Google Compute Engine vs Microsoft Azure comparison

Google and Microsoft are both solutions in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category. Google is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.6, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.4. Google holds a 0.9% mindshare in ISI, compared to Microsoft’s 16.6% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Google Compute Engine

Read 16 Google Compute Engine reviews

625 Views
475 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure

Read 316 Microsoft Azure reviews

20,523 Views
10,877 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Google Compute Engine

Microsoft Azure

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 16, 2024

Microsoft Azure and Google Compute Engine compete in the cloud services category. Azure holds the upper hand due to its extensive global reach and a broad array of services.

Features: Microsoft Azure provides global data center availability, supports multiple languages, and offers robust application interface services. It's compatible with different frameworks and excels in hybrid cloud capabilities. Google Compute Engine focuses on flexibility and automation, key strengths being customizable VM configurations and cost-effective machine learning and storage options.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Azure could improve its pricing model clarity, integrations, and security features. Users seek more consistent console experience and better developer tools. Google Compute Engine may enhance its usability for non-technical users, multi-region support, and UI navigation for certain tasks.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Azure is recognized for quick deployment in hybrid and public cloud setups, though its feature complexity is noted. Customer support tends to be inconsistent. Google Compute Engine is praised for straightforward deployment and efficient customer service for technical issues.

Pricing and ROI: Azure's pricing is flexible but can become expensive without careful management; integration with Microsoft licenses offers cost reductions. Google Compute Engine uses a competitive pay-as-you-go model, having a cost advantage for specific workloads.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Compute Engine vs. Microsoft Azure Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Google Compute Engine vs. Microsoft Azure

July 2025

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Helped 865,164 peers since 2012

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

6.3

Compute Engine offers initial cost savings and performance boosts, but financial benefits and precise savings remain challenging to gauge.

Sentiment score

7.2

Microsoft Azure saves costs and boosts efficiency with scalable cloud services, pay-as-you-go pricing, and reduced maintenance expenses.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Google Compute Engine report

The value for money is good, and Microsoft Azure has positively impacted our operational costs.

HafizMuhammad

IT Support Specialist at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

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.

Flamur Prapashtica

Head of Security Management at Ipko Telecommunications

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.3

Google Compute Engine support receives mixed reviews; some praise responsiveness while others note inadequate assistance and delayed responses.

Sentiment score

6.5

Customer service is mixed; paid support is praised for responsiveness, while free options may face delays and complexity.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Google Compute Engine report

Regarding technical support from Microsoft, I find they are responsive and helpful, depending on which support package you're on.

Jurgens Els

Director at Apeiros Solutions

I rate technical support as excellent because we have not experienced many problems when calling for assistance.

Flamur Prapashtica

Head of Security Management at Ipko Telecommunications

The support from Microsoft Azure is good.

HafizMuhammad

IT Support Specialist at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

8.0

Google Compute Engine is scalable and versatile, suitable for varying workloads, with strong network and security features.

Sentiment score

7.8

Microsoft Azure excels in scalability and flexibility, supporting various workloads, though cost and limitations may concern some users.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Google Compute Engine report

The scalability of Microsoft Azure is excellent for growth and adaptation, depending on company requirements.

Flamur Prapashtica

Head of Security Management at Ipko Telecommunications

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.

Jurgens Els

Director at Apeiros Solutions

Scalability with Microsoft Azure is amazing, which is a primary reason for using cloud solutions.

reviewer3261598

Business Solutions Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.3

Google Compute Engine is highly reliable with a 99.99% SLA, frequently surpassing performance expectations and stability compared to competitors.

Sentiment score

7.8

Microsoft Azure is highly reliable and scalable, despite occasional outages; users confidently rate it high for stability and performance.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Google Compute Engine report

Microsoft Azure is quite stable, but recent outages and security issues have slightly decreased my confidence.

reviewer3261598

Business Solutions Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure report

Room For Improvement

Google Compute Engine users seek UI enhancements, expanded options, improved security, synchronization, and better support and marketing focus.

Microsoft Azure needs pricing transparency, intuitive interface, improved support, better technical features, and refined management tools for users.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Google Compute Engine report

There is still room for improvement in terms of pricing.

Jurgens Els

Director at Apeiros Solutions

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.

HafizMuhammad

IT Support Specialist at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

Recent outages and security issues are also a concern, causing a decrease in confidence, especially when partnering with third-party companies.

reviewer3261598

Business Solutions Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure report

Setup Cost

Google Compute Engine offers competitive, flexible pricing, often cheaper than Azure and AWS, with savings possible through resource optimization.

Microsoft Azure offers flexible, competitive pricing, yet complexity makes AWS and GCP potentially more cost-effective for enterprises.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Google Compute Engine report

Microsoft solutions might be cheaper than some services like AWS, but some solutions may be more expensive depending on the services compared.

reviewer3261598

Business Solutions Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Copilot is expensive based on recent pricing for our POC.

HafizMuhammad

IT Support Specialist at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

Regarding the pricing for Microsoft Azure services, I would rate our satisfaction as very good.

Flamur Prapashtica

Head of Security Management at Ipko Telecommunications

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure report

Valuable Features

Google Compute Engine offers customizable VMs, scalability, cost-effectiveness, security features, and diverse compute and storage options.

Microsoft Azure offers flexibility, scalability, global presence, integration, security, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness for enhanced organizational infrastructure.

In GCP, there's a custom configuration feature unlike AWS and Azure.

reviewer2602254

Senior Cloud Engineer at Sprinklr

For more quotes and insights, download the Google Compute Engine report

Power BI, another feature of Azure, is extremely elegant and has robust features that support forecasting using R and Python.

reviewer3261598

Business Solutions Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

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.

Jurgens Els

Director at Apeiros Solutions

Data integrations are particularly effective on Microsoft Azure, especially with our banner services that we automate through Power Automate.

HafizMuhammad

IT Support Specialist at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure report

Categories and Ranking

Google Compute Engine

Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

10th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Azure

Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

316

Ranking in other categories

PaaS Clouds (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Compute Engine is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure is 16.6%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

Featured Reviews

WahyuKurniawan

Head of Software Engineering at Abarobotics.com

Reasonably priced and offers high availability features

The synchronization between two tools, meaning if I have another server outside Google Cloud, as far as I know, I cannot mimic the server in Google Cloud to another server outside Google Cloud. I don't know if Google has the above-mentioned features or not, and if it does have them, then maybe Google can help us set things right and how to make a server mimic either of the servers outside Google. With the hot swap features or if Google Cloud itself is down, we can replace the services with another server. Right now, I have another server outside Google as a backup of a production server. There should be synchronization between servers inside Google and those outside it. The high availability features in Google are only available in Google Compute Engine in different regions. If I have another server outside Google, the high availability features in Google cannot synchronize with such a server.

Read full review

Nicolas Chabrier

Cloud Strategy B2B leader at Sunrise UPC

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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Aug 14, 2013

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

26%

Computer Software Company

11%

Performing Arts

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Compute Engine?

Everything is simple and useful. The initial setup is not challenging.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Compute Engine?

Google resources are cheaper compared to AWS and Microsoft Azure. Among the three, Google is the cheapest option.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Compute Engine?

Google has a lack of focus on their products. They have many products in various areas of the market, but they do not productize or appeal to the market effectively. They should concentrate on prod...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware Cloud Foundation vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 33% of the time

Tencent Cloud vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 14% of the time

Amazon EC2 vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 13% of the time

Joyent Triton Compute vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 11% of the time

Google Cloud vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 9% of the time

More Google Compute Engine Competitors

Alibaba Cloud vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 12% of the time

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon AWS vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 9% of the time

SAP Cloud Platform vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 8% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Compute Engine

August 2025

Download Google Compute Engine product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure

August 2025

Download Microsoft Azure product report

Also Known As

No data available

Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure

Overview

Google Compute Engine delivers virtual machines running in Google's innovative data centers and worldwide fiber network. Compute Engine's tooling and workflow support enable scaling from single instances to global, load-balanced cloud computing.

Compute Engine's VMs boot quickly, come with persistent disk storage, and deliver consistent performance. Our virtual servers are available in many configurations including predefined sizes or the option to create Custom Machine Types optimized for your specific needs. Flexible pricing and automatic sustained use discounts make Compute Engine the leader in price/performance.

Google

Microsoft Azure integrates services and offers flexibility, ensuring compatibility with diverse environments. Its scalability, security, and cost-efficient features enhance deployment and management, making it ideal for infrastructure services and application hosting.

Azure provides a comprehensive suite of tools for application deployment, virtual machine management, and data analytics. It allows seamless integration with Power BI and offers a user-friendly interface supported by detailed documentation and technical support. Though users appreciate its capabilities, they sometimes face challenges with costs, setup, and interface complexity, alongside integration and performance issues. Frequent updates and a learning curve are also noted, though Azure's cloud-based security and scalability remain critical for disaster recovery and business continuity.

What are Azure's key features?

Integrated Services: Ensures compatibility with Microsoft and non-Microsoft environments.
Scalability: Supports growing business demands with flexible computing power.
Security: Offers robust cloud-based security features for data protection.
Cost Efficiency: Provides options that optimize costs for diverse requirements.
Application Deployment: Facilitates quick rollout of apps and services.

What benefits should users expect from Azure?

Operational Optimization: Allows companies to streamline processes effectively.
Innovative Efficiency: Empowers businesses to innovate with powerful tools.
Reliable Support: Backed by strong technical support and comprehensive documentation.
Flexible Cloud Solutions: Offers a range of options for cloud migrations and infrastructure management.

Microsoft Azure is widely implemented in industries like financial services, healthcare, and logistics for hosting enterprise applications and vital services. Companies utilize its capabilities for IoT applications, DevOps, and Kubernetes clusters, benefiting from its cloud migrations, data analytics, and active directory support.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Allthecooks, BetterCloud, Bluecore, Cosentry, Evite, Ezakus, HTC, Infectious Media, iStreamPlanet, Mendelics, SageMathCloud, Sedex, Treeptik, Wibigoo, Wix, zulily, Zync

BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.

Buyer's Guide

Google Compute Engine vs. Microsoft Azure

July 2025

Free Report: Google Compute Engine vs. Microsoft Azure

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