Google App Engine Reviews

Name: Google App Engine
Brand: Google
Rating: 4.1 (36 reviews)

4.1 out of 5

36 reviews
96% willing to recommend

What is Google App Engine?

Google App Engine is a Platform-as-a-Service (Paas) provider that equips web application developers with all the resources and tools that they need to develop, test, and run their applications on Google's infrastructure. Everything is built into the kit, so with one download of the SDK, you'll be well on your way to first-rate apps.

Get the Google App Engine Buyer's Guide and find out what your peers are saying about Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS and more!

Google App Engine is the #7 ranked solution in PaaS Services. PeerSpot users give Google App Engine an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. Google App Engine is most commonly compared to Microsoft Azure: Google App Engine vs Microsoft Azure. Google App Engine is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 56% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a computer software company, accounting for 14% of all views.

Helped 865,164 peers since 2012

Featured Google App Engine reviews

Chandra Shekar Reddy Arrabolu

Associate Projects at Cognizant

The error logging system in Google App Engine could be enhanced. While there are troubleshooting documents with Google-defined error logs, identifying the exact root cause can be challenging. Often, issues must be escalated through support to product engineering teams who access internal logs for resolution. Increasing the visibility of logging would help users identify issues more easily. Regarding runtimes, the validity period limitations can be problematic. When companies use legacy applications, migrating to new versions requires significant code changes and isn't always a simple lift-and-shift operation. Google App Engine should consider continuing to provide security patches for legacy applications, especially for customers with substantial billing. The manual scaling feature needs improvement, as it isn't available for all runtimes. Adding this capability across all runtimes would be beneficial for controlling instance scaling within specific parameters.

Read full review

Rajesh Kadyan

Senior Engineer at Brillio

The areas of Google App Engine that I would to improve or enhance include its allowance for complete end-to-end deployment and scalability; however, it is manageable only for a few languages. For instance, it doesn't support languages C and C++, only basic support for Node.js, Java, and Ruby. It's not a comprehensive solution for all scenarios. Moreover, the security feature is based on IAM roles, but it should ideally be based on Active Directory (AD) roles. For IAM-based roles, we need to add the proper users and provide all security permissions manually. In an AD-based model, we would simply add users to a specific group, and all permissions would be inherited.

Read full review

Tabish Mahfuz

Senior Software Engineer at Cimpress

While integrating Google App Engine with other services, I don't recall any specific challenges. The main drawback with Google App Engine's standard environment was its restrictions. We could not work with file systems, run shell scripts from the environment, or use WebSockets. These issues could be resolved using the Flex environment, but that increased the cost. The Flex environment requires one service instance to always be running, which further increases the service cost. It would be beneficial if Flex services could scale down to zero instances during periods of no traffic. This would solve many issues where we had to make compromises because we didn't want to maintain a constantly running instance while still needing the flexibility of WebSockets or low-level system APIs that weren't available in the standard environment. Though I have experience with AWS, it's not comparable as I only used EC2 services, where you manage your own VM independently.

Read full review

Google App Engine mindshare

As of August 2025, the mindshare of Google App Engine in the PaaS Clouds category stands at 2.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

PaaS Clouds

PeerResearch reports based on Google App Engine reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	PaaS Clouds	Aug 18, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Aug 18, 2025	Download
Comparison	Google App Engine vs Microsoft Azure	Aug 18, 2025	Download
Comparison	Google App Engine vs Amazon AWS	Aug 18, 2025	Download
Comparison	Google App Engine vs Red Hat OpenShift	Aug 18, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Microsoft Azure	4.2	18.8%	96%	316 interviews Add to research
Amazon AWS	4.2	12.7%	93%	256 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

Google App Engine offers zero infrastructure management, automatic scaling, and self-management, reducing maintenance complexity for users. It allows seamless integration with Google Cloud services, providing scalability for varying workloads. Users benefit from the free tier with unlimited time, ease of deployment, serverless architecture, and multi-region capabilities. Support for MySQL and open-source development enhances functionality, while real-time logging aids in performance monitoring. The intuitive user interface boosts developer productivity without manual configuration.

"What I appreciate most about Google App Engine is that the deployment is significantly easier compared to a conventional Linux platform."
"What I appreciate most about Google App Engine is that the deployment is significantly easier compared to a conventional Linux platform."
"The functions and features of Google App Engine that I have found most valuable are that it is serverless, and the learning curve is easy to follow."

Room for Improvement

Google App Engine requires enhancements in pricing, language support, and documentation. Constraints in customization and deployment processes pose challenges. Many users find the environment restrictions limiting, while others demand better support. Security measures and pricing transparency need refinement. Improved interface and ease of migration to other cloud providers are needed. Potential support for additional programming languages and a streamlined deployment process, including better integration with tools like Terraform, are highly sought after.

"Some clients don't use it because Google is very unstable with their products. Google has terminated many promising products in the past, and some clients have stated, 'This is from Google, we don't trust it because Google can change their mind any day.'"
"Currently, we have to use Google CLI and utilize Google App CLI SDKs for deployment. If options were available to enable these SDKs for Terraform and CloudFormation, it would be more helpful for executing one-click deployments."
"One drawback is that the app needs to be written to be compatible with Google App Engine, making it not cloud agnostic, hindering straightforward migration to other platforms such as AWS."

ROI

Several users found Google App Engine efficient for reducing costs, notably dropping instances from $700 to $120 monthly. However, the return depends on proficiency and deployment preferences, as some prefer on-premise or alternative platforms. While there is value in avoiding server maintenance and scaling, precise ROI calculations are often unavailable, and new users may face challenges if unfamiliar with the system.

Pricing

Google App Engine offers competitive pricing for low usage tiers, but costs increase rapidly with higher usage and specific features. Enterprises find the pay-as-you-go model with billing per instance and hour, based on memory and CPUs, generally reasonable, although more expensive than some alternatives, especially under the flexible environment. Pricing remains affordable for lightweight applications but can escalate with improper management or choice of features, particularly if using the always-on flexible option.

"If we don't know how to work with the tool, we might have some spikes in price."
"We pay the license yearly. It's about $6 a month, which is $72 a year per person, so it's about $500."
"I would like to have more free application with it. Some of the applications, I am paying more for them. I think that they must be free."

Popular Use Cases

Google App Engine is used for deploying web applications, front-end development with server-side rendering, and migration to the cloud. It supports business applications, industrial maintenance programs, and SaaS through seamless integration with Google services like Pub/Sub and Kubernetes Engine. Users utilize it for Python and React projects, leveraging its autoscaling and serverless features. It facilitates communication, collaboration, documentation, and real-time data storage while enabling custom script development and infrastructure-free project hosting.

Service and Support

Responses indicate mixed experiences with Google App Engine's support. Some find it efficient, responsive, and able to resolve issues promptly. Others cite delayed responses and lack of attention for smaller customers. Many rely on third parties or self-help resources like documentation and Stack Overflow. Users with enterprise accounts report faster resolution. Ratings vary from two to nine out of ten, with some praising their technical support teams' availability and effectiveness.

Deployment

Users found Google App Engine's initial setup generally straightforward and quick, benefiting from good documentation and comprehensive commands. Some encountered complexities, particularly when setting up non-web applications or requiring intermediary skills. Timeframes varied, with some completing setup in minutes, while others took days, depending on team size and expertise. YAML configuration and IDE plugins present a learning curve. Google App Engine integrates seamlessly with platforms like Cloud SQL, enhancing its appeal for companies.

Scalability

Google App Engine is praised for its scalability, with many users noting its effective auto-scaling capabilities and integration ease. Users appreciate its ability to handle varying workloads, though some mention constraints in flexible environments and the basic scaling option. The platform's design minimizes manual intervention when scaling. While some experience occasional issues, its scalability is highly rated, supporting diverse needs and fluctuating demands without noticeable performance hiccups.

Stability

Google App Engine is praised for its stability. Users rarely encounter issues, reporting high reliability over the years. Some minor incidents like long deployment times and occasional slow editing are noted, but these are seen as manageable. Many rate its stability nine or ten out of ten, noting any disruptions are minor and quickly resolved. Users appreciate its consistency, with minimal maintenance required, and stress its importance for customers.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Google App Engine Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.