AWS EC2 vs PaaS: Why Startups Are Moving Away from AWS

For a decade, "launching a startup" meant spinning up an AWS EC2 instance. But in 2026, many engineering teams are making the conscious choice to ditch raw infrastructure in favor of Platform as a Service (PaaS).

The Complexity Toll

AWS EC2 gives you a virtual machine. That's it. To get a modern app running securely, you must:

• Configure VPCs, security groups, and IAM roles.
• Install an operating system, runtime, and process manager.
• Setup Nginx as a reverse proxy.
• Automate Certbot for SSL renewals.
• Write bash scripts for CI/CD deployments.

Hidden Costs of AWS

While an EC2 instance might look like it costs $10/month, the true cost lies in engineering hours. If your lead developer spends 4 hours a month managing server updates, debugging nginx configs, and restarting crashed instances, that EC2 instance just cost your company hundreds of dollars.

The PaaS Alternative

Platforms like Remoud completely abstract the server layer. Instead of managing a virtual machine, you provide a GitHub repository. The PaaS automatically builds the container, provisions the SSL certs, load balances the traffic, and restarts the environment if it crashes.

When to Stay on AWS

AWS is unbeatable for massive scale, complex compliance requirements (like HIPAA/SOC2 at the enterprise level), or highly customized kernel-level networking setups. But for 95% of standard web applications and APIs, a modern PaaS is safer, faster, and far more cost-effective.