The Battle of the Giants
"Should we use AWS or Google Cloud?"
It's the first question every CTO asks. Both are excellent. Both are expensive. But their pricing models favor different types of workloads.
1. Compute: The "Sustained Use" Game
AWS (EC2): You pay on-demand unless you commit to 1 or 3 years (Reserved Instances/Savings Plans). This requires planning.
GCP (Compute Engine): Google applies Sustained Use Discounts automatically. If you run a server for a whole month, it gets cheaper automatically. No contracts needed.
Winner for ease-of-use: GCP.
2. Managed Kubernetes (EKS vs GKE)
AWS EKS: You pay $0.10/hour (~$73/month) for the Control Plane + Worker Nodes.
GCP GKE: The Control Plane is free for one zonal cluster per billing account. (Standard mode).
GKE is also generally considered "smarter" with auto-scaling and upgrades, as Kubernetes was born at Google.
Winner involved: GCP.
3. Serverless (Lambda vs Cloud Run)
AWS Lambda: The OG serverless. Extremely powerful, event-driven. Can be complex to configure (VPC, cold starts, layers).
GCP Cloud Run: "Just give me a Docker container and run it." It scales to zero. It handles HTTP traffic natively. It is developer happiness in a box.
Winner for DX (Developer Experience): GCP Cloud Run.
4. Startup Credits (The Real Decider)
Forget the technical differences. Who is giving you free money?
- AWS Activate: Usually $1,000 to $100,000. Harder to get the big amounts without VC backing.
- Google for Startups: Aggressive program. Often $2,000 to $200,000 for year 1 and 2.
Strategy: Apply to both. Go where the credits are. Migrating later is a problem for "Future You".
Verdict: Which one?
Choose AWS if:
- You need the absolute broadest set of services.
- You are hiring widely (easier to find AWS experts).
- You heavily use Enterprise features.
Choose GCP if:
- You live in Containers (Kubernetes/Cloud Run).
- You are a data/AI startup (BigQuery + Vertex AI is unbeatable).
- You want simpler pricing.