Best AWS Alternatives: When AWS Costs Too Much for Too Little

There aren’t many cloud service providers as well-known as Amazon Web Services (AWS), and that’s not undeserved, considering the scale of their services. AWS offers over 240 cloud products, with a wide variety of customizable options, from the basics like cloud computing and storage services to auto-scaling and ML (Machine Learning) model development.

However, AWS isn’t for everyone, and various problems have led many to opt for alternatives of AWS, of which there are plenty, to say the least.

With so many different products and applications, it’s inevitable to get overwhelmed by the numerous options and feel unsure about what you do and don’t need. That aside, when you eventually choose which services you want, figuring out AWS costs and bills is another headache in and of itself.

These are only some of the issues that make AWS alternatives worth a shot, so let’s get into why you should consider other cloud service providers.

Why You Should Consider AWS Alternatives

AWS seems like a no-brainer considering its popularity and wide range of services and products; however, when you look at the various cases of people who’ve saved tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars by migrating from AWS, it becomes apparent that it isn’t exactly the clear-cut choice it appears to be.

Cloud Cost Ambiguity

As mentioned earlier, one of the critical issues that makes AWS a tricky cloud provider is its low cloud cost visibility. To address this, AWS offers a pricing calculator to somewhat ease the process. However, a survey presented at the 2017 Gartner IT Symposium revealed that 95% of customers felt they were paying for services they didn’t need or know about.

When you do finally figure out what you’re paying for, it may become apparent that you’re overpaying by quite a bit, as many customers like Prerender and Terrateam have reported up to an 80% cost reduction by migrating from AWS.

You might wonder how AWS could cost so much when its services are decently priced, and it has rarely increased prices over the years. The answer is that AWS tricks you by setting an exorbitant price on a particularly crucial component of an organization’s functioning: Data transfer.

You see, transferring data from the internet to AWS is free of charge; however, transferring data using an Elastic IPv4 address or peered VPC using an IPv6 address will cost you $0.01/GB. Even worse, the real blow comes from how much AWS charges for transferring data from an AWS service in one region to an AWS service in another region.

What’s key here is where your AWS region is located. AWS charges $0.08/GB in the US West region, whereas in the Asia Pacific region, it charges a hefty $0.135/GB. This is how AWS costs can suddenly skyrocket despite most of their services being decently priced.

Unresponsive Customer Service

Considering the massive number of its clients, it’s somewhat understandable that AWS’ customer support may not be great. To fix this issue, they’ve turned customer support into a business by commercializing it as premium customer support. Competent and responsive customer service should be and is free at other cloud service providers, making “premium customer support” a joke.

Questionable Security

AWS prides itself on its security, although the CapitalOne SSRF security breach in 2019 doesn’t exactly boost confidence. Understandably, AWS has improved its security since then; however, why should you risk your data when other service providers don’t have such a worrying track record?

Limited Resources

AWS limits resources by region; for example, EC2 instances (provide on-demand, scalable computing capacity in the AWS Cloud) are limited to 20 instances per region, which also includes all instances set up on your account. You may request an EC2 limit increase; however, be aware that some instance types cost around $2.5k a month with on-demand pricing.

Best Overall Alternative for AWS: Cloudzy vs. AWS

Each Amazon AWS alternative mentioned in this article specializes in a particular area where they are superior to AWS and offer better rates than AWS. However, if you want a well-rounded cloud service provider that meets the cloud service needs of startups, enterprises, and everything in between, Cloudzy is your best AWS alternative.

Features Galore

Cloudzy boasts high-performance, scalable, and tailored solutions for your cloud service needs. We cater to businesses and developers with a variety of services, such as Windows, Linux, RDP, Forex VPSs, and cloud servers.

Our servers feature dedicated internet connections reaching up to 10 Gbps, enterprise NVMe SSD storage, powerful 3.23 GHz turbo-speed AMD EPYC processors, and 99.95% uptime. These capabilities and components create the perfect environment for test/staging and development, and custom software solutions.

Furthermore, you can host game servers and e-commerce websites, trade in the Forex market, and access the internet from another location, allowing you to visit websites only accessible from other countries. This means that you can benefit from special discounts and more affordable rates for everyday services like Netflix, which are only available in certain countries.

Affordable with a Simple Billing System

Our rates at Cloudzy put us ahead of AWS and other AWS alternatives. With our cheapest Linux VPS, you get the most bang for your buck, with more storage and twice the RAM for five cents less a month. This is especially true with our cheapest Windows VPS service, where you get twice the storage, triple the bandwidth, and four times the CPU for five cents less.

On the off chance that you’re not satisfied with our services, we at Cloudzy offer a full refund on your unused credits within the first 14 days. We welcome various payment methods, including cryptocurrencies, PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, and more.

24/7 Customer Support

Unlike AWS, you don’t need to pay for responsive customer support, as we provide 24/7 online support. Moreover, we have a comprehensive and continuous email reminder system that will notify you of any changes you make from the Cloudzy panel. This system will also keep you up-to-date with upcoming changes, alerts, and warnings so you never face unwelcome surprises.

Scalability and Flexibility

Our user-friendly panel allows you to easily resize servers to your specific needs. You can even increase or decrease bandwidth alone without upgrading your plan or paying for anything other than bandwidth. Additionally, you’ll never have to worry about losing data when downsizing, as our snapshot system will save a backup of your server.

Top 5 Alternatives to AWS

Amazon’s shortcomings have allowed AWS competitors to gain ground by strengthening in areas where AWS lacks and offering niche services that set them apart from AWS. Below is a list of other top AWS alternatives and their specialty, whether that’s the best cloud service for startups or E-commerce.

1. DigitalOcean: Best for Developers and Startups

Digital Ocean thrives on its developer-friendly UI and low rates compared to AWS’ convoluted setup and high costs. Additionally, it boasts fast SSD-based virtual machines and cloud website hosting, called Cloudways, making it the preferred choice for Linux developers.

Unlike AWS, they offer great technical support and documentation. As for heavy workloads, they provide scalable machines and broad network bandwidth. They also offer managed and self-managed VPS services that can reportedly run managed Kubernetes with a 99.5% SLA.

However, it should be noted that this AWS alternative isn’t recommended for enterprises and is mainly targeted at startups and developers.

Lastly, some specialized droplet (VPS) costs can quickly climb, and some processes, like implementing DNS changes, can be a bit confusing.

2. Microsoft Azure: Best for Enterprise businesses and Windows Licenses

Microsoft Azure offers nearly everything AWS offers while excelling in specific areas like CDNs and edge computing. It provides the world’s second-largest data center network and is just as good, if not better, than AWS when it comes to the enterprise cloud service segment.

One reason Azure is not only an AWS alternative but potentially a superior option for enterprises is the significantly lower price of Windows licenses from Azure than AWS, as well as Microsoft’s easy-to-use and familiar virtual desktop and tools.

On the other hand, Azure moves your business’ computing power to the cloud, so you’ll need to maintain and manage your server through patching and server monitoring. You’ll need expert help for this, as something as simple as over-provisioning your cloud service may lead to thousands of dollars of losses annually.

3. Kamatera: Best for Affordability and VPS Services

One of the lesser-known cloud service providers compared to AWS and Azure, Kamatera is an all-around decent option with services suitable for both enterprises and smaller businesses.

What makes Kamatera a strong AWS competitor is its better rates. Their cheapest option offers double the RAM and a much more free traffic allowance for less than a dollar per month. Kamatera also provides VPS services that definitively best AWS in terms of CPU, RAM, and disk space.

On the other hand, similar to AWS, Kamatera’s services may be tricky to figure out if you’re new to the cloud service industry and don’t have dedicated IT support. Additionally, their performance and reliability are not the best, especially compared to AWS.

Lastly, Kamatera charges extra for security and firewall, which may increase considerably as your server expands.

4. Linode (Akamai): Best for Linux Users

As part of Akamei’s Connected Cloud Offerings, Linode offers some of the best cloud security and content delivery networks (CDN), translating into faster page load times. Linode also offers fantastic consistency with its high-performance SSD Linux servers.

Moreover, Linode prides itself on its top-notch customer support and simple, transparent billing system, two areas where AWS falls short. While these features and advantages make Linode a strong AWS alternative, there are a few issues with Linode to keep in mind.

While their more streamlined set of around 35 core features and services makes Linode a more straightforward cloud service provider to work with, this also limits them for those looking for services like ML (Machine Learning) and analytics.

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Best Linode Alternatives: When Linode Lets You Down

5. Alibaba Cloud: E-commerce

When it comes to e-commerce, the best alternative for Amazon AWS is Alibaba Cloud. They offer private, public, hybrid, and multi-cloud services and vast coverage with over 70 locations globally. That said, Alibaba’s main playing field is Asia, as they’re known as the Amazon of Asia.

Their focus area aside, AWS and Alibaba are similar in every other segment. Both provide a wide variety of services and boast equally good security. Ultimately, it comes down to price and complexity, where Alibaba just about gets ahead with slightly better rates and a much simpler billing system.

Cloudzy — An All-In-One Solution To Your Cloud Service Needs

Bigger isn’t always better, and this certainly applies to AWS. By greedily increasing the number of its services, AWS has become an overwhelming cloud service provider for many users. This issue, as well as its ambiguously complex billing system and poor customer support, has led many to consider alternatives to AWS.

With Cloudzy, you can expect excellent rates, 99.5% uptime, a variety of services, and 24/7 support, making it a perfect alternative to AWS. Our cloud VPS solutions are designed to offer you simplicity, efficiency, and reliability, ensuring that you get the most out of your investment without the hassle. Choose Cloudzy for a seamless and straightforward cloud experience. Now is a perfect time to try out Clouzy’s services for yourself, as you can save up to 20% on your cloud VPS plan.

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FAQ

Is AWS still good?

AWS still offers the most coverage among cloud service providers as well as the highest variety when it comes to services. That said, their complex billing system, hidden costs, and unresponsive customer support make them a difficult cloud service provider to work with.

What makes Cloudzy the best AWS alternative?

Cloudzy offers the best bang for buck in terms of VPS services, over 15 locations in more than three continents, and 24/7 customer support. Our services are instantly scalable and you can resize some components like bandwidth without having to upgrade plans. Lastly, Cloudzy offers a 14-day money-back guarantee and pretty much every payment method, from credit to cryptocurrencies.

What is the best cheaper alternative to AWS?

Cloudzy is the most affordable AWS alternative. Our cheapest plan is just $4.95 per month, offering a variety of services, and 24/7 support.