AWS IoT Core can connect any device, at any scale, to any downstream AWS service. It is, genuinely, one of the most capable IoT infrastructure platforms ever built. It is also a platform that requires an experienced cloud engineering team to configure, a DevOps function to maintain, a billing model that punishes experimentation with messages-at-scale charges, and months of implementation work before your first operations team member can ask a question about their shipments. If you're a logistics operations company rather than a cloud engineering company, AWS IoT Core is almost certainly the wrong tool.
This guide covers the honest case for staying on AWS IoT Core, the honest case for migrating to GoAndTrack, and the exact migration path that moves your devices across with zero downtime.
What AWS IoT Core Is Actually Good At
AWS IoT Core is excellent infrastructure for building IoT products — situations where you're creating a software product that other businesses will use, and that software happens to involve connected devices. It handles MQTT at massive scale, integrates natively with the full AWS ecosystem (Lambda, DynamoDB, Kinesis, S3, SageMaker), provides world-class security tooling, and offers fine-grained access control through IoT policies and certificate management.
If you are building an IoT product that will process millions of device messages per day, requires custom downstream data processing pipelines, and is staffed by an engineering team that works in AWS daily — IoT Core is a reasonable choice. The operational complexity is justified by the infrastructure capability.
The Real Cost of Running AWS IoT Core for Logistics
AWS IoT Core — Typical Annual TCO for a 50-Device Logistics Operation
GoAndTrack for the same 50-device operation: usage-based plan starting at GoAndTrack's tier pricing, with server, storage, maintenance, AI intelligence, compliance reporting, and multi-provider integration all included. The direct comparison almost always favours GoAndTrack for any logistics operation below enterprise scale — and above enterprise scale, the compliance and AI capability gap grows wider, not narrower.
Who Should Stay on AWS IoT Core
Stay on AWS IoT Core if:
- You are building an IoT product for others — AWS IoT Core is your infrastructure layer, not your operations tool
- You require custom data processing pipelines that no vertical platform can provide
- You have an engineering team that works in AWS full-time and the IoT Core work is a manageable fraction of their workload
- Your device volumes exceed millions of messages per minute where AWS IoT Core's raw throughput is genuinely needed
- You have specific data sovereignty or compliance requirements that mandate AWS GovCloud or specific regional deployment
Migrate to GoAndTrack if:
- You are a logistics operations company using AWS IoT Core to track your own shipments and fleet
- Your operations team can't self-serve queries — they need an engineer to write a Lambda or query DynamoDB for them
- You need GDP, FSMA, or IATA CEIV compliance reports and are building them manually from raw data
- You want multi-provider integration (Tive, Traccar, Blecon) without building each integration yourself
- Engineering maintenance overhead exceeds the value of the infrastructure control
Migration Path: AWS IoT Core → GoAndTrack
Export Your Device Registry
Use the AWS CLI or IoT Core console to export your device Thing registry — names, identifiers, and associated certificates. This inventory becomes the basis for your GoAndTrack device import. AWS CLI: aws iot list-things exports the full registry in JSON.
Identify Your Device Protocols
AWS IoT Core acts as a protocol broker — your devices may connect via MQTT, HTTPS, or a custom protocol. Identify the underlying device manufacturer for each device type in your fleet. Teltonika, Queclink, Concox, and most common GPS manufacturers connect directly to GoAndTrack via their native protocols, without MQTT intermediation.
Configure GoAndTrack Provider Integrations
Add each device type as a GoAndTrack provider integration. GPS devices: update server address to GoAndTrack's endpoint. Provider-API devices (Tive, Sensolus): add API credentials. This phase can run in parallel with AWS IoT Core remaining active — test GoAndTrack data quality against known AWS IoT Core records before cutting over.
Migrate Historical Data
Export historical telemetry from DynamoDB or S3 (wherever your IoT Core rule engine was storing device records) as CSV. Import into GoAndTrack for historical continuity — preserving compliance records, trend data, and audit trails. Important for operations with GDP or FSMA compliance obligations.
Run Parallel, Then Decommission
Validate GoAndTrack data quality against AWS IoT Core for 1–2 weeks. Once satisfied, cut devices to report exclusively to GoAndTrack, decommission IoT Core rules and Lambda functions, archive DynamoDB data, and cancel the AWS IoT services. Reclaim the engineering time.
Feature Comparison: AWS IoT Core vs GoAndTrack
| Capability | AWS IoT Core | GoAndTrack |
|---|---|---|
| Raw device connectivity at scale | ✓ Best in class | ✓ Sufficient for logistics |
| Pre-built Tive / Traccar / Blecon integration | ✗ Build it yourself | ✓ Out of box |
| AI natural language queries | ✗ | ✓ |
| Logistics-specific risk engine | ✗ | ✓ Mission Control |
| GDP / FSMA compliance reports | ✗ Build it yourself | ✓ |
| Operations team self-service | ✗ Engineer required | ✓ Natural language |
| Zero engineering maintenance | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom downstream pipelines | ✓ Full flexibility | Via API export |
| Setup time to first shipment data | Weeks to months | 5–30 minutes |
| On-premises deployment option | ✓ (GovCloud) | ✗ Cloud only |
Key Takeaways
- AWS IoT Core is excellent infrastructure for building IoT products — it is not optimised for running a logistics operations centre, and the engineering maintenance overhead reflects this mismatch
- The honest TCO for a 50-device AWS IoT Core logistics deployment exceeds £10,000/year when engineering time is properly accounted for — comparable to ThingsBoard's TCO and driven by the same maintenance overhead dynamic
- Migration is zero-downtime: run GoAndTrack in parallel, validate data quality against AWS IoT Core records, then decommission Lambda functions and IoT rules when confident — historical data exports via DynamoDB CSV preserve compliance audit trails
- The hybrid path is valid: AWS IoT Core for genuinely custom downstream pipelines and ML processing, GoAndTrack for operations team visibility, compliance reporting, and AI queries — retire only the parts of the AWS implementation that don't justify maintenance
- GoAndTrack's BYOD architecture means the migration doesn't require changing devices — GPS devices update their server address, API-based providers (Tive, Sensolus) connect via credentials, and everything appears in GoAndTrack without protocol translation
Stop Running IoT Infrastructure. Start Running Logistics.
GoAndTrack delivers the AI intelligence, compliance reporting, and multi-provider visibility that AWS IoT Core requires months of engineering to build — in under 30 minutes. Zero Lambda functions required.
Start Free at goandtrack.com →