just a comparison and buzzword cracker :)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Microsoft Azure Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Cheat Sheet
| Feature/Parameter | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Microsoft Azure | Google Cloud Platform (GCP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 | 2010 | 2008 |
| Parent Company | Amazon | Microsoft | |
| Global Market Share | ~32% (2024) | ~23% (2024) | ~10% (2024) |
| Core Strengths | Extensive services, global reach, and ecosystem | Enterprise integrations (Microsoft products), hybrid cloud | AI/ML capabilities, data analytics, cost-effectiveness |
| Data Center Regions | 32 regions, 99 availability zones | 60+ regions, 200+ data centers | 38 regions |
| Notable Customers | Netflix, Airbnb, NASA | Starbucks, HP, Adobe | Twitter, PayPal, Spotify |
| Pricing | Pay-as-you-go, savings plans, reserved instances | Pay-as-you-go, reserved pricing, hybrid benefits | Pay-as-you-go, committed-use discounts |
| Compute Services | EC2, Lambda (Serverless) | Virtual Machines (VMs), Azure Functions (Serverless) | Compute Engine, Cloud Functions |
| Storage Solutions | S3, EBS, Glacier | Azure Blob Storage, Azure Files | Cloud Storage, Persistent Disk |
| AI/ML Capabilities | Amazon SageMaker, Rekognition, Polly | Azure Machine Learning, Cognitive Services | TensorFlow, Vertex AI, AutoML |
| Hybrid Cloud | AWS Outposts | Azure Arc, Azure Stack | Anthos |
| Kubernetes Support | Amazon EKS | Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) | Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) |
| Networking | Amazon VPC, Route 53, CloudFront | Azure Virtual Network, Traffic Manager | VPC, Cloud DNS, Cloud CDN |
| Security & Compliance | IAM, KMS, CloudTrail, extensive compliance | Azure AD, Defender, and large compliance | IAM, Cloud Security Scanner, compliance |
| Developer Tools | CodePipeline, CodeBuild, Amplify | Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions | Cloud Build, Firebase |
| Big Data/Analytics | Redshift, EMR, QuickSight | Azure Synapse, HDInsight, Power BI | BigQuery, Dataflow, Looker |
| Free Tier | 12-month free tier + always free services | 12-month free tier + $200 credit | 90-day free tier + $300 credit |
| Ideal For | Large-scale enterprises, startups | Enterprise solutions, Microsoft ecosystems | AI/ML-focused projects, cost-conscious startups |
Detailed comparison of AWS, Azure, and GCP
| Category | AWS | Azure | Google Cloud (GCP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compute | Amazon EC2: Virtual servers AWS Lambda: Serverless functions | Azure Virtual Machines: Virtual servers Azure Functions: Serverless functions | Google Compute Engine: Virtual servers Google Cloud Functions: Serverless functions |
| Containers | Amazon ECS: Managed containers Amazon EKS: Kubernetes service | Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): Kubernetes service Azure Container Instances: Containers on demand | Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE): Kubernetes service Cloud Run: Fully managed serverless containers |
| Storage | Amazon S3: Object storage Amazon EBS: Block storage Amazon Glacier: Archival storage | Azure Blob Storage: Object storage Azure Disk Storage: Block storage Azure Archive Storage: Archival storage | Google Cloud Storage: Object storage Persistent Disk: Block storage Coldline Storage: Archival storage |
| Databases | Amazon RDS: Managed relational DB DynamoDB: NoSQL DB Aurora: High-performance DB | Azure SQL Database: Managed relational DB Cosmos DB: NoSQL DB Azure Database for MySQL/PostgreSQL | Cloud SQL: Managed relational DB Firestore: NoSQL DB Bigtable: Scalable NoSQL DB |
| Networking | Amazon VPC: Virtual private cloud Route 53: DNS CloudFront: CDN | Azure Virtual Network (VNet): Virtual private cloud Azure Traffic Manager: DNS Azure Front Door: CDN | Google VPC: Virtual private cloud Cloud DNS: DNS Cloud CDN: CDN |
| AI/ML | Amazon SageMaker: Build/train ML models Rekognition: Image recognition Polly: Text-to-speech | Azure Machine Learning: Build/train ML models Cognitive Services: Prebuilt AI APIs Azure Bot Services: Chatbots | Vertex AI: Build/train ML models AutoML: Prebuilt ML solutions Cloud Vision API: Image recognition |
| Big Data/Analytics | Amazon Redshift: Data warehouse AWS Glue: ETL service Amazon EMR: Big data processing | Azure Synapse Analytics: Data warehouse Azure Data Factory: ETL service HDInsight: Big data processing | BigQuery: Data warehouse Dataflow: ETL and stream processing Dataproc: Big data processing |
| Developer Tools | AWS CodePipeline: CI/CD AWS Amplify: Web and mobile apps AWS Cloud9: Cloud IDE | Azure DevOps: CI/CD and version control Visual Studio App Center: Mobile apps GitHub Actions: CI/CD (GitHub-owned) | Cloud Build: CI/CD Firebase: Web and mobile apps Cloud Source Repositories: Git hosting |
| Hybrid/Edge | AWS Outposts: On-premises hardware Local Zones: Low-latency zones | Azure Arc: Multi-cloud/hybrid management Azure Stack: On-premises hardware | Anthos: Multi-cloud and hybrid management Google Distributed Cloud: On-prem and edge |
| IoT | AWS IoT Core: IoT device management AWS Greengrass: Edge computing | Azure IoT Hub: IoT device management Azure IoT Edge: Edge computing | Cloud IoT Core: IoT device management Edge TPU: AI processing at the edge |
| Serverless | AWS Lambda: Serverless functions Amazon Step Functions: Workflow orchestration | Azure Functions: Serverless functions Logic Apps: Workflow orchestration | Cloud Functions: Serverless functions Workflows: Workflow orchestration |
| Content Delivery | Amazon CloudFront: CDN Elastic Load Balancer (ELB): Traffic distribution | Azure Front Door: CDN Azure Load Balancer: Traffic distribution | Cloud CDN: CDN Cloud Load Balancing: Traffic distribution |