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Google App Engine vs Microsoft Azure comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.4
Google App Engine ROI varied, with cost reductions and efficiency gains, largely depending on user expertise and deployment strategies.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Azure saves costs and boosts efficiency with scalable cloud services, pay-as-you-go pricing, and reduced maintenance expenses.
Once we deployed this same application as part of Google App Engine, the cost drastically reduced to just $120 for the small instance we use for our development.
Operationally, it was efficient for us because we could easily spin up new versions to demonstrate new functionality without modifying the original environment.
Google App Engine offers discounts for high resource utilization, similar to committed use discounts for Compute Engine.
The value for money is good, and Microsoft Azure has positively impacted our operational costs.
When we use Microsoft Azure, it provides enhanced security from our perspective, though I am not certain about the financial return on investment or benefits for our users as I do not have that information.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.6
Google App Engine support varies; some users praise quick help, while others experience delays, relying on documentation or tiered support.
Sentiment score
6.5
Customer service is mixed; paid support is praised for responsiveness, while free options may face delays and complexity.
They route us toward the appropriate team handling Google App Engine or other services, so when there is an issue, the respective team connects and provides support.
The technical support was very quick and responsive, with a direct team line available.
Technical support for Google App Engine is efficient and offers a brilliant solution.
The support from Microsoft Azure is good.
Regarding technical support from Microsoft, I find they are responsive and helpful, depending on which support package you're on.
I rate technical support as excellent because we have not experienced many problems when calling for assistance.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Google App Engine is praised for its scalability, automatic scaling, seamless load handling, and integration with third-party applications.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Azure excels in scalability and flexibility, supporting various workloads, though cost and limitations may concern some users.
I would rate the scalability as nine out of ten, appreciating its design that does not require much attention to scaling configurations or costs.
Google App Engine scales well in the standard environment, which automatically handles traffic without manual scaling.
Google App Engine is highly scalable and can integrate easily with other applications.
Microsoft Azure is not just one product; it is a platform with multiple products within Microsoft Azure, and I would say it is scalable and would rate it a nine.
The scalability of Microsoft Azure is excellent for growth and adaptation, depending on company requirements.
Scalability with Microsoft Azure is amazing, which is a primary reason for using cloud solutions.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Users find Google App Engine stable and reliable, with rare network issues and minimal maintenance needed for consistent performance.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Azure is highly reliable and scalable, despite occasional outages; users confidently rate it high for stability and performance.
I have not experienced any crashing or instability with Google App Engine.
However, large code bases can still cause it to slow down.
I would rate the stability of Google App Engine a perfect 10 out of 10, as it is completely managed by Google.
Microsoft Azure is quite stable, but recent outages and security issues have slightly decreased my confidence.
 

Room For Improvement

Google App Engine struggles with high costs, limited language support, complex migration, inadequate documentation, and restrictive platform features.
Microsoft Azure needs pricing transparency, intuitive interface, improved support, better technical features, and refined management tools for users.
It would be beneficial if Flex services could scale down to zero instances during periods of no traffic.
The pricing is higher compared to alternatives like Kubernetes and Compute Engine.
In the Flex environment, SSH access is not available for private instances.
Recent outages and security issues are also a concern, causing a decrease in confidence, especially when partnering with third-party companies.
The administrative side is suitable for technical people, but our finance and HR super users find it less user-friendly, as they prefer drag-and-drop features to build their own solutions without contacting IT.
There is still room for improvement in terms of pricing.
 

Setup Cost

Google App Engine offers flexible pricing, affordable for front-end applications, but costs rise with increased usage and advanced features.
Microsoft Azure offers flexible, competitive pricing, yet complexity makes AWS and GCP potentially more cost-effective for enterprises.
For F1 usage with 256 MB, it is free.
My GCP billing is about 10 lakh INR per month, and Google App Engine contributes only 25,000 to 30,000 INR.
The pricing of Google App Engine largely depends on the features chosen; if we opt for the standard edition, it is less expensive, while the flexible option incurs more costs due to always having an instance running.
Microsoft solutions might be cheaper than some services like AWS, but some solutions may be more expensive depending on the services compared.
Copilot is expensive based on recent pricing for our POC.
Regarding the pricing for Microsoft Azure services, I would rate our satisfaction as very good.
 

Valuable Features

Google App Engine provides serverless, scalable app development with easy integration, enhancing productivity and security without infrastructure management.
Microsoft Azure offers flexibility, scalability, global presence, integration, security, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness for enhanced organizational infrastructure.
The solution offers scalability, autoscaling based on user demand, and security, as Google manages all updates and security patches.
Google App Engine offers a cloud-based solution for free, especially for Java, making it a cost-effective option compared to expensive VMs.
I also appreciate the Google App Engine standard environment because it handles traffic scaling without manual intervention.
Power BI, another feature of Azure, is extremely elegant and has robust features that support forecasting using R and Python.
Data integrations are particularly effective on Microsoft Azure, especially with our banner services that we automate through Power Automate.
Microsoft Azure's scalability feature obviously supports business growth by scaling with the growth of the business, which is great, and it also scales with your requirements and aligns with your data strategies.
 

Categories and Ranking

Google App Engine
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
316
Ranking in other categories
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the PaaS Clouds category, the mindshare of Google App Engine is 2.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure is 18.8%, down from 19.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
PaaS Clouds Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Azure18.8%
Google App Engine2.1%
Other79.1%
PaaS Clouds
 

Featured Reviews

Chandra Shekar Reddy Arrabolu - PeerSpot reviewer
Effortless server management and automatic scaling boost productivity
The error logging system in Google App Engine could be enhanced. While there are troubleshooting documents with Google-defined error logs, identifying the exact root cause can be challenging. Often, issues must be escalated through support to product engineering teams who access internal logs for resolution. Increasing the visibility of logging would help users identify issues more easily. Regarding runtimes, the validity period limitations can be problematic. When companies use legacy applications, migrating to new versions requires significant code changes and isn't always a simple lift-and-shift operation. Google App Engine should consider continuing to provide security patches for legacy applications, especially for customers with substantial billing. The manual scaling feature needs improvement, as it isn't available for all runtimes. Adding this capability across all runtimes would be beneficial for controlling instance scaling within specific parameters.
Nicolas Chabrier - PeerSpot reviewer
Promotes clear, logical structures preventing impractical configurations and offers seamless integration
The only thing is regarding the management of multi-cloud environments. That's not really possible. So basically, it's wonderful if you manage Microsoft clearly and if you manage Microsoft Azure, but if you need to consume external services and have a global overview of all your consumption, it's not the case. Google, for instance, has tools that help you manage multiple environments, which makes sense because Google is really the cloud provider. So that's why they need to be compliant with the others. But for sure, Microsoft's approach is different, and it's wonderful when you're one hundred percent on Azure. But if you'd like to have something more of a multi-cloud strategy, that's a bit of a gap where they could improve.
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Comparison Review

it_user8586 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 14, 2013
Amazon vs Rackspace vs Microsoft vs Google: Cloud Hosting Services Comparison
Amazon Web Services, Rackspace OpenStack, Microsoft Windows Azure and Google are the major cloud hosting and storage service providers. Athough Amazon is top of them and is oldest in cloud market, Rackspace, Microsoft and Google are giving tough competition to each other and to Amazon also for…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Educational Organization
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business136
Midsize Enterprise52
Large Enterprise146
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google App Engine?
The product's setup and deployment phases are easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google App Engine?
I haven't been involved on the pricing side, so I'm not exactly aware of the costs, although we did analyze log retention costs, but overall, I'm not sure how Google App Engine compares to other pr...
What needs improvement with Google App Engine?
I have not yet used the real-time logging feature.
Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?
IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity ...
Which is better - SAP Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?
One of the best features of SAP Cloud Platform is that it is web-based and you can log in from anywhere in the world. SAP Cloud Platform is suitable for companies of any size; it works well with bo...
How does Microsoft Azure compare to Google Firebase?
I would recommend Google Firebase instead of Microsoft Azure, simply for the array of features that it has to offer. In particular, the Firebase library grants you access to a shared data structure...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Khan Academy, Best Buy, Gigya, MetOffice, Getaround, Mimiboard, NewsLimited, WebFilings, and CloudLock.
BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.
Find out what your peers are saying about Google App Engine vs. Microsoft Azure and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
866,218 professionals have used our research since 2012.