Strengths profile
Capability rating of AWS (1–10) — against the average of all other providers and the average of its peer group.
Assessment
AWS offers the deepest and broadest cloud portfolio on the market (Strategic Opportunities 10/10) with top scores in core infrastructure areas such as databases and networking. However, for DACH customers with strict sovereignty requirements, the US jurisdiction (SEAL 4.1/10) and the high lock-in risk (Technological Sovereignty 4/10) remain central criteria for consideration.
USP
AWS is the market leader with the widest range of features and the largest global reach.
Recommendation
AWS is particularly suitable for innovation drivers and companies with international scaling ambitions that require a comprehensive cloud portfolio.
Last verified: 2026-07
Points in favor
- Broadest service portfolio: Strategic Opportunities rated 10/10 (avg. others: 5.9) with over 200 services ranging from IaaS to Quantum Computing (Braket) and GenAI (Bedrock).
- Excellent core infrastructure competencies: Databases, storage, networking, virtualization, and high availability each rated 10/10, including a comprehensive DBaaS offering (Aurora, RDS) and VMware Cloud on AWS.
- Global market leadership: Global Reach rated 9/10 (avg. others: 4.1) with 114 data centers, 30+ regions, and 700 Points of Presence across 6 continents.
- Strong data security and encryption: Data Security & Encryption rated 9/10 (avg. others: 7.8) and Encryption rated 9/10 (avg. others: 6.7), supported by CloudHSM, KMS, and Nitro Enclaves.
- Leading big data platform: Big Data rated 9/10 (avg. others: 4.5) with services such as EMR, Glue, Kinesis, and SageMaker Lakehouse for demanding analytics scenarios.
- Extensive compliance certifications: Existing certificates such as BSI C5, ISO 27001/27017/27018/27701, SOC 1-3, and PCI DSS underscore operational maturity.
Things to consider
- Low technological sovereignty: Score of 4/10 (avg. others: 7.7) due to proprietary technologies and high lock-in, making a later exit more difficult.
- Weak price competitiveness: Price rating of 4/10 (avg. others: 6.6) with particularly high costs for CPU (4.2/10), RAM (3.0/10), and Egress (3.0/10).
- Limited operational sovereignty: Operational Sovereignty rated 7/10 (avg. others: 8.3) is below average, due to US jurisdiction.
- Low SEAL score: Technical sovereignty in the SEAL framework rated 4.1/10 (41%), particularly SOV-2 Legal with 2/10 due to the US CLOUD Act.
- Limited bare metal offering: Bare Metal rated 3/10 (avg. others: 5.3) offers less variety than specialized EU providers.
Sovereignty
All services from AWS
123 services across 15 categories
SEAL Framework
Sovereignty Score
- 4.1/10 (41%) US jurisdiction caps strategic, legal & supply-chain objectives
SOV-1Strategic (15 %)
- 3/10 US parent (Amazon); EU Sovereign Cloud entity announced, not independent
SOV-2Legal & Jurisdictional (10 %)
- 2/10Subject to US CLOUD Act & FISA 702
SOV-3Data & AI (10 %)
- 6/10 Strong residency & BYOK controls; US access risk remains
SOV-4Operational (15 %)
- 4/10EU Sovereign Cloud region with EU staff announced; global ops model today
SOV-5Supply Chain (20 %)
- 3/10Proprietary global supply chain, custom US silicon
SOV-6Technology (15 %)
- 3/10Proprietary stack, high lock-in, limited reversibility
SOV-7Security & Compliance (10 %)
- 8/10 BSI C5, ISO 27001, broad audit portfolio
SOV-8Environmental (5 %)
- 8/10 100% renewable energy matched; net-zero 2040 pledge
Availability & Locations
Presence DACH
Presence Europe
- Germany Frankfurt, Brandenburg (Sovereign Cloud)
- Ireland Dublin
- United Kingdom London
- France Paris
- Italy Milan
- Spain Zaragoza
- Switzerland Zurich
- Sweden Stockholm
Presence North America
Presence Asia-Pacific
Presence Middle East & Africa
- Bahrain Manama
- UAE Dubai
- Israel Tel Aviv
- South Africa Cape Town
- Saudi Arabia SoonRiyadh
Availability Zones
Multi-AZ
Regions
Countries
Continents
Point of Presence
Dedicated Backbone
DDoS
Compute
Shared Instance
- EC2 Elastic Compute 1vCPU-896vCPU
Dedicated Instance
- EC2 Dedicated instance 1vCPU-896vCPU
GPU Instance
Windows Server
Serverless
ARM Instance
Confidential Computing
Virtual Private Servershared & low-budget
Hot Storage
Block Storage
Managed NetApp
Cold Storage
VM Backup
Volume Backup
Archive
Tape
- S3 - Deep Glacier
Disaster Recovery
Managed Databases
MS SQL
Oracle
DB2
Document-Oriented
Distributed Wide-Column
TSDB
Cache
Search Engine
Knowledge Graph
- Neptune
- Neptune Analytics (Graph + Vector)
Vector
- OpenSearch (Vector Engine)
- S3 Vectors
Network & Security
Network
Public IP
Gateway
Load Balancer
Public DNS
Private DNS
Private Connectivity
Dedicated Connectivity
DDoS Protection
CDN
Orchestration
Container Registry
Virtualization
Hypervisor
- Nitro System KVM-basiert, kein direkter Zugang
Instance as a Service
Managed Virtualization Platforms
- VMware Cloud on AWS BYOK only
Bare Metal Virtualization
- EC2 Instances.metal instance type
Edge Virtualization
Workload-specific Virtualization
Management
Identity Management
Audit Trail
Mail Service
Command Line
CO2 Calculator
Collaboration
- AWS Wickr (secure messaging/voice/video)
Big Data
Dashboards
Data Streaming
Messaging
Business Analytics
Big Data Processing
Big Data Plattform
Log Monitoring
AI & Machine Learning
Assistant
Translation
Audio Analysis
Computer Vision
NLP
Image Generation
Machine Learning
AI Router
Document Intelligence
Compliance & Certificates
C5German cloud security catalogue
ISO 20000IT service management system standard
ISO 27001Information security management system
ISO 27017Cloud security controls for providers
ISO 27018Personal data protection for cloud
ISO 27701Privacy information management extension
ISO 50001Energy management for data centers
CSA STARCloud Security Alliance assurance registry
SOC 1,2,3Service organization control audit reports
PCI DSSPayment card data security standard
ISO 9001Quality management system standard
Cost Indication
Rating
- 6.0/10
CPUvCPU/h
- 4.2/100,0335750 €
GPUH100/h
- 5.5/105,8480000 €
RAMGB/h
- 3.0/100,0097750 €
VMwareCPU/h
Managed MySQLRatio1/4
- 6.9/100,1033767 €
Block StorageGB/h | 3000 IOPS
- 10.0/100,0001108 €
S3 StorageGB/h
- 3.1/100,0000336 €
Archive StorageGB/h
- 4.5/100,0000157 €
TapeGB/h
- 8.4/100,0000025 €
Kubernetes-Service-PremiumCluster/h
- 8.2/100,5100000 €
Serverless-Requestper 1 Mil Requests
- 8.8/100,1700000 €
Serverless-ComputeGB-Sec
- 5.9/100,0000142 €
Generative AI-Token InputLLama3.3-70B per 1Mil tokens
- 10.0/100,6120000 €
Generative AI-Token OutputLLama3.3-70B per 1Mil tokens
- 10.0/100,6120000 €
Egressper GB
- 3.0/100,0765000 €
Resources & sources: AWS
Verified primary sources: products, pricing, compliance and locations straight from the provider.
Frequently asked questions about AWS
Who is AWS suitable for?
AWS is particularly suitable for innovation drivers and companies with international scaling ambitions that require a comprehensive cloud portfolio. With over 200 services and a global reach of 114 data centers in 30+ regions, AWS is ideal for companies that need a wide range of cloud services and a strong global presence.
How sovereign is AWS?
AWS has a SEAL score of 4.1/10 (41%), indicating limited technological sovereignty. The score is particularly low in the SOV-2 Legal category with 2/10 due to the US CLOUD Act. Operational sovereignty is below the average of other providers at 7/10 (others: 8.3/10).
What are the costs at AWS?
AWS's price rating is 4/10, which is below the average of other providers (6.6/10). Particularly high costs are found for CPU (4.2/10), RAM (3.0/10), and Egress (3.0/10). However, actual costs are workload-dependent and can vary depending on usage.
Where is AWS particularly strong?
AWS is particularly strong in the categories Strategic Opportunities (10/10), Databases (10/10), Storage (10/10), Networking (10/10), Virtualization (10/10), and High Availability (10/10). These top scores highlight AWS's strengths in core infrastructure areas, making it a strong choice for companies with demanding requirements.
What are the limitations of AWS?
AWS has limitations in Technological Sovereignty (4/10) and Operational Sovereignty (7/10), due to proprietary technologies and US jurisdiction. Additionally, AWS offers a limited bare metal portfolio (3/10) and has a weak price rating (4/10).
Which compliance certifications does AWS have?
AWS has extensive compliance certifications, including BSI C5, ISO 27001/27017/27018/27701, SOC 1-3, and PCI DSS. These certifications underscore the operational maturity and security of AWS, making it a suitable choice for companies with strict compliance requirements.