Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Google Compute Engine VS Azure Virtual Machines

Compare Google Compute Engine VS Azure Virtual Machines and see what are their differences

Google Compute Engine logo Google Compute Engine

Google Compute Engine is not just fast. It’s Google fast.

Azure Virtual Machines logo Azure Virtual Machines

Build Linux and Windows virtual machines (VMs) and save up to 80 percent with Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances and Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server.
  • Google Compute Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22
  • Azure Virtual Machines Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-19

Google Compute Engine features and specs

  • Scalability
    Google Compute Engine offers robust scalability, allowing users to easily increase or decrease resources to match the workload demands. This ensures that businesses can handle growing traffic and data without unnecessary delays.
  • Performance
    GCE provides high-performance virtual machines with the ability to customize CPU, memory, and persistent disk configurations. The underlying infrastructure is optimized for high-speed operations.
  • Global Reach
    With data centers located around the world, GCE provides global reach and redundancy. This ensures low-latency access and high availability for applications and services.
  • Integration
    GCE integrates seamlessly with other Google Cloud services, such as Google Kubernetes Engine, BigQuery, and Cloud Storage. This ecosystem facilitates streamlined workflows and enhanced functionality.
  • Security
    GCE features multiple layers of security including encryption, identity management, and regular compliance audits. These measures ensure that data and applications are well-protected.
  • Cost-Effective
    With per-second billing and various pricing plans, GCE offers cost-effective solutions. Users only pay for what they use, which can lead to significant savings.

Possible disadvantages of Google Compute Engine

  • Complexity
    For new users, the wide range of services and options within GCE can be overwhelming. It may require a steep learning curve to fully understand and leverage all available features.
  • Support Costs
    While GCE offers various support plans, premium support options can be expensive. Smaller businesses might find the cost prohibitive compared to their budget.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Once services are deeply integrated with GCE, it may be difficult to migrate to another cloud provider. This could result in vendor lock-in and reduced flexibility for organizations.
  • Regional Availability
    Even though GCE has a broad global presence, not all services are available in every region. This can be a limitation for businesses that require specific features in certain geographic locations.
  • Network Egress Charges
    GCE charges for outbound data transfer, which can add up for applications serving large amounts of data across regions or the internet. Users need to monitor and manage egress costs carefully.

Azure Virtual Machines features and specs

  • Scalability
    Azure Virtual Machines allow you to easily scale up or down based on your needs, providing flexibility to handle varying workloads.
  • Global Reach
    Azure offers a vast network of data centers around the world, enabling low-latency access and compliance with local data regulations.
  • Wide Range of VM Sizes
    Azure provides a variety of VM sizes and configurations to suit different types of applications and workloads.
  • Integrated Ecosystem
    Azure VMs can seamlessly integrate with other Azure services like Azure SQL Database, Azure App Services, and Azure Active Directory.
  • High Availability
    Azure offers features such as Availability Zones and VM Scale Sets to ensure high availability and resilience of your applications.
  • Security
    Azure VMs come with built-in security features, including Azure Security Center, for monitoring and defending against threats.
  • Pay-As-You-Go Pricing
    Azure's pricing model allows you to pay only for what you use, which can be cost-effective for many businesses.

Possible disadvantages of Azure Virtual Machines

  • Complexity
    Managing Azure Virtual Machines can be complex, especially for companies without dedicated IT teams or cloud experts.
  • Cost Management
    While Azure provides a pay-as-you-go model, costs can quickly add up if not monitored and managed effectively.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a significant learning curve associated with understanding and utilizing all the features and services offered by Azure.
  • Dependence on Internet
    Performance and availability are highly dependent on internet connectivity, which may not be universally reliable or fast.
  • Resource Limitations
    There are certain quotas and limits on resources that can be allocated, which might require quota increase requests for larger deployments.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Using proprietary technologies and services from Azure can lead to being locked into the Microsoft ecosystem, making migration to other platforms challenging.
  • Downtime
    While Azure aims for high availability, there can still be occasional downtime due to maintenance or unforeseen issues.

Google Compute Engine videos

Getting Started with Google Compute Engine

Azure Virtual Machines videos

No Azure Virtual Machines videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Compute Engine and Azure Virtual Machines)
Cloud Computing
51 51%
49% 49
Cloud Infrastructure
69 69%
31% 31
Virtual Machine Management
VPS
100 100%
0% 0

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 Compute Engine and Azure Virtual Machines

Google Compute Engine Reviews

Alternatives to Amazon's Cloud Services (AWS)
Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Compute are the two biggest competitors to AWS attempting to offer a growing stack of service offerings.

Azure Virtual Machines Reviews

10 Best VMware Alternatives and Similar Software
Azure Virtual Machines are one of the numerous forms of scalable, on-demand computing resources like VMware. VMs are typically used when you want greater control over any computer system than the other options provide.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Google Compute Engine should be more popular than Azure Virtual Machines. It has been mentiond 15 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 Compute Engine mentions (15)

  • Please bring neon db to GCP
    Surely you can run your own instances on some sort of "Compute" in GCP? https://cloud.google.com/products/compute. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Pickems website for MSI 2023
    The backend is written in node.js and is deployed using Google Compute Engine. I wanted to learn Kubernetes but it seemed more complicated and also more expensive than GCE. We also use mongodb. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Is it possible to host a Golang Application Free Indefinitely?
    Google seems to have a free tiny VM offering. AWS and Azure have one for a year. Of course, whether Google's will still be free in a year is whoknows. Source: about 2 years ago
  • typical programmer life
    Cloud VM's are the easy answer here. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Migrating Wordpress from GCP to AWS
    You may have noticed some changes to this site. Along with some style and color changes, I've updated the domain, and focused the pages on my technical blog. Originally this site started as an administrative page for the Minecraft servers I am hosting. I built the first Minecraft server in Google Cloud on a general Compute Engine instance, and was running this web page on a separate smaller instance. As the... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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Azure Virtual Machines mentions (9)

  • Stealing everything you've ever typed on your Windows Recall PC is now possible
    More than 60% of Azure is run on Linux [1] and the writing was already on the wall when the Linux subsystem was conceived so I don't think it's a good example of EEE. [1] https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/linux. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Open source versus Microsoft: The new rebellion begins
    Https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/linux#:~:text=Get%20up%20and%20running%20with,CentOS%2C%20Debian%2C%20and%20CoreOS. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Linux Crosses 4% Market Share Worldwide
    "More than 60 percent of customer cores in Azure run Linux workloads" https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/linux So the Linux share would actually decrease if you exclude Azure ;). - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Azure has run out of compute. Anyone else affected?
    So does google, so does azure etc. etc. https://cloud.google.com/spot-vms, https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/spot/ Spot instances exist just to try to turn over-provisions in to not a complete loss. You're at least making some money from your mistake. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Infrastructure as code (IaC) for Java-based apps on Azure
    You can use virtual machines or virtual machine scale sets to host your Java applications. Scale sets, in particular, allow you to scale your applications across hundreds to thousands of VMs very rapidly. As we all probably know, virtual machines require a high level of management and configuration versus some other options out there. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Compute Engine and Azure Virtual Machines, you can also consider the following products

Amazon EC2 - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.

vSphere - Get started with VMware vSphere editions, the world’s leading server virtualization platform and the best foundation for your apps, your cloud, and your business.

DigitalOcean - Simplifying cloud hosting. Deploy an SSD cloud server in 55 seconds.

Microsoft Azure - Windows Azure and SQL Azure enable you to build, host and scale applications in Microsoft datacenters.

Citrix Hypervisor - Optimized for server virtualization infrastructures, Citrix Hypervisor is a leading virtualization management platform that enables server consolidation and provides industry-leading scalability and performance under load.

Vultr - VULTR Global Cloud Hosting - Brilliantly Fast SSD VPS Cloud Servers. 100% KVM Virtualization