> AWS, and yet so many people talk about how the cloud is so cheap

Is AWS not widely known as one of the most expensive cloud providers all round?

And the cloud is not cheap in general, it's just convenient. If you do the math, most cloud providers only need a few months to make back the cost of the hardware, after that it's all money printing.

If you need something running 24/7 for a year+ it's always cheaper to buy... unless you're a large firm who doesn't trust their high turnover employees with their own infrastructure, which is where AWS makes their money.