There are more cloud options to choose from as less popular cloud providers are starting to appear. Most of these are not even small; they are just not as popular as their ?bigger? competitors. For this reason, the term ?independent? seems to fit the less popular providers more.
Independent cloud providers compete with the larger competitors by focusing more on popular services. This includes block and object storage, running Linux instances, and other useful features. On top of that, the prices of these additional functionalities are usually 40% or 80% lower.
Some have hidden discounts and affordable options on their bandwidth offers, data exfiltration, block storage, and more. Because of this, the ?smaller? cloud companies end up offering better deals and helping their customers save more money.
However, they lack sophisticated tools such as artificial intelligence or AI, machine learning, etc. Sometimes, they cannot support cloud architecture or operating systems as much as their popular competitors. Some don?t even have databases that could have helped in saving time.
But not everything is lost because these independent cloud providers focus more on what they can offer than what they don?t have. They can also just do some sales pitches by relying on simple systems to make the task easier and more efficient.
Independent Cloud Options to Choose From
- Backblaze – this is popular for the unlimited backup product they offer. But many don?t know that they also provide an API compatible with Amazon Simple Storage Service or Amazon S3.
- Cloudflare – this company is known for the smart content-delivery network that helps lower bandwidth costs. More recently, they are expanding their list of services to the point that they almost run a full-service shop.
- Wasabi – Like Backblaze, this is another independent cloud company that offers affordable data storage via an API similar to Amazon S3. On top of that, they also provide reserved storage and other extra features.
- Vultr – This independent cloud service believes that its latest AMD hardware is more than enough to justify prices that are slightly higher than the ones in the market. They also boast Kubernetes clusters, bare-metal machines, object storage and other services at lower rates than usual.
- DigitalOcean – This cloud provider has grown so much, and they continue to impress developers who appreciate a simple interface. They also offer a mixture of compute power, managed services, and the ability to set up a database from a free image.?
