AWS vs Azure vs GCP: Cloud Platform Comparison
| Area | AWS | Microsoft Azure | Google Cloud Platform |
|---|
| Strengths | Breadth of services, global regions, mature partner ecosystem. | Enterprise integration (Microsoft 365, Entra ID), hybrid via Azure Stack/Arc. | Data analytics, AI/ML tooling, global networking, Kubernetes leadership. |
| Regions (2024) | 33 regions / 105 AZs | 60+ regions | 40+ regions |
| Enterprise Focus | Broad industry solutions, Marketplace ISVs. | Strong compliance coverage, SAP, Windows workloads. | Data/AI workloads, media, born-in-cloud startups. |
Core Services Comparison
| Capability | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|
| Compute | EC2, Lambda, Fargate, ECS/EKS | VMs, Functions, AKS, Container Apps | Compute Engine, Cloud Run, GKE, Functions |
| Storage | S3, EFS, FSx, Glacier | Blob Storage, Files, NetApp Files | Cloud Storage, Filestore, Archive |
| Databases | RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, Redshift | SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Synapse | Cloud SQL, Spanner, Bigtable, BigQuery |
| AI/ML | SageMaker, Bedrock | Azure AI Studio, ML, OpenAI Service | Vertex AI, Gemini, AutoML |
| Networking | VPC, Direct Connect, Transit Gateway | VNets, ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN | VPC (global), Cloud Interconnect, NCC |
Selection Guidelines
- Existing Investments: Microsoft-centric shops may gain licensing leverage (Azure Hybrid Benefit). AWS offers the broadest independent ecosystem; GCP shines if analytics/AI drive the roadmap.
- Hybrid & Edge: Azure Arc and Stack serve regulated edge deployments. AWS Outposts/Wavelength offer similar but with different partner networks. Google Distributed Cloud fits Anthos/Kubernetes-first teams.
- Data Gravity: Evaluate native analytics warehouses (Redshift vs. Synapse vs. BigQuery) and data transfer costs.
- Talent & Tooling: Consider team skill sets, managed service SLAs, and availability of third-party integrations.
Multi-Cloud Reality
Many enterprises use multi-cloud strategically (best-of-breed analytics, regional regulations, vendor diversification). Standardise on core practices (Terraform, Kubernetes, observability stacks) to limit operational complexity.
References