image of different clouds on green background
August 20, 2024

Your Guide to the Top 3 Cloud Providers

Java Application Development

By

Cloud development and cloud storage have become ubiquitous for companies in all industries and geographies, but not all cloud providers are created equal. In this blog post, we’ll compare the top 3 cloud providers, the pros and cons of each, and outline ways to save time no matter what cloud platform you’re using.  

Table of Contents

  1. What is Cloud Computing?
  2. Breaking Down Public Cloud, Private Cloud, and Hybrid Cloud Models 
  3. Comparing the Top 3 Cloud Providers
  4. AWS: The Most Popular and Mature Cloud
  5. Microsoft Azure: The Growing Cloud Provider Option 
  6. Google Cloud Platform: The Newcomer to the Cloud Provider
  7. Final Thoughts on Cloud Providers
 

Back to top

What is Cloud Computing?

At the most basic level, cloud computing is the delivery of computing resources over the internet. Cloud computing is also synonymous with a pay-as-you-go model. 

Payment Models for Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is focused on providing typical resources needed on a computer ranging from storage to databases over the internet instead of managing them on your local machine. With the management of resources in the cloud, individuals and businesses can pay for what they use instead of what they believe they will use.  

The pay-as-you-go model is recorded by companies as an operational expense, or OpEx. By contrast, purchasing all the servers and infrastructure you company would need to handle peak capacity would be recorded as a capital expense, or CapEx, and amortized annually.  

Cloud computing allows businesses to add compute resources when needed to address peak capacity, but not pay for and maintain those resources on a year-round basis. This is a particularly enticing benefit with large ebbs and flows in workloads, e.g., a retail business on Black Friday. 

Benefits of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing can provide big benefits for companies of all sizes. These benefits include: 

  • Flexible payment models 

  • Scalable infrastructure 

  • Potentially lower costs 

  • High availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) 

Developing in the cloud? JRebel for Cloud can accelerate upload times. 

Back to top

Breaking Down Public Cloud, Private Cloud, and Hybrid Cloud Models 

Cloud computing is typically offered as one of 3 main types: public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud. These cloud solutions include several different services, including Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS), Software as a service (SaaS) and serverless computing.  

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is focused on storing resources and computing in the cloud. This is often used for tasks like storage backup, disaster recovery, and working with big data. 

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS) allows users to create an environment in which to build their cloud applications. 

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service (SaaS) provides applications that run on the cloud usually providing customers with specific application that they need.  

Back to top

Comparing the Top 3 Cloud Providers

There are a number of different public cloud providers that are available to provide users with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) services.  

In this blog post, we’ll compare the top 3 cloud providers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). According to the 2024 Java Developer Productivity Report, these top 3 cloud providers account for 60% of cloud and remote platform usage.  

Cloud/remote platforms

While the top 3 cloud providers have the overwhelming market share, they are not the only option. According to the 2024 Java Developer Productivity Report, tertiary cloud providers including IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud Platform, and SAP Cloud Platform total to 29% of cloud and remote platform usage. That’s second to just AWS, and demonstrates the role of specialty cloud services in a multi-cloud environment.  

Back to top

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is by far the most mature option for cloud providers. AWS offers mature and effective solutions, which lends to its popularity. AWS offers a range of services focusing on anything from individual developers to large enterprise clients.  

📺 Watch this on-demand demo on how to set up JRebel for Cloud in an AWS instance.   

Pros and Cons of AWS 

A cloud platform as mature and robust as AWS comes with pros and cons. 

Pros

  • Mature system 

  • Great computational capacity 

  • Most secure option 

  • Limitless educational resources around using and building up AWS 

 

Cons

  • Overwhelming number of options 

  • AWS has not fully adopted a hybrid cloud model 

  • A more expensive option 

 

Back to top

Microsoft Azure: The Growing Cloud Provider Option 

Microsoft Azure is the second most popular cloud platform available. Microsoft Azure has also seen the largest growth compared to AWS and GCP. Many businesses gravitate to it because it integrates nicely with other Microsoft products and offers a cost-effective option, but this can come at the expense of less service options as compared to AWS.  

Pros and Cons of Microsoft Azure

Pros

  • Hybrid cloud solutions are more readily available 

  • Integrates nicely with other Microsoft products 

 

Cons

  • Intended for businesses, not individuals 

  • Less service options than AWS 

  • Not a cost-effective solution  

 

Back to top

Google Cloud Platform: The Newcomer to the Cloud Provider

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the newest arrival to the list of top 3 cloud providers, but its limited service options can limit enterprise use cases. Like Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform offers seamless integration with other Google-based options.  

Pros and Cons of Google Cloud Platform

Pros 

  • Integrates really nicely with Google-based products 

  • Budget-friendly option 

 

Cons 

  • Limited services when compared to AWS and Azure 

  • Not great for enterprise use case 

 

Back to top

Final Thoughts on Cloud Providers

There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a cloud platform for remote Java development. AWS, Microsoft Azure, GSP, and tertiary providers all offer a plethora of options and benefits that can help you and your company grow and scale.  

No matter what cloud platform service you use, JRebel for Cloud can help you deploy code to the cloud faster by eliminating the need to start up your services every time you want to test a change in your code.  

Back to top
Profile JRebel Curtis Johnson

Curtis Johnson

Product Manager for JRebel, Perforce Software

Curtis Johnson is a product manager at Perforce, where he spearheads the development and enhancement of JRebel. With a keen eye for optimizing software solutions, Curtis has consistently driven the evolution of JRebel to drive Java development productivity during his decade-long tenure. Under his guidance,  JRebel has solidified its position as a necessary solution in the Java ecosystem.