Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Comparison

Why choose Amazon Web Services (AWS)

• Higher Integration score (10/10 vs 7/10)
• Higher Customization score (10/10 vs 8/10)
• Better fit for developers (9/10 vs 7/10)
• Better fit for startups (8/10 vs 6/10)

Why choose Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

• Higher Cost score (7/10 vs 5/10)

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Pros

• The service catalogue is unusually broad, with over 200 services across 38 regions, so most infrastructure needs can be met on one platform.
• EC2 has a 99.99% region-level SLA with credits of up to 100%, and instances unavailable for more than six minutes in an hour are not billed for that hour.
• The free plan gives up to $200 in credits, and more than 30 always-free services let new teams experiment at low cost.
• Support scales from a $29 minimum up to dedicated Enterprise and Unified Operations tiers for mission-critical workloads.
• G2 rates it 4.4 across more than 17,000 reviews, and reviewers praise its scalability and global reach.

Cons

• Reviewers widely cite a steep learning curve across the console and services.
• Usage pricing is complex and can produce unexpected bills unless spend is monitored closely.
• Paid support is billed as a percentage of total AWS spend, so support costs rise with usage.
• A July 2025 billing console bug showed customers estimated charges in the billions, which hurt trust in its cost tooling.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Pros

• Large permanent free tier with Arm VMs, 200 GB of block storage, two Autonomous Databases and 10 TB of monthly egress.
• 10 TB of outbound data transfer a month at no charge, which reviewers praise next to typical hyperscaler egress fees.
• Strong fit for Oracle Database and Oracle application workloads, with Autonomous Database and MySQL HeatWave offered as managed services.
• Flexible VM shapes let you set OCPU and memory independently.
• OCI Functions runs on the open source Fn Project, so you can develop locally and avoid some lock-in.

Cons

• Oracle halved the free Arm A1 allowance in June 2026 without a public announcement.
• Free instances can be reclaimed when idle, and Arm capacity in a home region is often unavailable.
• Reviewers on PeerSpot and G2 describe technical support as slow and sometimes automated.
• Networking setup (VCNs, routing, hybrid connectivity) is described as more complex than on AWS.
• Sign-up requires a card and phone number, and Trustpilot users report repeated card rejections.