AWS vs Azure vs GCP

AWS (Amazon Web Services) vs Azure (Microsoft) vs GCP (Google Cloud Platform) – A Quick Comparison of the main services

Storage

Service type	Description	AWS	Azure	GCP
Object storage	For storing any files you regularly use	Simple Storage Service (S3)	Blob Storage	Cloud Storage Buckets
Archive storage	Low cost (but slower) storage for rarely used files	S3 Glacier Instant, Glacier Flexible, Glacier Deep Archive tiers	Blob Cool/Cold/Archive tiers	Cloud Storage Nearline, Coldline, Archive tiers
File storage	For storing files needing hierarchical organization	Elastic File System (EFS), FSx	Avers vFXT, Files	Filestore
Block storage	For storing groups of related files	Elastic Block Storage	Disk Storage	Persistent Disk
Hybrid storage	Move files between on-prem & cloud	Storage Gateway	StorSimple, Migrate	Storage Transfer Service
Edge/offline storage	Move offline data to the cloud	Snowball	Data Box	Transfer Appliance
Backup	Prevent data loss	Backup	Backup	Backup and Disaster Recovery

Database

Service type	Description	AWS	Azure	GCP
Relational DB management	Standard SQL DB (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, etc.)	Relational Database Service (RDS), Aurora	SQL, SQL Database	Cloud SQL, Cloud Spanner
NoSQL: Key-value	Redis-like DBs for semi-structured data	DynamoDB	Cosmos DB, Table storage	Cloud BigTable, Firestore
NoSQL: Document	MongoDB/CouchDB-like DBs for hierarchical JSON data	DocumentDB	Cosmos DB	Firestore, Firebase Realtime Database
NoSQL: Column store	Cassandra/HBase-like DBs for structured hierarchical data	Keyspaces	Cosmos DB	Cloud BigTable
NoSQL: Graph	Neo4j-like DBs for connected data	Neptune	N/A	N/A
Caching	Redis/Memcached-like memory for calculations	ElastiCache	Cache for Redis, HPC Cache	Memorystore
Time Series DB	DB tuned for time series data	Timestream	Time Series Insights	Cloud BigTable
Blockchain	Dogecoin, etc.	Managed Blockchain	Blockchain Service, Blockchain Workbench, Confidential Ledger	N/A

Compute

Service type	Description	AWS	Azure	GCP
Virtual machines	Software-emulated computers	Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)	Virtual Machines	Compute Engine
Spot virtual machines	Cost-effective VMs	EC2 Spot Instances	Spot Virtual Machines	Spot VMs
Autoscaling	Adjust resources to match demand	EC2 Auto Scaling	Virtual Machine Scale Sets	Instance Groups
Functions as a service (Serverless computing)	Execute code chunks without worrying about infrastructure	Lambda	Functions	Cloud Functions
Platform as a service	Manage applications without worrying about infrastructure	Elastic Beanstalk, Red Hat OpenShift on AWS	App Service, Cloud Services, Spring Cloud, Red Hat OpenShift	App Engine
Batch scheduling	Run code at specified times	Batch	Batch	Batch, Cloud Scheduler
Isolated servers	VM on your own machine, for high security	Dedicated Instances	Dedicated Host	Sole-tenant Nodes, Shielded VMs
On-premise/Edge devices	Cloud-services on your own hardware	Outposts, Snow Family	Modular Datacenter, Stack Hub, Stack HCI, Stack Edge	N/A
Quantum computing	Determine if cat is alive or dead	Braket	Quantum	N/A

Analytics

Service type	Description	AWS	Azure	GCP
Data Warehouse	Centralized platform for all your data	RedShift	Synapse Analytics	BigQuery
Big data platform	Run Spark, Hadoop, Hive, Presto, etc.	EMR	Data Explorer, HDInsight	Dataproc
Business analytics	Dashboards and visualization	Quicksight, FinSpace	Power BI Embedded, Graph Data Connect	Looker, Looker Studio, Vertex AI Workbench
Real-time analytics	Streaming data analytics	Kinesis Data Analytics, Kinesis Data Streams, Managed Streaming for Kafka	Stream Analytics, Event Hubs	Dataflow, Pub/Sub, Datastream
Extract-Transform-Load (ETL)	Preprocessing and importing data	Glue, Kinesis Data Firehose, SageMaker Data Wrangler	Data Factory	Data Fusion, Dataflow, Dataproc,Dataprep by Trifacta
Workflow orchestration	Build data and model pipelines	Data Pipeline, Managed Workflows for Airflow	Data Factory	Cloud Composer
Data lake creation	Import data into a lake	Lake Formation	Data Share	Cloud Storage
Managed search	Enterprise search	CloudSearch, OpenSearch Service, Kendra	Cognitive Search	Cloud Search
Data Catalog	Metadata management	Glue Data Catalog	Purview, Data Explorer	Data Catalog

ML & AI

Service type	Description	AWS	Azure	GCP
Machine Learning	Train, fit, validate, and deploy ML models	SageMaker	Machine Learning	Vertex AI
Jupyter notebooks	Write data analyses and reports	SageMaker Notebooks	Notebooks	Colab
Data science/machine learning VM	Virtual machines tailored to data work	Deep Learning AMIs	Data Science Virtual Machines	Deep Learning VM
AutoML	Automatically build ML models	SageMaker	Machine Learning Studio,Automated ML	Vertex AI Workbench
Natural language Processing AI	Analyze text data	Comprehend	Text Analytics	Natural Language AI
Recommendation AI	Product recommendation engine	Personalize	Personalizer	Recommendations AI
Document capture	Extract text from printed text & handwriting	Textract	Form Recognizer	Document AI
Computer vision	Image classification, object detection & other AI with image data	Rekognition, Panorama, Lookout for Vision	Cognitive Services for Vision	Vision AI
Speech to text	Speech transcription	Transcribe	Cognitive Services for Speech to Text, Cognitive Services for Speaker Recognition	Speech-to-Text
Text to speech	Speech generation	Polly	Cognitive Services for Text to Speech	Text-to-Speech
Translation AI	Convert text between human languages	Translate	Cognitive Services for Speech Translation, Translator	Translation AI
Video Intelligence	Video indexing and asset search	Rekognition Video	Video Indexer	Video Intelligence API
AI agents	Virtual assistants and chatbots	Lex, Alexa Skills kit	Bot Service, Cognitive Services for Conversational Language Understanding	Dialogflow
Human-in-the-loop	Human-based quality control for AI	Augmented AI (A2I)	Cognitive Services Content Monitor	N/A

Networking & Content Delivery

Service type	Description	AWS	Azure	GCP
Content delivery network	Serve content to users	CloudFront	Content Delivery Network	Cloud CDN and Media CDN
Application Programming Interface (API) management	Build and deploy APIs	API Gateway	API Apps, API Management	Apigee API Management
Domain Name System (DNS)	Route end users to applications	Route 53	DNS	Cloud DNS
Load balancing	Distribute work evenly across machines	Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)	Application Gateway, Load Balancer, Traffic Manager	Cloud Load Balancing

Containers

Service type	Description	AWS	Azure	GCP
Managed containers	Run and deploy containers	Elastic Kubernetes Service, Elastic Container Service	Kubernetes Service, Container Apps	Kubernetes Engine
Container registration	Manage container images	Elastic Container Registry	Container Registry	Artifact Registry

Management & Security, Identity

Service type	Description	AWS	Azure	GCP
Access management	User permissions and authentication	Identity and Access Management (IAM)	Entra ID	Cloud Identity
Activity tracking	Track user Activity	CloudTrail	Monitor Activity Log	Access Transparency and Access Approval
Security	Protect your data, network and applications	Security Hub	Security	Security Command Center
Monitoring	Monitor network traffic and detect anomalies	CloudWatch, Transit Gateway Network Manager	Monitor, Anomaly Detector	Operations, Network Intelligence Center
Automation	Preform processes automatically	OpsWorks	Automation	Compute Engine Management
Cost optimization	Reduce your cloud spend	Cost Optimization	Cost Management	Recommender

Integration

Feature / Service	Azure Integration Services	AWS	GCP
Primary Integration Services	Logic Apps, API Management, Service Bus, Event Grid	Step Functions, API Gateway, EventBridge, SNS, SQS	Cloud Functions, Apigee API Management, Pub/Sub, Cloud Tasks
Workflow Automation	Logic Apps	Step Functions	Workflows
API Management	API Management	API Gateway	Apigee
Event-Driven Architecture	Event Grid	EventBridge	Pub/Sub
Messaging & Queues	Service Bus	SQS & SNS	Cloud Pub/Sub
Serverless Functions	Azure Functions	AWS Lambda	Cloud Functions
Hybrid & On-Premises Connectivity	On-Premises Data Gateway	AWS Direct Connect	Cloud Interconnect
B2B & EDI Integration	Integration Account for Logic Apps	AWS Transfer Family (SFTP, FTPS, FTP)	Cloud Storage & Partner Solutions (no native EDI support)
Monitoring & Observability	Azure Monitor, Application Insights	Amazon CloudWatch, AWS X-Ray	Cloud Operations (Stackdriver)
Security & Compliance	Azure Security Center, Key Vault	AWS IAM, AWS KMS, AWS Shield	Google IAM, Security Command Center
Pricing Model	Azure Pricing (Logic Apps per execution, API Management tier-based)	AWS Pricing (API Gateway per million requests, Lambda per invocation)	GCP Pricing (Cloud Functions per execution, Pub/Sub per message)