The decision of which cloud provider to use for your business can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to comparing costs. AWS EC2, Google Compute Engine, and Azure Virtual Machines are some of the most popular cloud computing platforms available today. In this article, we will compare the cost of using these three providers to help you make an informed decision.
Methodology
We will compare the cost of using AWS EC2, Google Compute Engine, and Azure Virtual Machines for a standard Linux virtual machine with 4 CPUs, 8GB of RAM, and 100GB of storage per month, running for 730 hours in a month.
AWS EC2
AWS EC2 offers a variety of instance types that cater to different workloads. For this comparison, we will use the m5.xlarge instance type that has 4 vCPUs, 16GB of RAM, and 100GB of storage. The cost of using an m5.xlarge instance in the US East (N. Virginia) region for 730 hours in a month is:
Instance Cost: $0.192 per hour x 730 hours = $139.97
Storage Cost: $0.10 per GB-month x 100 GB = $10.00
Total Cost on AWS EC2: $139.97 + $10.00 = $149.97 per month
Google Compute Engine
Google Compute Engine offers the n1-standard-4 instance type that has 4 vCPUs, 15GB of RAM, and 100GB of storage. The cost of using an n1-standard-4 instance in the us-central1 region for 730 hours in a month is:
Instance Cost: $0.196 per hour x 730 hours = $142.96
Storage Cost: $0.04 per GB-month x 100 GB = $4.00
Total Cost on Google Compute Engine: $142.96 + $4.00 = $146.96 per month
Azure Virtual Machines
Azure Virtual Machines offers the D4s v4 instance type that has 4 vCPUs, 16GB of RAM, and 100GB of storage. The cost of using a D4s v4 instance in the East US region for 730 hours in a month is:
Instance Cost: $0.183 per hour x 730 hours = $133.59
Storage Cost: $0.05 per GB-month x 100 GB = $5.00
Total Cost on Azure Virtual Machines: $133.59 + $5.00 = $138.59 per month
Conclusion
After comparing the costs of using AWS EC2, Google Compute Engine, and Azure Virtual Machines for a standard Linux virtual machine, it is evident that Azure Virtual Machines are the most cost-effective option, followed closely by Google Compute Engine. AWS EC2 is the most expensive option out of the three.