AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Which One Is Right for Your Business?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) was first to market in 2006, and it is the original cloud offering. Being in this space the longest, AWS has the most offerings and diversity of offerings backed by a global infrastructure that serves hundreds of millions of customers, including non-profits, startups, and larger organizations, from Netflix to Airbnb to NASA.

Microsoft Azure launched in 2010 and capitalizes on Microsoft’s strength in large enterprise relationships (Microsoft calls it enterprise ready). Azure is known for its hybrid capabilities, which allow it to integrate into the wide array of Microsoft product offerings very well. Some of its key customers include Walmart, Adobe, and Samsung.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) GCP launched in 2011 and benefits from the compute and networking infrastructure weaknesses of enterprise companies while having strong offerings in analytics, machine learning, and AI. Some of its notable customers are X, HSBC, and Target.

In terms of global reach, Azure is the leader among cloud providers, declaring over 60 regions in 38 countries, in comparison to AWS’s 31 regions in 25 countries and Google’s 35 regions in 20 countries. This level of global reach can be critical for organizations that require regulatory frameworks to be hosted in certain geographies or that need low latency for their global customers.

All three providers offer similar core compute services, though with different strengths. AWS provides the most diverse options through EC2, Lambda, and ECS/EKS. Azure delivers seamless integration with Windows environments via Virtual Machines, Azure Functions, and AKS. Google Cloud’s Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is often praised as the most advanced Kubernetes service, given that Google created Kubernetes originally.

All three cloud providers offer storage options that include block, file, and object storage. AWS S3 is the de facto industry standard for the object storage category and has the most mature feature set and integration with third parties. Azure Blob Storage and Google Cloud Storage offer competitive options but have benefits for specific use cases.

The database ecosystem among providers is broad and diverse. Google Cloud’s BigQuery is notable for analytics workloads, and Azure Cosmos DB captivates with global distribution functionality. AWS has the widest range of purpose-built databases – RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, and Redshift offer distinct data models to meet various needs.

Pricing models vary significantly among providers, which makes a direct comparison difficult. AWS operates on a pay-as-you-go model and uses tiers based on usage. AWS provides Reserved Instances or Savings Plans if you want commitments and discounts for committed use. Azure provides similar pay-as-you-go pricing and offers a discount for committed use and additionally provides a discount for customers with Microsoft enterprise agreements. Google Cloud provides automatic sustained use at a discount and offers innovative committed use flexibility.

For most use cases, Google Cloud tends to be the most cost-effective at scale, particularly for computing resources. Azure can be more economical for organizations already invested in Microsoft technologies. AWS offers the most pricing options but requires more active management to optimize costs.

Total cost of ownership extends beyond direct service costs. Consider training costs based on existing staff expertise, integration costs with current systems, management overhead for cost optimization, and varying support costs between providers. Many organizations find that engaging with providers of comprehensive managed cloud services can help optimize these costs significantly.

All three providers can provide enterprise-level reliability with SLAs usually providing 99.9% uptime for core services. There are nuances in the performance characteristics by platform. Google Cloud leverages Google’s private global network, allowing it to provide better network performance for applications that require a global reach. Benchmark tests for compute performance typically show minimal differences for standard workloads, with specialization benefits in certain scenarios. AWS has the most mature storage options with extensive performance tuning capabilities.

AWS leads in service maturity and feature depth, while Google Cloud often delivers the most consistent performance. Azure bridges the gap with strong integration capabilities for Microsoft-centric environments. For organizations looking to ensure consistent performance and reliability, specialized infrastructure management services can help monitor and optimize your cloud environment regardless of provider.

Security continues to be at the forefront of all providers, with a heavy investment in protection and compliance with respected standards. AWS provides the most granular security controls with IAM and has the most experience with regulated industries. Azure excels in hybrid security scenarios and readily integrates into any enterprise already invested in Microsoft products and services. Google Cloud harnesses much of Google’s own history in security, along with solid data encryption and network security offerings.

Azure has an advantage for companies deeply invested in Microsoft security tools, while AWS offers the most comprehensive security service portfolio. Google Cloud receives praise for its default encryption and network security posture. Many businesses are now supplementing their cloud platform’s native security features with specialized managed cloud security services to ensure comprehensive protection against evolving threats.

Each provider has distinctive advantages for distinctive scenarios. AWS is the best fit for companies seeking the broadest suite of services, organizations with diverse workloads, organizations needing mature DevOps, and enterprises that require numerous third-party integrations.

Azure is the best choice for organizations that heavily utilize Microsoft technology, enterprises looking for proven, strong hybrid cloud technology, companies with Windows workloads, and companies with significant Office 365 and Microsoft tool integrations.

Google Cloud is the best fit for data analytics and big data workloads, machine learning and AI workloads, Kubernetes-based containerized workloads, and organizations focused on network performance and stable, predictable price points.

The energy manufacturing organization Phillips 66 has chosen to move to Azure to utilize its hybrid capabilities, resulting in a 40% reduction of IT infrastructure costs while still being able to comply with industry regulations. The move to Azure allowed the organization to leverage existing Microsoft systems, which reduced the cost of needed training and onboarding on the new system.

Spotify transitioned from an on-premises model to a Google Cloud infrastructure, taking advantage of Google’s cloud computing capability to better refine its recommendation algorithms. As a result of their migration to Google Cloud, Spotify now has 30% faster analytics processing, and development of services is more agile.

Lyft built its platform on top of Amazon Web Services (AWS), utilizing the many services it provides to support rapid scaling. The breadth of services that AWS provides allowed Lyft to focus on building and developing the application and not worry about the infrastructure, thus accelerating the time to market.

Organizations looking to achieve similar results can benefit from working with experts in cloud migration solutions to ensure a smooth transition while minimizing business disruption.

AppRecode is a cloud consulting company and provides specialized cloud consulting services for businesses needing to assess cloud information, design cloud architecture optimized for their needs, support the migration to the cloud with as little business disruption as possible, implement best practices for security, and help optimize cloud budgets after implementation. Our team of certified experts in AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud can provide customized recommendations based on your business requirements.

There is no right answer to which cloud provider is best for your needs. Your needs closely follow your existing technical investment, technical requirements, budget constraints, compliance considerations, and technical team capabilities. A multi-cloud strategy is a reasonable solution for many enterprises because cloud providers do not do everything equally well. It is strategic for enterprises to use different cloud providers to capitalize on generally higher performance in specific workloads.

As you identify the best cloud provider for your organization, you will want to begin by understanding your organization-wide needs and goals and evaluating both the technical fit created by the cloud provider, the associated costs, and the options for testing proof-of-concept (POC) deployments before a total commitment is made. Choosing the best cloud provider for your organization has many implications for digital transformation and the means for creating efficient operational processes while enabling innovation.

AWS also offers the largest catalog of services along with its global infrastructure for customers in all regions, domestically or internationally. Azure offers the benefit of being the best integrated with Microsoft products and is most suitable for hybrid cloud frameworks. Google Cloud has the highest performance when it comes to data analytics and machine learning workloads while also exhibiting the best performance and pricing consistency overall.

Overall, Google Cloud has the simplest and most competitive pricing overall and the only pricing integrated with automated sustained use discounts. However, Azure may be less costly for companies that already have Microsoft services deployed, and AWS has the most flexibility for cost optimization through pricing categories.

Google Cloud has the best AI and ML tools with functions like AutoML, TensorFlow integration, and TPUs. While AWS SageMaker has matured considerably in the marketplace, Azure’s ML studio provides a great entry point for organizations with less expertise in ML.

All three cloud providers offer a level of robust security features and compliance with major accountability standards. AWS offers the most granular control options, while Azure can support any existing compliance features of Microsoft, and Google Cloud benefits from Google’s large expertise in security with good default configurations out of the box.

Yes, many organizations also choose to leverage the strength of multiple providers in a multi-cloud approach to enable flexibility in workloads, reduce vendor lock-in with one provider, and optimize unique workloads. This can come at the cost of requiring more experience to manage it well and a potential increase in operational overhead incurred and management.