The one thing I've found baffling about both AWS and GCE is the bandwidth pricing. At about 0.1$/GB, it's 10x more expensive than competitors like linode. Why is that?
Bandwidth cost is the primary reason I'm afraid of hosting side projects on AWS/GCE.
Because Linode and similar overcommit their bandwidth given that they're charging a package deal - most people won't actually use the full allocated bandwidth.
AWS/GCE charge for actual bandwidth usage, which means that everyone uses exactly what they pay for, and the folks who use less bandwidth don't subsidize the folks who use more.
Bandwidth cost is the primary reason I'm afraid of hosting side projects on AWS/GCE.