Provider Overview
AWS (Amazon Web Services) is the world's largest cloud service provider, launched by Amazon in 2006. AWS offers over 200 cloud services spanning compute (EC2), storage (S3), databases (RDS/DynamoDB), machine learning (SageMaker), containers (EKS/ECS), serverless (Lambda), and IoT. With 30+ availability regions and 100+ edge locations worldwide, AWS serves customers across all major markets. The AWS Marketplace offers thousands of third-party software solutions for one-click deployment.
Core Capabilities
- Compute: EC2 virtual machines, ECS/EKS container services, Lambda serverless computing for diverse workloads.
- Storage: S3 object storage, EBS block storage, Glacier archival storage for the full data lifecycle.
- Databases: RDS managed relational databases, DynamoDB NoSQL, Aurora high-performance database, ElastiCache caching.
- AI/ML: SageMaker ML platform, Bedrock foundation models, Rekognition image recognition.
- Networking & CDN: CloudFront CDN, Route 53 DNS, VPC virtual private cloud.
Best-fit Scenarios
- Enterprise cloud migration: Mature migration solutions and hybrid cloud capabilities for core business workloads.
- Global business deployment: Extensive data center coverage for global SaaS and internet applications.
- Data-intensive applications: Powerful data analytics and AI/ML for big data and AI scenarios.
- Startups & developers: Generous free tier and flexible pay-as-you-go pricing.
Pricing
| Service | Starting Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| EC2 t4g.nano | $0.0042/hour | 2 vCPU, 512MB RAM (on-demand) |
| S3 Standard | $0.023/GB/month | First 50TB |
| Lambda | $0.20/million requests | 1M free/month |
| RDS MySQL | $0.017/hour | db.t4g.micro |
FAQ
- AWS vs Azure/GCP? AWS has the largest market share and broadest service portfolio; Azure integrates well with Microsoft ecosystem; GCP excels in AI/ML and data analytics.