AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: what’s the difference?

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud are three public cloud platforms, run by Amazon, Microsoft and Google. All three rent out the same basic things over the internet: servers, storage, databases and networks. For a small business, the differences that matter are mostly about what it already uses and who will look after the result.

What the three have in common

The US standards body NIST defines cloud computing as on-demand network access to a shared pool of computing resources, such as servers, storage and applications, that can be set up and released quickly with little involvement from the provider. All three platforms fit that description. NIST also lists measured service as a feature of any cloud: usage is metered, and the customer is typically charged for what was used.

Each of the three has data centres in Australia, and each publishes a shared responsibility model that says which security jobs belong to the provider and which belong to the customer. The Australian Signals Directorate points small businesses to all three documents and advises reading the one for each service you use.

The differences you would notice

• The accounts you already have. Azure uses Microsoft Entra ID for sign-ins, the same system behind Microsoft 365. Each organisation in Google Cloud belongs to a Google Workspace or Cloud Identity account. AWS accounts are separate from both, and AWS has its own system for users and permissions.
• What your IT provider knows. Each platform has its own console, its own way of setting permissions and its own way of reporting costs. A provider who works in one of them every day will set it up faster and is less likely to leave a setting wrong.
• The Australian regions. AWS has Sydney and Melbourne, and Melbourne must be enabled in the account first. Azure lists a region in New South Wales, one in Victoria and two in Canberra, one of them with restricted access. Google Cloud has Sydney and Melbourne.

A region being in Australia does not mean every service is offered there. AWS tells customers to choose a region that has the services and features they need, and the same check is worth making on the other two.

How the choice is usually made

For most small businesses the platform is decided by something else. If the accounting or practice software you rely on is supported on one platform, that settles it. If the office runs on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, staying with the same vendor means one set of accounts to manage. If your IT provider manages one platform for all its other clients, using a different one means paying for them to learn it.

Features rarely decide it. At the size of a small business, all three can run a server, hold files and keep a backup.

Questions to ask before you commit

1. Which platform does our main business software support or recommend?
2. Which platform does our IT provider manage most often?
3. Which Australian region will our data sit in, and is every service we need offered there?
4. Who patches the servers, who controls the sign-ins and who checks the bill each month?
5. If we wanted to leave, how would we get our data out?