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Google Compute Engine vs Microsoft Azure comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Google Compute Engine
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
10th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.5
Number of Reviews
312
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Compute Engine is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure is 19.7%, up from 19.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Nicolas Chabrier - PeerSpot reviewer
Promotes clear, logical structures preventing impractical configurations and offers seamless integration
The only thing is regarding the management of multi-cloud environments. That's not really possible. So basically, it's wonderful if you manage Microsoft clearly and if you manage Microsoft Azure, but if you need to consume external services and have a global overview of all your consumption, it's not the case. Google, for instance, has tools that help you manage multiple environments, which makes sense because Google is really the cloud provider. So that's why they need to be compliant with the others. But for sure, Microsoft's approach is different, and it's wonderful when you're one hundred percent on Azure. But if you'd like to have something more of a multi-cloud strategy, that's a bit of a gap where they could improve.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"I recommend the tool to others since it has high availability features, scalability, and stability."
"Everything is simple and useful. The initial setup is not challenging."
"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."
"The most valuable feature is auto-scaling."
"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 have found the solution to be flexible, easy to use, and the documents are straightforward to understand."
"The solution is easy to manage within the cloud application, has good performance, and is secure."
"The solution's technical support was very good."
"The system is more secure, and this is valuable."
"The solution is useful for handling large amounts of data."
"Infrastructure as a service is most valuable."
"One of the best features is the last package security of upgrades to Microsoft Azure. Also, we like Azure's compatibility with other operating systems."
"Microsoft Azure has thousands of services and products."
 

Cons

"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."
"I would like to improve the solution’s UI while deploying a container. It is sometimes hard to figure out the container’s details and format that you want to deploy. The tool does not give you a guide to find out the error and why the container is not starting up which could be because you have configured it wrong. This is always a hit on the setup."
"It has some limitations. For example, you don't get through layer two connectivity. So I've had some difficulty deploying custom VMs. For example, you can't deploy a KVM file to file directly on GCP."
"I rate the product's stability around five to six out of ten."
"It would be better if there was an option to change the background. Like in Gmail, there's an option to change your theme."
"It is not very user-friendly for non-experienced users"
"The licensing process is not a very straightforward process."
"Google has a lack of focus on their products."
"Improvements are needed in Azure to enhance integration tools and support for effectively migrating and managing third-party dependencies."
"I would like to see improvement in the technical support. Sometimes it takes a long time."
"There should be more language options for the Azure Functions apps. It supports programming languages, but there are only a few options. It could have more programming languages."
"Integrate as a service. A lot of Microsoft software licensing options aren’t yet in Azure. Also, the ability to integrate with other technologies, such as other options on the market based on RISC Technologies."
"The quality of some components of Microsoft Azure is not that great. For example, Microsoft has not fixed issues in Microsoft Teams for many years. There are well-known issues that are submitted by customers two years ago and they still are not fixed."
"The technical support is good, but the response time is poor."
"Monitoring options should be more sophisticated, as there are dashboards on which a end user is able to pin a lot of charts and a number of web parts, but for example, I would love to have some option like in Operational Management Suite."
"The support subscription models need improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It's $60,000 to $70,000 a month to replace about $10,000 a month in data center costs."
"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."
"Google is providing money for learning Google Compute Engine. They offer a $300 free trial to new customers. Any beginner can easily get started."
"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."
"We are on an annual subscription. However, there are other options available."
"I am currently on a pay-as-you-go subscription and my customers are going to be on a three-year contract. For what is offered in the three-year package it is quite reasonably priced."
"The price of the solution could be reduced. There should be a loyalty cost reduction model. If customers have been using the service year after year they should receive a discount."
"It's an OPEX model, you pay as you go, or you can reserve funds."
"It's a metered environment, and it's pay-as-you-go. That's the big challenge with a metered environment."
"The cost structure is like most cloud-based services. The solution could be cheaper, it is always better to be cheaper."
"Its price should be optimized so that we can use more features."
"The cost could definitely be lower."
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Comparison Review

it_user8586 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 14, 2013
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
17%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Healthcare Company
9%
Educational Organization
43%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?
IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity ...
Which is better - SAP Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?
One of the best features of SAP Cloud Platform is that it is web-based and you can log in from anywhere in the world. SAP Cloud Platform is suitable for companies of any size; it works well with bo...
How does Microsoft Azure compare to Google Firebase?
I would recommend Google Firebase instead of Microsoft Azure, simply for the array of features that it has to offer. In particular, the Firebase library grants you access to a shared data structure...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Allthecooks, BetterCloud, Bluecore, Cosentry, Evite, Ezakus, HTC, Infectious Media, iStreamPlanet, Mendelics, SageMathCloud, Sedex, Treeptik, Wibigoo, Wix, zulily, Zync
BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Compute Engine vs. Microsoft Azure and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,192 professionals have used our research since 2012.