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Google Cloud vs Microsoft Azure comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

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
5.7
Organizations achieve ROI by migrating to Google Cloud, reducing costs, enhancing efficiency, and leveraging cost-effective and free features.
Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Azure reduces costs with scalable services, pay-as-you-go model, and improved infrastructure, enhancing long-term returns and performance.
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
6.4
Google Cloud support varies, with mixed experiences; many value documentation, some prefer partners, and response improvements are needed.
Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft Azure's support is often effective, yet some face delays; higher-tier support and self-help resources improve experiences.
I consider them good partners when it comes to support.
We have consulted Google support several times, and we received a quick response.
Cloud support directly is not strong, but via partners is strong.
Microsoft needs to engage L3 and L2 in support when specified in service tickets.
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.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Google Cloud is praised for its scalability and affordability, suitable for enterprise use, despite some cost concerns.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Azure offers scalable solutions, but users face challenges with costs and resource limits, leading some to prefer competitors.
If I had to rate scalability from one to ten, I would rate it a nine as we have never faced any issues with scalability.
This solution is suitable for enterprise-level organizations, particularly in finance and healthcare domains where there is substantial data volume.
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.
It has different kinds of designs that allow for management and deployment in multi-zones, offering both scalable and non-scalable options.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Google Cloud is generally stable and reliable, though some users note limited issue visibility and minor performance differences.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Azure is stable with good uptime, though stability varies by configuration; users generally rate it highly.
We noticed a few critical servers went down due to a Microsoft Azure-end hardware issue.
We are now migrating clients without the zoning into mandatory multi-zone deployments, so if one zone goes down, their application and database remain live.
Microsoft Azure is quite stable, but recent outages and security issues have slightly decreased my confidence.
 

Room For Improvement

Google Cloud needs improved user-friendliness, cost transparency, multilingual resources, integration, security, and support for right-to-left languages.
Microsoft Azure users seek simplified pricing, improved security, better integration, enhanced documentation, responsive support, and intuitive management tools.
If the hierarchy or similarities were the same, that would help developers more conveniently migrate from a traditional SQL server to BigQuery.
Providing more hypervisors would be beneficial.
The logging could be improved; there's currently no intuitive way to filter logs on the Google console, especially for individuals who are not familiar with query languages.
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 Cloud's pricing is scalable and efficient but needs more flexibility, transparency, and modular offerings to satisfy users fully.
Microsoft Azure provides flexible pricing with pay-as-you-go, free tiers, and discounts, emphasizing cost-effectiveness despite complexity.
As far as I know, it is a little more expensive compared to other cloud options.
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.
They have discounts and also provide promotions for a three-year reservation which comes with significant discounts on the infrastructure part.
 

Valuable Features

Google Cloud offers ease of use, scalability, robust hosting, excellent security, and seamless service integration with global accessibility.
Microsoft Azure is praised for scalability, ease of use, diverse services, strong security, and seamless integration with various technologies.
The most valuable features of Google Cloud for us are the integration with Kubernetes, IAM, Istio integration, and Terraform capabilities.
If customers use different technologies within their environment, GCP cannot offer a full performance analysis covering all the disclosures.
We mainly use Google Cloud products that are centered around Data Warehouse, specifically BigQuery.
Power BI, another feature of Azure, is extremely elegant and has robust features that support forecasting using R and Python.
If Microsoft gives a report, such as a server performance report in a detailed way, which shows what is consuming more CPU, memory, and disk IO, and network utilization during a particular time, it would be helpful to visualize that information.
What is very interesting in terms of scalability is the automatic possibilities to provision some new machines to be able to absorb the number of users we have in the system.
 

Categories and Ranking

Google Cloud
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
4th
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
1st
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
321
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Cloud is 6.1%, down from 7.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure is 14.9%, down from 18.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Azure14.9%
Google Cloud6.1%
Other79.0%
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

Saurav Singh - PeerSpot reviewer
Integration with Kubernetes and flexibility improve our application deployment process
The logging could be improved; there's currently no intuitive way to filter logs on the Google console, especially for individuals who are not familiar with query languages. Our non-technical users find it difficult to access logs. Additionally, the user interface could be more user-friendly and intuitive compared to our previous experience with AWS.
Syed Abid  - PeerSpot reviewer
Versatile integrations and reliable customer satisfaction elevate cloud service experience
For Microsoft Azure improvement, they need to enhance their support system. The first level of support should be improved in terms of quality and response time. They need more technical support at the first level, as there are currently only one or two technical people among five to ten staff members at this level. They should ensure that the first level support is more technical because we normally provide services to technical users ourselves. When an issue arises, it usually escalates to the second or third level. When facing first level support, they may have limited knowledge and only collect screenshots to forward to their seniors. They should ensure that the first level support is aligned with L2 and L3 to better assist us, especially since we mention in the ticket that our issues are related to specific problems and require that sort of support.
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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…
 

Answers from the Community

ikextian - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 9, 2022
Jul 9, 2022
I have worked with AWS for 4 years now and I agree with the recommendation. If you make some research AWS will be shown as the top solution in many white papers. We made an evaluation to compare it with Google and Azure. In our case, AWS is the most cost-effective. Depending on the solution you are running you need to check the license cost for your servers. If you have a lot of Windows soluti...
See 2 answers
SZ
Jul 5, 2022
I have worked with AWS for 4 years now and I agree with the recommendation.  If you make some research AWS will be shown as the top solution in many white papers. We made an evaluation to compare it with Google and Azure. In our case, AWS is the most cost-effective. Depending on the solution you are running you need to check the license cost for your servers. If you have a lot of Windows solutions Azure may be a better fit.   Regarding performance, we did have an incident where the complete region was unreachable. So, make sure to consider recovery sites. 
WH
Jul 9, 2022
I would like to recommend MS Azure to start with.  The reasons are: 1. I bet you're using many Microsoft tools, like Office 365, Team, etc. so you're pretty familiar with the MS UX which is excellent. 2. It's easy to start/learn Azure and configurations, they have very detailed documentation online. 3. It's relatively cheaper with Azure IaaS with good starting numbers of notes/services.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
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 Business40
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise32
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business140
Midsize Enterprise53
Large Enterprise148
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Cloud?
Google Cloud is perceived as a cost-effective and user-friendly option, especially compared to AWS. The current affordability and ease of use make it suitable for medium-sized companies. While the ...
What needs improvement with Google Cloud?
Since I'm working with BigQuery, I had to invest time to become familiar with the system. As I was working in SQL server previously, I had an idea that we would have a server, and inside the server...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud?
I currently work with Google Cloud, mainly with BigQuery. I have recently started, approximately three months ago. I primarily use Google Cloud for BigQuery operations and data storage, similar to ...
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

Information Not Available
BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Cloud vs. Microsoft Azure and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.