{"id":187,"date":"2025-05-09T17:39:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T14:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upcloud.com\/global\/us\/2025\/05\/09\/comparison-guide-upcloud-vs-aws\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T17:39:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T14:39:00","slug":"comparison-guide-upcloud-vs-aws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upcloud.com\/global\/blog\/comparison-guide-upcloud-vs-aws\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparison Guide: UpCloud Vs AWS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With heightened geopolitical dynamics and renewed scrutiny around the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, more organizations are looking to European Cloud Service Providers to ensure stability, security, and future scalability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this comparison series, we\u2019re looking into how US hyperscalers AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, compare to UpCloud, so you can better prepare for migration.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AWS Vs. UpCloud<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

AWS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis. It is one of the largest cloud service providers available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UpCloud<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UpCloud is a leading European cloud infrastructure provider, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with a global cloud platform spanning 13 data centres across four continents. More than 10,000 clients trust UpCloud to run their mission-critical cloud-native workloads from European data centers, under the robust EU Regulatory Framework on Data, atop a cloud-native stack engineered for performance without compromise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Application comparison<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Both UpCloud and AWS offer comprehensive, feature-rich cloud stacks. AWS offers a paid-for service for its products, whereas UpCloud focuses on high-performance, cost-effective core services with zero vendor lock-in, so teams can choose the best free and open source tools for their specific use case.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Service Area<\/strong><\/th>AWS<\/th>UpCloud Equivalent\/Strategy<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Compute<\/strong><\/td>EC2<\/td>UpCloud Cloud Servers<\/strong> with flexible plans, high-performance MaxIOPS storage<\/td><\/tr>
Containerization<\/strong><\/td>ECS \/ EKS<\/td>UKS<\/strong><\/a> (UpCloud Kubernetes Service <\/strong>with optimized server plans<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
Storage (Object)<\/strong><\/td>S3<\/td>UpCloud Object Storage<\/strong> (S3-compatible)<\/td><\/tr>
Block Storage<\/strong><\/td>EBS<\/td>UpCloud Block Storage<\/strong> with MaxIOPS in place of EBS provisioned IOPS (io1\/2), or standard UpCloud Block Storage\u00a0for EBS general purpose (gp2\/3)<\/td><\/tr>
Relational Databases (Managed)<\/strong><\/td>RDS \/ Aurora<\/td>UpCloud managed MySQL <\/strong>or PostgreSQL,<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
NoSQL Document Databases<\/strong>(Managed)<\/strong><\/td>DynamoDB<\/td>Choose your preferred DB stack. We recommend PostgreSQL + JSONB<\/strong> for most scenarios, or MySQL NDB<\/strong> for high-scale key-value workloads.<\/td><\/tr>
In-memory Key-Value Store<\/strong><\/td>Memcached<\/td>UpCloud Managed Valkey<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Vector Databases<\/strong><\/td>OpenSearch Service<\/td>UpCloud Managed OpenSearch<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Serverless<\/strong><\/td>AWS Lambda<\/td>We recommend fnproject<\/a>, or Fission<\/a> atop UKS<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Load Balancing<\/strong><\/td>ELB \/ ALB<\/td>UpCloud<\/strong> Managed Load Balancer<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
DNS Management<\/strong><\/td>Route 53<\/td>Choose your preferred external DNS (e.g., BunnyDNS, EuroDNS, Cloudflare<\/strong>)<\/td><\/tr>
Firewall & Network<\/strong><\/td>Security Groups, NACLs<\/td>Choose UpCloud SDN Firewall <\/strong>(coming soon!<\/strong><\/a>), <\/strong>or leverage browser Firewall Rules for traffic filtering; private networking support<\/td><\/tr>
Identity & Access<\/strong><\/td>IAM<\/td>Use SSO, Organization, and workspaces-based access with three user roles: owner, admin and member.<\/td><\/tr>
Monitoring<\/strong><\/td>CloudWatch<\/td>Choose from your preferred OSS alternatives such as Prometheus<\/strong><\/a> and Beszel<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>or services like Grafana<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Logging<\/strong><\/td>CloudTrail \/ CloudWatch Logs<\/td>Choose from your preferred FOSS tools like Fluentd<\/strong>, Prometheus<\/strong> + Grafana<\/strong> and UpCloud<\/strong> Managed<\/strong> OpenSearch<\/strong> solution. UpCloud\u2019s Audit Logs map to AWS CloudTrail.\u00a0<\/td><\/tr>
DevOps \/ IaC<\/strong><\/td>CloudFormation, CodeDeploy<\/td>Upcloud provider for<\/strong> Terraform\/OpenTofu, UpCloud provider for Pulumi<\/strong>, UpCloud Ansible Collection<\/strong>, or CI\/CD tools like GitHub Actions<\/strong>,<\/a>\u00a0<\/td><\/tr>
Backup & Snapshots<\/strong><\/td>Snapshots, AWS Backup<\/td>UpCloud Snapshots<\/strong>, manual or scheduled<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cost comparison<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

UpCloud offers more predictable and often lower pricing, especially for compute and data transfer, compared to AWS’s pay-as-you-go model, which can lead to higher costs depending on usage patterns. Let\u2019s take a closer look:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Service Area<\/th>AWS<\/th>UpCloud <\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Compute Instances<\/strong><\/td>Offers a vast array of instance types with a pay-as-you-go model. For example, a t3a.medium instance (2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM) costs approximately $27.48 per month.<\/td>Provides straightforward pricing<\/a> with plans like the CLOUDNATIVE-2xCPU-4GB (2 CPUs, 4 GB RAM) at \u20ac15 per month (about $16.50 USD)<\/td><\/tr>
Storage<\/strong><\/td>Charges around $8.00 per month for 100 GB of block storage<\/td>Offers 100 GB of storage at approximately \u20ac8.50 per month (about $9.35 USD)<\/td><\/tr>
Data Transfer Fees<\/strong><\/td>Imposes data egress fees, with costs around $90 per TB beyond the free tier.<\/td>Provides zero-cost egress, allowing unlimited outbound data transfer without additional charges<\/td><\/tr>
Managed Services <\/strong><\/td>Offers a broad range of managed services, such as databases and load balancers, each with its own pricing<\/td>Provides essential managed services with transparent pricing, often at a lower cost compared to AWS<\/td><\/tr>
SLA<\/strong><\/td>99.99% SLA<\/td>99.999 % uptime SLA<\/strong>, with 50x compensation on downtime<\/td><\/tr>
Support<\/strong><\/td>Features tiered support plans with varying response times
<\/td>		Includes 24\/7 live chat support with an average response time under 46 seconds <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest benefits of UpCloud is transparent, predictable pricing. In 2024, we scrapped egress fees in favour of offering unlimited outbound traffic<\/strong>. We also recently launched the handy UpCloud Cost Calculator<\/a> so you can easily generate a real-time estimate for running your cloud infrastructure on UpCloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UpCloud also offers superior support, with live chat available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In 2024, our support team responded to initial queries in a blistering 46 seconds, and 94% of customers reported that they were extremely happy with the provided support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As the geopolitical landscape faces ongoing uncertainty, choosing the right cloud service provider for your organizations goes beyond features \u2014 it\u2019s about finding a partner that offers performance, transparency, security, and personalized support. While AWS remains a dominant force, UpCloud offers a highly competitive alternative, especially for organizations seeking European data sovereignty, predictable pricing, and unmatched customer support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why not start a free trial<\/a>? Or chat to us <\/a>for a demo or more information!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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