Have you ever wondered if the AWS support you use today is really the most cost-effective?
As we deploy more critical payloads in the Amazon cloud, in order to maintain an adequate percentage of availability commensurate with the service levels that those loads are supposed to deliver, having technical support aligned with those SLAs becomes a first-level need.
However, due to the current AWS Support pricing model, we often encounter certain impediments, especially when it comes to the minimum monthly amounts stipulated for each support plan.
In this blog we explain how, thanks to PLS (Partner Led Support) and specialized partners such as Unikal, it is now possible to save money on support without sacrificing quality or AWS commitments.
What is AWS Support?
AWS Support is a set of services designed to help customers operate, secure, and optimize their workloads in the cloud. Through this support, customers can:
- Open technical cases for incidents or queries.
- Receive guidance on architecture and good practices.
- Resolve availability, performance, or security issues.
- Have SLAs defined according to the criticality of the problem and the contracted plan.
What are AWS support plans?
AWS structures its support in different plans, designed for different levels of maturity and criticality of the environments.
AWS Basic Support
Cost
Included at no additional cost with all AWS accounts.
Includes
- Access to documentation, whitepapers and forums.
- Billing and account support.
- AWS Trusted Advisor (basic checks).
Limitations
- Does not include technical support.
- There is no technical response SLA.
AWS Developer Support
Cost
From $29/month or 3% of the monthly bill, whichever is higher.
Responsive SLA
- General guidance: < 24 hours
- System impaired: < 12 hours
- Development or test environments.
- Non-critical applications.
Aimed at:
- Development or test environments.
- Non-critical applications.
*Important: This support will be discontinued on January 1, 2027
AWS Business Support+
Cost
The cost is calculated as a percentage of your monthly spend on AWS:
- 9% for the first $10,000
- 7% from $10,000 to $80,000
- 5% from $80,000 to $250,000
- 3% from $250,000
- Minimum: $29/month
Responsive SLA
- Production Drop (Critical): < 1 hour
- Affected production (Urgent): < 4 hours
- Affected system (High): < 12 hours
- General enquiries: 24 hours
Includes
- 24×7 support.
- Access to AWS engineers.
- Full Trusted Advisor.
- Architecture orientation.
AWS Enterprise Support
Cost
The cost is calculated as a percentage of your monthly spend on AWS:
- 10% for the first $150,000
- 7% from $150,000 to $500,000
- 5% from $500,000 to $1,000,000
- 3% from $1,000,000
- Minimum: $5,000/month
Responsive SLA
- Critical Production: < 15 minutes
- Affected production (Urgent): < 1 hour
- Affected system (High): < 12 hours
- General enquiries: 24 hours
Includes
- Dedicated Technical Account Manager (TAM).
- Proactive support.
- Well-Architected Reviews.
- Critical event planning and management.
As you can see, the structure is as follows: Minimum monthly amount based on SLA + Scaling based on monthly consumption.
Precisely for this reason, the next question is the main one. What if I have a critical load on AWS, which needs Enterprise support, but the monthly consumption is, for example, $10,000? Unfortunately, the answer is that the support cost will be $5,000, as the higher value is taken between the minimum ($5,000) and 10% of consumption ($1,000).
The good news is that we have an alternative that helps eliminate that economic impediment, and it is the PLS (Partner Led Support).
Reduce the cost of support without sacrificing Enterprise through Partner
Partner Led Support (PLS) is an official AWS model where a certified partner becomes the first point of contact for customer support. AWS validates this model to ensure that:
- The same AWS SLAs are maintained.
- There is a path to scale directly to AWS when needed.
- Support is provided under AWS-approved standards and processes.
In this model, Unikal acts as the primary support provider, managing cases, providing context and proximity, and escalating to AWS when the situation requires it.
Key Benefits of Partner Led Support (PLS)
1. Significant economic savings
Unlike AWS Direct Support, PLS does not have a minimum monthly amount, but only scales based on monthly consumption of AWS services. Therefore, for customers with a monthly consumption of less than $50,000, it is a very attractive option.
Additionally, the % used to calculate the monthly amount is significantly lower than that applied by AWS, so we find an additional reduction in technical support costs.
2. Same SLAs as AWS
PLS maintains official AWS SLAs, so the same level of service is offered at a lower cost. It is important to note that opting for the PLS modality does not imply that you will not have help from the manufacturer, but that, on the contrary, Unikal will be the entry point for support tickets and, if necessary, will work together with AWS to resolve the incident when the situation requires it, maintaining these SLAs.
3. Close and contextualized support
Unikal knows:
- Your architecture.
- Your business.
- Your incident history.
This reduces diagnostic times and avoids repeating context on each ticket.
4. Proactive approach
Beyond resolving incidents, PLS with Unikal includes, in PLS Enterprise support:
- Cost optimization.
- Ongoing architecture recommendations.
- Review of good practices and security.
In other words, we provide you with sessions in which we will review your architecture with regard to the pillars of the Well Architected Framework, thus detecting possible vectors of optimization not only of costs but also of security, performance, operations and efficiency.
Conclusion
AWS offers very powerful support plans, but at a cost that doesn’t always align with customers’ budget and needs. The PLS model with Unikal is positioned as a smart alternative because:
- Maintains AWS Support SLAs
- Significantly reduces support cost
- Provides proximity, context and proactivity
- Avoid high monthly minimums
All in all, PLS allows you to pay less for support without sacrificing the quality of AWS.