API-as-a-Serviceon AWS.
Identity, AI, payments, messaging, search - wired into a production-grade AWS foundation we build and operate. You ship features; we own the integration layer, the secrets, the observability, and the AWS bill underneath.
20+
Years in Linux production
since 2004
10+
Years on AWS
since 2015
30+
Third-party APIs integrated
auth, AI, payments, more
2
Engagement tiers
Startup or Scale
Two tiers
Pick the architecture that matches the stage you are at.
Same engagement model in both tiers. The difference is the compute substrate and the operational ceiling.
Startup tier
ECS Fargate
For products from MVP to early growth: up to roughly 100k users, 1 to 5 backend services, single region. Serverless containers, no nodes to manage, auto-scaling and rolling deploys handled by ECS itself.
- Amazon ECS Fargate with auto-scaling and rolling deploys
- ALB or API Gateway entry, CloudFront for static and media
- RDS PostgreSQL or MySQL, ElastiCache Redis as needed
- Single-region, multi-AZ for availability
- Full API integration layer + observability + CI/CD baseline
- Optional retainer afterwards
Scale tier
EKS (Kubernetes)
For scale-ups and mature SaaS: hundreds of thousands of users and up, many services, regulated industries, multi-region. Everything from Startup tier plus the Kubernetes operational surface.
- Amazon EKS with managed node groups, HPA, cluster autoscaler
- Service mesh (App Mesh or Istio): mTLS, traffic shifting, canaries
- GitOps with ArgoCD or FluxCD on top of GitHub Actions
- RDS/Aurora with read replicas, automated failover, PITR
- Prometheus + Grafana, Loki or OpenSearch, X-Ray or Tempo tracing
- Multi-region options for low-latency global delivery or DR
What you get
Eight blocks of work, in every engagement.
Same checklist for Startup or Scale tier. The depth scales with the tier; the categories do not.
AWS architecture
- Multi-environment design (prod + staging) with isolated IAM, secrets, databases
- Private VPC, isolated subnets across AZs, no public databases or buckets
- CloudFront CDN with Origin Access Control, ACM auto-renewing certs
- Compute mapped to workload: ECS/Fargate, EKS, Lambda, API Gateway, ALB
API integration layer
- AWS Secrets Manager for every API key, OAuth token, service credential
- Identity at the edge (Firebase, Auth0, Cognito, Clerk, OIDC) via authorizers
- Timeouts, retries with backoff, circuit breakers, fallbacks per integration
- Redis or CloudFront caching to cut latency and third-party API spend
- Per-API observability so the answer to 'which dep broke' is one query
CI/CD pipelines
- GitHub Actions with OIDC federation - zero AWS access keys stored
- Zero-downtime rolling deploys with health gates
- Automatic staging test runs before production
- ECR image vulnerability scanning and lifecycle policies
Security baseline
- Least-privilege IAM scoped to exactly what each role needs
- All secrets in Secrets Manager - no environment files, no hardcoded keys
- VPC isolation + security groups enforcing internal-only access between tiers
- Encryption at rest on RDS, S3, EBS. HTTPS everywhere, no plain listeners
Databases & caching
- PostgreSQL (with PostGIS where needed), MySQL, MariaDB
- Redis / Valkey for caching, sessions, queues
- RDS / Aurora / ElastiCache (managed) or EC2 self-hosted - your call
- Automated daily backups with retention policy + restore drills on request
Observability & on-call
- Structured CloudWatch logs, alarms tuned to real-world thresholds
- Per-API latency, error rate, and cost dashboards
- SNS + AWS Chatbot delivery to Slack or Teams, alarm + recovery
- Runbooks for the alarms that fire most - on-call has a script
Cost discipline
- Right-sizing based on real load, not vendor defaults
- Auto-scaling tuned to actual traffic patterns
- Budget alerts and overage protection on both AWS and third-party APIs
- Monthly cost review on retainer engagements
Documentation & handover
- Two-tier docs: internal detailed (ARNs, ops notes) + client-facing (architecture)
- Per-component breakdowns: one document per service or repository
- Operational runbooks: deploy, restore, rotate-secret, on-call procedures
- Walkthroughs with your team - knowledge transfer, not theoretical docs
Good fit
Who this is for
- Startups deploying a real product backend for the first time
- Scale-ups outgrowing PaaS (Heroku, Railway, Render, Vercel) for cost, control, or performance
- Product teams without an in-house DevOps engineer
- CTOs who need senior DevOps as a fractional resource, not a full-time hire
- Teams whose AWS bill grew faster than the product did
Not a fit
Who this is not for
- Pure static sites with no real backend - a free Vercel or Netlify plan is fine
- A single small app that runs comfortably on a 5 EUR VPS
- WordPress hosting - we work with serious backends, not CMS hosting
- One-off scripts or hobby projects
Not sure where you fit? Book the discovery call - it is free and we will tell you straight if AWS is overkill for your case.
How we work
From discovery call to running infrastructure.
- 01
Discovery call (free)
30 minutes to scope your APIs, traffic profile, team shape, and constraints. No commitment.
- 02
Written proposal
Architecture diagram, cost estimate, phased timeline, exact deliverables list. Fixed scope, fixed fee.
- 03
Phased implementation
AWS foundation first. Then deployment pipeline. Then API integrations. Then observability. Then hardening pass.
- 04
Handover
Complete documentation, team walkthrough, support window. Your engineers actually know how it works.
- 05
Optional retainer
Ongoing operations, cost reviews, security audits, new API integrations as your product grows.
FAQ
Common questions
How is this different from your AWS Cloud Management service?
AWS Cloud Management is the ongoing operation of an existing AWS estate - patching, monitoring, cost reviews. API-as-a-Service is the full build: AWS foundation plus the integration layer for identity, AI, payments, messaging, and dozens of other third-party APIs. Most clients start with this, then continue on the AWS Cloud Management retainer.
Which tier do I need?
Startup tier (ECS Fargate) covers MVPs to early growth - up to roughly 100k users, 1 to 5 backend services, single region. Scale tier (EKS) covers hundreds of thousands of users, many services, regulated industries, and multi-region. We will tell you straight on the discovery call.
Do you handle the application code as well?
No - we own the AWS infrastructure, the API integration layer, and the deployment pipeline. Your engineers own the application code. We handle the parts that should not require an application engineer to debug at 3am.
Can you migrate us off Vercel or Heroku?
Yes. This is one of our most common engagements. We design the AWS equivalent of your current setup, build it alongside production, and cut over with zero or near-zero downtime depending on workload.
What about Terraform and Infrastructure as Code?
Used where it pays off - the AWS foundation, repeated patterns, multi-environment configuration. Not as a religion. Some things are clearer as plain AWS console operations with documented runbooks.
Ready to scope the engagement?
Discovery call is 30 minutes, free, no preparation required. We will tell you straight which tier fits, what the timeline looks like, and what the cost range is.