My name is Sebastian and I develop and run web-based services related to streaming and games. After Vultr noticed this tweet of mine a few months back, they reached out to hear my story. I’ve since decided to post the full tale here, so everyone knows: be careful with AWS; you might be much better served with Vultr.

I initially signed up for AWS due to the size and resources of the company behind the service. It seemed like a no-brainer to go with such a company for a service that I rely on.

After setting up a few small servers and databases, I was paying around $100-150 per month. This was an average over several months for two Lightsail servers and an SQL server. My services do not serve many people, so I chose their lowest offer.

Almost immediately after launching on AWS, I began to notice issues. Server reliability and uptime began to be an issue; one I could do nothing about. I tried upgrading the Lightsail servers to give some more headroom, and that seemed only to help the service run slightly faster when it was accessible.

I decided to redesign my data management and access solution in order to make my services even more performant in hopes it could mitigate my servers going dead after some hours on a regular basis. Again, my service ran faster when it was accessible, but my issues remained and my customers’ complaints continued.

Breaking up with AWS

I realized that I needed a different cloud provider. I had given up holding out hope that my servers would magically become reliable. AWS has become a service for very large companies that can afford redundant servers, load balancing, etc. My services are not nearly large enough to justify these things and AWS was not able to provide the reliability and performance I needed. I decided to start asking other developers what they use.

A friend of mine, MaidenAriana, suggested Vultr. She said,

“Vultr’s servers are reliable and I always know exactly what I’m going to pay every month because of how they charge. Also, they’re better priced than the big guys to begin with.”

At first, I had my doubts, but because Vultr had the confidence of someone I knew, I decided to make an account and set up a server. It was extremely easy to navigate the services available, so it took almost no time to get a server up and running.

My test server on Vultr was running and responsive. It wasn’t randomly going down. It wasn’t randomly throttling. At this point, I decided to migrate my services over to Vultr, one at a time. I created two servers on my Vultr account, one for database management and another for a streaming-related service.

There was an instant and obvious improvement in reliability as well as performance. And here’s the best part: not only was it easier, but it was also cheaper. I didn’t have to put up with the nickel-and-diming of AWS, where you never know how much you’ll end up being charged until you see the bill.

A compromised account and a customer service nightmare

To complete my migration away from AWS, I removed all the services and credentials I set up on my AWS account and left it unused. No one ever had access to this account and I did not have any access keys out, so the account should have been secure. I was essentially just paying a small fee for AWS to keep the account open and store some backups and snapshots.

Or so I thought.

Not long after I abandoned AWS, I read an article about a recent security issue with the platform that caused some large customers to discover their accounts had been compromised. This allowed for unknown actors to access accounts and add services for their own use, leaving the account owner with the bill.

I figured I should check on my account since I hadn’t logged into it since starting to work with Vultr. To my surprise, my monthly balance had increased from just a few dollars (for snapshots and backups) to just under $20. Not a large amount, but nothing should have changed.

Amazon, we have a problem. Alexa? Echo? Is anyone listening?!?!

When I dug deeper (which AWS does not make easy), I realized that my account had been compromised. I found services set up that I knew nothing about; services I never used on AWS myself.

By the time I finally got on the phone with a customer service representative, my account had inflated to an estimated $95,000 per month!

Finally, I reached a person who actually listened and seemed to understand my situation. He submitted a ticket to their internal investigation department, and I was optimistic my problems would finally end.

I patiently waited for Amazon to fix things up, confident that such a big, powerful company with self-proclaimed customer obsession would have this sorted in short order.

But then, days later: sheer panic in the form of a Wells Fargo notification on my phone.

“A transaction for $91,331 was declined because it exceeds your daily limit.”

“Still looking into it”

There had been no regular communication from them regarding anything. I expressed no interest in keeping this account open, yet AWS required it to stay open during the investigation. Their own policies and processes resulted in my account being fraudulently charged.

After this last message, I began receiving weekly updates saying “we’re still looking into it.”

Eventually, I got an email saying that AWS nuked my account and told me to “ignore all charges and any communication regarding charges”. That’s the last I heard from AWS.

Vultr: finally, straightforward cloud service

The switch to Vultr has been night and day. The best points in coming to Vultr from AWS are these: Vultr’s control panel is intuitive, concise and shows everything front and center. Vultr also makes it very clear as to what you pay for the service. It felt as though AWS had intentionally fragmented their service so severely that things could be lost or forgotten. Also, good luck truly understanding the various charges on an AWS account. I needed training to do almost anything on AWS’s site. Now, with Vultr, I’m getting straightforward service, support when I need it, and clear pricing.

What “cost” me nearly $100,000 on AWS costs about $60 per month on Vultr.