Is the cloud expensive? We dispel the myth of the costly cloud

Many IT managers, CTOs and CEOs of technology companies are still wary of moving to the cloud. The argument is almost always the same: ‘It’s too expensive.’ But is that really the case? Does using cloud computing actually generate higher costs than traditional server solutions? Or is the problem perhaps a misunderstanding of how costs are calculated? The answer is not as obvious as it might seem.

Porównanie, które nie ma sensu

The most common mistake in cloud cost analysis is mechanically comparing the parameters of a VPS or dedicated server (e.g. 2 CPUs and 4 GB RAM) with an instance in AWS with the same specifications. At first glance, it seems that the cloud is much more expensive. A VPS server costs an average of £15 per month, while the same computing power in AWS can cost from £28 per month. However, this calculation ignores key aspects such as flexibility, availability, automation and the lack of need to manage and maintain hardware.

Where does all this money go?

In the classic IT model:

• You pay for equipment that runs 24/7, regardless of whether anyone is actually using it.
• You need administrators to manage machines, install patches, monitor failures,
• Failures mean real downtime. If a disk, processor or entire server fails, your application may be unavailable for hours,
• Scaling requires the purchase of new machines, configuration and often changes to the application architecture.

In the cloud model:

• You only pay for what you use. An example? Development servers that only run during business hours and then automatically shut down.
• Deploying a new machine takes minutes, not days.
• Scaling can be automatic: if traffic increases, instances multiply; if it decreases, they disappear.
• Backups, updates, high availability and data replication are often included in the price, so you don’t need a separate team for this.

AWS is not just EC2

Many users who complain about AWS costs use it in the least cost-effective way – by choosing EC2 ‘On-Demand’ instances. This is the most expensive option for using AWS. Meanwhile, the platform offers a range of optimisation options:

• AWS Savings Plans: If you commit to using a specific machine type for a period of 1 year or more, you receive significant discounts – up to 70% compared to on-demand rates.
• Storage Classes: Data in S3 can be stored in cheaper classes (e.g. Glacier, Glacier Deep Archive) if you do not need quick access to it.
• Serverless functions (Lambda): You only pay for the time your code is running. There are no fixed machine maintenance costs.

Entry cost vs. cost of ownership

Migrating to the cloud involves some initial costs. Sometimes you need to modify your application, e.g.:

• Change file storage from local disk to S3,
• Optimise SQL queries to work better with RDS databases,
• Use asynchronous queues or serverless functions to reduce data processing time.

To wszystko wymaga zaangażowania deweloperów, bywa też wspierane przez software house’y. Ale efektem jest aplikacja, która działa szybciej, stabilniej i kosztuje mniej w utrzymaniu. To inwestycja, która się zwraca w czasie.

What about the start-up budget?

As an official AWS partner, we can help you obtain credits for infrastructure. This means that AWS covers part of the costs at the beginning of your cloud journey. Migration is no longer a burden on your budget and can be carried out smoothly, step by step.

Cost control is essential

The myth that ‘the cloud eats up the budget because someone forgot to turn off the machine’ has a grain of truth to it, but only in the absence of basic cost hygiene. AWS offers:

• Budgets and limits – you can set maximum amounts for services,
• Cost alerts – automatic notifications when you are approaching your limit,
• Cost calculator (https://calculator.aws/) – accurate planning of expenses before you start.

The cloud means flexibility and security

Think about an emergency situation: your physical server has crashed. With OVH or another provider, you have to wait for a response, which could take several hours. With AWS? Within minutes, you can launch a backup, change regions, and launch additional instances. Zero downtime. The same applies to scaling: with traditional infrastructure, you need a 24/7 administrator. In the cloud, you can set up auto-scaling rules that will do it for you.

Is the cloud expensive? Yes, if you use it wrong. But a well-designed, optimised cloud infrastructure is an opportunity for real savings, greater system stability and flexibility in development.

So don’t ask ‘is the cloud expensive?’, but rather ‘is my current IT model costing me more than it should and allowing me to grow?’.

Need help migrating to the cloud, optimising your AWS costs, or want to get AWS credits to get started? Contact us. We help companies make real savings and grow in the cloud.