The code for the AWS billing system must be glorious. There are so many ways to pay for things, changing constantly, with an enormous number of accounts and even a number or ways to get credits back due to outages, customer support, or discount codes. And they have to account for internal Amazon use too. And bugs can really only be caught by people reimplementing parts of the system to make sure they get the same results.
AWS soft launched Savings Plans in the AWS Console earlier today. We played with it, made purchases, read the docs, and wrote up our thoughts here - <a href="https://www.prosperops.com/blog/aws-savings-plans/" rel="nofollow">https://www.prosperops.com/blog/aws-savings-plans/</a>
Take on this by Corey Quinn - <a href="https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/aws-begins-sunsetting-ris-replaces-them-with-something-much-much-better/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/aws-begins-sunsetting-ris...</a>
Cloud computing gets cheaper all the time, why should you commit to spending a certain amount of money? This seems like just another way for AWS to increase vendor lock-in and profits through making complicated payment structures that make people believe they're better off.
Jeff: Tip for future posts of this nature: a link to a help page or other unauthenticated page showing the actual plans would be helpful. I'm on my phone and can't auth to my aws account to explore the new system but would have loved to take a peek at what the actual plans and pricing are. I'm sure their are other techys on here in the same boat.<p>Your article <i>implies</i> that the only way to see this info is to login to your was console but you can't assume everybody who would be interested in switching to aws now that you have this system has one or would bother to set one up to explore this feature. And I'm sure there does exist some public listing I'm just pointing out how better this could have been communicated.
FWIW: Oracle Cloud has been using this pricing model since day 1, except it extends to all services, not just compute: <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/get-started/subscriptions-cloud/csgsg/universal-credits.html" rel="nofollow">https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/get-started/subscriptions-c...</a><p>(Disclaimer, I work at OCI)
Does anybody know if (and how) this applies to spot instances? None of the language seems to <i>exclude</i> application to spot prices, though I realize the use-it-or-lose-it nature of these discounts has some tensions with bursty spot workflows.
The compute plan is a big deal (meaning important not cost break although that too). The inflexibility of RIs really hurts and makes it hard to actually benefit from the savings. This doesn't quite match Google's approach but it is much simpler to understand.
Very cool that they're offering this.<p>They should also create a marketplace for selling your remaining committed funds at a discount. That would be a REALLY bold, pro-customer move.