Software Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Great EC2, simple storage, and good security
Pros and Cons
  • "We deploy our core application and our integration platform on AWS EC2 instances. These applications contain multiple containerized Python Django applications, which need to scale up and down dynamically."
  • "It could be made cheaper. I know we spend a lot of money each month on AWS."

What is our primary use case?

We deploy our core application and our integrations platform on AWS EC2 instances. Both applications contain multiple containerized Python Django applications, which need to scale with how often and how intensely customers use the platform. 

We need a secure cloud environment to support our new self-service API, allowing customers to hit our services from outside an outside service. AWS provides the security, scalability, and flexibility to make this happen.

We also store large customer files on AWS S3 Buckets.

How has it helped my organization?

Without AWS, our organization simply would not exist. Our entire tech stack is served on AWS. Thanks to AWS, we have been able to save money. Thanks to AWS, we have been able to save time and utilize technical resources in other ways. Other ways include building out the front end of our application as well as the back end of our application. Without AWS, we would have to hire network/server engineers, which would take away from our overall speed of growth.

What is most valuable?

We have found the Elastic Cloud Compute service (EC2) as well as the simple storage solution (S3) to be the most valuable aspects of the solution.

We deploy our core application and our integration platform on AWS EC2 instances. These applications contain multiple containerized Python Django applications, which need to scale up and down dynamically. They also need to be secure to prevent unwanted bad actors from using our AWS compute instances for malicious activity.

Finally, we find the S3 buckets to be quite valuable. S3 allows us to securely store large customer files without fear of them being compromised, changed, lost, or corrupted.

What needs improvement?

I am not an expert in AWS, nor do I work in the dev-ops department, so I might not be the best person to ask this question. It could be made cheaper. I know we spend a lot of money each month on AWS.

Buyer's Guide
Amazon AWS
April 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using AWS since the company was founded in 2017 - about five years.

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
Daniel_Marin - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Developer at Generate Impact
Real User
Top 20
Great documentation with an excellent community and a reasonable pricing structure
Pros and Cons
  • "The pricing model is good. It's pay-as-you-go."
  • "It would be ideal if they could provide automatic health reports. That way, I would be able to understand at a glance the state of my services at any given time."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution for deploying some applications that use cloud computing.

What is most valuable?

It offers a lot of tools, which we leverage. 

At the moment I'm using Lambda service and also AC2 machines - as a platform as a service and infrastructure as a service.

The pricing model is good. It's pay-as-you-go. You only pay for what you use. 

The solution offers a lot of very helpful documentation. There's also a great community that surrounds it that is quite helpful if you have questions or want to learn something. 

What needs improvement?

Personally, I need to improve myself in terms of the knowledge I have around the product. My goal is to maybe get certified in order to understand it better. It would be helpful if they would be able to provide me with more certification information. 

It's a good platform. I don't have any issues with it at the moment. 

It would be ideal if they could provide automatic health reports. That way, I would be able to understand at a glance the state of my services at any given time. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for three or four years at this point. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. We have many items deployed in AWS and we haven't had any issues. there are no bugs or glitches. It's problem-free.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

AWS provides us with a lot of tools for deploying automatically when we are working, for example, in a new feature. We have options for automatic deployments and don't have issues with size.

How are customer service and support?

There's a lot of great documentation and community support. I'm learning a lot and can find any answers I need there. 

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

I'm working with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Computing right now.

How was the initial setup?

I work with my customer's solutions and I deploy into AWS to provide the end product for my customers. I don't directly deal with AWS implementations themselves. 

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

The pricing is good and it's set up as a pay-as-you-go. It's not overly expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm just a customer and an end-user.

I'd highly recommend the solution to other users. It's one of the best cloud options out there right now. 

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

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
Buyer's Guide
Amazon AWS
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Amazon AWS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
CTO at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Plenty of connectors, high performance, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "Amazon is a really good solution with high performance. They offer more connectors than some of their competitors, such as Microsoft Azure."
  • "Amazon AWS could improve by being more secure and adding more features."

What is our primary use case?

I was using Amazon AWS in the medical market in my previous employment.

What is most valuable?

Amazon is a really good solution with high performance. They offer more connectors than some of their competitors, such as Microsoft Azure.

What needs improvement?

Amazon AWS could improve by being more secure and adding more features.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for approximately six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon AWS in my experience has been more stable than Microsoft Azure.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

We have approximately 50 customers that are using the solution.

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

We have moved from Amazon AWS to Microsoft Azure. I have found that both solutions perform very well. The main reason we switched was to allow us to manage where the data was to be stored. We wanted a data storage solution in France which most of our customers were requesting. Two years ago, Amazon did not have any solution to provide any storage in France. 

How was the initial setup?

The level of difficulty for the installation of Amazon AWS is similar to Microsoft Azure. They are very difficult.

What about the implementation team?

We have a five-person team of DevOps and architects that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.

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

If I was going to compare the cost of Amazon AWS to Microsoft Azure, they are approximately the same.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

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
PeerSpot user
Lead solution architect at a recreational facilities/services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Feature-rich, integrates well, stable, scalable, and has good support that responds immediately
Pros and Cons
  • "It integrates well."
  • "I would like to see CloudFormation made more in the programming way of thinking."

What is our primary use case?

We use several features of this solution for many purposes. For example, we use CloudFormation for infrastructure as a service, Kinesis for the message queue, Lambda for integration services, and ATC for hosting. 

We also use S3 for storing the data, clustering, Multizone security, AVS to attach hard disk, and assistant.

What is most valuable?

It is easy to use.

It has many features that we use.

It integrates well.

They upgrade a lot of applications.

What needs improvement?

If you are familiar with other cloud infrastructures, you can see that it is in need of some enhancements.

It is easy to enhance it to make the clustering easier.

At times, when you use CloudFormation to create five machines with a sequence name, it is difficult but can be done with Terraform easily. 

I would like to see CloudFormation made more in the programming way of thinking. You have some variables, LOB, IF statements, and inheritance, where it's not just the functionality that we have, but gives you the output. They could make it close to the programming language, even if it's a scripting language. They need more control over it such as an If-Then-Else statement and a sub-loop if possible. It will make it easier to create the infrastructure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Amazon AWS for more than seven or eight years.

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Amazon AWS is a scalable solution.

I work as a consultant and have a couple of customers. Each customer is of a different size company but they are all over 1,000.

How are customer service and technical support?

AWS has very good technical support. They react immediately when you need help.

How was the initial setup?

When you speak of installation, you refer to applications already built or software in ATC to be installed. AWS doesn't sell applications, they give you an infrastructure as a service, application as a service, and a platform as a service but they don't give you applications to be installed.

There is no installation required in AWS.

The maintenance required depends on the size of the company. Some larger companies require a larger IT department while others don't require it at all.

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

A license is required. Some customers will provide their own license and others will purchase it directly from AWS.

What other advice do I have?

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

I would rate Amazon AWS a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Manager at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Very good automation, flexible with cloud maturity
Pros and Cons
  • "Very good automation and very stable."
  • "Customer access to APIs is limited so that logs cannot be checked properly."

What is our primary use case?

AWS is part of our network, we provide services to our internal customers and we have 2,000 plus applications which sit on the VMs and different blade servers. It's a mix, we're using a hybrid environment. I manage the company network and security; we are partners with Amazon AWS.

What is most valuable?

I value the automation and the stability of this product. Whether it is S3, EC2, the LSG, ASG, for us it's all good to implement.

What needs improvement?

AWS cloud has an issue with accessibility to the customer, it's very limited and if there's an internal issue, we won't know about it because they don't expose their APIs to many things. This is a generic cloud problem for all cloud products. It's not just AWS. It's Azure, Google, all of them have the same problem. They will never give you any information, and you can't even check their logs properly. That kind of transparency issue is critical because whether I'm using their infrastructure or not, I should have visibility with regard to what is happening in my network.

I'd like to see compatibility extended to include additional applications which are widely used but not compatible on the public cloud. Without them, you can't build the ecosystems for each and every thing. I realize there are so many applications around and you can't source everything but I'd like to see additional compatibility.

The solution has some limitations because you won't have the space for some of the applications. For example, Google is the only provider with a VMware product line. Some of the applications still need a physical server.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for six years. 

How are customer service and technical support?

The support is average, just like other cloud providers. It's not so great but it's average. You can't always blame someone, but cloud architecture is like that. Visibility is an issue. They don't offer the latest services and if you don't know, you can just track back to your VMs or the services which you have deployed. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was quite complex. You're designing something and have downloaded the infrastructure of cloud providers which is always complex. Once you start using the solution it becomes easy. 

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

It is most cost-effective to go for a long-term license option, that way you get a better deal for the cloud. 

What other advice do I have?

I think at the cloud maturity level, I would rate AWS first, Azure second and GCP has just started. In 2015/16, AWS had a lot of issues, but now they are coming up with better solutions and better flexibility. That said, the transparency issue is still there. 

Azure is good for the Microsoft product line and if you are using that you should go with Azure - they will give you better service. But for third parties, it's the same transparency issue, just like any other cloud provider.

I rate this solution an eight out of 10. 

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: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Vice President - Services at Locuz Enterprise Solutions Ltd
Vendor
Scalable as per the needs, quite stable, and priced based on the actual consumption of resources
Pros and Cons
  • "It is highly available and on-demand. So, you can scale up and scale down whenever required."
  • "They're really good on the business computing side, but there are other services where they can do really well. They can improve the data analytics platform and the data warehousing platform."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for hosting some of our workloads. We offer managed services for our customers, mostly in the space of security in managed IT services, and some of these workloads are hosted on AWS.

What is most valuable?

It is highly available and on-demand. So, you can scale up and scale down whenever required.

Another thing that really attracts us is the pricing, which is based on the actual consumption of resources, and that's what really helps us.

What needs improvement?

They're really good on the business computing side, but there are other services where they can do really well. They can improve the data analytics platform and the data warehousing platform.

Its pricing can be simplified a little bit more.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is quite stable. We did not find any challenge in the reliability of the platform.

How are customer service and technical support?

We do contact their tech support, and we get the help whenever it is required. We are pretty much satisfied with them.

How was the initial setup?

It was not too complex. We are very straightforward and not too complex in terms of our infrastructure.

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

Its pricing can be simplified a little bit more. Even though they have been reducing it, I still believe they can do better as compared to GCP, Google Cloud.

What other advice do I have?

We advise people to go on AWS. We also do a readiness assessment for our customers. We do a kind of a TCO analysis for our customers, and depending on the use case, workload, and pricing model, we advise our customers. We do it for AWS, Azure, and GCP. I would expect customers to do the same thing. They should do a proper analysis because it depends on what workloads they want to move to the cloud. Based on that, they should select a hyperscaler.

I would rate Amazon AWS an eight out of 10.

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
PeerSpot user
Jai_Prakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager IT at OakNorth Bank
Real User
Top 20
Easy to set up, good support, and feature-rich
Pros and Cons
  • "The installation and initial setup are easy."
  • "We have had several issues with the products and services but as of now, there are no good alternatives."

What is our primary use case?

We use the AWS Cloud service for storing company-related information.

What is most valuable?

The cloud-based infrastructure has several good products that people normally use.

What needs improvement?

We have had several issues with the products and services but as of now, there are no good alternatives.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for the past seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I use AWS several times each day, and we plan to continue using it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 7,000 users on AWS.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support and customer service are good.

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

I have also worked with Microsoft Azure and I find the initial setup of AWS to be easier.

How was the initial setup?

The installation and initial setup are easy.

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

This is a subscription-based product.

This is not an expensive product but it would be an improvement if the price were cheaper. Google Cloud, for example, is cheaper.

What other advice do I have?

This is definitely a product that I recommend.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

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
Senior Technical Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reseller
Highly scalable, highly stable, and fast support
Pros and Cons
  • "We are mostly using EC2 compute and other resources. Most of our managed services are in AWS, which some of our clients prefer."
  • "User personalization and robotic process automation services need to be mature enough. More APIs are required for robotic process automation services. Azure is more mature in terms of user personalization and robotic process automation services. The document processing can also be better. Whenever we want to do any kind of document management, I try to do OCR, ICR, etc. The functionality in AWS has to be more like that."

What is our primary use case?

Most of our managed services are in Amazon Web Services. We also use Kubernetes clusters for some of the cases. 

We are basically on the cloud, and most of our clients prefer AWS as the cloud provider. Most of the solutions have been on-premises, which basically involves migration to AWS. We also started using a hybrid model because some of the clients prefer a hybrid cloud kind of approach, where they have an on-premises model and something on the cloud so that they can just connect their data centers to the public cloud. 

What is most valuable?

We are mostly using EC2 compute and other resources. Most of our managed services are in AWS, which some of our clients prefer.

What needs improvement?

User personalization and robotic process automation services need to be mature enough. More APIs are required for robotic process automation services. Azure is more mature in terms of user personalization and robotic process automation services. 

The document processing can also be better. Whenever we want to do any kind of document management, I try to do OCR, ICR, etc. The functionality in AWS has to be more like that.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon AWS for almost two and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product. We do not have any issues with its stability. Most of the customers come for 99% to 99.95% availability. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

AWS has a very highly scalable model. Because the availability requirements are high, we typically go for additional redundancy. It is easily possible to support different operating models in AWS.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their technical support is very good and fast. Whenever you need something to be fixed, they are able to do it completely.

How was the initial setup?

It is comparatively very easy. We have our own R&D environment where we do our work. When we want to actually do something for the client, we just move the work that we have done in our R&D environment into the client's cloud. It is very easy to use all the services.

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

Its price is kind of okay. When we do a migration from on-premises to the cloud, we typically use the lift-and-shift model. Based on the studies that we have done, cost savings are definitely there when we moved from on-premises to the cloud.

What other advice do I have?

I feel that you shouldn't basically stick with any particular cloud provider. If you really want to take the benefits of a multi-cloud environment, you should not build your applications focused on any particular cloud provider. You should build something that is generic, and whenever required, you should be able to switch to any kind of cloud provider. People tend to actually focus on one particular cloud provider, and they start building their applications to cater to that provider. You shouldn't do that. You should reap the benefits of all cloud providers. This is what we also say to our clients.

I would rate Amazon AWS an eight out of ten. It is really good as compared to the other cloud providers such as Google Cloud.

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: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Amazon AWS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.