Compare the Cloud

Cloud computing has progressed considerably since its start. The decision of which cloud platform to use has replaced the earlier dilemma of whether to choose cloud computing or not. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform stand out proudly as the top three cloud providers in a market that is flooded with countless cloud providers for computing. So how do you make a decision? This blog highlights and elaborates on the major factors of comparison among AWS, Azure, and GCP.

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Establishment

Amazon Web Services. An on-demand cloud computing platform made available to people, organizations, and governments on a paid-subscription basis by Amazon Web Services, a division of amazon.com. The oldest and most seasoned company in the cloud business, it has built up a larger user base as well as more trust and dependability. Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and other services were made available when AWS first went public in 2006. Elastic Block Store (EBS) became public in 2009, and services like Amazon CloudFront and CDN joined later.

Microsoft Azure. In 2010, Microsoft Azure — then known as Azure — was introduced with the goal of giving companies a reliable cloud computing platform. The product was rebranded to "Microsoft Azure" in 2014. Compared to its rivals, Microsoft Azure has made significant strides since its debut.

Google Cloud Platform. The Google Cloud Platform (GCP) employs the same internal architecture as Google's end-user products including Google Search and YouTube. In less than ten years after its launch in 2011, GCP has managed to establish a solid foothold in the cloud sector. They have now released their corporate services to allow everyone to utilize the same infrastructure as Google Search or YouTube.

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Availability Zones

AWS was the pioneer in the field of clouds, giving them an advantage in terms of network development. As a result, AWS hosts in many countries throughout the world. While both Azure and GCP provide hosting services in several locations, they differ in the number of availability zones they offer.

• AWS has 66 availability zones with 12 more on the way.
• Azure has 54 regions worldwide and is available in 140 countries.
• Google Cloud Platform has been made available in 20 regions with 3 more on their way.

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Pricing

The price structures of AWS, Azure, and GCP contrasted by machine type:

| Machine Type | AWS | Azure | | --- | --- | --- | | Smallest Instance | A basic instance with 2 vCPUs and 8 GB of RAM runs about US$69/month. | The same instance (2 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM) costs about US$70/month. | | Largest Instance | AWS's biggest instance (3.84 TB RAM, 128 vCPUs) runs about $3.97/hour. | Azure's biggest instance (3.89 TB RAM, 128 vCPUs) costs about $6.79/hour. |

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Who Uses Them?

AWS has a larger user base and community support than any other participant since it has been around the longest. AWS has well-known clients like Netflix, Airbnb, Unilever, BMW, Samsung, MI, and Zynga. Azure is also picking up well-known clients — roughly 80% of Fortune 500 organizations are Azure clients, including Johnson Controls, Polycom, Fujifilm, HP, Honeywell, and Apple. Because Google uses the same infrastructure as YouTube and Google Search, many high-end businesses trust Google Cloud, including HSBC, PayPal, 20th Century Fox, Bloomberg, and Dominos.

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Options

All three providers offer various tools to give clients additional flexibility, but they have not yet invested considerably in hybrid and multi-cloud products.

AWS: Snowball, Snowcone, Outposts, Local Zones, VMware Cloud on AWS, Wavelength, Amazon ECS Anywhere, Amazon EKS Anywhere.

Azure: Azure Arc, Azure Backup, Azure Active Directory, Azure Security Center, Azure Blob Storage, Azure Stack, Azure Sentinel.

Google Cloud: Anthos, Traffic Director, Looker, Cloud Build, Operations, Cloud Run for Anthos.

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Pros and Cons

AWS, with a 33 percent market share overall, is the leading competitor. The popularity of its 200+ managed services and their ease of use is one apparent cause. Its operations span a vast area supported by an extensive global network of data centers, making it the most developed and enterprise-ready service. Its drawback is pricing: many organizations find it difficult to understand AWS's pricing model and manage costs at high-volume workloads.

Microsoft Azure. Microsoft entered the cloud market by moving its on-premise services (Windows Server, Office, SQL Server, SharePoint) there. Because Azure integrates with apps used by most enterprises, Microsoft distinguishes itself and offers large savings on service contracts. Its shortfalls are ongoing maintenance requirements and the high level of technical proficiency needed to operate it.

Google Cloud. A formidable rival that also offers Google Workspace. Since Google created the Kubernetes standard now used by AWS and Azure, it began selling containers. Google Cloud has extensive scalability and load balancing and specializes in high-computation solutions like big data, analytics, and machine learning. Its downside: Google doesn't have a customary relationship with business clients, though it is rapidly expanding.

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: What is Best for You?

• Establishment: With a 5-year head start, the winner is AWS.
• Availability zones: With more regions and zones, the winner is AWS.
• Market share: With around one-third of the market, the winner is AWS.
• Growth rate: With a growth rate of almost 100 percent, the winner is GCP.
• Who uses them: With high-end customers on all three, it's a tie.
• Services: For number of services, AWS; for integration with open-source and MS tools, Azure.
• Pricing models: With more customer-friendly pricing, the winner is Google Cloud.

AWS comfortably defeats the other major providers thanks to its higher point total. But Azure and GCP are tenaciously climbing, each with their own advantages. Using Azure makes more sense for firms that use MS tools, while GCP offers the finest price structure. It would be wiser to state that selecting the best cloud provider for your needs is more important than selecting the greatest cloud provider overall.