True, but the reason that SimpleDB is so inexpensive is because all of the items you mention have gotten so cheap. A managed server, where the provider does al

True, but the reason that SimpleDB is so inexpensive is because all of the items you mention have gotten so cheap. A managed server, where the provider does all the backup and RAID stuff, costs ~$100/month. That's nothing, given the tremendous benefits (like, joins that allow for normalization, your own backup, no vendor lock-in, etc). I understand the desire for something that's maintained by someone else and makes life easy, but if you're a tech startup, this stuff ought to be second nature.