Which is better - AWS, or GCP?

Cloud Computing Services have become a necessity for most enterprises. The amount of data being collected, stored, and processed in public cloud computing has become a game-changer. Offering services like computing, storage, database, management, artificial intelligence, and many more, these services’ breadth and width span beyond one’s imagination.

If you were to dive into the market for a reliable cloud computing service provider, you'd find three sought-after services called AWS, GCP, and Azure. The three are cloud services provided by Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, respectively, but we will compare AWS against GCP in this article.

AWS - Amazon Web Services

Begun in the year 2002, AWS or Amazon Web Services is an Amazon branch that provides cloud computing services to enterprises, individuals, and governments alike. The services it offers include management, database computing, storage, networking, analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), etc., to 22 geographical locations, with each one having multiple availability zones.

GCP - Google Cloud Platform

GCP or Google Cloud Platform was six years after the inception of AWS and since then stretched its services to 20 geographical regions. Like AWS, Google Cloud is also a public cloud computing service provider that offers the same benefits and is divided into IaaS, SaaS, and Serverless Computing.

AWS or GCP?

With the two platforms competing in the market, it can be difficult to select between them. Like 90% of the enterprises today, you could take the services of two different cloud platforms, but your budget may not permit so, so you need to choose one out of the lot.

It isn't feasible to compare every feature of each service provider, but we will reach a few major ones to reach an acceptable conclusion.

1. Storage Services

Storage services are thought of as the primary purpose of a cloud service. Enterprises that have a large amount of data use these services to store them in a secure location. To maintain the security and durability of that data, GCP provides data encryption and redundancy.

By far, the most convincing feature Google Cloud offers is OLM, short for Object Lifecycle Management. OLM automatically transitions to a lower-priced storage option based on your criteria, saving you some considerable amount.

AWS provides a long list of storage options like S3, EBS, Import/Export data through CloudFront, Amazon Glacier for Archived Storage, and Amazon Gateway for Hybrid Solutions. AWS uses a temporary storage service where the storage is allocated when an instance is created and destroyed when the module is terminated.

2. Pricing

A very competitive factor when it comes to choosing between the two services is the pricing. Both platforms use a pay-to-go model that gives the user more flexibility and control over expenditure.

AWS charges by minute and offers three pricing options: on-demand, reserve, and spot. While GCP uses the same model, it uses methods like sustained usage discounts and preemptive virtual machines to give discounts and decrease costs.

While one offers undeniable pricing options that are budget-friendly, the other's sheer size and reach, plus a plethora of services, rival its position in the market. Choosing between the two is tough and finally comes down to your preferences and services that best suit your business line.

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