AWS, Azure & GCP · Cloud across providers
How do AWS, Azure and GCP compare?
Short answer
They offer similar primitives under different names and with different strengths. Choose based on existing skills, service fit, compliance, pricing and ecosystem rather than a generic best provider.
All three providers cover compute, object storage, block storage, virtual networks, identity, managed databases and serverless. The differences are in service maturity, integration, commercial terms and the surrounding tooling.
Rough equivalents
- Compute: EC2, Azure Virtual Machines, Compute Engine
- Object storage: S3, Blob Storage, Cloud Storage
- Managed relational: RDS and Aurora, Azure SQL and Database, Cloud SQL and Spanner
- Serverless functions: Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Functions
- Kubernetes: EKS, AKS, GKE
AWS is broad and mature with a large partner ecosystem. Azure is strong where an organisation already depends on Microsoft identity, productivity and enterprise agreements. GCP is strong in data analytics, Kubernetes and networking, with a simpler pricing reputation.
Follow-ups you should expect
Interviewers use these to check whether the first answer was understanding or memorisation.
- 1What factors would make you choose Azure over AWS?
- 2When does multi-cloud make sense?
- 3How do you compare total cost across providers?
- 4Which provider would you pick for a Kubernetes-heavy platform and why?
Say it in the interview
At a primitive level the three providers are similar: compute, storage, networking, identity, databases and serverless under different names. I choose based on workload fit, existing skills, compliance and commercial terms rather than a generic ranking. Azure often wins where Microsoft identity is already central, GCP is strong for data and Kubernetes, and AWS is broad. I avoid multi-cloud unless there is a concrete driver.
Use this as a model, not a script. Saying it in your own words is what makes it survive follow-up pressure.
Related questions
Reading is step one
Now say it out loud.
Understanding an answer and delivering it under pressure are different skills. Rehearse this topic in a live AWS, Azure & GCP mock interview and get scored feedback on depth, clarity and confidence.