Introduction

Cloud computing has revolutionized the way organizations work and is taking us into a new technological era. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform are the leading Cloud Service providers that dominate the global cloud market.

Today, most businesses are moving to the cloud and even multi-cloud environments to take advantage of the benefits that cloud computing offers. Choosing the best Cloud Service provider depends on your needs and workload. Also, making a final decision on whether to opt for a particular Cloud Service provider or for a multi-cloud approach, is a tough task. So here’s our blog to help you make a decision.

But first, let’s have a quick look at the top three Cloud Services that we are comparing today.

a. AWS – with an exponentially growing set of tools, Amazon’s capabilities are unmatched. However, its cost structure can be confusing. Its focus on public clouds rather than hybrid or private clouds means that interoperability with data centers is not a top priority for AWS.

b. Microsoft Azure – A formidable competitor to AWS with a compelling cloud infrastructure. If you’re an enterprise customer, Azure speaks your language – few companies have the enterprise background (and Windows support) like Microsoft. Azure knows you’re still running a data center, and the Azure platform tries to work with data centers; hybrid cloud is the real advantage of AWS vs azure vs google cloud pricing.

c. Google Cloud – A well-funded underdog to the competition, Google entered the cloud market late and lacked an enterprise focus to help attract enterprise customers. However, his technical expertise is deep and his leading tools in deep learning and artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics are a distinct advantage.

Now since you have a clearer picture of all the cloud services, let’s understand the technical differences between the three platforms.

1. Services

With the added advantage of a five-year head start, AWS compute services are by far the most developed and feature-rich. AWS offers around 200+ services while Azure offers up to 100+ services. On the other hand, Google Cloud is catching up with Azure and AWS offering around 60+ services.

2. Availability Zones

It has already been established that AWS was first in the cloud domain, meaning it had more time to build and expand its network. So AWS is hosted in multiple locations around the world. Azure and GCP are also hosted in multiple locations around the world, but the difference is in the number of their respective Availability Zones.

AWS has 66 Availability Zones and 12 more on the way. Azure has 54 regions worldwide and is available in 140 countries worldwide. Google Cloud Platform has been made available in 20 regions worldwide and 3 more are on the way.

3. Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Options

All three vendors are not yet heavily involved in hybrid and multi-cloud offerings but offer different tools that give customers more flexibility.

AWS Hybrid and Multi-Cloud

1. AWS Snowball

2. AWS Snowcone

3. AWS Outposts

4. AWS Local Zones

5. VMware Cloud on AWS

6. AWS Wavelength

7. Amazon ECS Anywhere

8. Amazon EKS Anywhere

Azure Hybrid And Multi-Cloud

1. Azure Arc

2. Azure Backup

3. Azure Active Directory

4. Azure Security Center

5. Azure Blob Storage

6. Azure Stack

7. Azure Centinel

Google Cloud Hybrid and Multi-Cloud

1. Anthos

2. Traffic Director

3. Looker

4. Cloud Build

5. Operations

6. Cloud Run for Anthos

4. Storage

AWS, Azure, and GCP have different storage capacities which serve different objectives as well. Let’s differentiate between them and see what’s suitable for a particular specification.

AWS Storage:

SSS to EFS: AWS storage services include Simple Storage Service (S3) for object storage, Elastic Block Storage (EBS) for persistent block storage used with EC2, and Elastic File System (EFS) for file storage. Some of its more innovative storage products include Storage Gateway, which supports hybrid storage environments, and Snowball, a physical hardware device that organizations can use to transfer petabytes of data when Internet transfers are not possible.

Azure Storage:

Storage Services: Core Microsoft Azure storage services include Blob storage for REST-based object storage for unstructured data, queued storage for high-volume workloads, file storage, and disk storage. It also has data lake storage which is useful for big data applications.

Google Storage:

Unified Storage and more: GCP offers a growing range of available storage services. Cloud Storage, its unified object storage service, also has a persistent disk option. It provides streaming facilities similar to AWS Snowball as well as online streaming services.

5. Key Cloud Tools

Looking ahead, experts say emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT) and serverless computing will be key points of differentiation for cloud providers. All three leading vendors have already begun experimenting with offerings in these areas, with the potential to expand their services in the coming year.

AWS Key Tools:

Sagemaker to Serverless: Like other areas, AWS has the longest list of services in these areas. Highlights include the SageMaker service for training and deploying machine learning models, the Lex conversational interface that also powers its Alexa service, the Greengrass IoT messaging service, and the Lambda serverless computing service.

Azure Key Tools:

Cognitive services: Microsoft is investing heavily in artificial intelligence and offers machine learning and robotics services in Azure. It also includes cognitive services, including Bing Web Search API, Text Analytics API, Face API, Computer Vision API, and Custom Vision Services. It has various management and analytics services for IoT, and its serverless computing services are called capabilities.

Google Key Tools:

Big Artificial Intelligence: For the Google Cloud Platform, the focus is on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Microsoft Azure vs Google Cloud Platform (GCP): The Final Comparison

AWS has a rich set of tools and services and a massive scale, so you can’t go wrong. The only reason not to choose Amazon is if you want the more personal relationship that small boutiques can offer. At its size, it’s difficult for Amazon to develop a close relationship with every customer, but there are managed service providers that can provide this kind of focused service.

Microsoft’s biggest draw is of course the Microsoft Store. All your existing .Net code will run in Azure, your server environment will be connected to Azure, and migration of on-premises applications will be easy. Additionally, Azure’s deep focus on the hybrid cloud will help you connect legacy data center environments to Microsoft’s rapidly scalable (and feature-rich) cloud.

Google is growing fast, but it’s still a work in progress. Of course, the search giant has no traditional background in dealing with businesses. However, it is wholeheartedly committed to its multi-billion dollar cloud computing endeavor. It’s a partnership with Cisco that understands this business. The people who should be watching Google now are the people who saw it a year ago but didn’t like what they saw. They might be surprised. Google built the cloud on its strengths, namely scale and machine learning. Worth a look.

So What’s Right for You?

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the best public cloud provider for you will depend on your needs and workload. The best contractor for some of your projects may not be the best contractor for your other projects. Many experts believe that most enterprises will invest heavily in multi-cloud. Adopting a multi-cloud strategy can help reduce vendor lock-in or align workloads with the best available services.