I disagree that app engine offers nothing more than the other services. The offerings are different types of services. As proof: app engine comes with the following basic services: blobstore, memcache, database, auto-scaling. Amazon web services has options for all of these, yes, but they are all separate services: S3 (blobstore), memcache (elasticache), simple db (database), auto-scaling (cloud watch). In AWS, I have to configure all of these systems independently of the others, and pay for them, too. I have to worry about upgrades, operating systems, etc. In google app engine, all of this is bundled in already. AWS does have all of the functionality, but it requires lots more setup. After all is said and done, GAE is actually priced very competitively, and even cheaper than, its competitors.