Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Google App Engine VS Microsoft Azure Active Directory

Compare Google App Engine VS Microsoft Azure Active Directory and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Google App Engine logo Google App Engine

A powerful platform to build web and mobile apps that scale automatically.

Microsoft Azure Active Directory logo Microsoft Azure Active Directory

Azure Active Directory is a comprehensive identity and access management cloud solution that provides a robust set of capabilities to manage users and groups and help secure access to applications including Microsoft online services like Office 365 …
  • Google App Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-17
  • Microsoft Azure Active Directory Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-06

Google App Engine features and specs

  • Auto-scaling
    Google App Engine automatically scales your application based on the traffic it receives, ensuring that your application can handle varying workloads without manual intervention.
  • Managed environment
    App Engine provides a fully managed environment, covering infrastructure management tasks like server provisioning, patching, monitoring, and managing app versions.
  • Integrated services
    Seamlessly integrates with other Google Cloud services such as Datastore, Cloud SQL, Pub/Sub, and more, offering a comprehensive ecosystem for building and deploying applications.
  • Multiple languages support
    Supports multiple programming languages including Java, Python, PHP, Node.js, Go, Ruby, and .NET, giving developers flexibility in choosing their preferred language.
  • Security
    Offers robust security features including Identity and Access Management (IAM), Cloud Identity, and automated security updates, which help protect your applications from vulnerabilities.
  • Developer productivity
    App Engine allows rapid development and deployment, letting developers focus on writing code without worrying about infrastructure management, thus boosting productivity.
  • Versioning
    Supports versioning of applications, allowing multiple versions of the application to be hosted simultaneously, which helps in A/B testing and rollback capabilities.

Possible disadvantages of Google App Engine

  • Cost
    While you pay for what you use, costs can escalate quickly with high traffic or resource-intensive applications. Detailed cost prediction can be challenging.
  • Vendor lock-in
    Relying heavily on Google App Engine's proprietary services and APIs can make it difficult to migrate applications to other platforms, leading to vendor lock-in.
  • Limited control
    Being a fully managed service, App Engine provides limited control over the underlying infrastructure which might be a limitation for certain advanced use cases.
  • Environment constraints
    Certain restrictions and limitations are imposed on the runtime environment, such as request timeout limits and specific resource quotas, which can affect application performance.
  • Complex debugging
    Debugging issues in a highly abstracted managed environment can be more complex and difficult compared to traditional server-hosted applications.
  • Cold start latency
    Serverless environments like App Engine can suffer from cold start latency, where the initial request triggers a delay as the environment spins up resources.
  • Configuration complexity
    Despite its benefits, configuring and optimizing App Engine for specific scenarios can be more complex than expected, requiring a steep learning curve.

Microsoft Azure Active Directory features and specs

  • Scalability
    Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) can easily scale to accommodate both small businesses and large enterprises with millions of users, making it suitable for a range of organizational needs.
  • Integrations
    Azure AD integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft services such as Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Windows 10, as well as many third-party applications, simplifying user management across platforms.
  • Security Features
    Azure AD provides robust security features like Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Conditional Access, and Identity Protection, enhancing the security posture of an organization.
  • Single Sign-On (SSO)
    Azure AD offers Single Sign-On capabilities, allowing users to log in once and gain access to multiple applications without needing to authenticate again.
  • Self-Service Password Reset
    Users can reset their own passwords, reducing the helpdesk workload and improving productivity and user satisfaction.
  • Monitoring and Reporting
    Azure AD includes comprehensive monitoring and reporting tools that help administrators keep track of user activities and potential security threats.
  • Support for Open Standards
    Azure AD supports open standards such as OAuth2, SAML, and OpenID Connect, allowing for flexible integrations with a variety of applications and services.

Possible disadvantages of Microsoft Azure Active Directory

  • Complexity
    Implementing and managing Azure AD can be complex, particularly for organizations without dedicated IT staff or prior experience with Microsoft's cloud ecosystem.
  • Cost
    While it offers a range of features, the cost of Azure AD can add up, particularly for premium features and large-scale implementations, making it potentially expensive for some organizations.
  • Learning Curve
    Administrators new to Azure AD may face a steep learning curve and require training to effectively use and manage the service.
  • Dependency on Internet Connectivity
    As a cloud-based service, Azure AD depends on stable internet connectivity. Any internet outage can disrupt access to applications and services.
  • Limited On-premises Integration
    While hybrid models are supported, integrating Azure AD with on-premises Active Directory can present challenges and may require additional setup and maintenance.
  • Feature Overlap
    Organizations using multiple Microsoft services might find some overlap in features, which can complicate administration and lead to redundant functionalities.
  • Customization Constraints
    Though Azure AD offers many out-of-the-box features, customizing beyond the provided options can be difficult and sometimes limited.

Google App Engine videos

Get to know Google App Engine

More videos:

  • Review - Developing apps that scale automatically with Google App Engine

Microsoft Azure Active Directory videos

What is Azure Active Directory B2C? | Azure Active Directory

More videos:

  • Review - Advanced use cases with Azure Active Directory B2C | Azure Active Directory

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure Active Directory)
Cloud Computing
100 100%
0% 0
Identity And Access Management
Cloud Hosting
100 100%
0% 0
Identity Provider
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure Active Directory

Google App Engine Reviews

Top 5 Alternatives to Heroku
Google App Engine is fast, easy, but not that very cheap. The pricing is reasonable, and it comes with a free tier, which is great for small projects that are right for beginner developers who want to quickly set up their apps. It can also auto scale, create new instances as needed and automatically handle high availability. App Engine gets a positive rating for performance...
AppScale - The Google App Engine Alternative
AppScale is open source Google App Engine and allows you to run your GAE applications on any infrastructure, anywhere that makes sense for your business. AppScale eliminates lock-in and makes your GAE application portable. This way you can choose which public or private cloud platform is the best fit for your business requirements. Because we are literally the GAE...

Microsoft Azure Active Directory Reviews

The Top 10 Single Sign-On Solutions For Business
Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is one of the most widely used Single Sign-On applications, enabling users to log into multiple accounts with their Office 365 user details. The platform is a cloud based identity and access management service, which allows employees to sign-in to Office 365, the Azure portal (Azure being Microsoft’s cloud application services) and...
10 Best Auth0 Alternatives and Similar Platforms
Administrators may also deploy the tool to map the user experience and manage authentication. Through APIs, Azure Active Directory may connect to a variety of third-party services, including Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, and more.
Best Identity Management Software
Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a cloud-based identity and IAM solution that can manage users, printers and GPOs. Azure AD is used for employees and Azure AD B2B for guest users and external partners. AD B2C controls how you sign up, sign in and manage your profile when you use your applications.
The 6 Best Identity Access Management Tools
Microsoft Azure Active Directory – From the makers of the most used operating system platform, which means it can easily be implemented on most networks and integrates well with existing access control systems.
20 Identity Management Solutions You Should Know
With a single sign on, Microsoft Azure’s Active Directory allows users to access more than 2,800 SaaS apps, from Salesforce to Canvas — provided they’re cleared to access them, of course. Azure AD also lets IT personnel customize access to sensitive materials and outline conditional access protocols. (For example: “This user should have access to this app only while...
Source: builtin.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Google App Engine should be more popular than Microsoft Azure Active Directory. It has been mentiond 31 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Google App Engine mentions (31)

  • Guide to modern app-hosting without servers on Google Cloud
    If Google App Engine (GAE) is the "OG" serverless platform, Cloud Run (GCR) is its logical successor, crafted for today's modern app-hosting needs. GAE was the 1st generation of Google serverless platforms. It has since been joined, about a decade later, by 2nd generation services, GCR and Cloud Functions (GCF). GCF is somewhat out-of-scope for this post so I'll cover that another time. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Security in the Cloud: Your Role in the Shared Responsibility Model
    As Windsales Inc. expands, it adopts a PaaS model to offload server and runtime management, allowing its developers and engineers to focus on code development and deployment. By partnering with providers like Heroku and Google App Engine, Windsales Inc. Accesses a fully managed runtime environment. This choice relieves Windsales Inc. Of managing servers, OS updates, or runtime environment behavior. Instead,... - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Hosting apps in the cloud with Google App Engine in 2024
    Google App Engine (GAE) is their original serverless solution and first cloud product, launching in 2008 (video), giving rise to Serverless 1.0 and the cloud computing platform-as-a-service (PaaS) service level. It didn't do function-hosting nor was the concept of containers mainstream yet. GAE was specifically for (web) app-hosting (but also supported mobile backends as well). - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Fixing A Broken Deployment to Google App Engine
    In 2014, I took a web development on Udacity that was taught by Steve Huffman of Reddit fame. He taught authentication, salting passwords, the difference between GET and POST requests, basic html and css, caching techniques. It was a fantastic introduction to web dev. To pass the course, students deployed simple python servers to Google App Engine. When I started to look for work, I opted to use code from that... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Next.js Deployment: Vercel's Charm vs. GCP's Muscle
    GCP offers a comprehensive suite of cloud services, including Compute Engine, App Engine, and Cloud Run. This translates to unparalleled control over your infrastructure and deployment configurations. Designed for large-scale applications, GCP effortlessly scales to accommodate significant traffic growth. Additionally, for projects heavily reliant on Google services like BigQuery, Cloud Storage, or AI/ML tools,... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
View more

Microsoft Azure Active Directory mentions (15)

  • AWS Users, Roles, and Identity Center Demystified
    Human users using Roles can leverage IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO) which offers a pretty good experience, whether we're federating from Active Directory (a popular choice for enterprises) or managing users within Identity Center (fine for individuals or small team). We get an easy console sign-in experience and similarly frictionless command line access. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Stack Exchange Moderators Are Going On Strike
    The question is tagged Azure-Active-Directory, which is an IAM/IDP product. That provides plenty of context. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How to choose the right API Gateway
    Because the configuration is a highly critical feature, we need to authenticate via an API key or by means of other auth methods. For example, most API Gateway providers such as Apache APISIX enabled token-based access to Admin API and they highly advise generating your own token and regularly changing it. Or Azure API Management relies on Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), which includes optional features such as... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Case Study: Connecting Azure AD SSO with AWS
    I will not explain too much about Azure AD. I'll recommend reading the documentation and the home page of the Azure AD. In short, Azure AD (Azure Active Directory) is a cloud-based identity and access management service. You can use the identity provided by Azure AD for connecting various applications or services, including AWS. If you want to learn more about Azure AD, please visit the documentation. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Around 83.4% of Fortune 500 have Azure Active Directory
    It is a directory with a lot of functionality. There's actually a number of products under the Azure AD name, including: * Azure AD, their employee/workforce solution. It's a directory, authentication and authorization system. Think Okta or AWS SSO. I imagine this is mostly what the survey was tracking. * Azure AD B2C, their CIAM solution. Think Auth0, Cognito or FusionAuth (disclosure, I'm a FusionAuth employee).... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure Active Directory, you can also consider the following products

Salesforce Platform - Salesforce Platform is a comprehensive PaaS solution that paves the way for the developers to test, build, and mitigate the issues in the cloud application before the final deployment.

Okta - Enterprise-grade identity management for all your apps, users & devices

Dokku - Docker powered mini-Heroku in around 100 lines of Bash

Auth0 - Auth0 is a program for people to get authentication and authorization services for their own business use.

Heroku - Agile deployment platform for Ruby, Node.js, Clojure, Java, Python, and Scala. Setup takes only minutes and deploys are instant through git. Leave tedious server maintenance to Heroku and focus on your code.

OneLogin - On-demand SSO, directory integration, user provisioning and more