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Amazon EC2 vs UpCloud: What are the differences?
Introduction
This markdown compares key differences between Amazon EC2 and UpCloud.
Pricing Models: Amazon EC2 offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where users pay for the computing capacity they actually use. On the other hand, UpCloud provides a fixed pricing model with no surprises in billing, ideal for predictable workloads.
Performance: Amazon EC2 offers a wide range of instance types catering to different performance requirements. UpCloud, however, focuses on guaranteeing high-performance through their MAXIOPS storage technology, suitable for high-demand applications.
Data Center Locations: Amazon EC2 has a global presence with data centers in various regions around the world, providing users with flexibility in choosing server locations. While UpCloud has fewer data centers, they strategically position them in major hubs such as London, Chicago, and Frankfurt.
Service Level Agreement (SLA): Amazon EC2 offers a 99.99% uptime SLA for their instances, ensuring high availability for applications. In comparison, UpCloud provides a 100% SLA on infrastructure and network, guaranteeing maximum uptime for users.
User Interface: Amazon EC2 has a more complex and feature-rich user interface, suitable for advanced users who require intricate configuration options. UpCloud, on the other hand, offers a simplified and easy-to-use interface, ideal for beginners or users who prefer a straightforward setup process.
Storage Options: Amazon EC2 provides a wide array of storage options including EBS and EFS, catering to diverse storage needs. UpCloud focuses on providing high-performance storage through their proprietary storage solution, eliminating the need for additional layers of abstraction.
In Summary, the key differences between Amazon EC2 and UpCloud lie in their pricing models, performance guarantees, data center locations, SLA, user interfaces, and storage options.
DigitalOcean was where I began; its USD5/month is extremely competitive and the overall experience as highly user-friendly.
However, their offerings were lacking and integrating with other resources I had on AWS was getting more costly (due to transfer costs on AWS). Eventually I moved the entire project off DO's Droplets and onto AWS's EC2.
One may initially find the cost (w/o free tier) and interface of AWS daunting however with good planning you can achieve highly cost-efficient systems with savings plans, spot instances, etcetera.
Do not dive into AWS head-first! Seriously, don't. Stand back and read pricing documentation thoroughly. You can, not to the fault of AWS, easily go way overbudget. Your first action upon getting your AWS account should be to set up billing alarms for estimated and current bill totals.
We first selected Google Cloud Platform about five years ago, because HIPAA compliance was significantly cheaper and easier on Google compared to AWS. We have stayed with Google Cloud because it provides an excellent command line tool for managing resources, and every resource has a well-designed, well-documented API. SDKs for most of these APIs are available for many popular languages. I have never worked with a cloud platform that's so amenable to automation. Google is also ahead of its competitors in Kubernetes support.
GCE is much more user friendly than EC2, though Amazon has come a very long way since the early days (pre-2010's). This can be seen in how easy it is to edit the storage attached to an instance in GCE: it's under the instance details and is edited inline. In AWS you have to click the instance > click the storage block device (new screen) > click the edit option (new modal) > resize the volume > confirm (new model) then wait a very long time. Google's is nearly instant.
- In both cases, the instance much be shut down.
There also the preference between "user burden-of-security" and automatic security: AWS goes for the former, GCE the latter.
Most bioinformatics shops nowadays are hosting on AWS or Azure, since they have HIPAA tiers and offer enterprise SLA contracts. Meanwhile Heroku hasn't historically supported HIPAA. Rackspace and Google Cloud would be other hosting providers we would consider, but we just don't get requests for them. So, we mostly focus on AWS and Azure support.
Pros of Amazon EC2
- Quick and reliable cloud servers647
- Scalability515
- Easy management393
- Low cost277
- Auto-scaling271
- Market leader89
- Backed by amazon80
- Reliable79
- Free tier67
- Easy management, scalability58
- Flexible13
- Easy to Start10
- Elastic9
- Web-scale9
- Widely used9
- Node.js API7
- Industry Standard5
- Lots of configuration options4
- GPU instances2
- Simpler to understand and learn1
- Extremely simple to use1
- Amazing for individuals1
- All the Open Source CLI tools you could want.1
Pros of UpCloud
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Cons of Amazon EC2
- Ui could use a lot of work13
- High learning curve when compared to PaaS6
- Extremely poor CPU performance3
Cons of UpCloud
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What is Amazon EC2?
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