You missed the first question:
> why wouldn't a company hire a contractor to do the same thing you do for a one-off fee? I just don't see why this is a subscription model
This is something I am curious about as well.
> why wouldn't a company hire a contractor to do the same thing you do for a one-off fee? I just don't see why this is a subscription model
This is something I am curious about as well.
1. Annual recommendations (Reserved Instances, Savings Plans) Sure, if a company only wants these recommendations - they can bring on a contractor once per year to do these changes. This is the one-off fee type contractor the poster is talking about
2. Continuous recommendations (Rightsizing, Spot Management) These recommendations are typically not something you could do once and be done. Rightsizing (which includes zombie instance detection) can happen through time. Spot Fleet management is also a continuous play - spot prices fluctuate and Usage's strategy works hard to maximize savings while minimizing downtime.
You might ask, how does this compare to hiring a contractor full time?
If you're a midsized company, Usage charges $5k/month (or $60k/year). A fulltime contractor in SV would likely be at least $100k/year and that doesn't factor in the number of billable hours (through interviewing) it would take to find someone who knows 50%+ of all of AWS' features.
Additionally, our growth and enterprise plans all have guaranteed savings. 3x and 5x, respectively.
For instance, if you chose the growth plan ($5k/month) and saved less than $180k after 12 months, we'd give you a 100% refund.
Similarly, if you chose the enterprise plan ($10k/month) and saved less than $600k after 12 months, we'd give you a 100% refund.