Azure VS Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

The cloud platform neighborhood is becoming crowded. Although multiple options are available, only a handful of products dominate the market. The top five vendors hold nearly 80% of the cloud market share. In this blog, we’ll compare two of the most popular platforms according to Gartner’s 2022 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure and Platform Services: Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. 

Microsoft Azure is the second largest cloud provider. It has become a top choice for many businesses looking for a platform as a service (PaaS) since it provides comprehensive end-to-end deliverables and offers robust solutions for developers. With its extensive support for Linux, it’s a leading choice for the Microsoft technology stack.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which comes in third, leads in infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and database as a service (DaaS). This fast-growing service has grown over 45% in 2020 and generates an estimated $13 billion in annual revenue. Google Cloud offers strong support for containers and Kubernetes and boasts the most advanced hybrid and multi-cloud platform, Google Anthos. 

(The number one cloud platform is currently Amazon Web Services [AWS]. To learn more about the difference between AWS and Azure, check out one of these blog posts: “Azure vs. AWS: The Best Bang for Your Buck” or “Azure vs. AWS.”)

Google vs. Azure: Pricing Benefits

Cloud pricing is notoriously complex and varies with the types of instances, storage, and more. To get an accurate cost picture of Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, potential customers should refer to their pricing calculators. Click here for Azure’s price calculator and here for Google’s price calculator. There are, however, some different cost benefits offered by the two cloud platforms. 

Some cost advantages that are unique to Google Cloud are: 

• Preemptible VM Instances can be used for jobs that don’t require high availability. This allows for discounts of up to 80%
• If the free tier is in use, a $300 credit is offered to try other services
• Long-term commitments are eligible for discounts of up to 57%
• A sustained-use discount of up to 30% is available if the same instance is used for most of a given month

Azure pricing benefits include:

• A 40% Azure Hybrid Benefit discount if Microsoft software is run on-premises
• Testing and development discounts for Visual Studio users
• Discounts on other services for those with a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA)
• Discounts for a one-to-three-year commitment 

Google Cloud vs. Azure: Object Storage and Block Storage

Storage directly impacts your operations, so a cloud provider’s disk types are important to understand. Two primary storage options are object storage and block storage. 

Azure’s block storage operates in page blobs that are stored on Azure VHDs and run on Azure VM. Google Cloud uses persistent disks with both SSD and HDD storage. These can be attached to instances that run on Google Kubernetes Engine or Compute Engine. Aside from their approaches to data storage, Azure’s VHDs and Google’s Compute Engine persistent disks are similar: each offers the ability to attach local disks if necessary, and each has network-attached disk volumes.

Object storage is also similar between Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Google Cloud offers Cloud Storage, while Azure provides Azure Blob Storage. Both Microsoft and Google support information that includes the date of last modification, media type, and object size, and both allow users to edit and add custom metadata fields. A couple of differences between these object storage implements include:

• Azure provides REST API, PowerShell, and CLI access
• Google uses Object Lifecycle Management to optimize price and performance

Of course, these are just two of the many ways that Azure and Google compare. For more information or clarification on specific details, reach out to Trusted Tech Team, via phone, email, or chat.