5 AWS Alternatives You Should Consider

The Cloud IaaS industry is on a steady rise as more businesses look for high-end security, scalable options and innovation. Amazon Web Service (AWS) is one of the most prominent names in the market and offers intuitive features to serve the varied purposes of vendors and consumers. Gartner positioned AWS as a Leader in its Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service report for the ninth consecutive year. Gartner found that AWS scored exceptionally high in all its measuring criteria, which includes Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision.

A CNBC report highlighted that AWS generated revenues of $9.95 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019, around 34% higher than the previous year, which testifies to how dominant the service has been in offering high-end infrastructure and high-speed connectivity features. However, there are many other cloud service providers out there depending on your requirements.

Below are five noteworthy alternatives to choosing AWS.

1. Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure is an integrated IaaS and PaaS solution, which offers metered-by-the-second Hyper-V-virtualized multi-tenant computers through Azure Virtual Machines. It also offers specialized large requests, like that for SAP HANA in-memory database. It also comes with multi-tenant block and file storage as well as many more IaaS and PaaS capabilities, such as Azure Blob Storage, Docker-based Azure Container Service, Azure Batch, a CDN and Azure Functions.

Microsoft Azure can be ideal for all applications that run well in a virtualized environment, especially for businesses that are committed to using Microsoft technology. Enterprises can also deploy third-party software and services via Azure Marketplace, and colocation is done by partner exchanges via Azure ExpressRoute, such as those from CoreSite and Equinix.

The Cloud IaaS and PaaS service offers an unmatched end-to-end experience for organizations that build .NET applications based on Microsoft Visual Studio. It  also offers a well-integrated approach to IoT and edge computing, along with packages that incorporate edge solutions like Data Box Edge and Azure Stack.

2. Google Cloud

Google is renowned as an internet-centric technology and services provider. Their Cloud IaaS offering combines Compute Engine (IaaS) with App Engine (PaaS) and many other capabilities. This includes the Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Docker-based container service, Google Cloud Functions, GKE on-premise container-based software and more. The colocation is done via Google Cloud Interconnect.

Google Cloud can be the best choice for analytics applications such as big data, cloud-native applications, and machine learning projects. It can also be used for managing applications optimized for cloud-native operations. Google also allows businesses to scale their IaaS models with PaaS capabilities by focusing on open-source ecosystems.

Although it was initially only offered to cloud-native startups, Google Cloud is now being extended to serve enterprise customers as well. As Google differentiates the core technologies for analytics and machine learning, many organizations are choosing Google Cloud as a strategic cloud service where they can deploy applications powered by BigQuery. Google also offers a Customer Reliability Engineering program to help users with the process of operations transformation.

3. Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud is another integrated IaaS and PaaS that enterprises can use as an alternative to AWS. It offers KVM and Xen-based Elastic Compute Service and compute-independent block cloud storage options. Aside from that, Alibaba Cloud also offers Alibaba Object Storage Service, Cloud Container Service, a CDN, Apsara Stack and ET Brain private cloud infrastructure and many PaaS-layer services.

It’s the industry leader in China and its offerings are being used by both digital businesses and public-sector agencies. Alibaba Cloud can be the best option for managing cloud-first digital business workloads, especially those that are based in Southeast Asia and are looking to benefit from the relationship of Alibaba Cloud with its parent company.

Listed as a Niche Player in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service report, it offers an extensive set of IaaS and PaaS offerings, which is comparable in scope to other global players that focus on hyper-scaling. This makes it a good choice for enterprises looking for robust cloud infrastructure in China.

4. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, formerly known as Oracle Bare Metal Cloud Services, offers paid-by-the-hour KVM-virtualized virtual machines as well as bare-metal servers with Oracle Database, Exadata, and Real Application Clusters. It also offers Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes, a Docker and Kubernetes-based container service, and OCI Object Storage. The colocation is done via Oracle FastConnect partner exchanges.

It’s ideal for businesses that need Cloud IaaS for the development and deployment of Oracle applications, as well as for running applications that depend on an Oracle Database. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is designed as an infrastructure foundation to support the other businesses of its parent company and is powered by Oracle applications, databases, and services, which span IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.

The Cloud IaaS offering can also be a good choice for those who want a well-designed cloud infrastructure to run Oracle software, especially those who are looking to deploy on bare-metal servers and Exadata applications. However, the feature sets may not be as extensive as that offered by other integrated IaaS and PaaS providers.

5. IBM Cloud

Enterprises looking for an IaaS solution similar to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure should consider IBM Cloud. It offers both single-tenant and multitenant virtualized compute resources as well as bare-metal servers. IBM Cloud also offers S3-compatible Cloud Object Storage, Open Container Initiative-based IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service, Akamai-powered CDN integration, IBM Cloud Functions, a Cloud Foundry-based PaaS, and more, making it a good option for its existing customers who rely on IBM-powered technology.

The solutions we’ve discussed in this article are some of the major players in the Cloud IaaS market, which can be used as an alternative to Amazon Web Services. While AWS appeals greatly to businesses looking for agile infrastructure, the high pricing often pushes enterprises away. So, if you’re looking for a cost-effective solution for your company, then consider Microsoft, Google, Alibaba, Oracle or IBM.