This was exactly my experience when creating the architecture for my last startup. Joyent's GUI, instance management, and fast helpful support were invaluable

This was exactly my experience when creating the architecture for my last startup. Joyent's GUI, instance management, and fast helpful support were invaluable and kept their promise of 100% uptime over a 9 month period (unlike AWS, Heroku, and Linode who all gave us downtime during that same period). The security features of SmartOS can not be understated. Managing an AWS stack seems archaic in comparison, but AWS does seem cheap and more flexible at first glance. I think it's too easy these days to overcomplicate a stack with AWS and/or Docker, and Joyent has picked the right pain points to streamline. I'm using Joyent in my new ventures without hesitation.