It is a universal fact that cloud computing is increasing both in importance and popularity. A Gartner report predicts that by the end of 2020, the market for public cloud is all set to reach $411 billion in 2020 from $260 billion in 2017. The growth numbers are not just encouraging but also gigantic, and in a move to make their presence felt, cloud service providing companies are now focused to increase their services, optimize costs and take the numerous position in the public cloud market. 

Cloud-computing has traveled a long way ever since its inception. Now, it is no longer the question of whether organizations have to opt for cloud computing or not, the question now is which cloud platform to opt. The cloud computing market is currently flooded with numerous cloud service providers, but AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) proudly retain the top three slots.

These public cloud service providers endow the following benefits to organizations:

• Skillful management of resources.
• Storage extension.
• Access to data anytime and anywhere.
• Increased security.
• Access to innovative technology especially for smaller firms.

So how do you choose and conclude the ongoing debate about the best one?
Well, this blog will help you get answers to all your questions.

Let’s talk numbers

In terms of the cloud market, Amazon’s AWS has retained the top slot for a very long time. 

Source: Statista

As is implied, Amazon is dominant and from a 2020 report from Synergy Research, Amazon’s growth has been defining as it has successfully maintained the momentum. Meanwhile, it will be safe to say that Microsoft has a stronger portfolio in SaaS, while GCP in AI is placed for aggressive growth in the coming time.

Source: Intellipat

Clocking in the growth trend, despite Microsoft Azure and GCP a little behind AWS, their market shares have never shown southward growth. The graph above is a 2019 collected data where GCP has amassed 83% growth, while Azure has registered a 75% growth. AWS has maintained its momentum with a 41% growth rate. 

Such a growth rate is possible only because organizations have embraced it. As per the estimates, 84% of the enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy. Take a look at the illustration below:

Source: Flexera

About the Big 3 Cloud providers

Much as we know that numbers do the speaking, it is also important to know about each of them in little detail. We will begin with Amazon which is the market leader for quite some time now.

Amazon web services – AWS has evolved and how! The cloud service provider endows on-demand service to organizations, governments, and individuals. It is a secure cloud-service avenue that offers computing power, CDN, database storage to help businesses grow and scale their offerings. AWS functions on an annual subscription pricing model in addition to the free-tier option for the organizations to get hands-on experience at zilch sub-charges.

AWS was first launched with a view to effectively handle its growing retail operations. It is credited to be the 1st cloud-computing company to introduce the Pay-as-you-go model. AWS can handle multiple services such as data management, hybrid cloud, migration, AI, big data management, and more. AWS has 100 plus services in its directory with benefits like cost-effectiveness, flexibility, agility, and security. 

Source: Kinsta ( Top brands using AWS)

Microsoft Azure – Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform that offers a gamut of cloud services including analytics, storage, computing, and networking. It has 3 models of cloud services like SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS and is an open and flexible enterprise-level platform faster to use. Azure primarily has 11 services that it offers to its clients namely, Hybrid integration, Data storage, compute, analytics, CDN, IoT, Management and security, etc. It assists businesses to improve their agility and let the developing ecosystem and pipeline communication.

Source: SoftwareONE ( Azure’s platform services)

Source: Microsoft Azure

Google Cloud – GCP is one of the youngest Cloud players but even in the little time span, it has managed to establish a good customer base. Its BigQuery analytics engine, ML tools, and innovative approach for bigger enterprises have established it as a strategic cloud player. It started its journey in 2011 with the intention to strengthen its own base of products. But as now they also have initiated enterprise services so that any organization that shares the same infrastructure like Google search can use it.

Source: Kinsta

AWS vs Azure vs GCP – Battle of the titans

The top three brands that govern the market will be compared on the basis of the most common cloud services:

• Compute
• Storage
• Database
• Networking and Content Delivery
• Availability zone

Before going through these elements, let’s do a feature by feature comparison of the giants-

Compute

This is one of the most fundamental roles in dealing with computing workloads. A cloud service provider should be able to scale a considerable number of nodes in a fraction of minutes.  On the basis of computing, the top comparisons are:

Storage

This is yet another important function and is related to data storage. On the basis of services, the comparisons are enlisted below:

Database

A Database comparison is essential for database workloads. The below table provides the perfect comparison of the database domain. 

Networking Service

Pricing

Very recently, AWS started offering pay-per-minute billing which Azure already is using while Google charges with the Pay-per-second billing model letting users save more compared to AWS and Azure. 

Availablity Zones

AWS is the oldest hence it has had more time to expand its network. AWS is hosting in multiple locations along with GCP and Azure but there is a difference in the availability zones:

• At present, AWS has 66 availability zones with 12 on the anvil.
• Azure caters to 54 regions worldwide and is available in 140 countries.
• GCP is available in 20 regions around the world with 3 more on their way.

Key Takeaways

what’s best for you:

It’s time to now wrap up this comparison journey by taking a look at the most important points that will help you get the large picture. 

1. Establishment– AWS is the clear winner as it has a head start of 5 years over its counterparts.
2. Growth Rate– Here the winner is GCP as it is currently clocking growth rate close to 100%.
3. Market Share– Hands down goes to AWS with a 33% market share.
4. Brands– With several top companies using all three, it is a tie between them.
5. Availability zone– Clear winner is AWS with a greater number of regions and availability zones.
6. Pricing model–   the presence of customer-friendly pricing models and discounts makes GCP the clear winner.
7. Services– AWS leads the way with the volumes of services provided but with respect to the integration with open-source and on-site platforms Azure leads the pack.

Compiling a comparison guide in the ever-evolving technology market is a challenging affair. With the help of our blog, we hope there is clarity now. As we can see, AWS is a clear winner, but Azure and GCP are growing at a furious rate reinstating the rising popularity.

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