The Vanilla Cloud Tax: What Rolling Your Own on AWS Actually Costs

Angelo Saraceno discusses the hidden costs and inefficiencies of using AWS as a default cloud solution for many engineering teams, particularly small to medium-sized startups and growth-stage companies. He highlights that while large enterprises with dedicated platform organizations can manage the complexities and expenses of AWS, smaller teams often fail to account for the extensive setup and ongoing operational costs, which include engineering time and platform maintenance. Saraceno argues that these teams end up inadvertently paying a "vanilla cloud tax" without reaping significant benefits, as the focus shifts from product development to infrastructure management. He suggests that unless a company has specific needs such as compliance requirements or exotic workloads, using a Platform as a Service (PaaS) can be more cost-effective, freeing up resources and allowing engineers to concentrate on core business objectives.