I understand how app engine takes away a lot of pain wrt data storage, uptime, etc. But, $600+ is a lot of money. You can get a good number of very decent serv

I understand how app engine takes away a lot of pain wrt data storage, uptime, etc. But, $600+ is a lot of money. You can get a good number of very decent servers for that kind of money. If you are not afraid of managing your own data, I think hosting stuff on virtual servers is way more cost effective.