[zorked]

Certainly, see for example https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/reserved-instances/, search for "Scale with your Business". Similar discounts exist for most of their other services.

[Xorlev]

Not to mention, Netflix is a flagship customer for AWS and directly results in AWS getting more business, so I'd expect the discounts to be even deeper for Netflix.

[rtpg]

I remember reading something about how AWS is pretty much running very close to at cost (super razor-thin margins, just like the Amazon shops themselves),but seeing these numbers seems to imply otherwise (20% is a big chunk of change).

[piggity]

Amazon (the mothership) runs at a loss [1]

It is predicted that Amazon AWS runs at a huge margin [2]

Of course it's possible that these number are skewed by some Irish Whiskey Double Dutch Vegemite Sandwich tax avoidance system.

[1] http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/24/red-is-the-new-green-for-a...

[2] http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/05/amazons-mountain-of-margin...

[raverbashing]

"AWS is pretty much running very close to at cost (super razor-thin margins"

Compare the Amazon price with other VPSs.

It's a different service, yes, but it's not even close, not even if you reserve the instances (it's been a while since I did the math though)

But for small scale, I recommend strongly against AWS

[nasalgoat]

Isn't the opposite true? It's fine for under 10 instances when you're first starting up and still flexible, but over that you're better off going colo?

[dmourati]

I've described AWS as a great "deal" for very small and for very large customers. For people in the middle, not so much.

[Xorlev]

Also depends on what you consider a deal -- the lower tier hardware works for a Wordpress blog, but not necessarily for much more. For the price, a good Linode or even a dedicated server will get you more bang for the buck.