Cloud Service has many benefits, including storage and backup, security, scalability, agility, affordability, and easy access. This is why all businesses are now adopting Cloud-based solutions.

The Cloud market is dominated by three huge vendors – Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Each of these Cloud solutions has a robust infrastructure and reliable services. The question that most enterprises face is not whether to go for Cloud or not, but which Cloud provider to choose.

In this blog on Amazon AWS vs Microsoft Azure vs Google Cloud, we will look into detail about the battle of the Cloud. Let’s look into each of these Cloud vendors in detail in this blog so you can identify the best Cloud provider for your organization.

Amazon AWS

AWS or Amazon Web Services was first released in 2002 and later re-launched in 2006. The first entrant in the Cloud Computing domain, AWS offers a host of customized Cloud-based services to its clients.

It is now available in 69 Availability Zones in 22 geographical locations. Its chief offerings are Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). AWS also enables creation of private IP addresses, subnets, route table, and network gateways.

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This Cloud Service from Amazon also features managed databases, data pipeline tools, development and management tools, Cloud storage, and machine learning.

AWS Elastic Compute Cloud enables both load balancing (ELB) and auto-scaling. Load balancing across instances amps up the performance of the Cloud while the auto-scaling feature enables up scaling or downscaling the ELB according to requirement.

Also, AWS allows you to use custom or pre-configured virtual machines. Based on your storage and networking requirements, you can decide on the size, number, power, and memory capacity of the virtual machines.

In terms of storage, AWS offers Simple Service Storage (S3), Elastic Compute Storage (EC2), and hybrid storage. Plus, it offers both public and private clouds as well as temporary storage.

Data is transferred using import/export disk, snowball edge, and snowmobile. AWS has automatic disaster recovery and all the data is backed up in Object Storage, Archive, Cold storage, and storage gateway. AWS has a Direct Connect private network connection and Virtual Private Cloud networking.

Authentication and Authorization of AWS are handled by Identity and Access management. It has Cognito identity management and Web Application firewall. Shield offers Cloud service protection.

Microsoft Azure

A product of Microsoft, Azure was launched in 2010. It is available in 162 Availability zones spread across 54 geographical locations. The services offered by Azure include PaaS, IaaS, SaaS, and hybrid services.

Designed to support both Windows and Linux, this Cloud computing platform is suitable for organizations that are already using Microsoft solutions.

A computer system called Virtual Hard Disk can be configured for deploying Azure Cloud solutions. Users can define the number of cores and memory capacity of the Virtual Hard Disk.

In terms of storage, Azure has Black Bob object storage, Cool and Archive storage. It also has a hybrid storage named StorSimple. Azure has automatic protection and disaster recovery – site recovery.

Data transfer happens via import/export and Azure Data Box. Azure features Express Route direct private network connection and virtual networking. VPN gateway enables cross-premises connectivity.

Active Directory handles authentication and authorization in Azure while Application Gateway acts as a Firewall. DDoS protection service and storage service encryption are the other security features available in Microsoft Azure.

Google Cloud

Google released the Cloud platform in 2008. It offers Serverless platform in addition to IaaS and PaaS. Google Cloud is classified into various platforms such as Google Cloud Datastore, Google Big Query, Google App Engine, Google Compute Engine, Google Cloud Storage, and Google Cloud SQL.

Google Cloud also offers different networking services such as Cloud DNS, Virtual private cloud, Cloud CDN, and Load Balancing. Users can launch virtual machines in any of the Availability regions using the Google Compute Engine.

This Cloud solution offers services such as extended OS support, live migration of virtual machines, and greater number of instances with higher number of cores, persistent disks, and load balancing.

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In terms of storage, Google Cloud has Cloud storage, Egnyte Sync hybrid storage, as well as Nearline and Coldline archive storage. Bulk data transfer is done via Storage Transfer Service.

Google Cloud has Subnet virtual networking and Cloud VPN cross-premises connectivity. Fortigate Next-generation Firewall takes care of Google Cloud security. As for the authentication and authorization, Cloud IAM and Cloud Identity-Aware Proxy take care of them.

Table of Comparison – Amazon AWS vs Microsoft Azure vs Google Cloud

The below table compares all the essential features and services of the three top Cloud providers – AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Feature	Amazon AWS	Microsoft Azure	Google Cloud
Initial Release	2002 (again re-launched in 2006)	2010	2008
Vendor	Amazon	Microsoft	Google
Website	Aws.amazon.com	Azure.microsoft.com	Cloud.google.com
Services Offered	Software as s Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS)	Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS)	Serverless platform, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Cache	Elastic Cache	Redis Cache	Cloud CDN
Geographical Locations	22	54	20
Virtual Machine (VM)	EC2	Azure Virtual Machines	Compute Engine
Maximum no. of processors in VMs	128	128	96
Maximum memory capacity of VMs	3904 GiB	3800 GiB	1433 GiB
Authentication	Directory Service, Single Sign-on, IAM	Active Directory, Multifactor authentication	Cloud IAM and Cloud IAP
Administration	System Manager, Personal Health Dashboard, Application Discovery Service	Log Analytics, Resource Health, Storage Explorer, Operations Management Suite	Cloud Console
Object Storage	S3 with broad compatibility	Black Blob Storage offers CLI, Powershell, and REST access	Cloud Storage that offers immediate access from any storage class
File Storage	EFS (10 GB/sec)	Azure hybrid files	Filestore that is integrated with Kubernetes
Archive (Cold) Storage	Glacier	Archive Long-term Storage	Cold Line and Near Line
SQL Database	Aurora, RDS	SQL Database, Database for PostgreSQL, Database for MySQL	Cloud Spanner, Cloud SQL
No SQL Database	DyamoDB	Table Storage, Cosmos DB	Cloud Datastore, Cloud Bigtable
Data Transfer	Transfer to Cloud happens via Snowball	Transfer to Cloud happens via Import/Export service	Storage transport service
Peering	Direct Connect	Express Route	Google Cloud Interconnect
DNS	Amazon Route 53	Azure DNS	Google Cloud DNS
Auto Scaling	Integrated and seamless auto scaling occurs across the network	Machine metrics triggers auto scaling	Google offers bi-directional auto scaling with auto healing and auto updating
Managed Data Warehouse	Redshift	SQL warehouse	Big Query
GIT Repositories	AWS source	Azure source	Cloud source
Function as a Service	Offered by Amazon Lambda, which is an ecosystem consisting of integrations	Azure Functions, which consists of all functions from coding to deployment.	Portable Google Cloud Functions, which integrates with other Google Cloud services
Platform as a Service	Elastic Beanstalk	Cloud Services	Google App Engine
Container as a Service	EKS – contains and supports hybrid container deployments	Fully-managed Azure Kubernetes, which offers enterprise-managed deployment	Google Kubernetes CaaS Engine
Serverless Functions	Lambda	Azure Functions	Google Cloud Functions
Docker Management	ECS	Container Service	Google Container Engine
Hybrid Cloud	Available	Available	Not Available
Search	Cloud Search	Azure Search	Not Available
Content Delivery	CloudFront	CDN	Cloud CDN
App Testing	Device Farm	DevTest Labs	Cloud Test Labs
Cloud Management	Management console, systems manager	Portal, cost management, Policy	Stackdriver
API Management	Cloud source repositories	Azure API gateway	Cloud endpoints
Application Lifecycle Management	CodePipeline, CodeStar	Team Studio, Visual Studio,	Not Available
Security	Shield, Macie, Guard Duty, WAF	Security Center	Cloud Security, Scanner, Cloud DLP
Virtual Network	VPC	VNet	Subnet
Big Data and Analytics	Kinesis, Redshift, EMR, Athena	HDInsight, Windows Azure Table, Stream Analytics,	Big Query, Cloud Datastore, Hadoop, Cloud Dataflow, Cloud Dataproc
AI/ML Tools	SageMaker, Rekognition, Translate, Transcribe, TensorFlow, DeepLens, Lex, Polly, Comprehend, Deep Learning	Machine Learning, Cognitive Service, Azure Bot Service	Cloud ML Enine, Cloud Natural Language, Cloud Video Intelligence, Dialogflow Enterprise Edition, Cloud Speech API, Cloud Translation API
IoT	Greengrass, IoT button, IoT Device, IoT-1 click, Free RTOS, oT Core	IoT Hub, IoT Edge, Time Series Insights, Stream Analytics	Cloud IoT Core
Third Party Services and Software	Available in Amazon Marketplace	Available in Microsoft Marketplace	Available in Cloud Launcher Partner Directory
Purchase Models	Reserved, Spot, On-demand	Short-term and on-demand	Sustain use, On Demand
Pricing Models	Rounded to per second	Rounded to per minute (monthly or pre-paid options)	Rounded to per minute (minimum of ten minutes)
Management & Monitoring	Trusted Advisor	Advisor	Cloud Platform Security
Major Clients	Netflix, BMW, Airbnb, MI, Unilever, Samsung	HP, Fujifilm, Honeywell, Apple, Johnson Controls	PayPal, HSBC, Bloomberg, Dominos, 20th Century Fox
Strengths	Dominate the market, has extensive offerings, and supports large organizations and enterprises	Hybrid Cloud with open-source support, integration with MS software and tools	Offers portability and open-source support, suitable for Cloud-native businesses, Flexible contracts
Weakness	Requires in-depth training and difficult to use, costs high	Management tools not comprehensive	Fewer features compared to other two vendors

Conclusion

The Amazon AWS vs Microsoft Azure vs Google Cloud has shown us the top features, functions, strengths, and weakness of these three leading Cloud Service providers. Each of these vendors is strong in certain attributes and not so much in a few others.

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If you are looking for a Cloud-service provider who has been in the market for the longest time and has the highest number of regions, availability zones, and services, then Amazon AWS wins hands down. On the other hand, if you are looking for a Cloud provider that has been growing at a very fast rate and has budget-friendly pricing models, then Google Cloud is the best option.

However, most organizations already use Microsoft suite and tools, which makes integration with Microsoft Azure the best choice. Based on our comparison and an evaluation of your Cloud storage requirements, you can choose the best Cloud provider for your organization.

In conclusion, you need to go for a Cloud provider that doesn’t just have the “best” tag in the market, but one that meets and satisfies all your requirements.