Cloud Services Comparison: AWS vs. Google vs. Azure
Check out this feature-by-feature comparison of the most commonly-researched capabilities of the Big Three in cloud computing.
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In a multi-cloud world, organizations may use different cloud providers for multiple capabilities concurrently. Most of the cloud service providers (CSP) out there offer high-quality services, with excellent availability, high security, good performance, and customer support. But the market is dominated by a top three—Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
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Each CSP provides an array of products covering all you can possibly need for your online operations. They differ not only in pricing but also in how each names and groups their services. Below, we show the most common elements: infrastructure, auto-scaling, security, monitoring, and much more. Our aim is to help cross-identify comparative services from each CSP so that you can easily weigh your application or workload requirements to select the best fit for your business.
Cloud Services Comparison List
Compute
Calculate, process, and compute—a computer’s fundamental role. In addition, the right cloud provider can scale to thousands of processing nodes for you in just a few minutes.
| Service | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud Platform | Microsoft Azure |
| Deploy, manage, and maintain virtual servers | Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) | Compute Engine | Virtual Machines |
| Platform-as-a-Service | Elastic Beanstalk | App Engine Standard Environment | Cloud Services |
| Virtual private servers made easy | Lightsail | ||
| Management support for Docker/Kubernetes containers | EC2 Container Service (ECS) | Kubernetes Engine | Container Service |
| Docker container registry | EC2 Container Registry (ECR) | Container Registry | Container Registry |
| Orchestrate and manage microservice-based applications | |||
| Integrate systems and run backend logic processes | Lamda | Cloud Functions | Functions |
| Run large-scale parallel and high-performance batch computing | Batch | ||
| Automatically scale instances | Auto Scaling | Instance Groups | Virtual Machine Scale Sets |
Memory optimized instances |
Storage
A key function of cloud services is its storage capabilities. While AWS’ storage services are the longest-running, Google’s and Microsoft Azure’s are also very respectable and reliable options.
| Service | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud Platform | Microsoft Azure |
| Object storage service for use cases | Simple Storage Services (S3) | Google Cloud Storage | Storage (Block Blob) |
| Virtual server disk infrastructure | Elastic Block Store (EBS) | Compute Engine Persistent Disks | Storage (Page Blobs) |
| Archive storage | S3 Infrequent Access (IA) | Nearline | Storage (Cool) |
| Create and configure shared file systems | Elastic File System (EFS) | ZFS / Avere | Files |
| Hybrid storage | Storage Gateway | Egnyte Sync | StorSimple |
| Bulk data transfer solutions | Storage Transfer Service | Import/Export | |
| Backup | Object Storage | ||
| Automatic protection and disaster recovery | Disaster Recovery | Disaster Recovery Cookbook |
Networking and Content Delivery
Each provider offers different networks and partners which interconnect their data centers across the globe using a variety of different products to achieve this.
| Service | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud Platform | Microsoft Azure |
| Isolated, private cloud private networking | Virtual Private Cloud | Virtual Private Cloud | Virtual Network |
| Cross-premises connectivity | API Gateway | Cloud VPN | VPN Gateway |
| Manage DNS names and records | Route 53 | Google Cloud DNS | Azure DNS |
| Global content delivery networks | CloudFront | Cloud Interconnect | Content Delivery Network |
| Dedicated, private network connection | Direct Connect | Cloud Interconnect | ExpressRoute |
| Load balancing configuration | Elastic Load Balancing | Cloud Load Balancing | Load Balancer |
| Bring Your Own IP Addresses |
Database
All three providers allow you to implement both SQL and NoSQL solutions. Alternatively, if you don’t need a database, go for their caching capabilities instead.
| Service | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud Platform | Microsoft Azure |
| Managed relational database-as-a-service | RDS | Cloud SQL | SQL Database |
| NoSQL (Indexed) | DynamoDB | Cloud Datastore | Cosmos DB |
| NoSQL (Key-value) | DynamoDB | Cloud Datastore | Table Storage |
| Application or Memory Caching | ElastiCache | Mem Cache | Redis Cache |
| Database migration | Database Migration Service | ||
| Managed data warehouse | Redshift | Big Query |
Management and Monitoring
Each of the top three offers a range of management and monitoring services which provide visibility into the health, performance, and utilization of applications, workloads, and infrastructure.
| Service | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud Platform | Microsoft Azure |
| Cloud advisor capabilities | Trusted Advisor | Cloud Platform Security | Advisor |
| DevOps deployment orchestration | OpsWorks (Chef-based) | Cloud Deployment Manager | Automation |
| Cloud resources management & monitoring | CloudWatch | Stackdriver Monitoring | Portal |
| Administration | Application Discovery Service | Cloud Console | |
| Billing | Billing API | Cloud Billing API |
Security
Here, we cover the range of capabilities provided to protect services and data.
| Service | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud Platform | Microsoft Azure |
| Authentication and authorization | Identity and Access Management (IAM) |
Cloud IAM | Active DirectoryActive Directory Premium |
| Information Protection | Information Protection | ||
| Protect and safeguard with data encryption | Key Management Service | Storage Service Encryption | |
| Hardware-based security modules | CloudHSM | Cloud Key | Key Vault |
| Firewall | Web Application Firewall | Application Gateway | |
| Cloud security assessment and certification services | Inspector |
Security Center | |
Directory services |
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Identity management |
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Support cloud directories |
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Compliance |
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Cloud services with protection |
Developer Tools
And finally, the tools you need to build, deploy, diagnose, debug, and manage multiplatform, scalable applications and services.
| Service | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud Platform | Microsoft Azure |
| Media transcoding | Elastic Transcoder | ||
| Improve and optimize workflow | Simple Workflow Service (SWF) | ||
| API management | API Gateway | Cloud Endpoints | API Management |
| App testing | Device Farm | Firebase Test Lab | DevTest Labs (backend) |
| Git Repositories | AWS Source Repositories | Cloud Source Repositories | Azure Source Repositories |
| DevOps | CodeBuild | Visual Studio Team Services | |
| Programmatic access | Command Line Interface | Cloud Tools for Powershell | Command Line Interface (CLI) |
| Predefined templates | Quick Start | Quickstart templates | |
| Managed hosting platforms | Elastic Beanstalk | App Engine Standard Environment | Web Apps (App Service) |
| Application deployment | CodeDeploy | Visual Studio Team Services | |
| Developer Tools | Developer Tools | Developer Tools | Developer Tools |
Mobile |
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Blockchain |
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Internet of Things (IoT) |
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Stream Analytics |
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