AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Which Cloud Should Host Your Web App or SaaS Product?

Updated September 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud offer the same categories of service under different names, with different strengths, pricing habits and ecosystems. This comparison is written for businesses choosing where a web application, SaaS product or company infrastructure should run, not for certification study: it covers compute, databases, serverless, managed Kubernetes, AI, pricing, compliance and the practical question of which one your team can operate.

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud at a glance

AWS launched in 2006 and remains the largest cloud provider by revenue, with Azure second and Google Cloud third, according to Synergy Research Group‘s market tracking. Service breadth follows the same order; developer experience is often ranked in the reverse order. Documentation: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud.

Compute and hosting for web apps

All three run a containerized Next.js, Django, Laravel or .NET app well. Google Cloud Run is the simplest container platform of the three for a small team; AWS App Runner and Azure Container Apps are the equivalents. For virtual machines the products are interchangeable; for Kubernetes, GKE is generally considered the most polished, EKS the most widely used, AKS the natural choice for Microsoft shops. See backend hosting options.

Databases and data

AWS RDS and Aurora, Azure Database for PostgreSQL and Google Cloud SQL all offer managed PostgreSQL and MySQL. Azure SQL is the home of SQL Server workloads. Google’s BigQuery is the standout analytics warehouse for teams without data engineers; AWS Redshift and Azure Synapse or Fabric serve the same purpose inside their ecosystems.

Serverless and edge

Lambda has the largest ecosystem and integrations; Azure Functions integrate with Microsoft services; Google Cloud Run (containers) and Cloud Functions are simple and scale to zero. None matches Cloudflare Workers for edge latency, which is why Cloudflare often sits in front of all three; see Cloudflare vs AWS.

AI and machine learning

Azure OpenAI Service gives enterprises OpenAI models under Microsoft’s compliance umbrella; AWS Bedrock offers a menu of models from several vendors plus SageMaker for training; Google’s Vertex AI and Gemini models pair with BigQuery for data-heavy work. For most product teams adding AI features, the choice follows where the data already lives. See AI integration services.

Pricing and cost control

List prices for comparable virtual machines and storage are close; the bill differs through data transfer out, support plans, reserved or committed-use discounts and enterprise agreements. Azure credits and Microsoft enterprise agreements can make it cheapest for Microsoft customers; Google’s sustained-use discounts apply automatically; AWS has the deepest savings-plan options. All three need budgets, alerts and tagging from day one. Pricing calculators: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud.

Compliance and regions

All three hold the major attestations (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA eligibility with a BAA, PCI DSS, FedRAMP for government regions). Region coverage is broadest on AWS and Azure. For healthcare, fintech and public-sector products the deciding factor is usually the organization’s existing compliance program rather than the provider. See healthcare software development and fintech software development.

Talent and ecosystem

AWS skills are the most common on the US market, Azure skills are concentrated in enterprises and consultancies, Google Cloud skills are rarer but strong in data teams. Third-party SaaS tools, marketplaces and tutorials follow the same order. For a company that will hire DevOps engineers, this matters more than any feature difference.

Which should you choose?

How Progression Agency works with the clouds

We build cloud-agnostic where practical (containers, Postgres, object storage, infrastructure as code) and deploy to the provider the client already uses or, for new products, to AWS by default with Cloudflare in front. We set up accounts, budgets and access in the client’s name. See cloud migration services, DevOps services and SaaS hosting.

Frequently asked questions