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Amazon EC2 vs Google App Engine comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EC2
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Compute Service (6th)
Google App Engine
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Cloud Services solutions, they serve different purposes. Amazon EC2 is designed for Compute Service and holds a mindshare of 5.7%, down 7.5% compared to last year.
Google App Engine, on the other hand, focuses on PaaS Clouds, holds 2.3% mindshare, up 2.1% since last year.
Compute Service
PaaS Clouds
 

Featured Reviews

KatlegoMabila - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers customization and flexibility with great support
Scalability depends on whether the client wants to scale up or scale down. It decreases resources based on demand. The great aspect of scalability is the flexibility to allow business success to optimize resource solutions and cost efficiency. Another crucial aspect of scalability is auto-scaling. When you have the opportunity to auto-scale, it can't always be available for everything. If you have chosen to integrate with auto-scaling, it's marvellous and doesn't require additional effort. Auto-scaling gives you the edge by using the capacity you have efficiently, scaling up or down as needed. These flexibilities within the EC2 feature instances of AWS play a crucial role in helping me utilize AWS EC2 Intelligent efficiently.
OmkarPatil - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplifies app development process for businesses
The product simplifies app development processes since once the local development is completed, my company has a common configuration in place where we can specify the requirements to run an application, after which we need to do a one-click GCP deployment for the entire application. In general, the two offer managed deployment options, so we don't have to worry about deployment. In my company, we just configure the servers and check if anything needs to be containerized, after which GCP handles everything for us. A project where Google App Engine scalability was essential was when, recently, my company was involved with Golang to build a web application, after which deploying that application on Google App Engine was really easy. In my company, we also had a Django application in Python, and it was easy to deploy. As my company deals with small-scale projects, the automated scaling feature of Google App Engine is not something we thought about. I wouldn't recommend the product to others unless the potential end users use GCP and have a word with their vendors about their plans. One specific recommendation from me would be that the product's potential uses should stick with a particular vendor. If someone wants a product that is easy to deploy and scalable, then multiple options are available in the market. The product integrates very well with other Google solutions. I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Amazon EC2's flexibility and ease of configuration were found to be very valuable."
"I would recommend this solution to others who want to start using it."
"The greatest benefit of Amazon EC2 is its versatility, including the diverse range of servers available and the ability to connect to various resources."
"EC2 provides a lot of flexibility. If you don't want to have a separate on-premise database, you can put it on the cloud with EC2. You can adjust the instance type according to your needs. You select a size and get a certain amount of specific memory, CPUs, etc. You set the redirect limit, and from there, you install the software, database servers, application servers, and whatever you want."
"The product is very mature and organized."
"The ethernet configuration is stable and the product is reliable."
"The Key Management Service (KMS) feature is very helpful for security. It encrypts the data that is being saved. Cloud storage is also very helpful, and it could be AWS S3, which a lot of people use."
"We don't have to worry about scalability issues or maintenance or security. It's all taken care of."
"Administering App Engine is simple; it has intuitive UIs and a very scalable app engine."
"It is simple to use. It is much simpler than AWS. It is also very powerful."
"The product's initial setup phase was straightforward, considering that there is good documentation explaining the implementation part of it."
"The zero infrastructure management is valuable, allowing me to focus on the code rather than the service."
"Seurity features - unauthorized individuals are unable to access certain applications."
"Its ability to integrate with most devices helps users who have different or old devices."
"Google App Engine's most valuable feature is self-management. You do not have to manage the infrastructure underneath where all the functions are happening, such as load balancing deployment and version management, they are managed by the system itself."
"The initial setup is okay. It's not too complex. Deployment took about one day."
 

Cons

"I would like to see improvement in the information available up-front for users around tailoring the package to their actual requirements. At present it can take time to work with the on demand instance until you are used to what features are right for the user."
"One of the challenges is the AMI upgrades."
"I would like to see more variety in the operating system images used to create test environments in EC2. There should be more versions and releases. Sometimes, you want to test an update from an old release to a higher version, but you can’t do that with the new images available. You have to use your own."
"The only issue with EC2 is that it makes it difficult to install an LLS certificate on your WordPress website that you have deployed inside that virtual machine. That becomes complicated."
"The availability and response time of the free technical support can be improved."
"If the solution was cheaper, if the price was less, it would be better."
"Its price can be reduced."
"EC2 is a little expensive."
"Difficult to assess how pricing is managed."
"The only concern is that there is a number of the offerings which are built on their own proprietary technologies. With some of the offerings in Google Cloud, it's difficult to have a path to migrate to other cloud providers."
"The support for the Indian region is not as good as compared to the support that is offered to the regions in Europe."
"The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"I am limited to sending a photo to five people. I want to be able to send a photo to many people, not just five."
"Data consumption of the device could be improved."
"Some features of runtime don't work well in App Engine."
"I would like a simpler deployment tool on laptops. It is a bit complicated at the moment. We know how to do it, but it could be easier to deploy it on laptops."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not an expensive solution."
"I use the free tier, although I have paid for some services that are not free. The overall cost of this solution depends on the services you use."
"The price of Amazon EC2 could improve. The Google Cloud Platform is more cost-effective."
"Amazon EC2 has a pay-as-you-use cost model."
"It's expensive, and it could be cheaper."
"The price can be improved."
"The use of Amazon EC2 does not incur any licensing fees."
"You pay as you use it."
"We pay the license yearly. It's about $6 a month, which is $72 a year per person, so it's about $500."
"If we don't know how to work with the tool, we might have some spikes in price."
"I would like to have more free application with it. Some of the applications, I am paying more for them. I think that they must be free."
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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
Computer Software Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
6%
Educational Organization
17%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EC2?
The scalability and elasticity are helpful.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EC2?
I'm going to mention again that there is quite a bit of complexity within the pricing of EC2 instances. I'm just going to give it six out of ten since there are various standards, upfront and commi...
What needs improvement with Amazon EC2?
There is not much to be improved or enhanced. One of the things that need to be looked into is the complex pricing, which is rather intense. Sometimes, clients don't understand the structures. Thes...
What do you like most about Google App Engine?
The product's setup and deployment phases are easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google App Engine?
If we don't know how to work with the tool, we might have some spikes in price. It will increase a lot of our bill. I rate the pricing a six out of ten.
What needs improvement with Google App Engine?
The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, EC2
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Netflix, Expedia, TimeInc., Novaris, airbnb, Lamborghini
Khan Academy, Best Buy, Gigya, MetOffice, Getaround, Mimiboard, NewsLimited, WebFilings, and CloudLock.
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