Comparison
AWS vs Google Cloud vs Azure
The three biggest public clouds. Core services are alike, the difference is catalog breadth, ecosystem and ergonomics.
| Aspect | AWS | Google Cloud | Microsoft Azure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market share | Largest, around a third of the market per analysts (Synergy Research) | Second per analysts | Third per analysts, but one of the fastest growing |
| Launched | 2006 (S3, EC2) | 2008 (App Engine), 2012 (Compute Engine) | 2010 (Windows Azure), renamed in 2014 |
| Service catalog | Widest, over two hundred services | Narrower, strong in data and ML | Broad, deep Microsoft integration |
| Strengths | Maturity, docs, the biggest community and job market | BigQuery, Kubernetes (GKE), analytics and ML | Active Directory, .NET, hybrid scenarios, enterprise |
| Complexity | High: many services, IAM is complex | Moderate, console and project model are clearer | Moderate to high, many products and renames |
| Free tier | Free tier, terms depend on the account | Free tier and a starter credit for new accounts | Free tier and a starter credit for new accounts |
| Owner | Amazon | Alphabet (Google) | Microsoft |
| Best for | General choice, startups and large systems | Data, ML, Kubernetes, open source stack teams | Microsoft shops, enterprise and hybrid systems |
Choose AWS when
- You want the biggest choice of services, docs and specialists.
- You are unsure what to pick: this is the safe default.
- You need the most regions and partners.
Choose Google Cloud when
- The main workload is data, analytics, ML or Kubernetes.
- You prefer the simpler project model.
- You want BigQuery at the core.
Choose Microsoft Azure when
- The company is already on Microsoft 365 and Active Directory.
- Main development is on .NET.
- You need hybrid solutions with on-prem servers.
Bottom line
The choice is rarely technical: it is set by existing skills, contracts and company ecosystem. Without such constraints AWS is the safest default, GCP wins on data, Azure in Microsoft shops. For small projects Hetzner or DigitalOcean is often enough.
Compared
- AWSThe largest cloud platform, with hundreds of services from virtual machines and storage to databases, queues and ML.
- Google CloudGoogle's cloud with strong data, analytics, Kubernetes (GKE) and ML services.
- Microsoft AzureMicrosoft's cloud, most convenient for .NET, Windows environments and companies on Microsoft 365 and Entra ID.
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