Cloud services have been one of the prominent options in the current times. Among the services regarding cloud computing, Google Cloud and Alibaba Cloud have been a couple of best choices you can give a thought to. Let us compare Google Cloud vs Alibaba Cloud in finer detail.
Google Cloud – An Overview
Google Cloud is one of the excellent options regarding cloud computing that you can use to build and host your web applications. Google Cloud offers you a set of cloud computing tools you can use for any of your web application, storage, Big Data, Containers, Database as a service etc. A complete exhaustive list of Google Cloud Platform services are listed here.
The service made a beginning with the Google Engine and later moved ahead to include additional features. On the debugging side of things, for developers currently, it consists of the following services –
- Cloud Debugger
- Cloud Trace
- Cloud save
Cloud Debugger allows you to assess and debug your codes in case of any issues you may face. The Cloud trace is an application that would help you identify the reasons for any breakdowns or performance issues of any nature. You can also use the tool to repair the problems. The Cloud saves a future meant for syncing the data across the servers.
Alibaba Cloud – An Introduction
Like Google Cloud, the Alibaba Cloud also offers you a host of cloud computing services like cloud hosting, Infrastructure as a Service, data storage, and Big Data processing. The services are similar regarding functionality to Google Cloud.
What does the Alibaba Cloud offer you regarding features?
- It offers you an excellent infrastructure that is flexible enough
- Aids you use persistent data usage and storage
- High-end data security protection option. You have access to multiple level data security.
- Back up and recovery options. Alibaba Cloud offers you one-click recovery options.
The Comparison Between Google Cloud vs Alibaba Cloud
Well, let us check out the features one by one based on a few key parameters. We will explain them and compare these features.
The Features And Services
There are several services that Google Cloud supports. The number of sites supported by Alibaba is considerably lower in number. Even regarding subscription plans, you will find both free and paid options in Google Cloud, whereas you would find Alibaba would be a little costlier regarding subscriptions charges.
Market Share
Google is the king of the internet, and you will find it surpassing the performance in cloud computing as well. Google leads in the Top 10K, 100K and One million sites and for that matter, in the entire web. If you consider Alibaba Cloud for the same statistics, you will find it not offering enough regarding market share. However, it is fast catching up, and we would indeed love to see it growing in numbers.
Geographical Locations Supported
This is yet another area that Google Cloud takes over Alibaba Cloud. Google Cloud has a broader coverage across the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and several other countries. Google has been active in more than 200 countries worldwide. Alibaba is yet to take over regarding the supported geological locations globally.
Web Categories Supported
Again, you will find that Google Cloud scores an upper hand regarding services across multiple genres. You can see it working excellently across categories like People & Society, Arts & Entertainment, Business & Industry, Religion & Spirituality. Alibaba Cloud has a presence in all these categories but has not been able to take over Google as yet.
Some Important Aspects and Their Comparison
Apart from the above considerations, a few points we compared and found the following differentiation and similarities.
Features / Particulars | Alibaba Cloud
|
Google Cloud
|
Hourly Billing Option | Yes | No |
Protection against DDoS | Yes | Yes |
Backup and Restore Functionality | Yes (Native) | No |
Control Panel | Custom | Built-in |
Key Set up for SSH | Yes | Yes |
Number of datacentres Globally | 12 | 12 |
Number of continents where data centers are located | 4 | 3
|
Availability of Shared Hosting | Yes, Web hosting and simple application servers | No, dedicated only |
Virtual Server | Alibaba ECS | Google Compute Engine |
Virtual Private Servers | Simple Application server | Not available |
Auto-scaling | Yes, available | Yes, available |
App Development and deployment | Not supported | Yes |
Object Storage | Cloud Storage | Object Storage Service |
Content Delivery Network (CDN) | Alibaba Content Delivery network | Cloud CDN |
Network and Content delivery | Alibaba Cloud DNS | Cloud CDN |
Server Automation | Resource Orchestration Service | Not available |
Web Application Firewall | Yes, available | No, custom |
Mobile App Development services | Not available | Cloud Mobile App |
In Essence.
Well, from our discussion above – it should be clear enough that Google Cloud service offers you excellent performance regarding many of the features. Of course, it should also be important to note that Alibaba has just been made available and has made enough of its headway in disrupting the monopoly enjoyed by the bigwigs like Google and Amazon. However, it has not been able to beat the ubiquitous functionality offered by Google by it being the undisputed leader in the web technology. Google CEO recently claimed that most of the hiring that Google recently exercised were in the areas of Cloud services both for Technical and sales teams. That should be proof enough for the success rate that Google has been able to achieve in spite of the recent hike in the activity of Cloud Service players.
The Concluding Thoughts
We would still consider Google as the leader in anything that has to do with the Internet. That would, however, not undermine the capabilities of the other players. Cloud services have been one such area that we have been able to find almost every player has been witnessing success.
Google, Alibaba, AWS or Microsoft Azure – each of them has had a share of their joy. In such a situation – it may not be easy to pinpoint a winner. Though Google Cloud service appears to be moving ahead against the competition, it may not be too far that we would find other player inching closer regarding tasting success.