AWS vs Azure vs GCP: a guide for choosing your business cloud

In a market that rewards agility, rapid adaptation, and the ability to scale when demand grows, adopting the cloud is no longer simply an IT decision, but a strategic choice that directly influences competitiveness and business results.

As we explored in depth in our guide on cloud transformation, companies that successfully integrate cloud technologies into their processes achieve concrete results in terms of time-to-market speed, flexibility in resource allocation, and support for continuous innovation.

A strategic choice: cloud models and key market players

To navigate the market correctly, it's useful to first understand the three main cloud computing models: Public Cloud, Private Cloud, and Hybrid Cloud. Let's start with this simple distinction.

• Public Cloud means the infrastructure resides on shared platforms managed by an external provider, making it ideal for startups or e-commerce businesses that need to scale rapidly without high initial investments.
• Private Cloud, on the other hand, is reserved for a single company (or group) that directly manages the infrastructure or outsources it: this option becomes relevant when compliance, security, or absolute control of data represent business priorities.
• Hybrid Cloud combines the two models, allowing critical workloads to be managed in a private environment while leveraging the benefits of public cloud for variable loads or innovative services: a fantastic mix that, however, requires skills and orchestration.

Having clarified the different infrastructure models (you can explore further in this article), the next obvious question is: which provider should you choose? In the global market, players like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform stand out, capable of offering a wide range of services, a widespread geographical presence, and the solidity of a mature ecosystem. But how do you navigate these options without getting lost in technicalities?

Alongside the big names, Alibaba Cloud also deserves attention, the undisputed leader in the Asian market and a strategic partner for all those companies looking with interest at internationalization in China and the Asia-Pacific region. A concrete example? Caleffi, a company that, with the goal of strengthening its digital presence in China, chose a multi-cloud approach together with the SparkFabrik team (details can be found in our case study: Caleffi Hydronic Solutions).

Cost analysis: comparing pricing models 

Once you've understood the models and main providers, a often decisive aspect in the choice comes into play: the cost structure. Understanding the different pricing models is essential, both for those evaluating cloud migration and for more mature companies wanting to expand their infrastructure consciously. The topic concerns IT Managers, CTOs, or even Marketing Managers of e-commerce businesses planning large-scale digital investments.

The three main models worth keeping in mind are pay-as-you-go, reserved instances, and volume-based discounts. Here's how they differ:

• The pay-as-you-go model allows you to pay only for resources actually consumed, ideal for startups or projects with variable demand.
• Reserved instances, with one or more year commitments, offer significant discounts if you anticipate constant usage.
• Finally, volume-based discounts reward those who reach high usage or purchase thresholds through Enterprise contracts.

Beyond pricing models, price as we mentioned is one of the aspects that attracts the most attention when choosing a business cloud. So which is the most cost-effective provider: AWS, Azure, or GCP? In reality, in most cases, pricing doesn't represent a real differentiating factor. For equivalent usage scenarios, in fact, the main platforms offer very similar rates, at least in the most consolidated markets.

However, some variations emerge looking eastward. Alibaba Cloud, for example, offers significant advantages in the Asian context or for specific workloads, confirming itself as a strategic choice for those targeting those markets.

It's important to emphasize that simply comparing prices of individual resources isn't enough to determine overall cost-effectiveness: pricing must always be part of a broader evaluation, taking into account both technical needs and anticipated growth dynamics.

On this note, before continuing with the provider comparison, we think you might be interested in exploring the ebook we created based on our experience in Cloud Transformation projects for SMEs and Enterprise companies. Discover which cloud solutions to choose to remain competitive and keep pace with continuous market demands (ebook in Italian).

Main features and services: what each provider offers 

Features are fully part of the "broader picture" to evaluate beyond price. To facilitate navigation among the many possibilities, in the following table you'll find a concise comparison of the three main providers (AWS, Azure, and GCP — divided by functional areas.

Compute (Macchine Virtuali, Serverless) 

Storage & Database 

Networking 

AI & Machine Learning 

What emerges from this comparison? In summary, the choice of ideal provider depends on context and business objectives.

AWS stands out for scalability and variety of services: it's often the preferred solution for startups, e-commerce with demand peaks, and companies seeking reliable, resilient, and global infrastructure.

Azure, for its part, represents the natural choice for organizations already structured on the Microsoft ecosystem, focused on continuity, native integration, and smooth transition from on-premises to cloud.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP), finally, offers advantages in customization, advanced analytics, and data-driven solutions.

Security and compliance: how providers protect your business data

And security? When it comes to cloud, security is in all respects an essential requirement that impacts, among other things, business continuity. A fundamental concept to understand in cloud and security is the shared responsibility model. A model in which the cloud provider assumes responsibility for the security of physical infrastructure, network, and virtualization, while the customer company remains responsible for security in the cloud; that is, data, applications, configurations, and user access.

But how does this translate into practice? The main cloud providers continuously invest to offer tools, certifications, and standards that help companies ensure security and compliance, each with its peculiarities and strengths:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) supports over 140 standards and certifications, including PCI-DSS, HIPAA/HITECH, FedRAMP, GDPR, and FIPS 140-3.
• Microsoft Azure has broad support for regional and local requirements, and places strong emphasis on data compliance and integrated identity within its ecosystem.
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has certifications in privacy areas like GDPR/CCPA and offers well-documented "shared responsibility," with native security tools to help customers meet their share.

Beyond standards, it's fundamental to evaluate where data resides: the ability to choose the region or data center where workloads are executed is now a decisive point for meeting European regulations (and beyond). From the perspective of localization and regulatory compliance, it's important to consider in which region or data center workloads are executed. All three providers offer the ability to select European regions, and specifically in Italy.

To explore in a dedicated way best practices and guidelines for protecting business data in the cloud, we refer you to the guide on Cloud Security, where we answer an increasingly urgent question: how to protect data in the cloud era?

Performance and scalability to support your growth 

Once data security and compliance in the cloud are guaranteed, the next step concerns the ability to grow your infrastructure without compromising performance. When a company needs to handle more users, launch new services, or face traffic peaks, it's fundamental that the chosen cloud offers global presence and the ability to scale: this is where concepts like number of regions and availability zones represent the operational foundation. A region is a distinct geographical area, while a zone is an isolated sub-area within the region, connected with reduced latency and designed to ensure high availability.

If the company uses a cloud with geographically distributed presence, it can place services and applications in the region closest to its users to ensure low latency, or in multiple zones to guarantee resilience and higher uptime.

In terms of geographical and infrastructure coverage, here's how the three main providers position themselves:

• AWS reports a network composed of over 120 Availability Zones distributed across 38 global geographical regions.
• Microsoft Azure boasts availability in more than 46 regions (with additional regions coming) and support for Availability Zones designed for latency below 2 ms between zones in the same region.
• Google Cloud Platform operates in locations in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Australia, with regions and zones designed to offer scalability and availability.

In summary, AWS is currently the provider with the widest geographical coverage globally, thanks to the high number of regions and availability zones already operational. Azure follows closely with constant growth and widespread presence, especially in Europe and rapidly developing areas. Google Cloud Platform offers broad international distribution, particularly appreciated for its ability to bring performance-driven services to all major areas of the world.

This vast coverage allows all three platforms to offer high performance globally, but AWS, on paper, remains the reference point for those seeking maximum geographical distribution and enterprise-level resilience.

How to Choose the Right Provider: Our Field Experience 

After exploring in detail the main evaluation criteria, it becomes evident how much the comparison between cloud providers is a complex process, requiring a broad vision and deep technical and business knowledge. Precisely for this reason, relying on a specialized company like SparkFabrik can make the difference: our role as a strategic partner allows us to support the client both in the objective evaluation of solutions offered by AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, and in choosing the most coherent path with respect to the real needs and digital transformation objectives of the organization.

In our approach, provider selection is never limited to a "technological" choice, but also takes into account organizational context, business priorities, and level of digital maturity. Here are three practical examples where we supported our clients in choosing the best solution. In the table below you'll find three different scenarios, to which we've associated the most suitable provider and the case study that tells the story of the project we realized.

Scenario 1: Provider AWS

Scenario 2: microsoft azure

Scenario 3: google cloud platform

The Hybrid and Multicloud approach: the flexibility of AWS, Azure, and GCP  

Do you really have to choose just one provider? The answer obviously is no. In business reality, the cloud choice doesn't have to be "all or nothing." Often the most effective strategy involves a mix, combining a primary provider with on-premises extensions or other clouds.

If you want to explore advantages, risks, and real use cases of these strategies, you'll find a complete analysis in our guide Pros and Cons of Multi-Cloud: Is It Right for Your Company? A parallel analysis is also available in the guide on What is Hybrid Cloud: When to Choose It, Examples, Advantages. If, instead, you're interested in understanding how to orchestrate a multicloud environment efficiently, you can consult the in-depth article Multi-cloud Orchestration: Tips.

Returning to the comparison between Amazon aws vs azure vs GCP: below you'll find a table showing, for each provider, the main offering in terms of hybrid/multicloud and how these solutions respond to the needs of scalability, governance, and integration of enterprise IT.

AWS

Azure

Google Cloud Platform 

Beyond comparison: the strategic partner for your cloud transformation 

Choosing the most suitable cloud provider, as we've seen in the comparison between AWS, Azure, GCP, and Alibaba, represents only the starting point in a broader cloud transformation journey. The real value isn't exhausted with the chosen platform, but is built over time thanks to an articulated strategy of adoption, management, and optimization capable of adapting to your business evolutions.

To face this challenge, relying on specialized skills like those of the SparkFabrik team can facilitate not only the solution selection, but also the management of all subsequent phases: from architecture design to daily management, to continuous optimization of performance and costs. Approaches like Managed Cloud Services and the adoption of dedicated DevOps platforms allow reducing complexity and freeing resources for the most strategic business areas.

If you want to evaluate a cloud transformation path tailored to your company, you can request a consultation and explore the options most suited to your scenario.