Cloud Computing
Azure vs AWS vs Google Cloud: Which One to Choose for Cloud Migration
In recent times, cloud computing
became quite popular. With growing digital transformation trends, it has come a
long way. As per the Gartner report, it is predicted that the market for public
cloud is all set to reach $411 billion in 2020 from $260 billion in 2017. By
opting for cloud
computing services entrepreneurs can now avail of benefits of an in-house
infrastructure with a manageable cost. On average 73% of businesses are already
using cloud computing solutions in multiple ways.
Organizations are migrating
towards cloud computing solutions as they offer them with security,
staff, smooth work, and scalability. For those who are looking down to the
roadmap of cloud adoption, come up with several questions like “Which
platform provides the most cost-effective services for my needs?”, “How
shall I proceed about my cloud adoption” and the toughest question is “Which
cloud platform should I adopt?”. Choosing the right cloud platform is the
most vital and difficult decision for the growth and success of your business
Here is a checklist that you need
to keep in mind while making the comparison or choosing the best cloud
computing platform provider are as follows: -
- Evaluate Flexibility
- Economies of Scale
- A reliable service provider
- Standardized service
The most popular cloud computing
platforms that we all have heard about are Amazon Web Services (AWS),
Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). These three collectively
dominated the cloud computing market. Choosing between these top cloud service
providers is not an easy task.
In this article we are going to
compare these three platforms, which will help you in selecting the one as per
your organization’s needs. But before that, let us first see what these cloud
platforms are and their storage and computing services.
Amazon Web Services
This cloud computing platform is
the most affordable platform for businesses of any size. Most businesses who
are looking for compute power, content delivery, database storage, or any other
functionality, opt for AWS compute services.
AWS facilitates you to build powerful apps that are highly flexible, reliable
and scalable. It works on the Pay-as-you-go model and also offers a “free-tier”
option to get individuals an on-hand experience. It is the most popular and
oldest service provider that is loved by all.
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure is another big
name in the cloud computing industry that is known to provide impeccable cloud
computing services like building, testing, deploying, and managing apps. A
close competitor of AWS, Azure offers public cloud services and is available in
approx. 54 geographical regions. It is easy to configure and is fast to use
with its open and flexible enterprise-level platform. Microsoft Azure is known
to support multiple programming languages and tools which makes it all the more
popular among the businesses. It offers various other services like Software as a Service (SaaS),
Platform as a Service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and many more.
Google Cloud Platform
Google Cloud Platform is a well-known
cloud computing platform offered by Google known to offer computing, storage,
analytics, and machine learning (ML) services. It works on the similar
principle as used by the big giant itself for Google Search, Gmail, file
storage, and YouTube. Launched on 7th April 2008 this platform offers
relatively fast connectivity as it uses Google’s global fiber network. Launched
much later than AWS and Microsoft Azure, this newcomer has gained a lot of
attention and popularity in a very less time. Like AWS, it offers free services
at the start and later offers great discounts for the customers.
Not that you know a little about
all three platforms, let us move on to comparing them on the basis of the most
important parameters.
AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: A Small Comparison
Today we are going to compare these
three platforms on the basis of the three most important parameters which most
businesses consider before choosing the most suitable cloud computing platform
for their business.
- Storage
- Compute
- Pricing
So, without wasting much time, let’s
begin.
Storage comparison
Cloud storage services offer
users the ability to store, access, monitor and manage their data in an
organized and efficient way.
AWS Storage Services
AWS offers robust storage
services with strong automation and extensive high availability options.
SQL-supported databases and an ElastiCache feature provide additional memory. It
consists of various storage services basis on the purposes: -
· Simple Storage Service (S3) -
object storage;
· Elastic Block Storage (EBS) -
persistent block storage;
· Elastic File System (EFS) -
file storage.
Also Read: 7
Reasons Why You Should Choose Cloud Computing Services for Your Business
Azure Storage Services
The dedicated storage option
provided by Azure is known as Blob Storage, which supports three different
SQL-based formats and provides users with a large array of databases.
The kind of storage services
it offers: -
· Blob Storage for REST-based
unstructured data object storages,
· Queue Storage for large-volume
workloads,
· Basic File Storage and Disk
Storage.
Google Storage Services
Google Cloud is known to offer
basic storage and database support, and unified storage. They provide both SQL
and NoSQL database support. It requires third-party solutions to backup and archive
services.
Computation Comparison
A cloud
service provider needs to be able to scale several nodes in a fraction of
minutes. Computational capabilities are a significant part of Infrastructure as
a Service (IaaS).
AWS Compute Features
Amazon Elastic Container Service
(Amazon ECS) is the primary compute service. It provides efficient autoscaling
features for both web and mobile applications. VM, container, and serverless
are the most extensive features of AWS compute service for running workloads of
all types.
Azure Compute Features
It provides easy to use and
comparable infrastructure on a hybrid model that combines on-premises and
public clouds and can be integrated into global load balancing. The main
advantage of Azure is that it relies on virtual machines and is compatible with
the majority of commonly used services and applications like SQL and Windows
Server, Oracle, IBM, SAP, and more.
Google Cloud Compute Features
It is one of the smoothest
machine types when you need to perform specific workload-intense operations. It
automatically scales and deploys code from Google Cloud, Firebase, or
Assistant. With Google Cloud comes amazing discount offers, so for the ones who
are using this service a lot many times and avail a great deal of discounts and
offers.
Pricing Comparison
All three of these top cloud
service providers offer free tier and pay-as-you-go services.
AWS Pricing
The pricing structure is a bit
complex here as there isn’t a lot of transparency. This is the reason Amazon
provides a cost calculator. Though it is always recommended to use a
third-party management app to navigate through your options and contain costs.
It offers 750 hours of EC2 service per month for up to 12 months as part of
their free tier.
Also Read: How
Cloud Technology Flare Business Digital Transformation
Azure Pricing
Likewise, AWS, Azure provides 750
hours of the Windows or Linux B1S addition. The pricing structure is again a
bit complicated and hence, will require a third-party cost management tool to
keep things intact.
Google Pricing
Unlike the above two, Google has a transparent pricing structure and is as accessible as possible. Also, the prices are significantly lower than AWS and Azure. It offers Google’s free-tier incentive with one F1-micro instance per month for up to one year. You can call it a budget-friendly service with potential growth.
Final Thoughts
Cloud computing solutions
are really important these days if you want to keep your business up and
running smoothly. The final choice of the cloud service provider you will opt
for depends on the technical requirements of the company. If we conclude the
above points, in short, Azure is good for companies that use a lot of Microsoft
products. It offers reliability and effective cloud solutions. On the other
hand, AWS has the biggest reach with its data center all over the world. If the
company is looking for a versatile and expansive solution, this is the one.
Google Cloud has the most flexible pricing structure and thus is great for the
companies looking for simple and efficient grounds for their operation. So,
make your decision wisely and choose a platform that fulfils all your business
requirements.