[joevandyk]

AWS is PCI compliant. http://aws.amazon.com/compliance/pci-dss-level-1-faqs/

DigitalOcean and most others are not.

AWS's security and API is lightyears ahead of everyone else.

[mbreese]

Yes, this is all true. But the question remains - how much is that worth to you? For some it will be mandatory. For others (particularly startups), not as much.

[themartorana]

If said startup is storing any personal data, it better be important.