New App Engine Pricing Feels Like Surprise Adjustable Rate Mortgage

[Andy Jagoe]

I love App Engine.  That said, the new pricing is deeply disappointing.

App Engine is an amazing platform. I have built many apps on the platform and also use App Engine to power a number of mobile apps.

While the pricing may be fine if you're a small business, it no longer allows individual developers to build cool new services that can get even modest scale without incurring significant costs. The cost of running my apps is going to increase 10X with the new pricing.

A sudden 10X increase in App Engine costs feels like I was actually sold an adjustable rate mortgage when I believed I was holding a fixed rate mortgage. It's as if my interest rate has just exploded from 5% to 19.99% with little warning. This doesn't feel like the approach I expect from a company who's motto is supposed to be "Don't be evil".

What this means to me is that App Engine is no longer a place I will spend cycles to build things.

It also means I'm shutting off all my apps.

Thanks and good luck,

A Developer