[harshal]

Yeah, I've seen multiple folks putting off reserved instance commitments and continuing to pay on-demand costs since they don't want to get locked in for a year. Its a serious commitment for smaller companies.

The No-Upfront reservation options that AWS last year helped narrow the difference quite a bit - but Google automatic discounts for sustained use are so much better and less complicated for users.

[boulos]

And per-minute billing, and the ability to move between zones month to month ("Oh, Haswell zone just launched? I'll be moving there..."). It's night and day, and if I could, I'd happily take the other side of any RI deal ;).

Disclosure: I work on Compute Engine.