Cloud Infrastructure for Startups: AWS vs GCP vs Azure
AWS, GCP, Azure — the big three clouds. Each has strengths. For startups, the choice often comes down to credits, ecosystem, and team familiarity. Here's the comparison.
Quick Recommendation
AWS: Largest, most services, most hires know it. GCP: Best for data/ML, strong Kubernetes. Azure: Microsoft ecosystem, enterprise. Start with AWS unless you have a reason (GCP for data, Azure for Microsoft stack).
Table of Contents
AWS
Market leader. EC2, Lambda, RDS, S3 — everything. Largest ecosystem, most documentation. Steeper learning curve. Activate credits via AWS Activate.
GCP
Strong for data (BigQuery, Dataflow), ML (Vertex AI), Kubernetes (GKE). Cleaner UX than AWS. Fewer services. Google for Startups credits.
Azure
Microsoft ecosystem. Good if you use Office 365, Active Directory. Enterprise focus. Microsoft for Startups credits.
Startup Credits
All three offer startup programs. AWS Activate, Google for Startups, Microsoft for Startups. Apply early — credits can cover 1–2 years of infra.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we use multiple clouds?
Yes, but adds complexity. Start with one. Multi-cloud for redundancy or vendor lock-in avoidance comes later.