The cloud has become the standard for software development, but it’s tricky to know which is the best cloud platform for you. The cloud gives you benefits you can’t easily get on your own, like strong security, a stable setup, and reliable service.
That said, there are numerous cloud platforms out there, and it can be daunting to know which one is best for your needs. In this post, we’ll provide a list of the best cloud platforms and help you choose the right one for your organization.
What Is Cloud Computing?
Simply put, cloud computing involves delivering computer services via the internet. Data storage applications, database services, and networking services can all be offered in the cloud.
Unlike traditional computing, cloud computing needs no physical hardware. This makes it easy to store files or put them in a remote database. Cloud computing allows users to access their data among other things as long as they are connected to the internet.
Recently, this infrastructure has proven to be a popular choice for both businesses and individuals alike. Using the best cloud platform saves time and money, boosts worker productivity, and improves performance and security.
A major reason for the name “cloud computing” is that the infrastructure enables information to be accessed through a virtual environment, thus the term “cloud.” Cloud-based services offer users the ability to store documents and applications in a remote server, and give users access to them all via the internet.
With the cloud, users don’t need to be in a particular location, and can access their project files or anything they need remotely with the click of a few buttons.
It used to be a long and tedious process to process data, but cloud computing has taken the stress out of it. Because all your data is stored on a huge computer cluster tucked deep in cyberspace, you can access, share, and move data more conveniently than ever before.
In cloud computing, all the hard work of crunching and processing data is done by the cloud rather than your device, so you can sit down and work on it.
To understand the technology better, read our article on computing platforms. It explains the key ideas and structures that make these platforms powerful.
All the data processing is done by large computer clusters far away. Suddenly, your data, work, and applications are available anywhere in the world via the Internet and any device that has a connection to it.
Public and private clouds are both possible. A public cloud service charges a fee for its services over the Internet. On the other hand, private cloud services are only available to a limited number of people. Networks that supply these services are known as hosted services. Additionally, there is a hybrid option, which combines elements of the public and private sectors.
How does cloud computing work?
So let’s say you’re at the top of a large firm and some of your core tasks involve ensuring employees have access to the right IT equipment they need to carry out their day-to-day jobs.
These tasks aren’t just involving maintaining the hardware though, it’s also purchasing software or licenses to tools being used within the business, whenever there’s a new employee more licenses may be required to accommodate for another user. It can be tedious work.
It won’t be long before a replacement for these higher up workers. In the future, it may be possible to only have to load up a single application to give your employees the tools they need. As services become more web-based, things like email, word-processing, and data analysis may all be done on a remote machine owned by another company.
Within a cloud setup, the workload shifts greatly. Local machines no longer run applications to ease the main server; the cloud’s network of computers handles them instead.
The need for either hardware or software decreases dramatically through the usage of the cloud. The only concern of the user should be the ability to run the cloud interface itself, which is a simple web browser.
By now there’s a massive probability that you’ve used some form of cloud computing within your lives. For example, if you make use of email services such as Outlook, Yahoo or Gmail, then you already have some basic interactive experience with cloud computing.
How?
Well, instead of actually running an e-mail client on your computer like the olden days, you now type it into your browser and hey presto! You have mail! Your account software and storage are stored on the service’s computer cloud, not on your computer.
What Are The Benefits Of Cloud Computing?
Those days of maintaining records on paper are long gone. Almost every industry today has access to some kind of cloud-based tool or service, from accountants to healthcare professionals.
In light of the ongoing pandemic, cloud solutions have become a necessity for businesses, as more companies are adapting to the work-from-home business model to accommodate their employees.
It is expected that cloud computing will be the glue holding businesses from every background together. We thought we would share what, we believe, are the advantages of cloud computing.
Cloud is everywhere
It’s impossible to deny anymore, the cloud is omnipresent. It’s impossible to get away from it. Cloud computing makes data transparent and traceable due to its nature. A robust, cost-reducing network can be achieved with multiple users working together in the cloud.
Cost saving
Because the best cloud platforms require less maintenance and management, they are cost-effective. In addition, cloud computing services may reduce the cost of purchasing expensive systems within the company.
Additionally, operational expenses may be drastically reduced. It can also reduce energy usage, thus leading to a reduction in costs (since no staff is required to handle IT equipment).
Improved Security
The main concern of a business owner is data security. Even though some say cloud platforms are at risk of hackers, most trusted platforms have low server-side risks. Most breaches happen because users have weak passwords or fall for phishing.
The potential for scalability
There is no shortage of cloud systems available and they can be scaled up and down according to a company’s specific business requirements. In addition to relieving the stress both good and bad months bring, this also frees up time that can be used for other aspects of the business.
Collaboration
Cloud computing makes it possible for people within the same organization to work together on the same project, all in real time. What’s great about this is that they don’t have to be in the same place. You can work with anyone, whether they are in Tokyo or Zurich; the same project will move forward no matter where they are.
What is cloud hosting?
The term cloud hosting refers to a service offered by a cloud vendor to businesses and organizations.
The cloud vendor is responsible for setting up, maintaining, and monitoring the infrastructure and security. Clients of some vendors may also customize their servers’ hardware or app availability.
As they are spread out over hundreds of virtual machines (VMs), their computing power can help balance demands across an infrastructure setup.
Building and running data centers in-house is costly. Using the cloud is more cost-effective for maintaining servers, storage, and hardware.
What is a cloud hosting provider?
Cloud hosting providers offer infrastructure, software, and storage services from their cloud-based datacenters. As with most cloud hosting providers, you’ll typically only pay for the resources you utilize within a cluster of cloud servers.
Besides the payment model in place, cloud service providers also offer a wider array of benefits, such as the ability to take full advantage of the scalability and flexibility the cloud offers.
Companies need to be aware, however, of the security implications of keeping data in the cloud to ensure industry-recommended practices and settings for access and compliance management.
Within the cloud service industry there are several major players, including Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.
When should you use cloud hosting services?
Cloud computing offers great flexibility. Besides supporting large organizations, such as Netflix, who require high performance, large bandwidth, and 100 percent uptime, it can also support small start-ups.
As a result of its versatility, cloud hosting can be used by a wide range of users, including large companies and individuals who run popular blogs.
An organization looking for near-perfect uptime and flexible server expansion can find cloud hosting on a higher level advantageous. Using a high-quality cloud hosting provider will make your site run faster and more securely.
Cloud hosting can be useful for those whose sites go down during peak traffic, particularly for sites that use only a few resources. Dedicated servers and virtual private servers are also options, but may provide less scalability.
You’ll also need varying levels of technical skill depending on the service you choose.
Who Is Cloud Hosting For?
There are some people who aren’t suited for cloud computing. You might be able to use a shared hosting plan if you don’t abuse the server or have any performance concerns.
Cloud web hosting isn’t the only way to improve your website’s speed; you can utilize caching plugins, optimize images, and use a CDN, too. It’s unlikely you will need to change your plan to improve performance if you do these three things. Your site doesn’t need to be updated if it receives less than 100,000 monthly visitors.
However, if your traffic swings wildly, it might be worth a try even if you do not have the same popularity. You may find that your website traffic increases fourfold after you run a major campaign. This must be managed without causing your site to go down, so you need a hosting environment that is capable.
Who makes use of cloud computing?
The cloud is being used by many people around the world in some capacity. Netflix is something you watch, right? You utilize cloud computing. Or even Pinterest, which makes substantial use of Amazon Web Services for its data management.
When you subscribe to Spotify, you’re taking advantage of cloud technology since Spotify uses Amazon Web Services to host and store all of your data. Almost everything around us now uses cloud technology in some way.
What Are The Best Private Cloud Computing Platforms?
There are almost 1000 cloud vendors worldwide, who all offer different kinds of cloud services. Each has their own goals and advantages. We have reviewed the top 5 best cloud platform providers in 2021 below.
Of course, picking the right cloud platform isn’t just about pricing or uptime — it also shapes the kind of talent you need on your team. Many organizations now use a cloud-focused coding assessment tool to vet developers before onboarding them onto a specific platform stack. That kind of skills-based filtering makes the whole vendor evaluation process a lot more practical, since you’re not just choosing a platform in isolation — you’re choosing one your team can actually work with confidently.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
It’s a mistake to think Amazon is just a retailer that provides easy access to online shopping for things rapidly and efficiently. With over $200 billion in sales, they also dominate the Infrastructure as a Service industry.
In terms of scale, Amazon Web Services even rivals Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM. Amazon Web Services has become so mainstream within the industry that big names like Samsung, Unilever, Netflix and even Kellogg use it.
Besides providing web hosting and domains, AWS also handles other technologies, such as machine learning AI and Virtual Reality. For this review, I will focus on their cloud hosting.
Having a worldwide customer base, it makes sense that their site is available in various languages. Netflix, for instance, trusts Amazon Web Services. However, it’s important to note that large providers are usually the ones to neglect their customers and provide inadequate or costly customer support.
In our review of the top cloud platforms, AWS stands out for its flexibility and variety of options, particularly when it comes to instance types. For a better understanding, explore our detailed comparison of AWS Dedicated Instances vs Dedicated Hosts to help you choose the right instance type for your specific needs.
They’re a massive company
The smaller businesses and individuals out there aren’t of significant concern to Amazon. It wont guide you through the process of switching to the cloud. Rather than offer automatic backups or website builders, they primarily target developers, SMEs, and enterprises that usually have the expertise or employees to handle all of this.
Despite this fact, with AWS you can get everything you might need from spam protection to SSL support. You won’t get it all in neat little boxes, ready at the click of a button (though there are hosts like that out there if that’s what you prefer).
Minimal Downtime
Your business can benefit from AWS’s brilliant SLA (Service Level Agreement) if downtime is its primary concern. You will receive a varying amount based on the amount of downtime, usually between 10%-100% which is really generous.
However, this makes sense. Consider Amazon itself going down, how many customers around the world would be affected by just two hours of downtime?
Simple to use
With EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud), Amazon’s cloud computing services are provided in the form of virtual machines that are preconfigured for ease of use. You should be aware that it’s not a point-and-click setup and that you may need to use documentation and learn how to use pre-prepared workflows and wizards that Amazon goes above and beyond providing to its clients.
In terms of creating an AWS account and selecting a plan, it literally took less than a minute. A credit card is required to verify your identity after you create an account by entering some basic personal information.
If you want to jump into Amazon Web Services and see how it all works, they also offer a free tier for people to do that. Even real websites can be hosted on it until you run out of space.
It becomes less beginner-friendly when it comes to connecting a domain and installing WordPress on it, but luckily, the documentation provided is extremely comprehensive.
Performance
Considering Amazon’s size, even one second of lag would cost the company around $1.6 billion in sales annually. That’s a massive loss resulting from a blip in loading speed.
Because of this, it is in Amazon’s best interest to ensure that uptime is at its highest level. In order to test AWS, we created a website and here is what we learned:
AWS is an amazing service.
In even the farthest-flung locations, connection times were around 300ms, with the best being around 20ms. In our opinion, AWS is an excellent solution for websites that rely heavily on conversions and low bounce rates.
Customer support
Customer service policies are known to be Amazon’s hallmark, and the customer is the company’s primary focus, but do these policies carry over to the Amazon Web Services branch?
In a nutshell, yes and no.
Support is divided into tiers, and these tiers range in price from free to very expensive. Free support includes 24/7 ticket submission, documentation, and access to a forum.
In contrast, when you select paid support, then you receive additional benefits such as direct email contact with Cloud Support Associates, account managers, and the ability to have a dedicated account manager for each product.
Even so, the free plan support was excellent. As soon as we submitted a ticket, we received a response explaining and resolving all the issues.
How much does AWS cost?
As with the majority of other cloud-based web hosts, Amazon Web Services bills customers on a pay-per-use basis. This means you will be charged per second or hour depending on what you use.
Compared to other vendors of Infrastructure as a Service, Amazon Web Services is the cheapest per gigabyte. With the free tier plan, you can use EC2 in conjunction with EBS in order to host a website 100% free, for a whole year, provided you do not exceed 30GB of storage.
It depends entirely on the package you choose for hosting whether or not your plan costs $4 or $240.
Amazon Web Services is the world’s largest provider of cloud services and the leading provider of Infrastructure as a Service.
Microsoft Azure
Despite Amazon’s AWS dominating the market, Microsoft holds a strong position at the second place. Those looking for a capable cloud infrastructure provider for file hosting need look no further than Azure.
Compared to Amazon S3, Azure’s global infrastructure is more robust and fully integrated.
The following will guide you through the IaaS cloud provider’s pricing, usability, security, and customer service.
Features of Microsoft Azure
Unlike other hosting providers, Microsoft Azure is purely focused on cloud computing and is therefore slightly different. Azure App Platform claims to have more than 100 types of services available to suit your specific needs.
You should choose Azure for your web hosting needs if you are interested in cloud computing, AI or blockchain. Although, Azure is a bit overkill for hosting just a personal website.
Azure’s purpose is purely for cloud computing solutions, and it does not include any guides or tools for beginners to help them migrate or simply use it for general purposes.
There is nothing wrong with the features, as they are fantastic. It’s just that the features are geared toward those with advanced cloud management experience, not someone who just plugs WordPress into a quick website for a client.
Multiple use suitability
It was built with the specific purpose of offering users the ability to use its services in numerous ways. Microsoft offers it as a solution for many uses, from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to the Internet of Things (IoT).
Interested in running your own blockchain? Nothing to worry about. Do you want a private game server? That’s fine. With the right knowledge and understanding this can be achieved.
Security in mind
Another advantage of Azure is that it puts a lot of resources into making sure the network is as secure as possible. With security controls built directly into both hardware and firmware, as well as access to Microsoft’s own 3,500-member team of cyber-security experts.
It’s popularity also makes Azure a common target for attackers, as they know if one account is compromised, they could potentially compromise millions.
Not so popular ease of use
When users are asked how easy it is to use Azure, they respond negatively. There are many users who complain that simple tasks are taking far longer than they need to (such as changing the gateway configurations).
A beginner should stay away from Azure, it’s not for them. System administrators and developers of any kind who have experience may find the tools available to be much simpler to use than beginners.
We found Azure’s account creation process to be a little less smooth than with other cloud providers. Once you sign up with your Microsoft account, you’ll be prompted to verify your identity via SMS and credit card – there’s no charge at this stage until you select a paid service – Once you have your Azure account set up, you’re ready to go!
Overall Performance
Considering Microsoft’s size, we expected much more from its service. The majority of reviewers complain that servers are not meeting their service level agreements due to high failure rates among virtual machines, multiple DNS failures, and random downtimes.
Though, if you experience downtime while using Azure, you’ll need to manually request credit as they won’t simply credit your account. The Microsoft website provides server status information.
It’s a little hard to navigate the Microsoft Azure knowledge center, but the information is there. Although the community support forums are a bit better, most of the helpful answers appear to come from Microsoft’s customers.
However, it’s nice to see that the subforums are separated by topic in a way that makes browsing and searching for answers easy. In addition to traditional support tickets, Azure offers support through Twitter.
Azure’s customer service impressed us, and we are quite pleased with the level of service we received. Our first attempt at contacting support led us to the live chat. The chat started with a bot that tried to dissuade us from contacting the company, but we eventually got through.
I was able to send my query as an email, and I received a reply reasonably quickly that answered my question in full.
Fair customer support
The Azure knowledge center is more difficult to navigate than other documentation out there, but what you’re looking for is most likely there if you look hard enough. The support forum also provides a little bit of help, but the overwhelming majority so far has come from other users responding to queries rather than actual Microsoft employees.
We obtained a response pretty fast with an answer to our question, after filling out a query form with Azure’s customer support.
Cost of Azure
On the surface, Azure offers an attractive price, but it’s all dependent on which plan you select and how many resources you’ll need. You can easily see an increase in price if you don’t pay attention to how resources and services add up.
How much does Microsoft Azure cost?
In the same way as some other IaaS providers, Microsoft Azure offers multiple plans, the price of which is dependent on what type of plan you choose.
Which Microsoft Azure plan should I get?
Choosing a cheaper plan is a good idea at first. Then you can upgrade later if you want to. If you need a migration, then a more expensive plan will provide coverage for that.
You should try out different options and see what works best for your budget and needs.
Google Cloud Platform
We’ve all heard of Google, right?
Despite dominating most industries, not everyone will have heard of the Google Cloud Platform. In this platform, you can access everything from computing and machine learning to data storage and analytics.
As early as 2008, Google launched the App Engine service, a platform for building and hosting web applications within Google’s data centers. The website of GCP is available in 13 languages.
With its infrastructure, Google Cloud runs its own search engine and is trusted by industry leaders in many different industries, including Coca-Cola, eBay, Twitter, and even PayPal.
Our next step will be to examine Google Cloud Platform further and see if it caters to small-to-medium businesses, or whether it caters to multinational giants.
Features of Google Cloud Platform
Cloud computing is the sole focus of Google Cloud, with cloud hosting being a small part of it. Utilizing the cloud is ideal for businesses needing more resources to meet increased demand, but using Google Cloud doesn’t work well for small-time websites with low traffic.
In terms of one-click installers, web building tools, or web transfers, there is no support for users. This is because Google focuses exclusively on providing enterprise-level cloud hosting to developers and high-traffic websites.
Massive Network
As you might expect from a subsidiary of Google, it has a global reach. Offering 20 different data centers across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and even South America.
Secure data
Data security comes with pros and cons when you use one of the mainstream cloud providers. It is fortunate that GCP is compliant with all EU GDPR regulations when it comes to customers’ security requirements.
Partnered with the best
In addition to the services offered by Google Cloud, it also boasts partnerships with world-class technology companies geared towards enabling businesses to innovate more rapidly. A good example of this is the ability to integrate Salesforce directly into the platform for seamless workflows.
Completely open source
Google has a reputation for being transparent with its projects, and Cloud Platform is no exception. The good news is that users aren’t stuck with Google long-term, and they can move to another open source cloud vendor with ease.
How easy is Google Cloud to use?
Google Cloud Platform is designed with a sleek and modern minimalist aesthetic, which is a characteristic of Google’s preferred approach to website design. You may be surprised by the menu at first, but it’s not as complicated as it seems. Instead of trying to find a specific service, click Get Started.
The Google cloud platform allows you to create a free account in a matter of minutes. Also, you will receive a credit toward your usage (currently $300). Although the payment information is required, Google states that you aren’t billed until you give your express permission.
An expert assistance service is available in the form of consultancy, technical account management, and global network of partners, however they all come at a high cost.
Google Cloud overall performance
Large companies are expected to have excellent performance. We didn’t see this earlier when it came to Azure’s performance rating, but Google is known for its stability.
With a bustling search engine, a popular mobile operating system, and handling many other aspects of technology, it is unlikely that they will experience any downtime, right?
Even though it isn’t impossible, it is highly unlikely. This very same infrastructure runs all of Google’s own services, when was the last time you heard of YouTube or Google going down?
The company provides a 99.99% uptime service level agreement, which is clearly documented. In the event of downtime, the company offers attractive financial compensation. With Google Cloud, you’ll find speed, reliability, and high uptime.
Google Cloud Platform pricing
GCP offers new users a free 12-month trial along with a $300 credit voucher (at the time of writing). Billing is done by credit card only, and you will only be charged for the actual amount used.
The Google Cloud Platform is not the right platform if budget is one of your main concerns.
Alibaba Cloud
Although Alibaba is most popular in China and the biggest cloud provider in the country, it’s still relatively unknown by most people outside the country. Alibaba first entered the cloud computing business in 2009 under the name Aliyun, which later became Alibaba Cloud.
In 2017, they passed the one millionth user mark and boasted 18 data centers in 50 different time zones around the world. It has an informative website, is multilingual, and works well.
Features and usability
There are a variety of features offered by Alibaba, all of which are enterprise-level cloud services such as database services, hosting, domain registration and more. With regards to their web hosting services, it is important to note that their network is widely dispersed globally. There is, however, only web hosting available in two regions: the U.S.A. (Silicon Valley) and Hong Kong.
Alibaba Cloud is certainly a viable option for personal blogs, as well as small and medium businesses. However, when it comes to its network, it does not stand out from the crowd.
In light of Alibaba’s size in the industry, we are disappointed not to see an improved offering. Storage capacity is capped at 5GB, the custom cpanel is quite difficult to use for non-technical users, but 30 domains can be hosted on each account.
Alibaba Cloud Pricing
Only one plan is offered, which is a reasonably priced web hosting plan, but it doesn’t include all the features you’d expect from a large company.
It’s not all bad news, though, as Alibaba Cloud provides its users with exceptional support and access to a good knowledge base and forum. Live chat and ticketing systems can be used for support.
Salesforce
Salesforce is a little different from the rest of the best cloud platforms listed here. Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that automates sales and makes decision-making easier.
Salesforce CRM provides teams with access to customer information in one place, as well as providing insights through dashboards and reports. Salesforce Sales Cloud manages lead and contact information, and workflows can be automated.
In addition to managing contacts, prospects, and leads, Sales Cloud helps sales teams forecast revenues and increase efficiency. Furthermore, there are data cleansing tools available in conjunction with the mobile app. Additionally, the artificial intelligence (AI) program Einstein can be downloaded freely as an app.
Salesforce dominates its niche
Salesforce was one of the first recognised Software as a Service companies to make use of cloud technology. They are the undisputed leader of CRM technology and dominate the market. They have been awarded #1 CRM yet again, 7 years running now as of 2020.
Salesforce gained a stronger position in the industry thanks to the increase in its market share and revenue increase, more than any competitor CRM. Customers and companies are brought together by Salesforce.
The Salesforce platform allows almost unlimited customization and great scalability, making it a great tool for businesses of all sizes.
As a technology provider, Salesforce focuses on small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), as well as enterprise-level organizations. The products and services are built to support your current way of working, and to scale with you as your business grows.
Good features
There are both good and bad points to using Salesforce, as there are with many other products. Easy to use, advanced functionalities, and integration options are among the good points. Salesforce is one of the most well-known names in Software as a Service and offers advanced marketing automation, 24/7 support, and more.
Salesforce is incredibly easy to use, allowing businesses to focus less on the software and more on their business operations. A mobile app is also available.
Salesforce allows seamless integration with third-party apps, a number of which are already available in the Salesforce marketplace, including Formstack, which lets users build forms without coding. Several apps are available here that may help around the business.
Automating business processes is possible with Salesforce. Automated email alerts can be set up and assigned as alerts proceed. You can also automate manual tasks like filling out orders.
Not-so-Good features
However, Salesforce is not without its drawbacks, one of which is that it can be expensive and too complex for small teams and companies. Comparatively, the cost is higher than that of other platforms like this available on the market.
Fees may also increase if additional customizations and integrations are provided. Additionally, the billing is annual, but the prices are displayed on a per month/per user basis.
In terms of offerings, Salesforce is incredibly comprehensive for small businesses, but not so for larger businesses.
