AWS Managed Services vs Self-Managed AWS: Which Model Fits Your Company?

AWS now runs many of the applications and services your organisation relies on. As usage increases, the work needed to keep environments available, secure, and within budget also grows. At some point, most teams need to decide whether to keep AWS operations self-managed with internal staff or work with an AWS managed services provider.

We focus on what self-managed AWS really involves, when AWS managed services become a better fit, and how to choose a model for your organisation. The guidance is for teams that already run production workloads on AWS and now need to decide how best to operate and support them.

When does AWS managed services become the better model?

As environments and teams grow, self-managed AWS can start to strain capacity. You may reach a point where AWS managed services is a better fit if senior engineers spend a large part of the week on AWS maintenance rather than product work or if incidents frequently happen out of hours with the same people always on call.

It is also a warning sign when security and compliance tasks continually slip down the priority list, AWS costs rise without a clear owner or review process, or migration and modernisation projects stall due to limited specialist AWS knowledge. When these patterns appear, AWS operations put ongoing pressure on your team.

In these situations, an AWS managed service provider adds structure and capacity to your AWS operations. The internal team keeps ownership of product and architecture decisions, while the provider takes responsibility for day-to-day platform operations, monitoring, and continuous improvement.

Logicata’s Infrassure service is designed for organisations at this stage. It provides 24/7 monitoring and incident response, change and access management, backup monitoring, and ongoing cost and performance optimisation, so internal teams can focus on delivering features rather than managing infrastructure.

AWS managed services vs self-managed AWS: what are the practical differences?

Self-managed AWS gives maximum control but relies on internal skills and capacity, while AWS managed services trades some of that control for predictable operations and access to specialist expertise.

Self-managed AWS

With self-managed AWS, you keep full responsibility for operations and security, including cost control. You decide how to structure monitoring and alerting, how your team will respond to incidents, and how you manage capacity and access changes with your own processes. You retain complete control, but outcomes depend on internal skills and capacity.

This model gives maximum flexibility but can create risk when key staff move on or when team workload increases.

AWS managed services

With AWS managed services, an external provider handles defined operational responsibilities. You gain access to established processes for monitoring, incident response, cloud governance, and change management. You also receive regular reviews and recommendations on cost, performance, and security. Your internal teams focus more on product and application changes.

This model works best when you want predictable operations and access to specialist skills without building a large in-house platform team.

Is managed or self-managed AWS more cost-effective?

Neither model is always cheaper; the cost difference depends on how much engineering time currently goes into AWS operations.

Self-managed AWS can appear cheaper because you avoid a managed service fee. In reality, you still pay for the time engineers spend on operational tasks. When senior staff handle incidents, manage infrastructure changes, and review costs, less of their time goes into product development.

AWS managed services introduce a clear fee but can reduce unplanned work and improve cost control. For example, a provider such as Logicata reviews usage data regularly, identifies unused resources, and recommends changes to rightsizing, storage classes, and purchase options. Over time, this can reduce wastage and make monthly AWS bills more predictable.

A real example is Charanga, a music education platform, which saw its user base increase by about 300 percent in a short period while Logicata managed scaling and monitoring on AWS. DevOps work that had taken around a third of the Head of Technology’s time now takes far less, so he can focus more on product performance and long-term planning.

Which model works out best for costs depends on how much internal time goes into operations today and how much value you place on faster feature delivery and fewer production issues.

Can both models work together?

For many organisations, a hybrid approach works best.

In a hybrid model, internal teams own product roadmaps and application architecture, an AWS managed services provider operates the AWS platform and provides 24/7 cover, and both teams agree clear responsibilities for change, incidents, and cost reviews.

This approach keeps strategic decisions in-house and uses external specialists for operational work that needs deep AWS experience and constant attention. It also reduces single points of failure by spreading operational knowledge across more than one team.

Logicata often works in this way. Customers retain control of their applications and data while Logicata focuses on infrastructure reliability, security, and cost optimisation.

How does Logicata support companies choosing AWS managed services?

For organisations that decide AWS managed services is the right model for outsourcing AWS management, the next question is who to work with.

Logicata focuses solely on AWS and works with small and medium-sized organisations that run revenue-generating or other business-critical workloads on the platform. The team designs, builds, and operates AWS environments using best practices for security, operations, and cost optimisation.

Through the Infrassure managed service, Logicata provides:

• 24/7 monitoring and incident response
• Management of access, backups, and configuration changes
• Ongoing cost and performance reviews
• Support for Well-Architected remediation and improvements

This support gives internal teams more time to focus on delivery and reduces the risk that operational tasks fall behind.

How can you decide which model fits your organisation?

The right model depends on how much AWS operational work your team can handle alongside projects. A few questions can help you decide:

• Do we have enough AWS skills and time to run operations as well as delivery work?
• How often do incidents or out-of-hours issues pull engineers away from product work?
• Are security, backup, and compliance tasks up to date?
• Are AWS costs reviewed regularly with clear ownership?

If most answers are positive and workload feels manageable, self-managed AWS or a light hybrid model can still work. In a light hybrid model, you keep day-to-day operations in-house and use an external provider only for reviews and escalation support, ideally with periodic external review of security, cost, and operations from an AWS specialist. If several answers are negative, or if operational work already slows project delivery, AWS managed services or a hybrid model with a provider such as Logicata usually offers a safer and more stable option over time.

Speak with Logicata about the model that fits your team

If you are reviewing how you run AWS today, a short discovery call can clarify your options for self-managed, hybrid, or fully managed AWS.

Speak with Logicata about your current environment, internal capacity, and future plans. The team can help you evaluate the trade-offs between self-managed AWS and AWS managed services, highlight where AWS operations currently create risk or overhead, and suggest a model that supports your goals without adding unnecessary complexity.