Whether you’re an individual entity or a part of a gigantic commerce enterprise, there will come a time when using cloud services handy will benefit you. Especially now that files are getting larger and the internet is simply growing bigger, the need for more storage space has become bigger than ever. Maybe you started looking for free options, like the AWS free tier or premium cloud services, but it’s important to distinguish the two and take care of yourself from the money traps free services may come with. We’ll discuss further later on how to protect yourself and be mindful of all the nooks and crannies of free cloud services.

Firstly, let’s talk about why you need cloud services. Storage devices such as hard drives and personal servers are rather unwieldy, high maintenance, and an overall hassle to use. Owning one doesn’t fix your storage problems right away because there are whole new hosts of things you need to look take care of. If you own a hard drive, then you should be careful of the temperature it’s placed on. You also have to be mindful of the environment it is exposed to and be painfully careful of the devices. Hard disk drives, for example, have moving parts that could easily be damaged or destroyed if they undergo sudden movements. This brings a higher risk of losing your data, and recovering them is just another avenue for money to go down the drain.

Cloud services, as opposed to external drives.

Cloud services circumvent all of these problems. For one, they are accessible anywhere you go as long as you have internet. You could be on your personal computer, company tablets, or even on a smartphone; data stored in a cloud is easily accessed. Another advantage would be that you don’t have to carry around the hard drives themselves in the event that you might need to access something. The same goes for the cables, connectors, and dongles that you might need just so that you can connect your hard drive to your laptop or whatsoever. 

Cloud services also have the advantage of having fewer risks of data loss since you don’t have to keep up the maintenance and care for the drives themselves. The upkeep comes with the service, and you’d only have to pay for the plans and storage. You also don’t have to buy your own hard drives, which means that you could save on unnecessary costs.

AWS Free Tier

AWS free tier is basically a type of cloud service that offers a promotion of free data storage for a limited amount of time. For example, a cloud service company allows you to use 10 gigabytes of data for three months for free. Whenever you exceed the data limit or go over the time period, then you get billed for extra costs. Although this might sound like an easy way to get free 10GB of storage, it’s not necessarily what happens most of the time. The internet is littered with nightmarish stories of people getting overbilled and shocked with thousands of dollars, not knowing that the free cloud services have charged them. Cloud service companies are business companies in nature. Meaning their end goal is to always have you pay and for them to profit from you. You should always keep this in mind whenever you’re availing of such things.

How to avoid shock billing?

Although there are shock billing countermeasures in place, they are not as reliable as you think. Sometimes, notifications of you going over the limit may not reach you in time. The moment you receive the notification, you may have already reached the limit. The best thing to do is to steer away from AWS Free Tiers as a whole. Should you really need to use it, use it sparingly and always read the fine print. Knowing the specifics of the billing process and how companies use it to their advantage will enable you to be not as easily blindsided by hidden fees.