Battle of the Clouds: Oracle Cloud vs. AWS vs. Azure
Cloud computing, in addition to helping you store data, also provides networking, database, hosting, etc., services on the internet. Of course, this was made possible through cloud computing platforms, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
AWS stands out, leading with 34% dominance in the market and Azure with 21%; while Oracle cloud being relatively new in the business, dominates with about 2%. But who’s to say that these percentages are all you need to decide which one’s best for you? There are factors you need to consider before making a decision, and here, we’ll be discussing helping you make a suitable decision for your project.
What is Oracle Cloud?
Aside from being a cloud computing service from Oracle Corporation, Oracle Cloud offers Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas), software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (Paas), and even Data as a Service (DaaS). Also, like other cloud computing providers, Oracle Cloud offers a subscription-based service.
AWS?
Cloud computing with Amazon Web Services, AWS is comprehensive and evolving. It is a platform by Amazon.com. It also ranks 1st among other cloud computing providers occupying over 1/3rd of the market. Its products include networking, remote computing, storage, and mobile development.
What about Microsoft Azure?
Renowned for its limitless opportunities and potential, Microsoft Azure is one of the top contenders in the cloud computing world. It also offers IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS that provide networking, storage, and computing services.
In this article, we will compare and contrast Oracle Cloud, AWS, and Azure regarding their features, pricing, and customer support to help you decide which cloud service provider to choose.
Features
Every cloud computing provider has features you can compare and contrast to determine which one is more deserving of your project. Here, we will look at these features as they relate to the three cloud platforms:
Pricing models between AWS, Azure, and Oracle
Amazon Web Services are quite complex with some of its pricing models. However, it provides you with tools like cost explorer and AWS Calculator. These tools help you estimate and save costs.
Nonetheless, compared to AWS, Azure’s pricing models are easier. In addition, there’s a dashboard that provides a billing section where you can see how much you’re spending and what you’re spending on.
However, like AWS, Oracle offers similar services, including an online calculator that helps users estimate cost savings.
While these 3 are giants in the cloud computing market, their pricing models differ. Here, we’ll see the differences in their pricing models to help you choose what’s best for your budget and project.
Factors that Influence Pricing:
Some factors influence the pricing models, considering that these prices vary depending on those factors.
The table above slightly mentions how prices can differ according to region. However, we’ll be further looking at the factors and a few more:
1. Location – Data center locations affect the prices of host resources. The cost of electricity and demand may vary in different places; this is also the same for the rates of different regions.
2. Usage – Pricing or costs often depend on the amount of usage. So the more you use the services, the more you’ll have to pay.
3. Reserved Instances – As mentioned earlier, with reserved instances, you save up to 72% on your commitments. For instance, when you run a Virtual Machine for about 5 minutes and 30 seconds with Azure, you’ll only be charged for 5 minutes. This is because virtual machine billings on Azure are rounded to the nearest minute.
Customer support
Each cloud computing platform has different customer support levels. They are designed to figure out how best to support their various customers, and here, we’ll be discussing these levels and the different ways they can help.
AWS
AWS offers Basic, Developer, Business, and Enterprise Customer Support levels.
The basic level is free, and tools are limited.
With the Developer, Business, and Enterprise levels, you’re charged certain monthly fees ($29, $100, and $5500, respectively) and provided access to tools depending on your subscribed level.
The Enterprise level is the highest level of customer support, and besides providing you with tools, you also get 24-hour access to technical support.
Azure
Azure has similar customer support levels to AWS- Basic (free), Developer ($29), Standard ($100), and Professional ($1,000).
The difference between Azure and AWS is that while AWS provides tools, Azure grants you access to technical engineers.
Their response times differ with your subscribed customer level.
The Professional level, being the highest level, gives 24-hour access to engineers and provides you with tools. It’s also cheaper ($1,000) compared to the highest level for AWS.
Oracle
Oracle’s customer support differs from AWS and Azure, considering that it doesn’t come in levels and is tailored for certain customers. These levels include Platinum, Priority, and Premier.
The platinum level is offered freely with 24-hour access to engineers and tools, but only suitable for SaaS customers.
The Priority level also offers 24-hour access to engineers. Depending on the severity, the response time is usually between 15 minutes to local business days. It’s only suitable for Iaas and PaaS customers.
The Premier level comes at no additional costs, with 24-hour access to experts and the latest software performance improvement tips. It is only suitable for on-premise applications, middleware products, and databases.
Pros and Cons of each platform
How do I choose the right cloud service provider for my business?
With the many cloud computing platforms in the market, choosing one for your business can be daunting. However, a few factors can help narrow down your options.
Here, we’ll be comparing 3 aspects of these platforms that will help you decide better which one is best for you.
Cost
The costs of instances are slightly alike with AWS and Azure, considering that Azure charges $70/month and AWS $69/month per minimum instance. However, AWS costs $3.97/hour for a maximum instance, while Azure costs $6.97/hour. Nonetheless, Oracle Cloud has lower costs than the other two giants; it’s often defined security roles-a-year commitment option that can also be split monthly.
AWS charges by the hour, while Azure provides an on-demand cost option. Oracle, however, offers a pay-as-you-go option just like AWS.
Services
While AWS provides computing services through EC2, Azure, and Oracles offer services through Virtual Machines. In addition to their computing services, AWS, Azure, and Oracle offer networking, storage, database management, and hosting services.
Security
Oracle cloud provides end-to-end security and clarity and control over cloud resources. However, defined security roles come with a permission control feature with AWS. Azure’s security simply provides permissions on the entire account.
Features and Tools
AWS offers an on-premise infrastructure, EC2, servers in the cloud, app integrations, and analytics. Oracle Cloud offers analytics cloud, app development, virtual cloud network, etc. Azure has developing tools like AzurePing, cloud explorer, SQL database migration wizard, Azure developer portal, etc.
Customer support
AWS provides multilingual and localized customer support on 4 levels. Azure’s customer support is similar to AWS’ in the number of levels and prices. However, it’s a cheaper option than AWS. However, Oracle isn’t quite praised for its customer support, considering it’s tailored for specific customers, so it’s insufficient for users.
In Summary:
While AWS and Azure are the cloud computing giants, Oracle, new to the game, is also a platform to watch out for. We’ll summarise their differences and similarities with bullet points to help you remember and decide what is right for your project.
AWS employs EC2, while Oracle and Azure work with Virtual Machines, but at the same time, its security tallies with that of Oracle. There’s quite an upgrade in Oracle’s security to cover the AWS security loopholes. Azure’s security differs from that of AWS and Oracle Cloud and is superb still with its use of AI.
Oracle offers the 3 basic as-a-Service options with defined security roles.
The pricing models of AWS include On-Demand, Monthly, and Reserved Instances that also help you save on your subscription. However, with Azure, there’s not much of a saving option in the pricing models, including Standard, Premium, and Resource Manager. Oracle Cloud, again, shares a slight similarity with the models in AWS. The BYOL (Bring Your Own Licence) model differs from Oracle Cloud.
While AWS and Azure share similar customer support levels to tend to different types of customers, Oracle cloud differs in its customer support levels, considering that they’re tailored to help SaaS and IaaS customers alone.
Still, having AWS as a leader of the pack, it’s safe to say that your decision should be easy to make, especially considering its features and customer support. However, you should tilt toward Azure if you’re on a budget and need quality customer support and user-friendly features. Nonetheless, if your project requires SaaS customer support and a top-tier security option, you should focus more on Oracle Cloud.
FAQs
What is cloud computing? How does it differ from traditional hosting?
In simple terms, cloud computing allows the managing, storing, and processing data through a network of remote servers on the internet. It is different from traditional hosting in scalability.
· What are the benefits of using cloud services?
Some benefits of cloud computing services include
1. Compatibility with different devices and operating systems.
2. Scalability that, in turn, improves your organization's agility
3. Centralized Enterprise data for easy management, backups, and security.
4. No need for data procurement and maintenance from on-premise data centers.
What security measures do cloud service providers have in place?
Recently, you have most likely heard of data breaches and cyber-attacks. It’s also true that cloud computing offers you some level of security and safety for your data. Here are some security measures service providers take to help secure your data:
1. Controls are designed to prevent data leakage
2. Strong authentication
3. Threat and visibility detection
4. Data encryption
5. Integrated security
6. Continuous compliance
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