Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Oracle SOA & J2EE Consultant at Absa Group Ltd
Real User
Stable, easy to use, but a bit expensive
Pros and Cons
  • "AWS is known for its scalable cloud hosting and computing services. We use various features depending on our needs, including endpoint services, database instances, and EC2 instances."
  • "There is room for improvement in pricing."

What is our primary use case?

I use AWS for our insurance portal, managing clients, investments, and other related data.

We use S3, Lambda functions, and EC2 instances for various tasks, including RDR instances.

How has it helped my organization?

Its set up is plug and play, so it improves the implementation.

What is most valuable?

AWS is known for its scalable cloud hosting and computing services. We use various features depending on our needs, including endpoint services, database instances, and EC2 instances.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in pricing. 

Buyer's Guide
Amazon AWS
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about Amazon AWS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable. 

I would rate the stability an eight out of ten. Maybe some technology gap, which we don't know is there. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable. Currently, around 1500 users are using our application. We might increase the further usage. 

How are customer service and support?

We only contacted customer service and support once. The response was very quick.

How was the initial setup?

Setting it up was easy.

The entire deployment process took us around two to three months. It is a manual process but we plan to automate it with Terraform soon.

What about the implementation team?

We did it in-house. We learned and upgraded our skills ourselves.

We had a team of admins and developers for the deployment process.

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

It's a bit expensive but stable and easy to use. Licensing fees depend on the contract. It can be monthly or on-demand resources.

What other advice do I have?

AWS is very good to use. Moreover, the integration between various AWS services is very easy. 

Overall, I would rate my experience with AWS a seven out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Data Center SME at Orange España
Real User
Top 5
Provides high availability and the ability to operate without downtime in case of disaster
Pros and Cons
  • "The best thing is scalability."
  • "In future releases, I would like to see more automation."

What is our primary use case?

The thing is, in case of disaster, then you really need to think about the disaster, which is less cost-effective. If I'm the customer and I have a midsized environment, I need to host a web application or a front-end application. Why should I go with this on-premises data center, the firewall, the hardware, and then monitoring, then administration? These are more cost-effective. 

So, I will go with the midsized and small-sized public cloud where I can have the opportunity for high availability with the region side. And secondly, in case of disaster, we have the product available without any downtime.

The style, the thoughts, and the people are still not convinced with this public. But they don't have any other options. It has been changed after the pandemic only.

What is most valuable?

The best thing is scalability.

What needs improvement?

Some people complain that customization is very difficult in AWS. So they think there are other options. If we have everything ready in AWS or any public cloud, if I have two deployments in bulk, then I will get automation. If automation is ready, then I can do everything in a single click.

In future releases, I would like to see more automation.

For how long have I used the solution?

I started using this solution after the pandemic. So, it has been three years now. And one thing I have noticed is that after the pandemic, it is more recommended to move to the public cloud. 

Prior to the pandemic, people were thinking of expanding their data strategically with Cisco UCS. They thought in that way. But now the approach has changed.

I used Amazon AWS for a small business, like a midsized business that wants to build their environment in the public cloud. And they want to get high availability, and in case of disaster recovery, they can have other opportunities.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We don't have a much bigger environment. So we have a smaller environment, like 10 to 15 VMs.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

For a smaller project in Europe, we deployed Dell VXL for 35 sites. The customer has now invested in Dell VXL and is building 30 to 35 sites for Dell VX-ten. This is a huge investment, so they need to stay on this platform for five years. By the end of their standard support period, their hardware will be end of its life. In the meantime, they are exploring the public cloud to create a hybrid environment. Once their hardware becomes obsolete and offline, they will definitely consider the public cloud. Similarly, people who are still on-premises with legacy or Cisco systems will also consider the public cloud. They are in the existing environment and are just waiting for their hardware to reach the end of life. For the next expansion, they want to move to the cloud.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy.

In a cloud environment, we need just to associate that business. If I have to build approximately 10 to 15 VMs, we have the templates. We have the AMI. We have everything in place. We need to just automate and place everything in the dashboard. It is very easy to customize.

What other advice do I have?

I will recommend you to use it, at least explore what services they are offering, what features they are offering.  

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Amazon AWS
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about Amazon AWS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Kanghong.Cai Cai - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Director Digital Solutions at Thermo Fisher Scientific
Real User
Top 5
Comes with cost management and high performance capabilities but need to integrate AI capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool is a hosting platform that we can leverage to open servers. We can use it to build databases. We use cost management and high-performance capabilities of the tool."
  • "Amazon AWS should integrate AI capabilities."

What is our primary use case?

Amazon AWS provides a total solution and helps us to run applications.  

What is most valuable?

The tool is a hosting platform that we can leverage to open servers. We can use it to build databases. We use cost management and high-performance capabilities of the tool. 

What needs improvement?

Amazon AWS should integrate AI capabilities. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for five to six years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon AWS has bugs. It is not a big issue since the product is a SaaS solution and fixes them. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

My company has around 1,000 users who use the product daily. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used Microsoft Azure before. I chose Amazon AWS since it has APIs that I can use for software development. 

How was the initial setup?

I rate the product's installation a nine out of ten. One resource is enough to handle the deployment. 

What about the implementation team?

We did the deployment in-house. 

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

The solution is expensive, and I rate it an eight out of ten. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the product an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Kublai Gomez - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Userlytics Corporation
Real User
A solution with a great uptime that needs to improve its pricing models
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of the solution is that they offer everything around in just one platform."
  • "Price is an area with a shortcoming in the solution that has a scope for improvement"

What is our primary use case?

The use cases of the solution depend on your project. The project I am working on right now is using Amazon Rekognition heavily, along with S3 and EC2. There are a lot of instances involving EC2. The last one involved using a text-to-speech, of which I don't remember the name, but that was the project's main goal. The use cases depend on the circumstance of your project, so it is not the same for all.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution is that they offer everything around in just one platform. They have almost everything. For example, a couple of weeks ago, I was trying to build a server with RabbitMQ for some kind of real-time communication in an environment where I was working. Amazon already has a service named Amazon MQ, because of which you don't need to configure your server by yourself since you already have it integrated into the ecosystem. It's easy to ensure that the server is there for your system without any issues and allows you to run it in seconds instead of three or four days.

What needs improvement?

Price is an area with a shortcoming in the solution that has a scope for improvement. Amazon can improve in some areas related to its pricing. Amazon selected the pricing plans, and I had to choose one. In general, it is an expensive tool.

It is cheap when you are starting with the tool since they have this free tier. However, that is not the reality when you really start working with Amazon since you will end up paying a lot at the end of every month.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS with different clients for six to seven years. I am a customer of the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I believe that it's a stable product. I never had any issues with Amazon. I'm trying to remember, but I think that I have never faced any stability issues. It was working twenty-four hours and seven days a week all the time.

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted Amazon's customer support. It was just a couple of calls when I was working in Iceland on a project, and the servers were not reachable. There was some kind of issue at the country level, not an issue of Amazon specifically. There was some issue with the solution in Iceland.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is a thing that you need to learn. The setup part is not easy at all. Usually, in some companies, you have a person that works only with Amazon. You have one profile in your company just to work with the infrastructure services inside Amazon. You need a kind of specialized profile for that work.

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

The solution's pricing depends on your traffic since they charge you based on the traffic, not the servers. The price can go into many, many thousands depending on the traffic.

The price also depends on your services since, if you are using Amazon Rekognition or S3 with a low tier price.

What other advice do I have?

Well, for a small company, normally, my advice would be that Amazon AWS is not the best option. If you are trying to use Amazon for the first time, it means you need a big project on your hands, and you already have an MVP running. If you are going to use Amazon for the first time, then you already know what you are going to deal with, so such people don't need my advice in that case.

The price is my concern, so I am searching for some other options to leave Amazon. It is not for quality-related reasons.

I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Solution Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5
Easy to use, manage and crucial for scaling our resources effortlessly
Pros and Cons
  • "AWS's security model, including IAM or security groups, has contributed to our organization's compliance. It manages authentication, permissions, and overall security posture, which helps us maintain compliance."
  • "Faster API response times and an improved console experience would be better. Enhanced performance across APIs and the console would streamline our workflows."

What is our primary use case?

I generally EC2 workloads. We use it to host our applications and provide our software service on the cloud. We integrate with EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) to manage containerized applications.

EKS helps us manage our containerized applications on AWS. We use various AWS services for different functionalities, such as computing services, database storage, content delivery, etc.

How has it helped my organization?

AWS's security model, including IAM or security groups, has contributed to our organization's compliance. It manages authentication, permissions, and overall security posture, which helps us maintain compliance.

AWS has made our lives much easier. It simplifies workload management and operations.  

What is most valuable?

The cloud-based nature of AWS is crucial for scaling our resources effortlessly. It's a key reason we chose AWS.

We find EKS particularly helpful for its ease of use and management of containerized applications.

What needs improvement?

Faster API response times and an improved console experience would be better. Enhanced performance across APIs and the console would streamline our workflows.

In future releases, improved compatibility and minimal downtime during upgrades would be significant enhancements.  

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for seven years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. It's generally very reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. No problem with scaling this product.

There are around 300 end users in my company using this solution. 

How are customer service and support?

AWS technical support is good in general.  

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The features, quality, and support are likely comparable to other products.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is simple. 

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

Pricing definitely isn't high; I would rate the pricing a five out of ten, with ten being expensive. 

AWS pricing is quite competitive. AWS is cost-effective because it saves time. Faster deployments and testing make it very valuable. Pricing isn't the main thing; it's more about getting things done efficiently. Then, engineers can discover additional savings within AWS itself.

So, it's more flexible. We save a lot of time thanks to AWS

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Surjit Choudhury - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultancy at Ebenezer International School
Real User
Top 20
Ensuring the integrity and streamlining tasks without any downtime
Pros and Cons
  • "It streamlines tasks like table creation and data loading into Redshift, making the process more efficient and manageable."
  • "There should be improvement in terms of creating databases of varying sizes which would provide flexibility."

What is our primary use case?

It plays a pivotal role in data processing and application development. In our projects, we've harnessed the power of AWS for a range of applications. One key scenario involves building pipelines to process data collected from devices, such as audio and video footage. AWS services like Amazon Kinesis and Lambda functions were used in conjunction with other services like DynamoDB, SNS (Simple Notification Service), and SQS (Simple Queue Service). Another use case involves handling data from e-commerce websites. We collect and process this data using AWS Lambda functions, SNS, and Elasticsearch. The processed data is then fed into a separate application, which serves various marketing and analytical purposes.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable is ensuring the integrity of our written code through thorough verification. Also, we've leveraged AWS services like Redshift and Glue. Glue, in particular, is a potent tool that simplifies the ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) process. It streamlines tasks like table creation and data loading into Redshift, making the process more efficient and manageable.

What needs improvement?

There should be improvement in terms of creating databases of varying sizes which would provide flexibility.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with it for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It offers good stability capabilities. We haven't encountered any issues or downtimes.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability and data security, AWS excels, which is why it's a prominent player in the market.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We receive data from SAP systems, which we process using Databricks. Within Databricks, our coding approach varies; sometimes we use SQL, and in other cases, particularly in certain projects, we employ PySQL and SpotsSQL. We then process this data, which might involve SQL Server, Oracle, or other databases. For ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, we've worked with Data Factory. When dealing with data originating from SAP systems, which often includes unstructured or semi-structured data like JSON, we make use of a diverse toolset. This enables us to load data into databases such as SQL Server and Snowflake or any other required database.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

The setup process was facilitated through CI/CD pipelines. Initially, we used the AWS CI/CD pipeline but later transitioned to GitLab because we encountered limitations with certain AWS CI/CD use cases. In GitLab, we found more flexibility, enabling us to execute specific functions or steps independently. In contrast, AWS CI/CD typically follows a more rigid sequence, where phases are executed sequentially from initialization to build and deployment.

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

The pricing may vary and is often influenced by marketing strategies.

What other advice do I have?

It's a valuable tool, but working with AWS can be challenging. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Kublai Gomez - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Userlytics Corporation
Real User
The product has an all-encompassing ecosystem, but the pricing should be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The ecosystem offered by the product has almost everything."
  • "The initial setup is not easy at all."

What is our primary use case?

The use cases depend on the projects. The project that I am currently working on uses Rekognition heavily. It also uses S3 and EC2. My previous project was using it for the text-to-speech feature.

What is most valuable?

The ecosystem offered by the product has almost everything. A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to build a server with RabbitMQ for real-time communication in an environment. Amazon already has a service called Amazon MQ. We don’t need to configure the server ourselves because we already have one integrated into the ecosystem. It’s easy to install the server in our system. We can run it in ten minutes instead of waiting three to four days.

What needs improvement?

The initial setup is not easy at all.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for six to seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. I never had any issues with Amazon. It works all the time, 24/7.

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted support. It was just a couple of calls. We weren’t able to reach the server. There was some issue at the country level in Iceland. The problem was not with Amazon specifically.

How was the initial setup?

We will have to learn to setup the tool. Someone with no experience would not be able to do it. In some companies, there is a person that works only with Amazon. The person will be profiling the company to work with the service center infrastructure inside Amazon.

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

The solution should improve the pricing. The area that I work for is expensive. The product is cheap when we start using it. It provides AWS Free Tier. However, it is not the same when you work continuously with Amazon. We end up paying a lot at the end of every month. 

The pricing depends on the traffic because they charge by the traffic. They do not charge us based on servers. The price also depends on the services we use. It would be different if we used S3.

What other advice do I have?

The product is not the best option for a small company. If someone is trying to use Amazon for the first time and already has an NPP running, they can use it. If someone has used Amazon, they would already know what they are going to deal with. The cost is a concern for me. Some people are trying to leave Amazon and are searching for other options. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1280193 - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant to Vice President at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Useful automation, learning resources easily available, and intuitive interface
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Amazon AWS are the high level of capabilities, cloud-native environment, developer-friendly, intuitive interface, and automation. The solution overall is easy to learn from the resources available."
  • "The customization could improve. However, it depends on the customization needed."

What is our primary use case?

We build business applications for our customers using Amazon AWS in 15 different industries.

Many of my customers use many cloud services together.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Amazon AWS are the high level of capabilities, cloud-native environment, developer-friendly, intuitive interface, and automation. The solution overall is easy to learn from the resources available.

What needs improvement?

The customization could improve. However, it depends on the customization needed. 

To enhance its capabilities, Amazon AWS should improve its integration with other digital security platforms and solutions, especially those used by companies in domains, such as banking, financial services, and insurance. While Amazon AWS has its own solution, there are many other initial vendor companies that perform exceptionally well. Therefore, it is crucial for Amazon AWS to have better integration with those platforms and solutions, including how to host and integrate them with the rest of the Amazon AWS services. Although Amazon AWS has its strengths, it doesn't always work seamlessly for customers, making it a significant obstacle to migrating applications to Amazon AWS. Rather than focusing on developing new features, Amazon AWS could better serve its customers by supporting these existing solutions in the digital security space.

There are many excellent encryption solutions available, along with many other solutions. By supporting these solutions and offering easy integration, Amazon AWS can create a win-win situation for its customers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for approximately seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

When you have complex deployments, such as with more than two availability zones, there are reliability, and resiliency options that are complex to implement and expensive. Providing stability or more complex deployments is possible, but very expensive.

I rate the stability of Amazon AWS a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have more than 50,000 users using this solution in my organization. Everyone in our company is using the solution.

The solution is highly scalable.

I rate the scalability of Amazon AWS a ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The support provided by Amazon AWS is highly responsive. We have a strong alliance with Amazon AWS, and we regularly interact with their teams. They conduct knowledge-sharing sessions for us and keep us informed about new features. They are always available to support us. They have helped us from the inception phase of any large engagement up to providing help in troubleshooting some problems. They are extremely helpful.

I rate the support of Amazon AWS a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have worked with Google Cloud Services and Microsoft Azure.

Amazon AWS is known for building many industry platforms, and companies often look to all three hyper scalers to help them build such platforms on Amazon AWS. Large consortia of companies collaborate on such initiatives. However, Google and Azure are more interested in partnering with and supporting industry-level consortiums and technology initiatives, while Amazon AMS sees it more as an engineering capability and expects developers to build everything from the ground up. Therefore, Amazon AMS may need to adjust its approach slightly in comparison to its competitors.

How was the initial setup?

The simplicity of Amazon AWS depends on the engineering processes implemented by the client's organization. Setting up these processes may take some time, but the AWS SDK provided by Amazon is helpful. Moreover, integration with other tooling is also necessary.

Once the processes and platforms are configured, the execution becomes automatic. This has been successfully accomplished in many engagements where pipelines are run for tasks, such as provisioning new infrastructure and making multiple releases.

For a business with a small deployment and with minor features needed the process of implementation can take 30 minutes and in some instances less than 15 minutes. However, if it's a large release with multiple features, including verifications, it can take up to one and a half hours maximum. The more features added the longer the implementation will take.

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

In comparison to Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, the database offered by Amazon AWS is relatively expensive. However, the database also offers rich features.

I rate the price of Amazon AWS a six out of ten.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

If you compare Amazon AWS with other hyper scalers, such as Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, Amazon AWS is the most sophisticated cloud development platform.

What other advice do I have?

The amount of people for the maintenance of the solution depends on the engagement we have with our customers. Some of our customers are sophisticated with modern infrastructure and can handle most of the maintenance themself.

The engineering team responsible for development also handles maintenance, upgrades, and support without any differentiation. However, some customers still follow an older mindset, where a separate ops team is responsible for platform maintenance and operations.

One approach is to have a centralized model where a team of 20-30 members manages all the applications, including operations and maintenance. Alternatively, a distributed model may be used, where four or five different teams manage different aspects. However, on average, the team size for the entire IT organization is typically around 20-30 people.

I strongly recommend this solution to others.

I rate Amazon AWS an eight out of ten.

I gave my rating of eight because the price of the feature is more expensive than the competitors.

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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.