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by ad_hominem 3034 days ago
Right, didn't mean to imply they didn't. But the differences are that Tarsnap is pre-pay[1], while AWS/GCP automatically debit your card.

How many people have several months, or a year, of runway on their Tarsnap account balance? Meanwhile, there have been cases of people being dead for years[2] with their auto-pay agreements keeping everything humming along while they rot. Keep in mind that recurring payment agreements often aren't cancelled when a credit card number or expiration date changes.[3]

Finally, AWS will give you about five months of unpaid bills before they suspend your account and delete your data.[4] I would assume GCP has a similar policy.

[1]: https://www.tarsnap.com/legal-why.html#PAYMENTINADVANCE

[2]: https://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/us/michigan-mummified-body-fo...

[3]: https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/card-updater-se...

[4]: https://www.quora.com/What-happens-after-AWS-suspend-an-acco...