"The way I look at it is if all these services were free, EC2 would win based upon features. So, the question is, does cost matter?" I think this is the import

"The way I look at it is if all these services were free, EC2 would win based upon features. So, the question is, does cost matter?" I think this is the important part of the debate. Many people don't use these features, but with EC2 you are paying for them regardless. For example, you pay for the ability to pay by the hour (in terms of increased costs), even if you never plan on doing so. Yes, reserved instances can help, but they don't fully cover the cost difference. So it really does come down to what features you need. If you do use all the features, I'd imagine that EC2 is a great deal, because everyone else is subsidizing your use of them. If you don't want any of the features, well, then you're subsidizing everyone else. I think the "cost shouldn't matter" argument isn't relevant. If cost doesn't matter, it is hard to make a case for EC2 vs spending the money to develop your own infrastructure + hiring lots of people + vastly overprovisioning your own datacenters.