The Cloud Battle: Google vs. Microsoft vs. Amazon
Overview and comparison of the largest current cloud vendors.
Written by Vegard Ottervig on
More and more businesses choose to host their digital solutions in the cloud—i.e. off premises and on servers via the Internet. This provides increased security, uptime, and redundancy, and reduces the disadvantages and responsibilities of hosting digital experience platforms by themselves.
But how do you navigate the cloud? What factors are essential to consider? Here is an overview of the largest and most renowned cloud vendors today: Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services.
Basic Facts
Vendor | Initial release | 2023 revenue | Main target audience | Documentation |
Google Cloud Platform | 7 April 2008 | $76.7 billion (source) | SMBs | |
Microsoft Azure | 1 February 2010 | $56.5 billion (source) | Startups to multinationals (esp. with Windows Server deployment) | |
Amazon Web Services | July 2002 | $88 billion (source) | Small to large |
Availability
The number of areas where a cloud service is available is a fundamental requirement for any business. For local and national businesses the matter is simple enough, but for multinational corporations and member firm associations it is another matter entirely.
We recommend you to do thorough research on explicit geographical availability, and for legal purposes to find out exactly where data is stored. We have, however, made a preliminary overview of the availability situation as of 2024:
Vendor | Geographies | No. of countries |
Google Cloud Platform | North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia (details) | 200+ (includes territories) |
Microsoft Azure | North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa (details) | 36 (+ 166 locations) |
Amazon Web Services | North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and Africa (details) | 33 launched regions (105 availability zones) (details) |
Read also: Microservices: What does it mean for your digital project success?
Testimonials
One of the most important drivers behind decision making processes is testimonials. Real and factual reviews from customers and peers are a goldmine for prospects.
We have gathered a combination of associated brands and review repositories for you to easily get an overview of the three cloud vendors.
Vendor | Associated brands | Reviews |
Google Cloud Platform | 20th Century Fox, Allianz, Bloomberg, BMG, LG Electronics, Nielsen, The New York Times, PayPal, Target, Twitter (details) | |
Microsoft Azure | Shell, eBay, Microsoft, Autodesk, AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Honeywell, Adobe, Dell, Oracle (details) | |
Amazon Web Services | Netflix, Twitch, LinkedIn, Facebook, ESPN, Pfizer, Disney, General Electric, Airbnb, McDonalds, NASA, Reddit (details) |
PCMag rates all three cloud vendors as “excellent.” The magazine states that Google Cloud Platform " is a top-notch Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solution with various cloud services that will appeal to users of Google services. Features include impressive AL and ML functionality and outstanding overall performance."
As for Microsoft Azure, PCMag states that "organizations standardized on Windows Server are no-brainer candidates for Microsoft Azure once they begin moving infrastructure to the cloud. However, Azure is also friendly to other operating platforms, especially Linux, and has a growing arsenal of ancillary services, too."
Amazon Web Services can "various services and support a range of operating systems. Its universal appeal is further strengthened by its intuitive setup process, management, and monitoring features earning it our Editor's Choice selection in IaaS solutions."
Pricing
Cost related to cloud computing can be difficult to predict, as David Mytton from Seedcamp writes on Medium. Accordingly, none of the cloud vendors feature a straightforward pricing model. However, they supply calculators that can help you on the way, and you could also request quotes based on the requirements of your organization. Also, as all the vendors provide free tiers and trials, your developers can safely test performance.
Vendor | Resources |
Google Cloud Platform | |
Microsoft Azure | |
Amazon Web Services |
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Statistics
At the end we will include general cloud computing statistics, courtesy of Hosting Tribunal:
- The global public cloud computing market was set to exceed $330 billion in 2022
- Providing data access from anywhere is the top reason for cloud adoption
- Organizations’ average yearly cloud budget was $2.2 million in 2018
- About 1/3 of the company IT budget goes to cloud services
- Privacy, security, and lack of staff training are the top roadblocks to cloud adoption
- Hybrid cloud adoption is at 58%
As a final note, Hash Studioz has a useful article detailing the largest cloud vendors.
First published 20 November 2019, updated 5 January 2024.
