AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud – Who’s The Best Cloud Service Provider?

Cloud Industry August 13th 2021

Technology is evolving so fast that traditional on-premises data centers are shrinking rapidly with the evolution of the latest cloud technologies. Now doing business in the cloud has become the most delightful way to secure your website and run it smoothly. Moreover, Cloud computing makes sense from both performance and strategic points of view as it’s the best way to reduce cost and enhance agility.

---

Multi-Cloud – What’s That?

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the most popular service model in which third-party service providers host and maintain their core infrastructure, including hardware, software, storage server, data centers, and network services. All the customers using this service will be charged only for the infrastructure they use along with the ease of managing the hosting of applications in a highly encrypted environment.

This multi-cloud IaaS world is dominated by 3 tech giants Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Hence, it gets challenging for companies to choose one of these IaaS providers as they offer unique benefits at competitive prices.

As a business owner if you are confused, here is a comprehensive overview and comparison of the top three cloud service providers along with their services, features, and other aspects. We are sure our research will help you make the right decision!

---

IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS | Top Cloud Service Models 2023

---

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud – A Brief Overview

Most of the iconic companies like Netflix, Spotify, PBS, and others rely on cloud services to serve better to its users. This is because it allows them to better focus on what’s working for them. Their entire infrastructure is situated in the cloud. These major cloud service providers AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud constantly update their technicalities to keep their services up-to-date. 

However, when it comes to your business, you have to consider several factors and features that suit your clients best. So, here is a complete checklist of the main factors you must consider while comparing these major cloud service providers:

1. Consumption Rate
No matter if you are going to use the cloud all the time, frequently, or just a few times in a day, measuring the consumption rate is essential. Check if the cloud provider allows you to choose an hourly or monthly billing model and provides you an option to choose among one or the other.

2. Scaling

It’s all about the elasticity to offer enough computational resources on demand. Also, make sure your cloud service provider has the ability to deliver these resources anytime and anywhere.

3. Support Mechanisms

Another most important point to take into account is the cloud services support mechanism in case of data loss incidents and making sure that the technical support available all the time.

4. Robust Authentication System

In order to access cloud services, all you need is a username and password. However, you also must check if the cloud service provider offers you two-step authentication to secure your business better.

5. Legal Compliance

Your cloud service provider must comply with the legislation that’s applicable to them no matter where their information systems and businesses are located.

---

Now, let’s get started with a quick overview of AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud:

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS is one of the most powerful cloud service providers for large as well as small organizations, including enterprise-grade service providers. Since AWS came into IaaS and PaaS cloud markets early, so now it is well-positioned as a leading cloud service provider. As a result, Amazon is now having deep financial pockets and has become the largest cloud infrastructure with a huge catalog of 175+ mature cloud services.

Now, AWS has a complete suite of computing, storage, deployment, mobile development, application, security, email, remote computing, and analytics services in order to help businesses with ongoing technological changes. Besides, AWS cloud offers:

---

Microsoft Azure

Azure is another powerful, secured, and integrated platform for companies that depend on Windows-based standardization. Today Azure is competing head-to-head with AWS and the best feature why businesses love this platform is for its Linux friendliness because it relates to virtual guests OS and Linux compatibility platforms. Azure’s IaaS platform has always been its strength and now it has started coming up with in-build, readymade server applications, like Java, PHP, Node.js, etc.

GCP services are available in 54 different regions worldwide and serve businesses to increase productivity while deploying the current technologies. Moreover, it is the easiest enterprise cloud that allows easy configuration and effortless management.

---

Google Cloud Platform

If we talk about the biggest cloud service providers, the Google Cloud Platform cannot be skipped. Although it’s a newcomer as an IaaS provider, it supports almost all the generations of Linux along with Windows Server versions up until 2016. Now, it has expanded more than 21 regions that are divided into around three zones each. Because of this, the reach of GCP is less than Azure and AWS, however, Google’s effort to reach out to these regions is still in process.

GCP is an innovator with a unique cabling system that starts from Guam and connects the servers of Australia, South Pacific, Asia, Japan, and the US mainland. Google is adding its data centers so quickly that there is no reliable count at the moment.

---

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Services Comparison

Feature	AWS	Azure	GCP
API Management	Amazon API Gateway	Azure API gateway	Cloud Endpoints
Graph-based databases	Neptune	Azure Cosmos DB	–
Isolated network virtual environments	Virtual Private Cloud	Virtual network	Virtual Private Cloud
Platform-as-a-Service	Elastic Beanstalk	App Service, Cloud services	App Engine Standard/Flexible Environment
Private virtual servers	Lightsail	Virtual Machine Images	Virtual Private Server Google
Container managed service	EC2 Container Service (ECS)	CI/CD Tools	Google Container Engine
Kubernetes Managed Service	Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes (EKS)	Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)	Kubernetes Engine
Docker Container Registry	EC2 Container Registry (ECR)	Azure Container Registry	Container Registry
Serverless Containers	Fargate	Container Instances	Cloud Run
Cloud advisory capabilities	Trusted Advisor	Azure Advisor	Cloud Platform Security
Resource provisioning and orchestration	OpsWorks (Chef-based), CloudFormation	Azure Automation, Resource Manager, VM extensions	Cloud Deployment Manager
Billing	Usage and Billing	Azure Billing API	Stackdriver Monitoring, Cloud Billing
Cloud infrastructure on premises	AWS Outposts	–	GKE On-Prem
Object Storage	Simple Storage Services (S3)	Blob storage	Google Cloud Storage
Archival storage	S3 Infrequent Access (IA), Glacier	Storage (Cool), Storage (Archive)	Nearline, Coldline
Disk for instances	Elastic Block Store (EBS)	Disk Storage	Persistent disk
File storage	Elastic Block Store (EBS)	Disk Storage	Cloud Filestore
Transfer large amounts	AWS DataSync, Snowball Edge, Snowmobile	Import / Export, Azure Data Box	Storage Transfer Service
Backup	Glacier, Storage Gateway	Azure Backup	Coldline
Hybrid storage	Storage Gateway	StorSimple	–
Disaster Recovery Service	Site Recovery	Azure Site Recovery	GCP Disaster Recovery
Relational databases	RDS, Amazon Aurora	SQL Database	Cloud SQL, Cloud spanner
Managed service to deploy, orchestrate apps	Service Fabric	App Engine	–
Cloud advisory capabilities	Trusted Advisor	Azure Advisor	Cloud Platform Security
Resource provisioning and orchestration	OpsWorks (Chef-based), CloudFormation	Azure Automation, Resource Manager, VM extensions	Cloud Deployment Manager
Processor ( maximum processor in VM)	128	128	96
IaaS – Deployment	Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)	Azure Virtual Machines	Compute Engine
Connection with on-prem environments	AWS Managed VPN	VPN Gateway	Cloud VPN
Managed DNS	Route 53	Azure DNS	Google Cloud DNS
Inbound traffic redirection manager	Traffic Manager	–	–
Global content delivery network	CloudFront	Content Delivery Network	Cloud CDN
Serverless	Lambda	Functions	Cloud Functions
Batch computing	AWS Batch	Azure Batch	–
Automatic instance scaling	AWS Auto Scaling	Virtual Machine Scale Sets, PAAS, AutoScaling	Instance Groups
Caching	ElastiCache	Azure Redis Cache	Cloud Memorystore
Database migration	Database Migration Service	Azure Database Migration Service	–
Managed data warehouse	Redshift	SQL Data Warehouse	Big Query

---

Market Share of AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud

In the cloud industry, AWS holds the highest position in the market without any doubt. So, whenever the market share of a particular business goes higher, it shows that several businesses or companies are practicing that particular cloud service. The following statics will better clarify the things:

• AWS is the cloud market leader with more than 30% of the cloud share
• Microsoft Azure is the second highest-used cloud service provider with a 16% market share
• GCP is in the third position with about 10% cloud market share from all around the world.

---

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud – Strengths and Weakness

All these three cloud computing giants have their own pros and cons. Before you finalize one cloud platform, it is essential to find out the bright and dark sides of every service. Here is the list for you:

Service Provider	Pros	Cons
AWS	Dominating position in the cloud industry	Complex to use without technical skills
	Feature-rich	Cost management is quite complex
	Highest global reach
	Disaster recovery
	Wide range of services
Azure	Hybrid Cloud	Requires Management
	Integrated with Microsoft software and tools	Data Transfer Fees
	Best for startups & developers	Complicated Pricing
	Open Souce Technical support
	Works great for Windows-based businesses
GCP	Future-proof infrastructure	Less stable SDK APIs
	Serious and powerful data and analytics	Confusing Interface
	No server, just code	Complex pricing schema
	Cost-efficient	Expensive technical support
	Best for Cloud-based apps

---

Plans and Pricing – AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud

AWS

---

Microsoft Azure

---

GCP

---

AWS or Azure or Google Cloud – Who’s The King?

Since the goals and requirements of every business are different from the others, so is the cloud service provider it chooses. The cloud service provider’s selection for a particular business depends upon its specific audience and business goals. All three AWS, Azure, and GCP offer competitive prices, plans, storage capabilities, and data recovery services.

In case your business is dealing with heavy workloads and sensitive information, then AWS is the perfect choice for you. However, if you are not so sure about cloud services and are thinking of getting started with the public cloud, then Azure is the best hybrid cloud alternative. Moreover, if you are handling a cloud-native business and want to manage everything without breaking the bank, then you must prioritize the Google Cloud Platform.

Wishing you luck with your business on the cloud.