Who can explain to me the price difference for 10 users between Filemaker Cloud and Filemaker Server?
Is the Cloud price including AWS cost?
Do items like security, storage and monitoring in iCloud justify the x3 cost?
What am I missing here?
To my knowledge, AWS is included (please refer to Claris documentation or sales contact for information).
If the cost-benefit ratio fits the use case can only be decided by the concerned business. There is no general answer to that.
FM Cloud has been discussed in various threads (search for 'cloud' ). Here are the two that come top of the list:
don't forget that the 'hardware' et all is included. But Yes, it is somewhat expensive for a certain size of a company
FM Cloud is a fully managed and monitored appliance: it's not just the software like the 1680 euro. It includes the storage and compute cost of running the server plus the patching and updating of the OS, installing FMS updates, ...
In that sense you can't really just compare the two costs, you'd have to calculate your own install/monitor/manage cost for your on-premise server or the cost that other providers charge for the same service.
Thank you for your answers.
The reading of the threads and related info confirm my thoughts that get stronger every year: there will come a day that Filemaker forgets the existence of individuals, small businesses, clubs, associations, and other organisations that can't afford Filemaker anymore.
Right or wrong? I can't say. Filemaker was and is a fine and living product, but apparently the target market is evolving too. For those who don't fit anymore in that target group it's time to start looking for alternatives.
The Cloud offer fills a specific use case.
If the client built a solution with FMP and wants to host it with FMI and no worries/trouble, then they can order it with just a credit card and upload their solution.
One stop shop without worries.
I know some customers would like to move their databases in the cloud to reduce the number of servers they have to take care themselves. They may just be waiting for a compelling offer from Claris to sweeten the deal.
We offer fully managed MacOS virtual machines running full installs of FileMaker Server as an option. Contact me off-list for details at jmay(at)pointinspace.com
Super relevant to 10 users or fewer scenarios is FileMaker Essentials which @MonkeybreadSoftware posted about today:
$2,280 per year for 10 users.
The key thing is that smaller businesses can have the Cloud offering for half the normal price.
And $19 per user and month is far closer to the $15 you pay for the software itself.
Just $4 more for hosting the solution is compelling!
The Filemaker Cloud Essentials is indeed great news and re-opens perspectives for small business!
The new 'Essentials' offering for FileMaker Cloud is great news, and a very cost effective way of hosting for 5-10 users. 
However, still no word on if the actual AWS servers are located anywhere other than West USA yet..? As I'm in UK, I would prefer to have a server that is located in West Europe somewhere, mainly for performance reasons.
Also, from what I can see, using the Data API with FileMaker Cloud looks like a real pain when it comes to authenticating - see steps involved here: Your Guide to Using the Data API on FileMaker Cloud
Hopefully some day a much easier to use method for authenticating Data API connections on FileMaker Cloud will become available... Maybe something like having the ability to create access tokens in the FMCloud Admin Console...
Still waiting for an answer here:
https://community.filemaker.com/en/s/feed/0D50H00007bgpyfSAA
and
https://partner.filemaker.com/s/article/000034674
Since Cloud Essentials launched a few people asked about Cloud, great.
But where are the data centers?
It is pretty standard procedure to release a new product in a US region first, check all works OK and then roll it out to the other regions once all is proven OK
Marie answered and as far as I read there are not yet European data centers available.
So we'll have to wait a bit longer till Claris starts Cloud in Europe.
Crikey! I hadn't seen that about using the Data API with FMCloud - that looks like a right PITA compared to a 'standard' Data API authentication scenario. That's a bit of a bummer.
It's a solved problem by now. It does add some moving pieces but with the stuff we've put out there it's entirely manageable. And it gives you all the info you'll ever need to implement your own version of it in your own preferred technology.
The 'tokenized access' is something quite a few of us have brought up with them so I guess it is just a matter of time.