I returned to AWS, and was reminded why I left
An early AWS advocate shares his disillusionment after 15 years, detailing frustrations with the platform's baffling complexity, predatory pricing, and dismal support, culminating in a suspended account. This candid narrative strikes a chord with many developers weary of cloud vendor lock-in and opaque billing. The piece ignites a vibrant discussion on the evolving landscape of cloud computing and the allure of simpler, cheaper alternatives.
The Lowdown
The author, a former AWS evangelist, recounts his journey from avid supporter to staunch critic over 15 years, detailing a growing list of grievances that led him to migrate most of his services away from the platform. His recent, brief return for specific tasks quickly reminded him why he left, culminating in his account being suspended without adequate resolution.
- Initially a strong AWS proponent, the author witnessed its evolution from a revolutionary, simple platform to a convoluted, expensive behemoth.
- Key frustrations include AWS's neglect of official client libraries, slow Python 3 adoption, the perceived awfulness and cost of DynamoDB, exorbitant egress fees (9 cents/GB), and confusing, "footgun-laden" billing.
- IAM is singled out as a "hideously complex" system, emblematic of AWS's overall unnecessary complexity, debunking the myth that AWS simplifies IT operations.
- Lambda is criticized for its development complexity, slow startup times, and vendor lock-in, with the author seeing "no genuine benefit" over self-hosting.
- AWS's practice of cloning and monetizing open-source projects (e.g., OpenSearch, Valkey) is condemned as predatory, leading to defensive licensing from original projects.
- A recent, temporary return to AWS for benchmarking and AI model testing on Bedrock led to his account being suspended due to "suspected security breach" after spinning up a high-core instance.
- Despite immediate responses and compliance with AWS's instructions, his account remained suspended for days, impacting his business email (WorkMail), with support proving unresponsive.
- This experience solidified his resolve to completely extricate himself from AWS, including migrating Route53 domains and WorkMail (which is also shutting down).
The author's personal saga serves as a cautionary tale for those considering deep integration with AWS, highlighting the costs, complexities, and potential for unhelpful support that can arise even for long-standing users.
The Gossip
Complexity and Cost Conundrums
Many users resonate with the author's complaints about AWS's baffling complexity, particularly IAM, and its unexpectedly high costs, especially egress fees and hidden billing traps. Commenters share personal anecdotes of being caught off guard by pricing or spending excessive time managing infrastructure rather than building products. Some suggest simpler alternatives like DigitalOcean, Hetzner, or Vercel/Cloudflare for typical web apps, arguing that "hyperscaling cloud" often leads to over-engineering and inflated bills for startups and smaller projects.
Open Source Orchestration: Exploitation or Competition?
The discussion heavily features the controversial relationship between AWS and open-source projects. While the author criticizes AWS for "stomping on open source" by cloning and monetizing projects like Elasticsearch and Redis, some commenters argue that the license changes by the original projects (e.g., SSPL) were a defensive response to AWS's actions, aiming to prevent their work from being commercialized without reciprocation. Others defend AWS, stating that open-source licenses should allow such competition and that businesses need viable monetization strategies beyond just providing the software.
Support Sagas and Day-2 Dramas
The author's experience with unresponsive support and account suspension highlights a common frustration among AWS users. Commenters note that AWS's "customer obsession" and stellar support, once defining characteristics, seem to have eroded, indicating that the company is in its "day-2 era." This decline in support quality, particularly for non-premium tiers, is seen as a significant deterrent, reinforcing the perception that AWS prioritizes enterprise clients over smaller users.