AWS vs AWS Amplify
AWS vs AWS Amplify compared for European indie developers and small startups. Pricing, EU jurisdiction, GDPR posture, and why Runsite (an EU-registered PaaS in Frankfurt) is worth a look.
AWS vs AWS Amplify: quick answer
AWS and AWS Amplify both offer Git-push deploy workflows, but they differ where it counts. AWS and AWS Amplify are both US-headquartered, so neither escapes US jurisdiction or the CLOUD Act, and neither runs EU-native infrastructure or offers hard spending caps. For European teams that need GDPR-compliant hosting in Frankfurt with predictable EUR billing and a permanent free tier, Runsite is the EU-native alternative to both.
// aws problems → runsite solutions
Common AWS frustrations. Sound familiar?
Every AWS frustration, solved.
AWS problem
"I need DevOps just to deploy a simple app"
EC2 requires VPC config, security groups, IAM roles, and manual deployment pipelines. Even ECS/Fargate has a steep learning curve.
Runsite solution
Git push and done
Connect your GitHub repo, choose a region, deploy. No cloud certifications required.
AWS problem
"My AWS bill had 47 line items"
EC2, EBS, data transfer, NAT gateway, CloudWatch, Route53, ACM, every service adds charges.
Runsite solution
One line on your invoice
Web service: €5/mo. PostgreSQL: €5/mo. That's it. No data transfer fees, no hidden charges.
AWS problem
"Budget alerts don't actually stop spending"
AWS sends you an email when you hit 80% budget. But charges keep accruing. There's no hard cap.
Runsite solution
Hard spending cap + Telegram alerts
Set a monthly limit. Get Telegram notifications at 80%. We physically stop charges at your cap.
// comparison
Runsite vs AWS
Side-by-side. No marketing fluff, just facts.
| Feature | Runsite | AWS |
|---|---|---|
| Setup Complexity | ✓ Git push deploy | EC2 + VPC + IAM + Security Groups |
| Billing Clarity | ✓ One plan, one price | ✗ 20+ line items per invoice |
| Spending Limits | ✓ Hard cap: cannot overspend | ✗ Budget alerts only, charges continue |
| GDPR Compliance | ✓ EU entity, not subject to CLOUD Act | ✗ US company, CLOUD Act applies |
| Free Tier | ✓ Permanent | 12-month trial only |
| Data Egress | ✓ Included in plan | $0.09/GB after 100GB |
| Service Catalog | Focused PaaS | ✓ 200+ services |
| Global Regions | Frankfurt (eu-central) only | ✓ 30+ regions worldwide |
// the other side
What about AWS Amplify?
AWS Amplify is powerful but complex and US-centric. Runsite gives you simple EU deploys without the AWS learning curve.
// aws amplify problems → runsite solutions
Common AWS Amplify frustrations. Sound familiar?
Every AWS Amplify frustration, solved.
AWS Amplify problem
"AWS is too complex"
IAM roles, VPCs, CloudFormation, Amplify CLI: deploying a simple app requires DevOps knowledge.
Runsite solution
Git push and done
No AWS Console. No IAM. Connect your repo, pick EU, deploy. Two minutes.
AWS Amplify problem
"I can't understand my AWS bill"
Lambda invocations, API Gateway requests, S3 operations, data transfer, 20+ line items.
Runsite solution
Simple, fixed pricing
One plan. One monthly price. With a hard spending cap so you never overpay.
AWS Amplify problem
"Free tier expires after 12 months"
AWS free tier is a 12-month trial. After that, everything is billed.
Runsite solution
Free forever, no expiry
Runsite's free tier doesn't expire. Build side projects without watching a countdown.
// comparison
Runsite vs AWS Amplify
Side-by-side. No marketing fluff, just facts.
| Feature | Runsite | AWS Amplify |
|---|---|---|
| Complexity | ✓ Simple: git push deploy | AWS Console + IAM + CloudFormation |
| EU Data Centers | ✓ Frankfurt (eu-central) | ✓ eu-west, eu-central |
| GDPR Compliance | ✓ EU entity | Complex: requires AWS DPA |
| Backend Hosting | ✓ Full containers | Lambda functions |
| Pricing Clarity | ✓ Fixed plans | ✗ 20+ line items per invoice |
| Free Tier | ✓ Permanent | ✓ 12 months then paid |
// in-depth comparison
How AWS and AWS Amplify each compare to Runsite
AWS vs Runsite
Two hundred-plus services. Thirty-plus regions. Deep integrations across every technology stack you can name. AWS is the most comprehensive cloud platform on the planet, and for enterprises with dedicated DevOps teams and complex multi-service architectures, that flexibility is unmatched.
Now try to deploy one small web application. Suddenly you are navigating EC2, VPC, IAM, security groups, and load balancers, or learning the abstractions of ECS, Fargate, or App Runner. The invoice lands with dozens of line items. Worse, the budget alerts you set up do not actually stop spending. And AWS is a US company subject to the CLOUD Act.
Runsite runs the other way: a focused PaaS with git-push deploys, hard spending limits, one-line invoices, and EU-only infrastructure under EU jurisdiction. If your project does not need 200 AWS services and you just want to ship an application to EU users without hiring a cloud engineer, Runsite gets you deployed in minutes with transparent, predictable costs.
AWS Amplify vs Runsite
You picked Amplify because it promised to smooth over the sharp edges of AWS, and to a point it does. It simplifies deploying frontend and full-stack applications on AWS infrastructure, handling CI/CD and hosting, and it can wire up backend resources like Lambda, DynamoDB, and Cognito through its CLI and libraries. If your team already lives in the AWS ecosystem, that friction reduction is real.
The abstractions only go so far. You still need an AWS account, IAM configuration, and familiarity with CloudFormation under the hood. Billing inherits AWS complexity, with invocations, storage, data transfer, and request counts across multiple services making cost prediction difficult. The 12-month free tier is a trial, not a permanent offering. Runsite requires no cloud provider account, offers fixed monthly plans with hard spending limits, and keeps all infrastructure in EU data centers under EU jurisdiction.
If the AWS overhead feels disproportionate to your project size, you get git-push deploys, managed PostgreSQL, and GDPR compliance without learning IAM policies or navigating the AWS Console.
// why consider runsite
Beyond AWS and AWS Amplify
EU PaaS for indie developers and small European startups. One region: Frankfurt.
EU-First Infrastructure
While AWS and AWS Amplify default to US markets, Runsite is built exclusively for European developers. Frankfurt (eu-central) region, EU entity, EU jurisdiction, with no transatlantic transfers.
Real GDPR Compliance
EU-registered entity. Your data is governed by European law. No US jurisdiction, no CLOUD Act.
Predictable Pricing
No per-invocation charges, no surprise bills. Fixed plans with hard spending caps and Telegram alerts.
Common Questions
FAQ
Which is better for EU hosting, AWS or AWS Amplify?
Neither AWS nor AWS Amplify is EU-native. Both are US-based (AWS: US-headquartered (Amazon); AWS Amplify: a US AWS service) and route most traffic through US regions, with EU availability that is usually limited or gated behind higher tiers. Even when you can select a European region, the parent company stays subject to the US CLOUD Act, which can compel disclosure of EU customer data. For genuine EU data residency, an EU-registered platform is the safer choice: Runsite runs exclusively in Frankfurt (eu-central) under EU jurisdiction, with no transatlantic transfers and no CLOUD Act exposure — the kind of guarantee neither US provider can make.
Which has the better free tier, AWS or AWS Amplify?
Free tiers on both AWS and AWS Amplify change frequently and tend to share the same catch: compute that sleeps after inactivity, bandwidth or build-minute caps, or trial credits that expire after a fixed window. They are fine for quick experiments but rarely sustainable for an always-on hobby project. If a permanent free tier matters, read the current terms carefully. Limits are often buried in the pricing footnotes. Runsite takes the opposite approach: a free tier with no credit card and no expiry, designed to keep small projects online indefinitely rather than nudging you onto a paid plan.
Is AWS or AWS Amplify GDPR-compliant?
Both AWS and AWS Amplify can be configured to support GDPR-compliant workloads through a signed Data Processing Agreement (DPA) and EU region selection where available. However, as US-incorporated entities they remain subject to the US CLOUD Act regardless of where the data physically sits, which is a documented sticking point for European compliance and DPO review. For workloads where US jurisdiction is a hard blocker (public-sector, healthcare, or privacy-sensitive consumer apps), an EU-headquartered provider removes the ambiguity entirely. Runsite is EU-registered with data kept inside the EU, so GDPR posture is the default rather than a configuration exercise.
What is the cheapest way to deploy a side project, AWS or AWS Amplify?
For a single small service, both AWS and AWS Amplify can look inexpensive on paper. The headline price rarely matches the real bill. Per-service billing, metered bandwidth, build minutes, and add-ons for databases or key-value stores stack up quickly, and neither platform offers a hard spending cap to stop a surprise invoice. The cheapest predictable option is one with fixed monthly pricing and an enforced ceiling. Runsite bills in EUR from €5/month with hard spending caps and Telegram alerts, plus a permanent free tier, so a side project stays cheap by design, not by careful monitoring.
// explore alternatives
Try the European Alternative
Skip the AWS vs AWS Amplify debate. Deploy on Runsite.
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