I recommend DigitalOcean. Enough of the stuff you need, without the annoyances that come with dealing with AWS.
That said, when meltdown / spectre was announced AWS was already patched. The rest of us on hipster VPS providers had to cross our fingers. One of the main things I dislike about per-minute billing for servers is that it's too easy for bad actors to cycle through if there is some sort of side channel attack.
I remember when I first heard of the concept of VPSes. My initial reaction was "seems risky" but I was young and lots of older, smarter people assured me it was ok. Now I've grown used to them and all the luxury goodness they provide and I don't want to go back. It's like car ownership and finding out that all that cycling around town before you were old enough to get a license was what kept you looking fit.
That said, when meltdown / spectre was announced AWS was already patched. The rest of us on hipster VPS providers had to cross our fingers. One of the main things I dislike about per-minute billing for servers is that it's too easy for bad actors to cycle through if there is some sort of side channel attack.
I remember when I first heard of the concept of VPSes. My initial reaction was "seems risky" but I was young and lots of older, smarter people assured me it was ok. Now I've grown used to them and all the luxury goodness they provide and I don't want to go back. It's like car ownership and finding out that all that cycling around town before you were old enough to get a license was what kept you looking fit.