Cloud Service Comparison: Compute Services¶

Quick Reference¶

This guide provides a comprehensive comparison of compute services across AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure. Use this to understand equivalent services when switching cloud providers or studying multiple certifications.

Virtual Machines (IaaS)¶

Documentation: - 📖 AWS EC2 Documentation - Complete EC2 guide - 📖 GCP Compute Engine Documentation - Complete Compute Engine guide - 📖 Azure Virtual Machines Documentation - Complete VM guide

Managed Kubernetes¶

Documentation: - 📖 AWS EKS Documentation - Complete EKS guide - 📖 GCP GKE Documentation - Complete GKE guide - 📖 Azure AKS Documentation - Complete AKS guide

Serverless Compute (Functions-as-a-Service)¶

Documentation: - 📖 AWS Lambda Documentation - Complete Lambda guide - 📖 GCP Cloud Functions Documentation - Cloud Functions guide - 📖 GCP Cloud Run Documentation - Cloud Run guide - 📖 Azure Functions Documentation - Complete Functions guide

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)¶

Documentation: - 📖 AWS Elastic Beanstalk Documentation - Beanstalk guide - 📖 GCP App Engine Documentation - App Engine guide - 📖 Azure App Service Documentation - App Service guide

Container Services¶

Comparison: Managed Container Orchestration (Non-Kubernetes)

Documentation: - 📖 AWS ECS Documentation - ECS guide - 📖 AWS EKS Documentation - EKS guide - 📖 AWS ECR Documentation - Container registry - 📖 GCP Cloud Run Documentation - Cloud Run guide - 📖 GCP GKE Documentation - GKE guide - 📖 Azure Container Instances Documentation - ACI guide - 📖 Azure Container Apps Documentation - Container Apps guide

Batch & HPC¶

Documentation: - 📖 AWS Batch Documentation - Batch processing - 📖 GCP Cloud Run Jobs Documentation - Batch jobs - 📖 Azure Batch Documentation - Batch service

Decision Tree: Which Compute Service?¶

When to Use Virtual Machines¶

• ✅ Need full OS control
• ✅ Legacy applications requiring specific OS configurations
• ✅ Long-running, persistent workloads
• ✅ Licensing requirements (BYOL)
• ❌ Don't want to manage OS patches and updates

When to Use Kubernetes¶

• ✅ Microservices architecture
• ✅ Need container orchestration
• ✅ Multi-cloud portability requirements
• ✅ Complex deployment patterns (canary, blue-green)
• ❌ Small, simple applications (overhead too high)

When to Use Serverless Functions¶

• ✅ Event-driven workloads
• ✅ Short-running tasks (< 15 minutes)
• ✅ Variable/unpredictable traffic
• ✅ Want zero server management
• ❌ Long-running processes
• ❌ Need persistent connections

When to Use PaaS¶

• ✅ Web applications
• ✅ Want minimal infrastructure management
• ✅ Standard language runtime
• ✅ Built-in scaling and load balancing
• ❌ Need custom OS or kernel modules

When to Use Managed Containers (ECS/Cloud Run/Container Apps)¶

• ✅ Containerized applications
• ✅ Don't need full Kubernetes complexity
• ✅ Want managed service with less overhead than K8s
• ✅ Simpler deployment models

Cost Comparison (Approximate)¶

Example: 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, US East/Central region

Note: Prices vary by region and are subject to change. Always use official pricing calculators.

Pricing Calculators: - 📖 AWS Pricing Calculator - AWS cost estimates - 📖 GCP Pricing Calculator - GCP cost estimates - 📖 Azure Pricing Calculator - Azure cost estimates

CLI Command Comparison¶

Create a Virtual Machine¶

AWS:

aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0 \
  --instance-type t3.micro \
  --key-name my-key \
  --security-group-ids sg-xxxxx \
  --subnet-id subnet-xxxxx

GCP:

gcloud compute instances create my-instance \
  --machine-type=e2-micro \
  --image-family=ubuntu-2004-lts \
  --image-project=ubuntu-os-cloud \
  --zone=us-central1-a

Azure:

az vm create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myVM \
  --image UbuntuLTS \
  --size Standard_B1s \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --generate-ssh-keys

Create a Kubernetes Cluster¶

AWS:

eksctl create cluster \
  --name my-cluster \
  --region us-east-1 \
  --nodegroup-name standard-workers \
  --node-type t3.medium \
  --nodes 3

GCP:

gcloud container clusters create my-cluster \
  --zone us-central1-a \
  --machine-type e2-medium \
  --num-nodes 3

Azure:

az aks create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myAKSCluster \
  --node-count 3 \
  --node-vm-size Standard_DS2_v2 \
  --enable-addons monitoring

Key Takeaways¶

AWS Strengths¶

• ✅ Most mature and comprehensive service catalog
• ✅ Deepest feature set for EC2 and Lambda
• ✅ Best for enterprise-scale deployments
• ✅ Extensive third-party tool ecosystem

GCP Strengths¶

• ✅ Best Kubernetes service (GKE)
• ✅ Live migration for VMs (no downtime updates)
• ✅ Superior networking performance
• ✅ Simplified pricing model
• ✅ Strong in data analytics and ML

Azure Strengths¶

• ✅ Best Windows/Microsoft stack integration
• ✅ Hybrid cloud focus (Azure Arc, Azure Stack)
• ✅ Enterprise Active Directory integration
• ✅ Strong in enterprise scenarios
• ✅ Container Apps (best serverless container platform)

Related Guides: - Storage Service Comparison - Database Service Comparison - Networking Service Comparison - Serverless Service Comparison