The popularity of cloud storage platforms has grown like crazy in recent years. And the services provided by the clouds have become extremely important for various companies of informational and technological orientations.
Is your company planning on moving all of its performance power unto one of these platforms? Wondering which cloud service is best for you? In this article, we will look at Top 3 cloud services used by millions of people, compare their calculational and analytical capabilities, as well as price forming and networks, and decide on the best one in the battle of AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud.
What is a cloud platform exactly?
The cloud platform is a set of serves and powers provided by the developers. They offer users access to computational resources and analytical tools, as well as data storage space, servers, software, and other things for casual users and big companies.
AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud comparison
Before comparing the current leaders on the market of cloud providers, let’s take a look at each one and see what they are all about:
Amazon Web Services has been founded in the year 2006 and currently provides services such as IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and others. It also offers more than 70 resources with an extended coverage zone of fourteen world regions.
Azure is a Microsoft product launched in the year 2010. Today, the platform represents a wide range of different supporting instruments, programming languages, and frameworks. It runs on Microsoft Windows and Linux. There are about 60 services and data processing centers in more than 38 locations all around the world currently available on the platform. Among the Azure clients are such famous names as Johnson Controls, Fujifilm, HP, Apple, and some other large companies.
Google Cloud Platform is the youngest cloud platform among the contestants — it was launched back in 2011 and it provides numerous services including IaaS, PaaS, and Serverless, it also supports Big data and IoT. The providers have more than 50 resources and 6 global data processing centers at their disposal. You can find more details on your best Google Cloud strategy.
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Cloud Services Comparison: AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Storage Space
Let’s check out the technologies used by our leaders for keeping data on their platforms safe and sound.
AWS uses Simple Storage Service (S3) for storing, and Amazon Glacier service for archiving.
Azure and Google Cloud Platform both have information storage of high-performance capabilities with strong security.
Azure company is actively working on implementing and improving the file backup and recovery functions. Sub-service StorSimple used as a hybrid storage service for corporate clients has greatly benefited the efficiency of the company. It allows for saving up to 60% of the usual value.
Google Cloud Services vs AWS vs Azure: Hybrid Approach
The hybrid approach is one of the latest fast-growing tendencies in the world of cloud platforms.
Microsoft has been long recognized as the best option if you are going with this method among our AWS vs Google Cloud vs Microsoft Azure competitors thanks to its Azure Stack software solution. The platform provides its clients with the ability to host Azure cloud services on a local data processing services with an open control portal, code, and API-interfaces for the purpose of simple integration and compatibility.
AWS platform demonstrated its transition to hybrid deployment back in 2018. Later, in the year 2019, managers from Google made a move in the same direction releasing their Anthos platform. Anthos is basically Google's rebranded cloud services platform incorporating Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), GKE On-Prem, and Anthos Config Management.
Google Cloud platform vs Azure vs AWS: Computational Power Comparison
Computational power is the baselining of any IT-related business. The main advantage of cloud platforms is that they provide effective instruments for all sorts of calculations with the ability of remote control, as well as scaling independently of time and physical location.
AWS has its central computational network service based on the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). It also has such sub-services as AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Amazon EC2 Container Service, and some other great tools integrated into it. These instruments allow enterprises to perform deep analysis and planning while minimizing the financial losses of new projects launching. Teritorically AWS supports regional and zonal coverage.
Microsoft Azure has the high-performance Virtual Machine Scale Sets as its processing system center. Client applications for Windows are deployed by means of RemoteApp.
Google Cloud Platform uses the Compute Engine service for processing power computation. It supports much of the basic cloud platform tools. The only serious drawback that we should mention is the pricing — it is definitely not the most flexible one among our Google Cloud vs Amazon AWS vs Azure trinity.
AWS and Microsoft Azure are the most popular cloud platforms in the top three. Their computing power is similar, and the list of services is regularly expanded. Here we’d like to advise reading more on ensuring cloud scalability.
AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud comparison: Analysis
All the platforms also provide access to some effective analytical tools.
AWS made a breakthrough by launching the Quick Sight analytics service. It includes ready-made templates, and the service itself is less expensive in comparison with classical BI solutions.
Microsoft Azure has improved its analytics and machine learning tools, and also created the Data Lake Analytics subsystem and introduced machine learning.
A special area of Big Data analytics is currently available in Google Cloud. Projects Cloud Vision API, Cloud Speech API, and Google Translate API can be integrated into third-party resources.
Network load balancing
Load balancing services are available in GCP and Azure. They distribute traffic to improve fault tolerance:
HTTP(S) load balance
Layer 7 load balancing is available from Azure and Google, which means that client requests at the application level can withstand more complex routing than the previous Layer 4c
TCP/UDP load balance
Among the Google Cloud platform vs Amazon Web Services vs Microsoft Azure, level 4 balancing is available with Azure and Google platforms. It distributes client requests equally around a region through the network routes.
SSL load balance
The same two providers Azure and Google also support the SSL system.
AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Security
Microsoft and Google are known for their high level of security when it comes to cloud information storage. Both providers have constructed a model based on more than a decade of development history.
This high-security level is achieved in three ways:
Security of the Cloud Platform itself achieved through a built-in cloud platform infrastructure that provides default protection.
Security in the Cloud Platform with access to security products and services that can be configured to protect personal applications and data.
Security anywhere — it has extended security capabilities beyond the cloud platform to protect user assets regardless of location.
Besides that, Google and Azure conduct their security policy in a way that meets the requirements of CSA STAR, GDPR, HIPPA, PCI-DSS, and the standards of ISO.
The level of security Azure has today is the highest among the three cloud platforms we have on our list. It complies with more than 90 quality benchmarks in 50 world regions. For reference, Google’s compliance matches just 45 of them.
AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Pricing
The three cloud platforms have different approaches to pricing in using their services.
AWS has three options for making a payment:
Option 1. You just pay for the resources you use.
Option 2. Check the resources and services that you intend to order. Users are given an advance for 1 to 3 years, after which the services are paid based on their usage. From time to time there are discounts up 75% off the regular price.
Option 3. The bigger variety of services you use the less you have to pay.
Amazon Web Services’ paychecks are rounded by each hour of use.
Microsoft Azure has a different scheme of price forming. Vendor resources are billed with rounding up for each minute. Discounts are available based on the volume of services used.
GCP works on quite the same principles as Azure but with an exception of the end paycheck being rounded every 10 minutes of use.
The platforms have built special calculating services for fee analysis to make things easier. You can access the AWS’s by following this link. Here is Microsoft's pricing calculator. And here is the one by Google.
All the platforms also have trial versions you can try out for free:
Although AWS seems to be leading by many aspects in the battle of google cloud vs azure vs AWS, Azure and Google Cloud also have something to bet on:
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AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Services Comparison
AWS: Positive and Negative Aspects
AWS has outpaced its competitors by creating a set of cloud services as early as the year 2006. AWS has a broad and growing range of offerings as well as the most extensive network of global data centers among the others. The provider is constantly strengthening the level of security and reliability of the platform. AWS's partner ecosystem and overall product strategy are considered to be the market leader, a wide variety of third-party software services are available at AWS Marketplace. As Gartner noted in its report Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service, Worldwide:
«AWS — has been an IaaS cloud market leader for over 10 years now»
One of the shortcomings of AWS is the extent of its offer. Although the availability of a large number of resources is rather an advantage, it can be difficult for users to navigate through the numerous functions available.
Besides, in the trinity Google Cloud vs Amazon Cloud vs Azure, AWS has the highest cost of use. Despite the fact that the platform regularly cuts its prices and offers discounts, it can sometimes be tough for companies to calculate costs and effectively manage expenses when using a lot of different tool resources.
Microsoft Azure: Positive and Negative Aspects
Azure's significant advantage is that the platform interfaces effectively with major Microsoft local systems (Windows Server, System Center, and Active Directory).
According to the survey of 100 IT executives conducted by Goldman Sachs in January 2020, 56 of them said they preferred Azure to Amazon Web Services cloud platform.
Microsoft is also increasingly adopting open source technology. Today, at least half of the company's workloads are run on Linux.
One of the drawbacks of this cloud service is a series of failures, including a major resource shutdown in May 2019. If we analyze the history of Google Cloud or AWS or Azure, AWS is also not immune to disruptions, but its last major blackout happened in 2017 when cloud technologies were a little younger, while Google Cloud service experienced its last major malfunction in November 2019.
Many organizations are also dissatisfied with the quality of Microsoft technical support, so that's something to consider.
Azure ARM Templates
With the transition to cloud platforms, command methods have also changed towards more flexibility and adaptability. Teams now manage the infrastructure and application code through a single process of automated deployment. For this purpose, Azure uses ARM templates or JSON files. Azure templates allow creating and deploying the platform infrastructure: network, virtual machines, storage systems, etc.
Repeatedly deploy the infrastructure during the development cycle with Azure. Azure resource manager templates allow you to deploy templates multiple times with constant project state. This way, you don't need to generate them separately for each individual update. Resource Manager also runs a series of Azure deployment templates simultaneously, using a single command.
GCP: Positive and Negative Aspects
Google developed the Kubernetes standard, which was later implemented by Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. GCP specializes in high computing power offering Big data, analytics, and machine learning.
Though users are not happy with the errors in the processes related to corporate accounts. Sometimes it hinders conducting transactions. Some of the shortcomings come into play in areas such as contract negotiation, Independent Software Vendor Licensing (ISV), integration with enterprise systems, and client support.
It is also important to note that Google has the lowest presence among Google Cloud Platform vs AWS vs Azure, and is also absent from one of the world's largest markets — China. By contrast, AWS and Azure are represented in mainland China — Beijing Sinnet Technology, NWDC, and 21Vianet.
AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Feature Comparison
The choice of cloud service provider depends on the needs and workloads of your specific business — medium or large. The table below lists the services of the leaders in cloud computing.
External applications can be run on all three platforms. For example, Google has partnerships with SAP, Pivotal, and Rackspace.
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AWS vs Azure vs GCP: Core Differences
The table below lists some of the key differences between the leaders:
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Conclusions
Using or ignoring cloud computing services is no longer a question for business owners and developers. What the question today is: Google Cloud platform vs Amazon Web Services vs Microsoft Azure. Which cloud platform is right for you? New players can make their choice based on the platform resource cost factor. But there are other features that are important to consider when deciding what is the best one among Google Cloud platform vs Microsoft Azure vs AWS.
The optimal cloud service provider should be selected considering your specific needs and the workload of your company. After examining and comparing their features in this article, we suggest that you try a free trial version of each one and decide on the most suitable platform for you.
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