I have seen several videos and blogs that claim that it is better to create your own VPN using a VPS provider like AWS or Linode. The main reason mentioned for this is that the VPN service may log your IP and other info even if they have a “no logs” policy.
But can’t a cloud provider also do the same? Can’t they also log the same kind of traffic details originating from a virtual machine?
Yes, they absolutely can and with AWS I would put very little trust in them. As the hoster they probably do not care what is running on your node as long as you do not cause suspicion, although I would not trust in that either, but as soon as they are ordered to by the state they will happily comply and hand over your data. Their traffic might be surveilled as well which allows to track your traffic without looking into your VPN server at all.
An additional huge drawback for many use cases is that you are the only one using the VPN and that there are no other users that share your IP address. This means you simply substitute your own personal IP address for your personal IP address there. That can even be a downgrade when you change between different networks or have a dynamic IP address as now your IP address is persistent. Also you cannot change the VPN server like you can with a traditional VPN provider. Additionally you make traffic correlation even easier.
The idea is probably that there is a larger focus on VPN providers or that they might farm your data for profit, but especially with services like AWS that are hosted by American companies with very bad privacy policies and close ties to state mass surveillance I do not see that as an alternative.
For some specific use cases where you host your VPN on a VPS with a trustworthy provider under comparatively good jurisdiction you could speculate on being a smaller target than an entire VPN provider. This has to weigh off the disadvantages though or they have to be irrelevant.
I would recommend using a reputable VPN provider from PG’s list instead and paying anonymously if necessary.
If you do not want to trust any provider and do not want to have a single point of failure or want to be anonymous, use Tor Browser.