Choosing the right public cloud service provider (CSP) has become a complex decision because there are so many to choose from. There are three players that have emerged as the leaders of the cloud computing market share: Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure, with respective market shares of 12%, 62% and 20%. For businesses in need of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS), Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offer the most features, performance and cost among the multitude of other service providers. Between these three; which should you work with to achieve optimal performance while balancing the associated cloud compute and storage costs? Let’s an in-depth look.
MultiCloud Strategy? Benefits and Drawbacks
According to the recent Virtustream report, 60% of companies are moving or have already moved mission-critical applications to the cloud. Next, of the 727 cloud decision-makers surveyed, 86% said they are using a multi-cloud strategy. However, while a multi-cloud strategy reduces risk of data loss and improve disaster recovery, it does come with major drawbacks and pitfalls such as unnecessary complexity, resource drains (overspending), security shortcomings and cloud sprawl. Before venturing into a multi-cloud strategy, it’s best to master one cloud for your organization. Between Google Cloud, Azure and AWS, which CSP offers the best Service-to-Service capability?
Google Cloud Vs AWS Vs Azure – Service-to-Service Comparison
Enterprises looking for a CSP typically have 3 service criteria for comparison: Storage (IaaS), Compute (PaaS) and Management Tools (IaaS, PaaS and SaaS combined). We will break these down by section to help you determine the ideal levels for your organization. As each organization has different demands and requirements, we will ignore cost and simply look at these three factors. Once you’ve determined your requirements, use the CSP price calculator to cross-reference cost differences: AWS, Azure, GCP. For a personalized strategy assessment, contact Pointivity today.
Cloud Storage Comparison Between AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud
Cloud Service Providers offer a wide range of services for both primary and secondary storage use cases from objects to block and file storage. Object storage is well suited to handle unstructured data (images, videos, email, etc.) while block storage is better for structured data (Text Data, CRM Data, ERP Data, etc.). Using the price calculator will help you determine which CSP can offer the most competitive pricing for your tier and data type.
Comparing Google Cloud Vs AWS Vs Azure on a storage basis, Azure has a distinct advantage in managed disaster recovery with DRaaS and built-in backup services. For managing hybrid cloud architectures, both AWS and Azure have built-in services, while Google Cloud relies on partners. AWS vs Google – AWS. Azure vs Google – Azure. AWS versus Azure – Azure.
| AWS | Azure | Google Cloud Platform | |
| Object storage | Amazon Simple Storage Services (Amazon S3) | Blob Storage | Google Cloud Storage |
| VM disk storage | Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) | Azure Managed Disks | Persistent Disk (both HDD and SSD) |
| File storage | Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) | Azure Files | Cloud Filestore |
| Disaster recovery | Provides a set of cloud-based disaster recovery services | Site Recovery (DRaaS) | Does not provide out-of-the-box DR or backup services |
| Backup | Amazon S3 is often used for secondary backup storage | Backup (built into the Azure platform) | |
| Archive storage | S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access (introduced April 2018) Amazon Glacier, with data querying capabilities | Azure Long-Term Storage: Cool Blob Storage (slightly lower availability than Hot) , Archive Storage (offline blob storage) | Archival Cloud Storage: Nearline (low frequency), Coldline (lowest frequency) |
| Bulk data transfer | AWS Import/Export Disk: Shipping disk drives AWS Snowball (device-based) AWS SnowMobile | Azure Import/Export service: Shipping disk drives Azure Data Box Disk service (in preview) | Storage Transfer Service |
| Hybrid support | AWS Storage Gateway: Provides a managed virtual tape infrastructure for hybrid environments | StorSimple: Enterprise-grade hybrid cloud storage | Relies on partners such as Egnyte |
Cloud Compute Comparison – AWS vs Azure vs Google
Azure, AWS and Google all offer pay-as-you-go PaaS options that automatically handle deployment, scaling and balancing of web apps and services developing in the most commonly used frameworks (Java, Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, etc.). Both AWS and Azure offer autoscaling by application or as part of platforms that manage groups of apps or virtual machines. Google only offers autoscaling within the context of its managed instance groups platform, limiting it’s autoscaling capabilities. Both AWS and Azure also offer services that enable a virtual private server while Google does not. AWS vs Google – AWS. Azure vs Google – Azure. AWS versus Azure – Azure.
| AWS | Azure | Google Cloud Platform | |
| Virtual servers | Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) | Virtual Machines (Windows or Linux servers) | Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Elastic Beanstalk | Azure Cloud Services | Google App Engine |
| Scaling | AWS Auto Scaling | Azure Autoscale (per app or for a group of apps as part of an Azure App Service plan) Virtual Machine Scale Sets (for hyperscale, high-availability apps) | Through managed instance groups |
| Virtual private server support | Lightsail | Virtual machines (VM) | N/A |
Management Tools (SaaS) Comparison – AWS vs Azure vs Google
Configuring, provisioning, deploying and monitoring cloud resources across multiple business units can be a complex and daunting challenge. However, all three CSPs offer management tools to assist with this from predefined deployment templates and catalogs of approved services to a centralized access control. AWS and Azure offer more management tools compared to Google, with additional investment expected moving forward. AWS vs Google – AWS. Azure vs Google – Azure. AWS versus Azure – Azure.
| AWS | Azure | Google Cloud Platform | |
| Server manage- ment services | AWS Systems Manager: Visibility & automation across groups of resources | Azure Operational Insights: Operational data analysis, SaaS | N/A |
| Cloud deployment templates | AWS CloudFormation: Text files for modeling & provisioning cloud resources | Azure Resource Manager: Deploy & control access to categorized resources; includes templates (Azure Building Blocks) | Resource Manager: Group, organize, & control access to resources; track & manage projects Cloud Deployment Manager: Template-driven deployment |
| Logging & monitoring | Amazon CloudWatch: Real-time visibility into apps & infrastructure AWS CloudTrail: Logging & monitoring of AWS accounts | Azure Monitor, including Log Analytics (data collection & proactive insights) and Application Insights (Application Performance Management platform) | Google StackDriver, including monitoring, logging, error reporting, tracing, & debugging |
| Server automation | AWS OpsWorks: Managed instances of Chef & Puppet AWS Service Catalog: Catalog of IT services approved for AWS | Azure Resource Manager (see above) Azure Automation VM extensions: Post-deployment configuration & automation | N/A |
Conclusion: AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Platform
The cloud service provider landscape is evolving and reshaping as AWS, Azure and Google all vie for cloud computing market share. With the emergence of multi-cloud strategies, announcing an outright winner is not easily determined by capabilities alone. Pricing and how a platform fits with your business needs will determine which CSP to use for your cloud migration. Microsoft Azure and AWS offer a much more mature stack than GCP. However, while AWS’ services and products are the most comprehensive, they can be challenging to navigate and manage compared to Azure. Also if your company is already using Microsoft’s development tools, windows services and office productivity applications, it will be very easy to integrate with Azure.
Google Cloud vs AWS or AWS vs Azure will require research and consultation. At Pointivity, we can help you find a cloud strategy that will exceed your business needs. Looking for a managed service provider in San Diego? We assist with more than just the cloud!
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