Comparing Cloud Providers: Amazon Web Services vs Google Cloud Platform vs Microsoft Azure vs IBM Cloud
When it comes to choosing a cloud provider, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, which is why it's important to compare cloud providers before making the final decision.
In this post, we're going to compare Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and IBM Cloud - four of the most popular cloud providers in the market today. We'll be looking at their cloud orchestration capabilities, and giving an unbiased comparison of each.
Cloud Orchestration Capabilities
Cloud orchestration is the process of automating the management of cloud resources. It's an essential feature for enterprises to manage their cloud services effectively. All four providers offer cloud orchestration features, but they differ in how they handle them.
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers two main orchestration services: AWS CloudFormation and AWS Elastic Beanstalk. AWS CloudFormation is a fully-managed service that allows you to create and manage AWS resources using code. Elastic Beanstalk is a service that automates the deployment and scaling of web applications.
Google Cloud Platform
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offers Google Cloud Deployment Manager, which is a fully managed service that allows you to define, deploy, and manage complex cloud resources using declarative templates.
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure offers Azure Resource Manager (ARM), which is a fully-managed service that allows you to create, manage, and deploy resources using declarative templates.
IBM Cloud
IBM Cloud offers IBM Cloud Automation Manager, a platform that automates the deployment of cloud infrastructure, applications, and services across multiple clouds and data centers.
Comparison Table
To help you make an informed decision, we've compiled a comparison table of the different cloud orchestration capabilities of the four providers.
| Provider | Service | Description | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | CloudFormation | Automate the creation of AWS resources using code. | Free, but you pay for the resources being deployed |
| AWS | Elastic Beanstalk | Automate the deployment and scaling of web applications. | Free, but you pay for the resources being deployed |
| GCP | Deployment Manager | Automate the deployment of complex cloud resources using declarative templates. | Free, but you pay for the resources being deployed |
| Azure | Resource Manager | Create, manage, and deploy resources using declarative templates. | Free, but you pay for the resources being deployed |
| IBM | Automation Manager | Automate the deployment of cloud infrastructure, applications, and services across multiple clouds and data centers. | Starts at $0.055/hour per deployment server |
Conclusion
When it comes to choosing a cloud provider, there's no one-stop-shop. It all depends on your unique requirements and the specifics of your workload. Hopefully, this comparison has given you a good overview of the available options and helped you weigh up the pros and cons of each provider.
Remember, there are additional factors such as pricing, scalability, and security that should also be considered before making a final decision.
Happy orchestration!
References
- Amazon Web Services. (n.d). AWS CloudFormation. Retrived October 1, 2021, from https://aws.amazon.com/cloudformation/
- Amazon Web Services. (n.d). AWS Elastic Beanstalk. Retrived October 1, 2021, from https://aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/
- Google Cloud. (n.d). Google Cloud Deployment Manager. Retrived October 1, 2021, from https://cloud.google.com/deployment-manager
- Microsoft Azure. (n.d). Azure Resource Manager. Retrived October 1, 2021, from https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/services/azure-resource-manager/
- IBM Cloud. (n.d). IBM Cloud Automation Manager. Retrived October 1, 2021, from https://www.ibm.com/cloud/automation-manager