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Google Cloud vs Google Compute Engine comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 16, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.1
Transitioning to Google Cloud boosts efficiency with faster deployments and reduced costs, despite unclear measurable returns.
Sentiment score
6.3
Compute Engine offers initial cost savings and performance boosts, but financial benefits and precise savings remain challenging to gauge.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
Users have mixed experiences with Google Cloud support; some praise efficiency, while others rely on external resources or partners.
Sentiment score
6.3
Google Compute Engine support receives mixed reviews; some praise responsiveness while others note inadequate assistance and delayed responses.
Cloud support directly is not strong, but via partners is strong.
Senior Account Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Google's technical support is highly expert and proficient.
IT Service Delivery Manager at NGK
I consider them good partners when it comes to support.
Presales Engineer at 2P - Perfect Presentation
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Google Cloud provides excellent scalability and integration, allowing businesses to easily manage growth, despite potential extra costs.
Sentiment score
8.0
Google Compute Engine is scalable and versatile, suitable for varying workloads, with strong network and security features.
Google Cloud is highly scalable, and we have not faced any issues with its scalability.
IT Service Delivery Manager at NGK
If I had to rate scalability from one to ten, I would rate it a nine as we have never faced any issues with scalability.
Technology Manager at Publicis Sapient
This solution is suitable for enterprise-level organizations, particularly in finance and healthcare domains where there is substantial data volume.
RPA developer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Google Cloud is highly stable, with users rating it highly despite occasional notifications and varying service speeds.
Sentiment score
8.3
Google Compute Engine is highly reliable with a 99.99% SLA, frequently surpassing performance expectations and stability compared to competitors.
 

Room For Improvement

Users criticize Google Cloud for its complexity, pricing, security, and integration, seeking enhanced usability, support, and cost efficiency.
Google Compute Engine users seek UI enhancements, expanded options, improved security, synchronization, and better support and marketing focus.
If the hierarchy or similarities were the same, that would help developers more conveniently migrate from a traditional SQL server to BigQuery.
RPA developer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
A localized cloud in the MENA region would also be very important for us because we are operating in the MENA.
Engineering Manager at a hospitality company with 11-50 employees
An area of improvement could be the release of products prior to general availability not being performant, as releasing to private preview occurs too soon before products are ready.
Senior Account Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

Google Cloud offers competitive, flexible pricing with reasonable costs, though some users seek better cost transparency and more storage options.
Google Compute Engine offers competitive, flexible pricing, often cheaper than Azure and AWS, with savings possible through resource optimization.
As far as I know, it is a little more expensive compared to other cloud options.
Presales Engineer at 2P - Perfect Presentation
Compared to buying new hardware, Google Cloud offers flexible options for scaling up or down, making it more convenient.
IT Service Delivery Manager at NGK
 

Valuable Features

Google Cloud excels with ease of use, scalability, and robust security, supporting diverse applications and efficient data analytics.
Google Compute Engine offers customizable VMs, scalability, cost-effectiveness, security features, and diverse compute and storage options.
The most valuable features of Google Cloud for us are the integration with Kubernetes, IAM, Istio integration, and Terraform capabilities.
Technology Manager at Publicis Sapient
If customers use different technologies within their environment, GCP cannot offer a full performance analysis covering all the disclosures.
Presales Engineer at 2P - Perfect Presentation
Identity and access management is a crucial functionality or service. It is fundamental in every cloud provider offering.
Engineering Manager at a hospitality company with 11-50 employees
In GCP, there's a custom configuration feature unlike AWS and Azure.
Senior Cloud Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Google Cloud
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (4th)
Google Compute Engine
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
14th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud is 4.2%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Compute Engine is 1.2%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Google Cloud4.2%
Google Compute Engine1.2%
Other94.6%
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Saurav Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Technology Manager at Publicis Sapient
Integration with Kubernetes and flexibility improve our application deployment process
The logging could be improved; there's currently no intuitive way to filter logs on the Google console, especially for individuals who are not familiar with query languages. Our non-technical users find it difficult to access logs. Additionally, the user interface could be more user-friendly and intuitive compared to our previous experience with AWS.
WahyuKurniawan - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Software Engineering at Abarobotics.com
Reasonably priced and offers high availability features
The synchronization between two tools, meaning if I have another server outside Google Cloud, as far as I know, I cannot mimic the server in Google Cloud to another server outside Google Cloud. I don't know if Google has the above-mentioned features or not, and if it does have them, then maybe Google can help us set things right and how to make a server mimic either of the servers outside Google. With the hot swap features or if Google Cloud itself is down, we can replace the services with another server. Right now, I have another server outside Google as a backup of a production server. There should be synchronization between servers inside Google and those outside it. 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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Educational Organization
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
33%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Performing Arts
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business42
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise32
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Cloud?
Google Cloud is perceived as a cost-effective and user-friendly option, especially compared to AWS. The current affordability and ease of use make it suitable for medium-sized companies. While the ...
What needs improvement with Google Cloud?
Currently, there are no specific functionalities or features I would like to see improved in Google Cloud. Everything is up and running smoothly, and we are working on integrating a couple of proje...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud?
Our primary use case for Google Cloud involves infrastructure management. We host several virtual machines (VMs), manage network infrastructure, and use Google Workspace along with a few applicatio...
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...
What is your primary use case for Google Compute Engine?
The main use case is for deploying any standard application. I simply use Compute Engine, which is comparable to a virtual machine. It is essentially a VM machine.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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 Google Cloud vs. Google Compute Engine and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
880,490 professionals have used our research since 2012.