Cloud computing has revolutionized the way organizations work and has ushered in a new era of technology. 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 turning to cloud and even multi-cloud environments to take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing, such as:
- Decreased CapEx
- Reduced infrastructure maintenance
- Increased availability
- Scalability
Of course, Big 3 cloud providers have the experience and expertise to deliver reliable and feature-rich cloud platforms. However, before committing to a particular cloud platform, you need to do your due diligence and compare each platform to fully understand their capabilities and differences.
In this post, we will take a look at how these platforms stack up on each other.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
The current market leader in cloud computing platforms, Amazon Web Services is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. AWS is the most mature cloud platform offering a wide range of services for almost everyone: individual developers, large corporations and even governments.
AWS goes live as an in-house cloud offering. By 2006, it had developed into a publicly available cloud platform with services such as Amazon S3 cloud storage and Elastic Computing (EC2) cloud. AWS now offers more than 200 comprehensive services to meet any demand and serve millions of users.
Major AWS clients include:
- Expedia
- Netflix
- Coinbase
- Formula 1
- Coca Cola
- Intuit
- Airbnb
- Lyft
- Coursera
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
(Explore our AWS Guide, a series of articles & tutorials.)
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure is the second largest cloud platform. Debuting in 2010, Azure has grown into a cloud platform with more than 200 products and services. Today it is one of the fastest growing cloud platforms. Because Microsoft offers Azure, it offers a variety of services tailored to Microsoft-centric businesses, making it easier for organizations to transition to a cloud or hybrid cloud environment. Used by more than 95% of Fortune 500 companies, Microsoft Azure has a proven track record of serving business users.
Importantly, Azure is not limited to Windows-based services. It also supports open source languages, technologies and platforms, giving anyone the freedom to create and support any application.
Known Azure customers include:
- DAIMLER AG
- McKesson Group
- Asos
- Center of Disease Control (CDC) – US
- National Health Service (NHS) – UK
- HSBC
- Starbucks
- Walgreens
- 3M
- HP
- Mitsubishi Electric
- Renault
(Explore popular Azure certifications.)
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Google Cloud Platform is nothing but Google's cloud offering. GCP is part of the Google Cloud.
Available to the general public in 2010, the Google Cloud platform currently offers more than 100 services ranging from computing, networking, big data, and more. Currently, GCP consists of services including Google Workspace, Android business, and Chrome OS.
Compared to AWS and Azure, GCP is the smallest of the top three cloud service providers. However, it does offer a solid set of cloud services to support and support all types of applications.
Notable GCP customers include:
- Toyota
- Unilever
- Nintendo
- Spotify
- The Home Depot
- Target
- Paypal
- UPS
How to choose a Cloud Service Provider
There are many factors to consider when choosing a CSP. Let’s take a look at the most common angles.
Regions and Availability
When choosing a cloud provider, the first thing to consider is the region and availability it supports. This has a direct impact on your cloud performance, due to factors like latency and compliance requirements, especially when it comes to data.
As of September 2021, this is where the Big 3 are:
- Amazon Web Service has 25 geographic regions with 81 availability zones. 218+ edge locations, and 12 Regional Edge Caches.
- Microsoft Azure runs 60+ regions with a minimum of three availability zones in each region with more than 116 edge locations (Points of Presence).
- Google Cloud Platform has 27 cloud regions with 82 zones and 146 edge locations.
All of these platforms provide dedicated cloud solutions for governments (Government Cloud). Additionally, both AWS and Azure offer customized services targeting the China market with data centers located in China.
Azure has the widest geographic coverage than any other, while all platforms cover most of the globe. And, showing no signs of slowing down, all providers are continuing to expand their reach by adding more regions and zones to meet the growing demand for processing.
Common services
AWS and Azure have the largest service catalogs by offering more than 200+ services. GCP currently offers around 100+ services. A general breakdown of services is:
- AWS has the largest catalog of services.
- Azure is a close second with an impressive set of AI, ML, and analytics services.
- Google Cloud Platform comes in third place for the number of services offered.
In this section, let’s take a look at the common service offerings of each cloud platform.
Compute Services
Database & Storage Services
Networking
As you can see, all three providers offer comparable services to cover the common computing needs of users. However, there are basic differences in two general categories:
- How each service is implemented in its cloud platform
- The individual features available for each service
Specialized services
When it comes to specialized services, we notice significant differences in the services available with AWS and Azure, far surpassing GCP.
These are only some of the specialized services available with these platforms—AWS users can even dabble with quantum computing using Amazon Braket!
Pricing
The pricing of the cloud platform depends on many factors:
- Customer requirements
- Usage
- The services used
All three platforms offer competitively priced plans with additional cost management options (Reserved Instances, Budgeting, and Resource Optimization) available to all users.
The consensus within the IT community is that Microsoft Azure has the lowest on-demand pricing, while Amazon tends to position itself in between. However, there is a clear advantage when corporate customers already using Microsoft services (Windows, Active Directory, MS SQL, etc.) switch to Azure as it is much cheaper than other cloud service providers.
AWS vs Azure vs GCP: pros & cons
Summing up the Big 3
While AWS is the current market leader in capacity and services, Microsoft and Google are also growing rapidly to compete with AWS.
Microsoft in particular follows AWS with its strong emphasis on enterprise. Meanwhile, Google continues to grow its presence by providing excellent integration with open source projects and third-party services.
In the end, of course, it all comes down to your particular use case. As the market grows, most companies are looking for a multicloud strategy to take advantage of the power each cloud provider has to offer without limiting themselves to a single provider.