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Amazon AWS vs Google Compute Engine comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon AWS
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
253
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (2nd)
Google Compute Engine
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
10th
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category, the mindshare of Amazon AWS is 20.6%, down from 25.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Compute Engine is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Arun Srivastav - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows for automatic scaling of resources and provides built-in firewalls and security features, eliminating the need for external security solutions
One thing that's a bit different is that we're still accustomed to speaking to someone directly. AWS doesn't offer that kind of support. It's only through bots. You're speaking to chatbots, and that can sometimes be frustrating because there's no person on the other side. AI is not a substitute for a person. AWS marketplace is very strong, but somehow AWS doesn't promote it much. They have a huge customer base across the globe, and if products were launched in their marketplace, they could sell like hotcakes. They should improve their marketplace and promote the same product across the globe. They can take a cut, but they should promote it. That's something they don't do very much. So, AWS should promote its marketplace software. The company should promote it aggressively. Currently, they keep it very subtle. If you ask for it, they'll help you out. But they don't seem to advertise, "You're building a product on our platform? Why don't you sell it in our marketplace?" Improvement in AI: AWS is a little behind Microsoft Azure in terms of AI. AWS is still getting there, but the kind of examples and help files available in Azure for AI are much better. So AWS still needs to work on its AI functionality.
Ivy W. - PeerSpot reviewer
A cost-effective and quite an elastic solution
I would say that Google Compute Engine is easy to use for skilled people and people with a tech background. For regular users who do not have experience with the cloud platform, it is not very user-friendly. If you wish to use Compute Engine, you must know a lot of technical terms such as availability, instance, and scalability. You also need to choose the proper instance for you. In my experience, there is a standard option, an advanced option, and a customized option for Google Compute Engine. You can choose the Compute Engine with high speed or with memory speed. All of this is too much for a person who is not tech-savvy. I am not sure whether they designed it like that on purpose or if they plan on improving it. I cannot think of any features that need to be upgraded.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"One of the features offered is scalability on demand."
"The installation process is very simple."
"It's a very flexible and customizable service"
"It improves the speed for us to access vendors."
"It's very user-friendly."
"Newly introduced features advance capabilities."
"It is easy to use."
"A scalable and secure product"
"The initial setup is reasonably straightforward. It's a handful of networks and a handful of computers."
"Google is managing all hardware. You don't need to provision or pre-provision your computer engine."
"The solution helps to direct SSH into the machine at the click of a button. It also helps to deploy container images right from the UI. There is no need to manage the containers on the machine. I also like the tool’s Spot provision model."
"Google Compute is highly scalable."
"The solution is readily available, and software engineers can provision it. It is scalable and allows self-service."
"The support for ephemeral instances has been particularly valuable for me. It allows me to significantly reduce costs for temporary virtual machines by automatically destroying them once they are no longer needed, which can result in cost savings of up to 90 percent. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."
"I recommend the tool to others since it has high availability features, scalability, and stability."
"One of GCE's best features is the managed instance groups."
 

Cons

"The price of the solution is comparatively quite high in comparison with that of Azure."
"This solution could be improved by a better licensing model, especially for third-party software. Amazon AWS could also potentially be improved by more free storage, but I think that it's okay when compared to competitors' products."
"The product would be better if it was more secure."
"The technical support package for free trial users should be built on and improved."
"The sorting model in AWS is a little bit complicated. When you are going through any component, you can get some surprising results."
"Some extensions are better than others."
"The customization could be improved."
"Their support can be improved. In some cases, their support is not as proficient as it can be. They should be quicker at getting back."
"I rate the product's stability around five to six out of ten."
"The biggest problem is that it's got a very archaean and complex security environment that has to be very carefully set up and is easy to break."
"The licensing process is not a very straightforward process."
"Google has a lack of focus on their products."
"The high availability features in Google are only available in Google Compute Engine in different regions. If I have another server outside Google, the high availability features in Google cannot synchronize with such a server."
"It is not very user-friendly for non-experienced users"
"There have been instances when a customer has tried to deploy a certain number of VMs inside a project, and they come across quota issues."
"It would be better if there was an option to change the background. Like in Gmail, there's an option to change your theme."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"A few of our customers pay for it yearly and monthly. Sometimes, when it's related to the data, the pricing seems to be high. It could be cheaper on a transactional basis."
"This is not an expensive product but it would be an improvement if the price were cheaper."
"The price could be better."
"The license for Amazon AWS is expensive. I am currently using the free version."
"One of the best thing in Amazon AWS is you are billed for the service you use."
"Some customers will provide their own license and others will purchase it directly from AWS."
"For our infrastructure, the cost is approximately $25 per device, and you have to include the other tools that we have in the cloud, for a total of approximately $200,000 per year."
"When it comes to professional certification in AWS, I implore others to study hard before your exams because $300 is a painful waste of money if you fail."
"It's $60,000 to $70,000 a month to replace about $10,000 a month in data center costs."
"Google Compute Engine's pricing is flexible and the best of all other alternatives."
"In terms of improvement, one is definitely the licensing piece. So there is a feature, the BYOL (Bring Your Own License) licensing piece, to bring your own license. It is not that straightforward. It requires some support from Google to get it sorted, access those licenses, and configure those licenses."
"I rate GCE's pricing a five out of ten since it's affordable."
"Google Compute Engine is not the least expensive solution. Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft One, are offering a less expensive solution. The price is based on usage. Whenever we use it, we have to pay for only usage. It is a pay-as-you-go model."
"The tool is reasonably priced, considering its scalability features. If we want to extend the server's capacity, we can do it, and I think it's reasonable."
"Google is providing money for learning Google Compute Engine. They offer a $300 free trial to new customers. Any beginner can easily get started."
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Comparison Review

it_user8586 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 14, 2013
Amazon vs Rackspace vs Microsoft vs Google: Cloud Hosting Services Comparison
Amazon Web Services, Rackspace OpenStack, Microsoft Windows Azure and Google are the major cloud hosting and storage service providers. Athough Amazon is top of them and is oldest in cloud market, Rackspace, Microsoft and Google are giving tough competition to each other and to Amazon also for…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
27%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
17%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Healthcare Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about Google Compute Engine?
Everything is simple and useful. The initial setup is not challenging.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Compute Engine?
Google resources are cheaper compared to AWS and Microsoft Azure. Among the three, Google is the cheapest option.
What needs improvement with Google Compute Engine?
Google has a lack of focus on their products. They have many products in various areas of the market, but they do not productize or appeal to the market effectively. They should concentrate on prod...
 

Also Known As

Amazon Web Services, AWS
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Pinterest, General Electric, Pfizer, Netflix, and Nasdaq.
Allthecooks, BetterCloud, Bluecore, Cosentry, Evite, Ezakus, HTC, Infectious Media, iStreamPlanet, Mendelics, SageMathCloud, Sedex, Treeptik, Wibigoo, Wix, zulily, Zync
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon AWS vs. Google Compute Engine and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,192 professionals have used our research since 2012.