The Big 3 in Cloud Computing Solutions: Azure, AWS, GCP Comparison

In the last decade, the cloud computing industry has boomed and shows no signs of slowing down. The global market is currently projected to reach a whopping $947.3 billion by 2026.

Within this market, three major cloud providers make up 67% percent of the worldwide cloud infrastructure market—a market worth $76 billion, which was a new market record in the first quarter of 2024.

These three cloud titans are Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Services, Amazon Cloud Services, and Google Cloud Services.

This article compares the performance of each of the “Big 3” cloud service providers (CSPs) against the key features of cloud computing.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of computing resources and services over the internet, enabling users to access and manage data, applications, and processing power without the need for direct active management.

The cloud computing model allows organizations to utilize resources such as servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and analytics on a pay-as-you-go basis, which can significantly reduce costs compared to traditional on-premises infrastructure.

Key Characteristics of Cloud Computing

• On-Demand Self-Service: Users can provision computing capabilities automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider.
• Broad Network Access: Services are available over the network and can be accessed through standard mechanisms, promoting use across various devices like mobile phones, tablets, and laptops.
• Resource Pooling: Providers pool computing resources to serve multiple consumers, dynamically assigning and reallocating resources based on demand.
• Rapid Elasticity: Resources can be scaled up or down quickly to meet changing needs, often appearing unlimited to the user.
• Measured Service: Resource usage is monitored and controlled, providing transparency for both providers and consumers.

Comparing Azure, AWS, and GCP

Choosing between AWS, Azure, and GCP depends on the specific requirements of a business.

Cloud Market Size and Data Centers

In general, the larger the cloud provider’s market size, the more infrastructure they have. This means they can deploy their workload to a wider network at record speeds, with greater capacities to optimize workflow and prevent downtime.

• AWS: Founded by Amazon in 2006, this is the first-ever cloud infrastructure. It has consistently dominated the rankings, with a market share of 31% as of Q1 2024. They currently have 126 data centers across the globe—the most out of all the cloud providers.
• Azure: In 2010, Microsoft launched its CSP and became the second largest in the world. Their market share jumped to 25% as of Q1 2024, with 160 data centers across 60 regions globally.
• GCP: At third place is Google’s newest contender, entering the scene in 2011. As of Q1 2024, they hold 11% of the total market share, with 37 data centers on the map.

Computer Engines

These CSPs are powered by some of the strongest virtual machines, storage systems, and servers.

• AWS: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) offers the most diverse selection of instance types among major cloud providers. It can launch thousands of virtual machine instances in minutes.
• Azure: Virtual machines (VM) provide on-demand support for Windows or Linux. They also provide more options for performance and optimization for Windows apps, marking this as one of the biggest advantages of Azure over AWS.
• GCP: Their VMs run on Google’s infrastructure, the same one that powers Google’s suite of services. Data analytics, machine learning, and complex workloads are where these VMs shine.

Latency

This serves as the real measure of how fast data can go from one part of the cloud to another. A well-designed cloud system works non-stop to deliver maximum speeds and responsiveness at any given time.

• AWS: AWS’ global network receives low latency and consistent performance across AWS and EC2, and there are optimized routes between regions for high transfer speeds. Meanwhile, with Amazon CloudFront, they’re able to accelerate the delivery of static and dynamic content worldwide.
• Azure: With integration to the Microsoft Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN), Azure’s infrastructure sees faster delivery of media, dynamic site acceleration, and security.
• GCP: While they don’t have a first-party content delivery network, they have Google Cloud Load Balancing across multiple services that achieve low latency and high throughput. This delivers consistent performance for both web and mobile, global scale and failover capabilities, and internal load balancing. Among online transaction processing workload benchmarks, GCP leads with the highest amount of raw throughput.

Scalability

Scalability refers to the cloud’s ability to increase or down-size resources based on demand. Flexibility is key to maximum efficiency.

• AWS: They offer many ways to autoscale to match demand. EC2 Auto Scaling, AWS Auto Scaling, and Application Auto Scaling work smoothly across all AWS infrastructures worldwide.
• Azure: Their Scale Sets let load-balanced VMs autoscale seamlessly up to thousands, balance workloads, and control scaling with built-in or custom metrics.
• GCP: They also enable automated scaling in 3 ways: Compute Engine Managed Instance Groups that support autoscaling clusters of VMs, the app engine that automatically scales web apps, and the Kubernetes Engine that autoscales clusters based on utilization.

Most Notable Strengths

Each CSP excels in certain areas:

• AWS: Best for their global reach and wide service offering
• Azure: Best for computing power—especially with seamless integration with Microsoft software—and security
• GCP: Best for workloads that involve machine learning, data analytics, and visualization

How to Choose the Best Cloud Computing Solution

Ask the following questions as you search for the best cloud service:

• Are they a reputable provider with proven stability in the industry?
• Do they provide ample admin support, from comprehensive SLAs to customer support?
• Do they provide convenient installation and deployment?
• Are they equipped with strong security infrastructure?
• Are the pricing schemes suitable for your budget?

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You don’t have to spend millions to migrate your business into the cloud. At Taazaa, we can help you achieve the benefits of cloud computing through our tried and tested digital solutions. These range from enterprise software, mobile app development software, software engineer services, software developer outsourcing, custom SaaS product development, data engineering and analytics, web development and more.

We’re a custom software development company that offers product development as our key service. Our expertise in tech—including IoT, AI and machine learning, mobile app technology, and more—allows us to empower enterprises like yours and kickstart your digital transformation. Reach out to us today to see how our solutions can work for you.