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AWS vs Azure vs GCP

Beginnerā± 14 min readšŸ“… Updated: 2026-02-17

Introduction

Cloud provider select pannradhu oru big decision. AWS, Azure, GCP — moonu um powerful, moonu um different strengths vachirukaanga. šŸ¤”


"Best cloud evadhu?" nu direct ah answer panna mudiyaadhu — unga use case, budget, team skills — ellam matter pannum.


Indha article la detailed comparison paapom — especially AI/ML perspective la. Tables, real examples, pricing — ellam cover pannrom. Let's go! ⚔

Cloud Market Overview (2026)

Current cloud market scenario:


ProviderMarket ShareRevenue (Yearly)Strength
AWS~32%$100B+Most services, mature
Azure~23%$75B+Enterprise, Microsoft
GCP~11%$40B+AI/ML, Data analytics
Others~34%-Alibaba, Oracle, IBM

Key insight: AWS dominant dhaan, but GCP fastest growing — especially AI space la. Azure enterprise customers la strong. šŸ“Š


Fun fact: Netflix runs on AWS, LinkedIn runs on Azure, Spotify runs on GCP! šŸŽ¬šŸ’¼šŸŽµ

AI/ML Services Comparison

AI/ML services — idhudhaan namma ku most important:


AI ServiceAWSAzureGCP
ML PlatformSageMakerAzure MLVertex AI
Pre-trained ModelsBedrockAzure OpenAIModel Garden
AutoMLSageMaker AutopilotAutoMLAutoML
GPU OptionsP5, G5 instancesNC, ND seriesA2, G2 (TPUs!)
LLM AccessClaude, LlamaGPT-4, GPT-4oGemini, PaLM
Vision AIRekognitionComputer VisionVision AI
Speech AITranscribe/PollySpeech ServiceSpeech-to-Text
NLPComprehendLanguage ServiceNatural Language

Winner for AI: GCP šŸ† — TPU access, Vertex AI platform, and Google's AI research directly integrate aagudhu.


Runner up: Azure — OpenAI partnership, GPT-4 direct access.

Pricing Deep Dive

Pricing compare pannrom — small AI app scenario:


Scenario: AI chatbot, 10K users/day, 1 GPU for inference


ResourceAWSAzureGCP
Compute (2 vCPU, 8GB)$60/mo$58/mo$52/mo
GPU (T4, 100hrs)$350/mo$365/mo$330/mo
Storage (100GB)$2.30/mo$2.40/mo$2.00/mo
Database (Small)$15/mo$15/mo$12/mo
Load Balancer$18/mo$18/mo$18/mo
**Total****~$445****~$458****~$414**

GCP slightly cheaper for AI workloads! Plus TPU access extra advantage.


āš ļø Note: Prices change frequently. Always check official pricing pages. Spot instances use pannina 60-70% save pannalam! šŸ’°

Cloud Provider AI Stack Comparison

šŸ—ļø Architecture Diagram
ā”Œā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”
│        CLOUD AI STACK COMPARISON                  │
ā”œā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”¬ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”¬ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”¤
│    AWS     │   AZURE    │         GCP            │
ā”œā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”¼ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”¼ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”¤
│            │            │                        │
│ Bedrock    │ Azure      │ Vertex AI              │
│ (LLM Hub) │ OpenAI     │ (ML Platform)          │
│            │ Service    │                        │
│ SageMaker  │ Azure ML   │ AI Platform            │
│ (Train)    │ Studio     │ + TPUs                 │
│            │            │                        │
│ Lambda     │ Functions  │ Cloud Functions         │
│ (Serverless)│(Serverless)│(Serverless)            │
│            │            │                        │
│ EC2+GPU    │ NC/ND VMs  │ Compute+GPU/TPU        │
│ (Compute)  │ (Compute)  │ (Compute)              │
│            │            │                        │
│ S3         │ Blob       │ Cloud Storage          │
│ (Storage)  │ Storage    │ (Storage)              │
│            │            │                        │
ā””ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”“ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”“ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”€ā”˜

AWS — The Market Leader

Amazon Web Services (AWS) — largest cloud provider šŸ„‡


Strengths āœ…:

  • 200+ services — anything you need, irukku
  • Most mature, most documentation
  • Largest community, most tutorials
  • Best marketplace (AMIs, SageMaker models)
  • Global — 33 regions, 105 availability zones

Weaknesses āŒ:

  • Complex pricing — bill predict panna kashtam
  • UI/Console old feeling — Azure, GCP better
  • AI services not as cutting-edge as GCP

Best AI Services:

  • SageMaker — End-to-end ML platform
  • Bedrock — Multiple LLMs (Claude, Llama, Titan) oru place la
  • Lambda — Serverless AI inference (cheap!)

Best for: Large teams, enterprise, job market value šŸ’¼

Azure — The Enterprise King

Microsoft Azure — enterprise favorite 🄈


Strengths āœ…:

  • OpenAI exclusive partnership — GPT-4 direct access!
  • Microsoft ecosystem (Office 365, Teams, GitHub) integration
  • Enterprise compliance — HIPAA, SOC2, etc. ready
  • Hybrid cloud best — on-premises + cloud seamless
  • GitHub Copilot backend runs on Azure

Weaknesses āŒ:

  • Smaller service catalog than AWS
  • Documentation sometimes confusing
  • Portal can be slow

Best AI Services:

  • Azure OpenAI Service — GPT-4, GPT-4o, DALL-E 3 directly use pannalam
  • Azure ML Studio — Drag-and-drop ML training
  • Cognitive Services — Pre-built AI APIs (vision, speech, language)

Best for: Companies already using Microsoft, enterprise AI, GPT-4 apps šŸ¢

GCP — The AI Powerhouse

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) — AI/ML king šŸ„‰ (market share la, but AI la šŸ„‡)


Strengths āœ…:

  • TPUs — Google's custom AI chips, training 2-5x faster
  • Vertex AI — Best integrated ML platform
  • Google's AI research directly — TensorFlow, JAX, Gemini
  • BigQuery — Best data analytics
  • Kubernetes originated from Google (GKE is the best)

Weaknesses āŒ:

  • Smaller market share — fewer jobs compared to AWS
  • Less services overall
  • Enterprise features still catching up
  • Smaller community

Best AI Services:

  • Vertex AI — Train, deploy, manage ML models
  • TPU v5 — Custom AI accelerators (cheaper than GPUs for large models)
  • Gemini API — Google's latest LLM
  • BigQuery ML — ML directly in SQL queries!

Best for: AI/ML focused teams, data-heavy apps, researchers šŸ”¬

How to Choose? Decision Framework

šŸ’” Tip

Quick decision guide:

šŸ¤– "I want to build AI apps with GPT-4" → Azure (OpenAI partnership)

🧠 "I want to train custom ML models" → GCP (TPUs + Vertex AI)

šŸ¢ "I want most job opportunities" → AWS (highest demand)

šŸ’° "I have limited budget" → GCP ($300 free credits)

šŸ”§ "I use Microsoft tools already" → Azure

šŸ“Š "I need big data + AI" → GCP (BigQuery + Vertex AI)

🌐 "I need maximum services" → AWS (200+ services)

Pro tip: Learn at least 2 cloud providers. AWS + GCP is a powerful combo for AI developers! šŸŽÆ

Real-World AI Company Choices

Famous companies enna cloud use pannraanga:


CompanyCloudAI Use Case
NetflixAWSRecommendation engine
OpenAIAzureGPT-4 training & serving
DeepMindGCPAlphaFold, Gemini
UberGCP + AWSDemand prediction
AirbnbAWSImage classification
SpotifyGCPMusic recommendations
SamsungAzureBixby AI assistant
PinterestAWSVisual search AI
Twitter/XGCPContent moderation
LinkedInAzureJob recommendations

Notice: Many large companies use multi-cloud — one provider la dependent aagaama irukkaanga! šŸ”„

Certification Roadmap

Cloud certifications — career boost ku:


AWS Path šŸ“œ:

  1. Cloud Practitioner (Beginner) — ₹8,000
  2. Solutions Architect Associate — ₹12,000
  3. ML Specialty — ₹25,000

Azure Path šŸ“œ:

  1. AZ-900 Fundamentals (Beginner) — ₹5,000
  2. AI-900 AI Fundamentals — ₹5,000
  3. AI-102 AI Engineer — ₹12,000

GCP Path šŸ“œ:

  1. Cloud Digital Leader (Beginner) — ₹8,000
  2. Associate Cloud Engineer — ₹15,000
  3. Professional ML Engineer — ₹15,000

Recommendation: Start with one cloud Fundamentals cert → then go for AI/ML specialty. 3-6 months preparation podhum. Free courses available on Coursera, YouTube! šŸ“š

Prompt: Cloud Selection Helper

šŸ“‹ Copy-Paste Prompt
You are a cloud solutions architect with expertise in AI/ML workloads.

I'm building an AI application with these requirements:
- Image classification model (ResNet-50)
- Expected 50,000 predictions/day
- Need to store 1TB of training images
- Team of 3 developers
- Budget: $500/month maximum
- Region: Asia (India preferred)

Compare AWS, Azure, and GCP for this use case:
1. Recommended architecture on each platform
2. Monthly cost estimate
3. Pros and cons for this specific use case
4. Your final recommendation with reasons

āœ… Key Takeaways

āœ… AWS Market Leader — 32% share, 200+ services, most documentation, largest community. Jobs highest demand dhaan. UI complex, pricing predict hard


āœ… Azure Enterprise King — 23% share, OpenAI exclusive partnership, GPT-4 direct access. Microsoft ecosystem integration seamless. Hybrid cloud best


āœ… GCP AI Powerhouse — 11% share, TPU custom chips (2-5x faster training), Vertex AI integrated platform, BigQuery + ML combination powerful. Cost slightly lower


āœ… AI Services — GCP: Vertex AI + TPUs. Azure: OpenAI Service + Cognitive APIs. AWS: SageMaker + Bedrock. Each different strengths


āœ… Free Credits Comparison — AWS 12 months free tier, Azure $200 credits + 12 months free, GCP $300 credits 90 days. All try-before-buy options


āœ… Pricing Similar — Small AI apps: ₹400-500/month cost same all three. GCP slightly cheaper, negligible difference. Pricing optimization per workload


āœ… Job Market Reality — AWS jobs most postings, highest salaries. Azure growing enterprise. GCP specialized ML roles. AWS + one more provider = strong resume


āœ… Recommendation Pragmatic — Learn AWS (career value). Start GCP (best AI tools, free credits). Add Azure (completeness). Multi-cloud engineers premium

šŸ šŸŽ® Mini Challenge

Challenge: Deploy Same AI App on All 3 Clouds


Theory mattum illa — hands-on practice! Simple chatbot app deploy pannunga AWS, Azure, GCP la and compare!


Step 1: Simple Flask Chatbot Create Pannunga šŸ¤–

bash
pip install flask openai
# Create app.py with OpenAI API integration
# requirements.txt — Flask, OpenAI
# Dockerfile for containerization

Step 2: AWS la Deploy Pannunga ā˜ļø

bash
# EC2 instance create — t2.micro (free tier)
# Docker image push to ECR
# Run container on EC2
# Cost estimate: ₹500-1000/month

Step 3: Azure la Deploy Pannunga šŸ”µ

bash
# Create App Service with Free tier
# Docker container push
# Configure environment variables
# Cost estimate: ₹0-500/month (free tier)

Step 4: GCP la Deploy Pannunga 🟔

bash
# Cloud Run serverless deploy
# No server management needed
# Auto-scaling enabled
# Cost estimate: ₹200-800/month

Step 5: Performance & Cost Compare Pannunga šŸ“Š

  • Latency check pannunga (which is fastest?)
  • Deployment time compare
  • Monthly cost estimate compare
  • Ease of deployment compare

Deliverable: Simple spreadsheet with comparison + screenshots from all 3 clouds


Time: 2-3 hours (if accounts already ready)

Skill Gain: Hands-on experience with all 3 cloud providers ⭐

šŸ’¼ Interview Questions

Q1: AWS vs GCP — AI model training ku which better? Why?

A: GCP better — TPUs available, Vertex AI platform specifically designed for ML. AWS SageMaker also powerful but GCP TPUs training time 2-5x faster and cost-effective for large models. Depends on model size — small models: both same, large models: GCP.


Q2: OpenAI API use pannanum na which cloud choose pannu?

A: Azure — official OpenAI partnership, GPT-4o access guaranteed, same pricing as OpenAI, enterprise support. AWS also supports via Bedrock but Azure is direct and official.


Q3: Cloud cost optimization — top 3 tips?

A: (1) Spot/Preemptible instances use pannunga — 60-70% discount. (2) Reserved instances — 1 year commitment, 30% discount. (3) Auto-scaling setup — peak hours only scale up, off-peak scale down. Monitoring + billing alerts essential.


Q4: Multi-cloud strategy — when needed? Risks?

A: When needed: vendor lock-in avoid, best services from each cloud, disaster recovery. Risks: operational complexity, team training, cost management difficult, data transfer costs between clouds. Start single-cloud, then expand if needed.


Q5: Azure Hybrid Cloud — what is? When use pannudhu?

A: On-premises servers + Azure cloud combine. When needed: compliance (data must stay local), legacy apps modernization, disaster recovery, burst capacity. Azure best (Azure Stack, ExpressRoute). Expensive — large enterprise use only.

Frequently Asked Questions

ā“ AI projects ku best cloud provider evaru?
Depends on use case. GCP is best for AI/ML (TPUs, Vertex AI). AWS has most services. Azure is best if you use Microsoft tools. Beginners ku GCP recommend pannuven.
ā“ Free la try panna mudiyuma?
Yes! AWS 12-month free tier, Azure $200 credits + 12 months free, GCP $300 credits for 90 days. Moonu um try pannunga!
ā“ Jobs ku best cloud skill evadhu?
AWS — market share highest, most job postings. But multi-cloud knowledge (AWS + one more) best ah irukum resume la.
ā“ Certification venum ah?
Not mandatory, but helps. AWS Solutions Architect, GCP Professional ML Engineer, Azure AI Engineer — ivanga popular certifications.
🧠Knowledge Check
Quiz 1 of 1

AI model training ku best hardware acceleration evadhu GCP la?

0 of 1 answered