AWS Knowledge
Google Compute Engine vs Amazon EC2: Which is Better?
Piyush Kalra
Dec 17, 2024
Selecting the appropriate cloud computing service provider is critical to growing your business effectively while keeping costs reasonable. The giants of Infrastructure-as-a-Service are always, Google Compute Engine and Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) come on top of the list. Both these engines’: performance and features are unrivaled, but how do you know which one is better for your needs?
This blog will help you with the difference between Google Compute Engine and Amazon EC2 in regards to pricing, performance, scalability and use cases so that it is easier for you to make a choice for your organization.
Understanding Cloud Computing and Why It Matters
Before diving to the differences between Google Compute Engine and Amazon EC2, let us first understand the term cloud computing and its significance in today’s businesses.
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is the delivery of various computing services which include servers, data storage, application, database and networking services over the internet. Businesses do not have to own or maintain physical hardware. Instead, they can purchase those resources from cloud providers.
Cloud services are usually categorized under three primary models:
IaaS: Provides virtualization of computing resources in the form of servers and storage components. Google compute engine and Amazon EC2 are examples of such platforms.
PaaS: Provides developers with the necessary tools and platforms to create and manage applications by taking care of the infrastructure.
SaaS: Provides access to fully functional software applications over the internet without installation or maintenace (i.e google workspace or salesforce).
Why Businesses Choose Cloud Solutions
Cloud computing has revolutionized how companies operate due to its multiple advantages:
Scalability: Companies can easily scale resources, up or down, depending on their requirements, thus avoiding over or under investing in infrastructure.
Cost case: Pay only for what you use, unlike the traditional way of buying and maintaining expensive servers.
Focus on innovation: As infrastructure is managed by cloud providers, companies can focus on building products and growing the company rather than managing hardware.
What is Google Compute Engine?
(Image Source: Google Cloud)
Google Compute Engine is an infrastructural product within the Google Cloud Platform that offers virtual machine hosting for developers and businesses. It is designed to deliver flexible, scalable, and reliable computing power for a wide range of applications. GCE is the standalone service in Google’s portfolio for hosting virtual machines. Here's what makes GCE stand out:
Key Features
Customizable Virtual Machines: Provide customers with VMs welfare capable of handling their workloads. Basic applications, web hosting, and advanced AI/ML applications are supported. Customers set the number of CPUs, memory, and other parameters.
Sustained Use Discounts: Automatically copies over to your GCE account, so the longer you use GCE resources, the cheaper it gets.
Live Migration: Makes sure systems achieve near-continuous service by performing real-time workload migration.
High Availability: GCE provides perfect service with a very high uptime of 99.95%, enabling efficient service for critical operations.
Benefits
Web Hosting: The most reliable option for hosting dynamic websites with better performance, scalability, and strong reliability.
AI and Machine Learning: Advanced workloads like those used in AI can be performed with ease. Works with Tensor Processing Units for faster data processing.
Hybrid Cloud Solutions: Its infrastructure is easily integrated with on-premise infrastructure which makes it a perfect fit for hybrid environments.
Big Data Processing: Provides the needed power and scaling for large-scale data analytics and for people who want to run Big data applications.
What is Amazon EC2?
(Image Source: AWS Cloud)
Amazon EC2 is one of the essential services offered by AWS; it offers cloud safe, flexible, virtual machines. Amazon EC2 is designed with an elastic architecture so that users can deploy and run applications with little to no physical infrastructure investment.
Key Features
Multiple Instance types: Users can select from over 200 types of instances offered by Amazon EC2 which are optimized for specific workloads. This includes video gaming, databases, AI and even machine learning. With EC2, there is always a perfect configuration for you.
Elastic Load Balancing: Load balancing helps with overcoming traffic spikes by evenly distributing the traffic and ensuring that the application functions normally and efficiently alongside the high demand.
Spot Instances: For computing tasks that are not time-sensitive and can even face interruptions, these instances are the best, allowing you to save up to 90% on computing power by utilizing unused EC2 capacity.
Auto Scaling: Automatically changes the number of servers based on your application’s traffic. This feature, helps enables the performance during the times of higher demand while also saving during low- demand hours.
Benefits
E-commerce Applications: Perfect for Hosting a site that is able to deliver high performance while being fast and the ability to handle sudden traffic spikes.
Disaster Recovery: EC2 is able to recover critical systems quickly to give relief to the user in times of disaster or overwhelming situations by utilizing flexible infrastructure.
DevOps and Development: Application testing, building, and deployment is further simplified by the availability of customizable and scalable resources.
Media Processing and Streaming: Handles large volumes of data for video, music, or live streaming services efficiently.
Google Compute Engine vs Amazon EC2: Key Comparisons
1. Pricing Models
Both GCE and EC2 operate on pay-as-you-go models. However, their pricing structures differ.
Hourly metering with second-level billing.
Sustained Use Discounts automatically kick in for prolonged usage, giving discounts of up to 30%.
Committed Use Discounts: Save up to 70% by committing to one or three years.
On-Demand Instances: Pay by the second with no upfront costs.
Reserved Instances: Save up to 75% with long-term commitments.
Spot Instances: Discounts up to 90%, ideal for non-critical workloads.
Savings Plans: Flexible alternatives for long-term cost-efficient use.
Example: For Linux VMs with 4 CPUs, monthly costs for reserved instances are around:
GCE: $0.123/hour
EC2: $0.128/hour
2. Performance and Scalability
Performance is a critical factor for decision-making.
Offers live migration for uninterrupted performance.
Optimized for AI/ML workloads with TPUs and GPUs.
Industry-leading SLA of 99.95% for select instances.
EC2 instances boast high availability with a 99.99% SLA in certain regions.
Superior GPU performance for deep learning applications.
Auto-scaling ensures resources are available even during traffic surges.
3. Security and Compliance
Shielded VMs defend against rootkit and bootkit attacks.
Encryption-in-use with Confidential VMs.
Assured compliance with data residency and sovereignty standards.
Comprehensive encryption with Identity and Access Management (IAM).
Compliance certifications include ISO 27001, HIPAA, and GDPR.
GuardDuty protects resources from unauthorized activity.
4. Global Reach and Networking
GCE: Its seamless metropolitan area network coverage spans over 41 regions around the world.
EC2: With 35 regions and 111 availability zones, it maintains the largest global presence.
5. Management Tools
Users can manage their virtual machines via simple dashboards. For advanced users, there are APIs and CLI available for both GCE and EC2. In terms of documents and community-supported material, EC2 beats GCE.
When to Choose Google Compute Engine
Big Data & Analytics: If your project focuses on handling a large volume of data, GCP provides sophisticated capabilities that make GCE suitable for the efficient processing and analysis of data.
AI/ML Development: Select GCE when you have to perform deep learning or similar tasks that can benefit from GPU or TPU computation, as it is further enhanced for AI and Machine Learning projects.
Cost-Conscious Small Businesses: If your company is geared towards a long-term adjustment to save cost, GCE’s sustained use and committed use discounts make it more practical for your long-term requirements.
When to Choose Amazon EC2
E-Commerce & Media Applications: For an application that serves users around the globe and expects uneven traffic patterns, EC2 is fantastic because it can swiftly increase or decrease the resources allocated to an application and its infrastructure makes performance accessible to all users around the world.
Deployments Using Hybrid Cloud: If your company already has premises resources using AWS, EC2 works best for hybrid solutions since it offers smooth integration with existing resources.
DevOps Teams: With teams working on agile development, there is a wide scope of work where EC2 usability can accelerate the deployment, management, and monitoring of applications with the help of employed oversight tools and services.
Migration Between EC2 and GCE
(Image Source: Google Cloud)
Migration from Amazon EC2 to Google Compute Engine (or the other way round) can be undertaken easily with the help of automation utilities. For example:
- Identify dependencies and network configurations.
- Use Google Cloud Migrate or AWS Migration Hub; VM migrations can be carried out.
- Test the migrated instances to make sure everything is deployed properly.
Are you looking to optimize your EC2 and GCE costs?
Pump is an automated tool that helps companies optimize their AWS and GCP cloud expenses. It is especially useful for startups, as it aids in lowering costs by up to 60%. Here's a breakdown of how it works and why it's so efficient:
Group Buying Power: Pump pools together the AWS spending of all its users into a single account. Because of this collective high spend, Pump unlocks bulk discounts that are usually only available to large companies. These discounts are then distributed across all users.
AI-Powered Optimization: Pump uses artificial intelligence to analyze your AWS usage and automatically manages Reserved Instances and Savings Plans. By committing to these discounted plans, users can save up to 72% over three years long long-term commitments. Without Pump, managing these purchases is complex and time-consuming, but Pump handles it all for you.
Waterfall Coverage: The pump ensures that unused commitments, such as Reserved Instances, are utilized efficiently. If one user has excess capacity, that unused portion is allocated to another user, ensuring no resources go to waste and maximizing cost savings.
Beyond EC2: Pump doesn’t just save on EC2. It also supports 11+ AWS services, including S3 and ECS, and extends its savings capabilities to GCE, ensuring comprehensive savings across your cloud usage.
Why Choose Pump? Because it’s completely free to use, helping you save big and keep more money in your pocket.
Final Recommendations
Selecting between Google Compute Engine and Amazon EC2 depends on your business needs:
Choose Google Compute Engine: if you are focused on cost, AI functions, and innovation-led workloads.
Choose Amazon EC2: if you have broader use cases, require a global infrastructure, or need to tap into a large base of related services.
Test both! Both Google Cloud Platform and AWS offer free trials:
Conclusion
Ultimately, the best solution for you will always depend on where your business is headed, as well as what technologies you have in place. Determining which Google Compute Engine or Amazon EC2 will support the most cost, scales, or services makes it easier to fulfill your business needs.
