use case?
We use it to host our e-learning platform.
AWS is a platform, wherein they give you a virtual instance of a server. So there is no version per se. They just give you a virtual server. The other software we use is free. We use it for conducting our exams and everything. We use a free, open source software, which is not a commercial software.
How has it helped my organization?
Remember, this is a plain vanilla platform. So we don't have to do any actual investment in servers and other things. That is the general advantage of cloud that everybody gets. You don't have to pay a lot of money. And at any point, if you feel you don't want to use it, you stop. It is as simple as that.
What is most valuable?
The features that I have found most valuable are their compute and their Relational Database Service.
What needs improvement?
The features that should be improved are that there should be better clarity on their invoicing. There are so many things they charge for - high line items in the invoice. I think there should be more clarity and more ease of use with their billing.
I'd like to see better ease of use with the billing console and a clear dashboard to understand the usage.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon AWS for almost three years. We are continually using it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon AWS is very, very stable.
No maintenance is required.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is unlimited. From one to 10, it is 10.
We use it, but our training participants access it. A lot of people access it. In a year, at different points in time, 200 people might be using it.
I don't think we will be expanding usage because we purchased a little more than what we needed. We don't need to spend any money now. We only pay our monthly charges.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is good. If you raise a ticket, they're very good. Even with billing, if you have some issues they take care of it. If you are overbilled or you're not using it and then you turn one thing by mistake, and all of a sudden the bill has increased - they'll take care of it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we were using general hosting, they even call it shared hosting. But it was not scalable and it was not fast.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is all easy. It's very easy.
Our deployment took just a few clicks. You are talking seconds.
What about the implementation team?
I had our technical team do it. But you need a technical person. It's not that anybody can do it or a person like me can do it. You need to have a technical person doing it.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return of investment with Amazon AWS.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are just a customer. We just pay monthly for the subscription cost. I mean, hardly $50. We are a very small company.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to anyone considering Amazon AWS is that they should plan properly for their spending and they should have good control over their technology team. Otherwise, if the technology team doesn't know enough and they keep on creating more services, you'll be surprised with the invoice. Technology and finance should work very, very closely in the cloud.
On a scale of one to 10, I give Amazon AWS a 10. It's a really good product.
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.
A reasonably-priced and stable platform for transitioning our customers from on-premises to the cloud
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is that it is simple."
- "They can launch the Oracle service in Azure, and we expect that this should be possible in Amazon AWS as well."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case of this solution is to migrate our customers into the cloud, integrating all of their applications.
In my previous organization, we moved some customers from on-premises to the cloud, and they are happy with the change.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is that it is simple. We don't use complex services for our small business customers.
What needs improvement?
When it was only Amazon AWS in the market, no one was concerned about the pricing. However, now that there are so many competitors, there is more comparison for cloud service providers. They should look into reducing the price of this solution to stay competitive. It would be a benefit.
The current trend is multi-cloud. They can launch the Oracle service in Azure, and we expect that this should be possible in Amazon AWS as well.
I would like to see better integration between Oracle and AWS.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon AWS for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon AWS is stable and we have not faced any issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have not used technical support. We provide that to our customers.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy.
Deployment is not a problem for us because we have experience. For new people, they are a bit worried about new features, until they develop a routine.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The Oracle licensing is higher than it is with Amazon AWS.
What other advice do I have?
The deployment varies, as some of our customers would like the hybrid cloud while others want a public cloud.
I have recommended this product to our customers and will continue to do so.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Senior Manager (Engineering Department) at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Easy to use, multiple payment options, and highly reliable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Amazon AWS are ease of use, deployment, and short lead time. If you are using an on-premise solution, you need to wait for the hardware, and nowadays it is very difficult, the lead time becomes very long. We propose to our customers to use Amazon AWS because it is very easy, no need to wait for hardware delivery."
- "If Amazon AWS can offer more self-paced learning tools, on their website, on CBT, it'll be easier for more people to familiarize themselves with their service. Especially when they are delivering new services from time to time. Educational tools that can help users familiarize themselves with their service. It would be great."
What is our primary use case?
The customer can deploy their application on Amazon AWS instead of taking care of their infrastructure.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Amazon AWS are ease of use, deployment, and short lead time. If you are using an on-premise solution, you need to wait for the hardware, and nowadays it is very difficult, the lead time becomes very long. We propose to our customers to use Amazon AWS because it is very easy, no need to wait for hardware delivery.
What needs improvement?
If Amazon AWS can offer more self-paced learning tools, on their website, on CBT, it'll be easier for more people to familiarize themselves with their service. Especially when they are delivering new services from time to time. Educational tools that can help users familiarize themselves with their service. It would be great.
I know they have a Free Tier service, but they need to register their credit cards. Some of my colleagues have concerns. If the usage exceeds a certain value, they exceeded the Free Tier usage time and they will start charging your credit card. My colleagues forgot about the usage and credit card payments. They needed to pay for the additional amounts which they used on top of the Free Tier usage. If Amazon AWS could improve the free service model to be more user-friendly in a way of not using a credit card, that would be great.
For personal learning, you also need to register your credit card. You need to be careful or you will have to pay.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Amazon AWS for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Amazon AWS is stable. However, they have had a few outages but nothing very serious.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Amazon AWS is quite scalable. And they have a lot of auto-scaling functions for their VMs.
How are customer service and support?
I don't have direct information of the support from Amazon AWS because sometimes we are relying on Amazon's partner, not directly contacting Amazon AWS support teams. We need to have some support plan with Amazon AWS, otherwise, they will not provide direct email or technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The length of time and difficulty of the implementation depends on the scale and the complexity of the project.
What about the implementation team?
For the implementation of Amazon AWS, having two to three engineers focusing on it would be ideal. Small to middle size companies, don't have dedicated teams or engineers for a particular service.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Amazon AWS is offering different pricing, and saving plans, it's very easy for a customer to consider the Amazon AWS service.
Amazon AWS charges based on the user usage and some software license, such as the OS are included in their monthly charge. The transparency is quite sufficient, the customer knows what they're paying for.
The usage fees are an OPEX and they are offered monthly or annually.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Amazon AWS to others.
Amazon AWS are the market leaders in the public cloud service and after them, we have Microsoft Azure, and maybe Google Cloud.
I rate Amazon AWS an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Principal Consultant at High Sierra Consultants
Good elasticity, good performance, and reasonable price
Pros and Cons
- "Macie is great. It is a service that makes recommendations on a data layer for cybersecurity. It is a great service."
- "One thing that Azure offers that I think is good is Migrate appliance. So, Azure has a migrate appliance that allows you to run against workloads to determine the cost, preparedness, and scalability. I haven't found a similar feature in AWS. That kind of service would be great on AWS too if you could point it to the data center."
What is our primary use case?
I am using it for enterprise warehousing. I am using it for web development, data warehousing, and also for building apps.
I am using its latest version. In terms of deployment, it is a platform as a service.
What is most valuable?
Macie is great. It is a service that makes recommendations on a data layer for cybersecurity. It is a great service.
Its elasticity is good, and I haven't come across any problems with it. So far, everything has been good.
What needs improvement?
One thing that Azure offers that I think is good is Migrate appliance. So, Azure has a migrate appliance that allows you to run against workloads to determine the cost, preparedness, and scalability. I haven't found a similar feature in AWS. That kind of service would be great on AWS too if you could point it to the data center.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for well over five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not had any performance issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's very easy to scale. Its elasticity is good. If you want to scale up or down, you can. You can scale out. There is no problem at all. That's one of the features that I like about it.
We have less than 50 people who are using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
I've not used their tech support yet.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We didn't use a different solution previously. They're the first.
How was the initial setup?
You need to know what you're doing. I know they're trying to make it easy. Some things are easy. Some things you have to know what you're doing.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It seems to be reasonable. It's the first one that I've used as a cloud platform, so they've set the benchmark for me, and now, I'm comparing everything else to them.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise others to just plan out what they are looking for in terms of use cases.
I would rate Amazon AWS an eight out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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