Honestly, it’s a bit of a running joke in the dev community. You wake up, try to check your doorbell camera, and it’s dead. You try to order a latte on an app, and the payment fails. You hop on Slack to complain, and even Slack is lagging. That’s usually the moment everyone realizes: "Oh, US-EAST-1 is having a bad day."
When we talk about how much of the internet is on AWS, we aren't just talking about a few websites. We're talking about the actual backbone of modern life. If Amazon Web Services (AWS) decided to turn off the lights tomorrow, the internet wouldn’t just be "slower." Large chunks of the global economy would simply stop working.
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The 31% Problem: Market Share vs. Reality
Let's look at the hard numbers for 2026. Currently, AWS holds roughly 31% of the global cloud infrastructure market. That sounds like a lot, but it’s actually a slight dip from a few years ago when they were flirting with 33% or 34%. Microsoft Azure is biting at their heels with about 25%, and Google Cloud is sitting around 11%.
But here’s the thing about that 31% figure: it’s a revenue number. It doesn't capture the "blast radius" of what happens when AWS has a hiccup.
Market share only tells you who is collecting the checks. It doesn't tell you that even companies not on AWS often rely on third-party tools that are on AWS. It’s a massive web of dependencies. Think of it like this: your car might not be made by a specific company, but if that company makes 40% of the world’s spark plugs, you’re still in trouble if their factory closes.
Why does everyone use it?
Basically, they were first. AWS launched in 2006, years before the "Big Three" was even a term. They have over 240 fully-featured services. Whether you need a simple virtual server (EC2) or a complex NoSQL database (DynamoDB), they have it.
- Netflix runs almost entirely on AWS.
- Airbnb uses it to process millions of bookings.
- Canva relies on it to serve 220 million active users.
- Epic Games powers Fortnite through their servers.
It’s the default choice. If you’re a startup founder in 2026, you don't get fired for picking AWS. It’s safe. It’s the industry standard.
The Great Outage of October 2025
If you want to understand how much of the internet is on AWS, look at what happened on October 20, 2025. A single DNS failure in the US-EAST-1 region (North Virginia) basically paralyzed 3,500 companies across 60 countries.
It was chaos.
Downdetector recorded over 17 million reports in 24 hours. Snapchat alone logged 3 million reports. This wasn't just "some websites." It was banks in the UK like Lloyds and Halifax. It was government portals, smart home devices like Ring, and even the McDonald's app.
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That single incident showed that even though AWS "only" has a third of the market, its "hidden" share is much larger. When the core infrastructure—things like Lambda (serverless computing) or S3 (storage)—goes down, it triggers a cascade. Your favorite app might be hosted on a private server, but if that app uses an AWS-hosted service for its login screen or its image hosting, the app is effectively dead.
The "Concentration Risk" Nobody Wants to Admit
We’ve reached a point where the cloud is basically a utility, like water or electricity. But unlike electricity, which is often regulated and decentralized, the cloud is owned by three or four massive corporations.
Experts call this "concentration risk."
In early 2026, the Big Three (Amazon, Microsoft, Google) control about 63% of the entire infrastructure market. That is a terrifying amount of power in the hands of a few CEOs. If a single bad line of code—like the one that caused the October 2025 mess—can take down 3,500 companies, we have to ask: is the internet actually "decentralized" anymore?
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Probably not.
Most people think of the internet as a million different computers connected together. In reality, it's a million different apps all talking to the same few data centers in Northern Virginia and Oregon.
Is the AWS Dominance Ending?
Kinda, but not really. While Azure and Google are growing faster in terms of percentage, AWS is still growing in terms of pure dollars. They hit over $100 billion in annual revenue recently.
The growth of Generative AI has kept them on top. Everyone needs GPUs. Everyone needs massive data storage to train models. While Microsoft has a tight grip on OpenAI, AWS has countered with Bedrock and its own custom chips, like the Trainium series.
Wait, you might ask, why don't people just switch if it's so risky?
Honestly, "moving the cloud" is a nightmare. It’s called "vendor lock-in." If you’ve built your entire software architecture on AWS-specific tools, moving to Azure is like trying to change the engines on a plane while it’s flying at 30,000 feet. Most companies just accept the risk and pray US-EAST-1 stays awake.
The Real Impact on Your Daily Life
To put it simply, you probably interact with AWS every 10 minutes without knowing it.
- Streaming: Your video is likely cached or served via AWS.
- Gaming: Multi-player matchmaking often happens on their servers.
- Work: Slack, Zoom, and Salesforce all have massive AWS footprints.
- Shopping: Not just Amazon.com, but thousands of retailers use their backend.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re a business owner or a developer, the "all eggs in one basket" approach is officially dangerous. The 2025 outages proved that even the giants can fall.
- Audit your dependencies. Do you know which of your critical tools rely on AWS? If Slack goes down, do you have a backup communication plan?
- Consider Multi-Cloud. It’s more expensive and harder to manage, but having a "warm standby" on Azure or Google Cloud can save your brand if another major outage hits.
- Focus on Regional Diversity. If you must stay on AWS, make sure your services are spread across multiple regions (e.g., us-west-2 and eu-central-1), not just dumped into North Virginia because it’s the cheapest.
- Watch the bill. AWS pricing is famously complex. In 2026, FinOps (Financial Operations) isn't just a buzzword; it's a survival skill. Use tools like AWS Cost Explorer or third-party platforms to make sure you aren't paying for "ghost" resources you don't need.
The internet isn't going to stop relying on Amazon anytime soon. But knowing exactly how much of your world sits on their servers is the first step toward not being helpless when those servers eventually blink.