Businesses have been steadily transitioning to the use of cloud computing services. From $380.25 billion in 2021, Precedence Research estimates the cloud computing market size will surpass the $1614.10 billion mark by 2030. Growing at a CAGR of 17.43%, it will become essential to a wide array of industries such as healthcare, finance, education, and manufacturing, among others.
One of the key advantages of cloud computing is that all major cloud service providers have data centers around the world, making them faster and more reliable. MongoDB’s post on cloud computing platforms enumerates Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) as the three main companies that dominate today’s playing field in terms of features and number of users. In this article, we’ll delve into the pros and cons of each one.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
AWS is the world’s largest provider of computing services accessible through the web. After offering its cloud computing infrastructure services back in 2008, it has grown to become a giant in the industry, capturing 67% of all users. Moreover, their no-cost service or the AWS free tier gives individuals, most especially developers, access to basic services including elastic compute cloud, container service, and simple cloud storage service.
One downside is that its cost structure can be quite complicated for some users, but cost control can be feasible if users take the time to thoroughly learn about it during the free tier stage. Otherwise, cost management can pose a problem for businesses running high volumes of work. The Amazon Web Services is the best option for enterprises that prefer to work on the public cloud, fully utilizing their large network of data centers.
Microsoft Azure
Another leader in the industry is Microsoft Azure thanks to its design that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft software. It also enjoys its reputation as a being hybrid-system friendly, making it a top choice for businesses that primarily run on Windows support and make use of its own data centers. The main benefit of running Azure is that your organization won’t have to start from scratch to run cloud-based workloads.
An enterprise might be using Microsoft cloud services like Teams, Office 365, Dynamics, Azure, or various combinations. So why is Azure still lagging behind AWS despite its features? Azure is an IaaS platform that moves your business’ compute power from data centers to the cloud. This requires expert management and platform expertise, and mistakes could cost businesses thousands. Nonetheless, Azure is still a top cloud computing provider worth looking into regardless of its downsides.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Similar to AWS and Azure, Google Cloud Platform offers storage, databases, computing and hosting, networking, big data, machine learning, and other similar services. Among these features, GCP stands out in big data, machine learning, and its data science capabilities. Moreover, Google Cloud customers can enjoy its open-source offerings without being wary of vendor lock-in. Google cloud has an annual revenue rate approaching $16 billion.
Being a newcomer in the playing field, GCP owns fewer data centers than AWS or Azure, and also offers a smaller range of tools. This limits its computing load, computing power, and storage capabilities. However, GCP is still a great option for DevOps firms as well as high-tech enterprises that need the latest tools. It’s also a top choice for businesses that prefer a well-balanced platform.
Conclusion
Overall, AWS, Azure, and GCP all have pros and cons to bring to the table. These three giants are expected to thrive as the technology for cloud computing continues to develop in the future. To learn more, check out the latest cloud computing news here at Tech Gloss.
