I think performance can be improved. It's like feeling latency when you compare apples to apples as far as what you have in a SAN on-site, on-prem versus an EBS volume in the cloud. If you want to get rid of the latency, then that's where these costs start to really add up. 

On the onset, it's cheaper to get started. It has every bit of capability and availability you would expect and even more than your own environment. If you're trying to get to the same or a higher level of performance, you have to bite the bullet and pay through the roof.

The ability to administer it, use it, set it up, install it, and operate it is all as easy or easier. You get the flexibility to change, snapshot, and all of the same things you could do with even more capabilities. But if you have to get the same or improve your performance, it gets exponentially more costly.