If I'm reading the source html pages of "servethehome.com" correctly, it's a Wordpress site and that's what Patrick is basing hosting cost comparisons on.

I've mentioned before[0] that AWS too expensive and overkill for Wordpress sites (especially simpler non-ecommerce ones). I don't think this conclusion is controversial. Simpler hosting requirements is why Patrick only has to spend 4 hours of labor in 1 year to upgrade some hardware.

It's when you need the higher-level value-added services of AWS services (Dynamo, Redshift, region failover, etc) that the comparison becomes more complicated.

E.g. Companies with mission-critical transactional websites or mobile backends are more complex and they need agility to add/change the infrastructure landscape in response to unknown workloads. They don't have the money (or expertise) to code an in-house version of AWS services portfolio. E.g.[1]

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10797166

[1] https://www.cbronline.com/news/guardian-aws-migration

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