AWS vs Azure vs Google – Cloud Comparison

What Is Cloud Computing?
In the simplest terms, Cloud Computing is when you use a computer/server which is provided to you by someone else. This server has to be accessed over the internet by using a web-based tool for personal or business use

What Is Cloud Computing?
The global market size of Cloud Computing will reach US$182,300 million by 2024, from US$36700 million in 2019. What is Cloud Computing? Simply put, Cloud Computing lets you store and access your applications or data over remote computers instead of your own computer.

Nowadays, all of the legacy systems are being moved to the cloud platform, and the demand for Cloud Solution Architects are increasing day by day. In the future, all web or mobile applications will be available on the cloud.

Benefits of Cloud Computing
First of all, ‘cloud’ is just a metaphor to describe the technology. Basically, cloud is nothing but a data center filled with hundreds of components like servers, routers, and storage units. Cloud data centers could be anywhere in the world; also you can access it from anywhere with an Internet-connected device. Why do people use it? Because of the following benefits, it has:

Each of these are discussed in detail below:

Pay-per-use Model: You only have to pay for the services you use, and nothing more!
24/7 Availability: It is always online! There is no such time that you cannot use your cloud service; you can use it whenever you want.
Easily Scalable: It is very easy to scale up and down or turn it off as per customers’ needs. For instance, if your website’s traffic increases only on Friday nights, you can opt for scaling up your servers that particular day of the week and then scaling down for the rest of the week.
Security: Cloud Computing offers amazing data security. Especially if the data is mission-critical, then that data can be wiped off from local drives and kept on the cloud only for your access to stop it ending up in wrong hands.
Easily Manageable: You only have to pay subscription fees; all maintenance, up-gradation and delivery of services are completely maintained by the Cloud Provider. This is backed by the Service-level Agreement (SLA).

Cloud Computing Deployment Models

There are three basic cloud deployment models:

• Public Cloud
• Private Cloud
• Hybrid Cloud

Public Cloud

In a public cloud, your applications would reside on a shared infrastructure. Although Cloud Providers provide complete isolation from other users who co-exist on the same hardware, it is advisable not to store any sensitive documents or information on it when using a public cloud.

Private Cloud

A private cloud is not very different from a public cloud, only that the security features vary. In a private cloud, your infrastructure or server will just have your applications. It will be completely isolated from public cloud servers. These servers are commonly used by companies which have sensitive information to store. A private cloud can either be provided to you by your Cloud Provider or you can create your own private cloud by buying your own stack.

Hybrid Cloud

A hybrid cloud is a combination of a public cloud and a private cloud. It provides functionalities of both public and private clouds.

So, if a company wants to keep its mission-critical data in a private cloud and run its services and applications on a public cloud, it can make a hybrid integration.

Cloud Computing Service Models

Basically, cloud services are divided into three categories:

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): A Cloud Provider provides a user with a virtual machine or any other resources without letting the user worry about the physical aspects of the machine. More importantly, the user gets access to the operating system in IaaS. Therefore, you can install/uninstall any software on these servers.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): In this service, one does not get access to the operating system. If you need a web server with PHP installed on it, they will give you this web server, without giving you access to the OS. What you get is a dashboard through which you can upload and deploy your files; the rest is managed by the Cloud Provider, i.e., software installation, security patch on OS, etc.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): In SaaS, one just gets the access to the software which is installed on the server. No dashboard is provided, and no access to the operating system is given, for example, Netflix. You can use Netflix, but you do not have any access to its server or dashboard. You can just use the software.

Cloud Computing Examples

Further, this blog lists down various places where Cloud Computing is applied.

• Big Data Analytics: Cloud Computing helps businesses store and analyze a large quantity of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data to find underlying relationships. It is used in analyzing customer buying patterns and using them for marketing and advertising campaigns.
• File Storage: The biggest advantage of cloud storage is that it is virtually unlimited. Cloud Provides’ storage, available for almost the same or even lesser price, is 10 times more than your local storage.
• Backup: Backup generally requires a storage unit where the data is secure and, virtually, infinite storage is provided. Both can be achieved by using Cloud Computing.

Cloud Providers

AWS, Azure, and GCP are the major Cloud Providers world wide!

Amazon owns AWS, and Microsoft owns Azure, whereas, Google owns GCP.

• Amazon Web Services is the biggest Cloud Provider in the world. AWS provides an overwhelming amount of services, and also it owns the biggest market share in the IaaS industry.

AWS vs Azure vs Google – Detailed Cloud Comparison

The battle for cloud dominance is a fierce 3-way race among AWS, Azure, and GCP. While choosing a public cloud service provider, rookies may only focus on the pricing factor. But, there are so many more factors to consider while deciding on who the winner of this cloud battle is. This blog will provide you with a detailed comparative analysis on AWS vs. Azure vs. Google Cloud.

Cloud Computing has come a long way since its inception. It’s no longer a question whether to opt for Cloud Computing or not; now, the question is which cloud platform to go for. With Cloud Computing market flooding with numerous cloud providers, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform stand out proudly as the top three cloud providers. So, how do you decide which one to choose? How do you conclude the big AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud debate? Well, this blog is how you’ll get answers to all these questions.

This blog on AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud highlights and elaborates the major factors of comparison among AWS, Azure, and GCP. In this Azure vs AWS vs Google Cloud blog, you’ll be taken through the following topics:

AWS Vs Azure Vs Google Cloud: Establishment

Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services is a subsidiary of amazon.com, which provides an on-demand Cloud Computing platform to individuals, companies, and governments on a paid-subscription basis.

Amazon Web Services is the oldest and the most experienced player in the cloud market. As one of the oldest cloud providers, it has established a bigger user base, as well as bigger trust and reliability factors.

AWS was publicly launched in 2006 with service offerings such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), etc. By 2009, Elastic Block Store (EBS) was made public and services such as Amazon CloudFront, Content delivery network (CDN), and more formally joined the AWS Cloud Computing Service offerings.

Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure, initially called Azure, was launched in 2010 with the intent to provide a competent Cloud Computing platform for businesses. Azure was renamed as ‘Microsoft Azure’ in 2014, though the name ‘Azure’ is still commonly used. Since its inception, Microsoft Azure has shown great progress among its competitors.

Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which is offered by Google, is a suite of Cloud Computing services that runs on the same infrastructure that Google uses internally for its end-user products such as Google Search engine, YouTube, and more.

AWS Vs Azure Vs Google Cloud: Availability Zones

It has been already established that AWS was the earliest in the cloud domain which means that they have had more time to establish and expand their network. So, AWS is hosting in multiple locations worldwide. Azure and GCP are also hosting in multiple locations worldwide, but the difference occurs in the number of their respective availability zones.

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

Moving on with this Azure vs AWS vs Google Cloud blog, let’s look into the market shares and growth rate of each of these cloud providers.

AWS Vs Azure Vs Google Cloud: Market Shares and Growth Rate

In terms of cloud market, AWS has been on the top for as long as anyone can remember. If you take a look at the following graph, it clearly depicts that:

• AWS is leading with around 30 percent of public cloud share in its name.
• Microsoft Azure is on the second place, owning around 16 percent of the worldwide market share.
• Google, on the third place, owns up to 10 percent of the market share worldwide.

Even though both Microsoft Azure and GCP are lagging behind AWS, when it comes to market shares, they have shown tremendous growth rate. The following graph shows that, as of 2019, GCP has shown a growth rate of 83 percent while Microsoft Azure is at the second place with 75 percent of growth rate and AWS, at the third place, with 41 percent of growth rate.

AWS Vs Azure Vs Google Cloud: Who Uses Them?

Since AWS is the oldest player in the cloud market, it has bigger community support and user base. Therefore, AWS has more high-profile and well-known customers like Netflix, Airbnb, Unilever, BMW, Samsung, MI, Zynga, etc.

Azure is also gaining its share of high-profile customers with time. As of now, Azure has almost 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies as its customers. Some of its major customers are Johnson Controls, Polycom, Fujifilm, HP, Honeywell, Apple, etc. Google, on the other hand, shares the same infrastructure as that of Google Search and YouTube and, as a result, many high-end companies have put their faith in Google Cloud. Major clients of Google Cloud are HSBC, PayPal, 20th Century Fox, Bloomberg, Dominos, and more.

All these cloud providers offer various cloud computing services that are required for any basic business. The difference occurs in the number of these services. So, moving forward with this Azure vs AWS vs Google Cloud blog, let’s look into the service offerings of these cloud providers.

AWS Vs Azure Vs Google Cloud: Services

Now, you will see what all these three cloud giants have to offer in terms of services.

With the added advantage of five years of head start, AWS computing services are by far the most evolved and functionally rich.

AWS offers around 200+ services, whereas Azure offers up to 100+ services. Google Cloud, on the other hand, is catching up with Azure and AWS offering around 60+ services.

Service offerings from AWS, Azure, and GCP that come under the domains of compute, database, storage, and networking are mapped below:

Another point to note here is that AWS recently started offering pay-per-minute billing. Azure already offers pay-per-minute billing, while Google Cloud offers pay-per-second billing models which let users save way more than using AWS or Azure. Google also offers various discounts to help customers save up to 50 percent in some cases when compared to AWS. According to Gartner, ‘Google offers deep discounts and exceptionally flexible contracts to try to win projects from customers.’

AWS Vs Azure Vs Google Cloud: Key Takeaways!

Now, let’s wrap up this Azure vs AWS vs Google Cloud blog and take a look at the most significant pros and cons of these three cloud giants. So which cloud provider would be claimed the winner for all the factors that have been discussed above?

• Establishment: With a head start of 5 years, the winner here is AWS.
• Availability zones: With a greater number of regions and availability zones, the winner here is AWS.
• Market shares: With around one-third of market shares in its name, the winner here is AWS.
• Growth rate: Having a growth rate of almost 100 percent, the winner is GCP.
• Who uses them: With various high-end customers using all the three cloud platforms, it’s a tie!
• Services:
  • When it comes to the number of services, the winner is AWS.
  • Regarding the integration with open-source and on-premise systems, such as MS tools, that are mostly used in almost all organizations, the winner is Azure.
• Pricing Models: With more customer-friendly pricing models and discount models, the winner here is Google Cloud.

With AWS scoring more points in this cloud battle of Azure vs AWS vs Google Cloud, it easily comes out on the top of all the major cloud providers, today. However, it’s hard to say for how long AWS will wear the crown of the leading cloud provider, given that Azure and GCP are relentlessly working their way up on the top cloud providers list. Even though AWS has an added advantage of being the first one of its kind, Azure and GCP also have their own set of strengths. Using Azure cloud makes more sense to several organizations that use MS tools since it’s easy to integrate MS tools with Azure cloud. And, GCP offering the best pricing model for the infrastructure, on which Google Search engine and YouTube run, is the only reason customers need to go for GCP.

So, all things considered, it would be better to say that it’s not about choosing the best cloud providers, rather it’s about choosing the best-suited cloud provider as per your needs.

With this, you have come to the end of this blog on AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud. Hopefully, you found this blog informative. If you want to pursue AWS, Azure, and GCP in depth, then do check out Intellipaat’s AWS Certification Training Course.