As many people are already well aware of, AWS is the leading player in the cloud hosting industry and is used by thousands of major websites that receive tens (or even hundreds) of millions of visitors each month. The biggest appeal of using Amazon’s Web Services is that their servers can handle a significant amount of traffic that many competitors just can’t compete with. The drawback of this however is that AWS is significantly more expensive than pretty much all of the other services in the industry. That is a price worth paying for many businesses, but for the vast majority of businesses it is simply not worth it and going with a cheaper alternative is almost always the right decision. The problem has traditionally been that there are no viable alternatives to AWS but that has changed; there are now plenty of solid services that can compete with AWS in certain respects.
1. Cloudways (Click For Massive Discount)
Cloudways is a favorite of ours. This is a company that has been around for nearly a decade and they have been providing several different products for their users. While Cloudways doesn’t actually manage the servers themselves, they provide a managed cloud hosting solution for those that don’t want to get too technical, while still having the flexibility to do what they please. Cloudways offers AWS under their umbrella service but also includes other services such as Vultr, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Google Cloud. These are perhaps the most respected names in the industry and Cloudways does the entire setup process for you; meaning you can focus on your business while the hosting gets set up for you. It is genuinely one of the best AWS alternatives out there and even offers the possibility to switch back to AWS if that pleases you. Pricing is great, and the flexibility really cannot be beat. For those reasons, we have decided to place Cloudways on our list of the best alternatives to AWS.
2. DigitalOcean (Click For Bonus)
DigitalOcean is a service offered through Cloudways but if you insist on working directly with the server provider, then you can’t go wrong with working directly with DigitalOcean. This is perhaps one of the most adored hosting platforms by developers and small business owners, and it is one of the fastest-growing companies in the industry, period. DigitalOcean has grown to such a size and reputation in the cloud hosting business that they were even listed as a publicly traded company on NASDAQ, listed under $DOCN. You may not be able to take on the same amount of incoming traffic as you would with AWS if you are a major company, but the pricing of DigitalOcean is extremely hard to beat. The service is also perhaps one of the most consistent you will ever find, and on top of that they have some of the best customer service you might ever come across. Things may change into the future, but for now DigitalOcean remains one of the best alternatives to AWS that exist on the market. They are one of the best hosting providers on the internet.
3. SiteGround
Siteground is not a service that gets mentioned all that often when discussing Cloud Hosting because they are perceived as being more of an old-school hosting provider like GoDaddy, but they actually do offer cloud hosting services. SiteGround is not an ideal AWS alternative for businesses of a certain size but for smaller businesses that only receive a few hundred thousand visitors per month, it can definitely hold its own with the larger packages. Granted, SiteGround isn’t exactly the cheapest service out there, but many will tell you that it is still a bargain when compared directly to AWS. SiteGround is the perfect service for the small business or startup that is not yet received the crazy amounts of traffic that is expected to be received by sites that are hosted directly with AWS. Although they have not yet built up their Cloud hosting reputation yet, SiteGround is a name that you can expect to hear more and more when the discussion of best alternatives to AWS (Amazon Web Services) comes up in the near future. The service is top-notch, the customer support is extremely helpful, and the pricing is still decent by comparison to many other services.
4. Vultr
Vultr is arguably one of the most, if not the most underrated cloud hosting service in existence. It is slightly newer than some of its direct competitors being founded in 2014 by David Aninowsky, but it most definitely deserves to be mentioned on this list as one of the best alternatives to AWS. Vultr is also another service that is directly offered through Cloudways but again – if you prefer to work directly with your server provider and do the technical stuff, then you may want to skip out on Cloudways and go directly to the source. Vultr has some of the best speeds and most consistent services of any similar products. Some of the products listed on their website include; Cloud compute, Bare metal, Block storage (Fast SSD-backed scalable and redundant storage with up to 10 TB of volume), and a dedicated cloud starting at $60 per month. The pricing of Vultr is hard to beat and really looks extremely cheap if you’re coming over from AWS. There is a solid argument to be made that Vultr deserves to be higher than SiteGround on this list. With servers in 17 diverse locations all around the globe, you can be sure that your server(s) with Vultr won’t have any lag to your end users.
5. BlueHost
We couldn’t finish off this list without mentioning at least one old-school traditional host like BlueHost. Now, I know what you may be thinking – you came to see some of the best AWS alternatives and you are recommending me a shared hosting platform? Don’t fret; BlueHost also offers Cloud hosting these days. Now, the cloud hosting services provided by BlueHost are of a significantly lesser quality than those offered by every other company on this list, but the pricing of BlueHost is hard to beat. This is one of the cheapest hosts out there and if you’re just a small business with less than a few thousand visitors per day, you really can’t go wrong with starting out on BlueHost and eventually migrating to something like Cloudways, DigitalOcean, or Vultr. This is a perfect host for beginners that are just setting up their website for the first time and don’t expect to receive loads of traffic in the first few weeks/months.
Why Should You Look For AWS Alternatives?
If you’re someone that isn’t necessarily ready to move on from Amazon Web Services, you might be asking yourself why someone would even want to move on from AWS in the first place. Generally speaking, it has less to do with the service itself and more to do with the fact that AWS is typically quite expensive. Everyone is trying to cut costs (even major corporations) so naturally, a lot of people will look towards for some better choices. Not to imply that AWS is a perfect service otherwise because it most definitely is not, but it’s important to keep in mind that there is usually a reason for something to be more expensive. In this particular case, AWS is more expensive because it offers better servers in terms of being able to handle a huge traffic load. There is also quite a bit more customization potential when using AWS. There is a reason for why AWS is currently Amazon’s biggest earner; it gets the job done.
Why Are These The Best AWS Alternatives?
There are many reasons for why the websites listed here are some of the greatest alternatives to AWS, but it essentially boils down to costs versus quality. We researched rigorously until we could find the best quality cloud hosting service that simultaneously offers the best and cheapest prices. When we look at something like CloudWays or DigitalOcean, it is easy to see why we have them amongst the top of our list. They offer stellar web hosting services with lightning speeds at a great price. They have also been around for many years and have tons of glowing review that back up all of the statements they make. When considering these factors in conjunction with others like customer support, usability, trustworthiness; it’s easy to see why these are considered the best AWS alternatives out right now.
When Should You Stick With AWS?
In some cases, it actually makes far more sense to stick with AWS than to look for other alternatives. This is the case when your web traffic exceeds a certain threshold that servers on DigitalOcean just can’t keep up with. If your company budget allows it and the traffic is there, then it would be in your company’s best interest to continue using the services offered by AWS despite the expensive pricing. AWS is a reputable service offered by one of the largest corporations in the world so even though you might prefer something cheaper at this moment, you really can’t go wrong with sticking with AWS either.
Is my data secure with a cloud computing company?
Since data is stored remotely rather than your premise, concerns about privacy and data theft are most definitely warranted. But most cloud computing companies encrypt data while in transit or rest. Also, their employees only get logical access to your data. Most companies adopt very strict protocols to ensure data security, confidentiality, and privacy.