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Amazon EC2 vs Google App Engine comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.4
Investing in Amazon EC2 offers cost savings, operational efficiency, flexibility, and scalability, reducing traditional server management and expenses.
Sentiment score
5.4
Google App Engine ROI varied, with cost reductions and efficiency gains, largely depending on user expertise and deployment strategies.
Once we deployed this same application as part of Google App Engine, the cost drastically reduced to just $120 for the small instance we use for our development.
Operationally, it was efficient for us because we could easily spin up new versions to demonstrate new functionality without modifying the original environment.
Google App Engine offers discounts for high resource utilization, similar to committed use discounts for Compute Engine.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Amazon EC2 support varies; premium users often praise responsiveness, while free support users experience slower responses and mixed satisfaction.
Sentiment score
5.6
Google App Engine support varies; some users praise quick help, while others experience delays, relying on documentation or tiered support.
They route us toward the appropriate team handling Google App Engine or other services, so when there is an issue, the respective team connects and provides support.
The technical support was very quick and responsive, with a direct team line available.
Technical support for Google App Engine is efficient and offers a brilliant solution.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Amazon EC2 is praised for its robust, flexible, and cost-efficient scalability features, despite some challenges with instance updates.
Sentiment score
6.8
Google App Engine is praised for its scalability, automatic scaling, seamless load handling, and integration with third-party applications.
Google App Engine scales well in the standard environment, which automatically handles traffic without manual scaling.
Google App Engine is highly scalable and can integrate easily with other applications.
With automatic scaling, Google Cloud handles the scaling process, which leads to my high rating.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Amazon EC2 is highly reliable, offering features like auto-scaling and load balancing to ensure stability and dependability.
Sentiment score
7.3
Users find Google App Engine stable and reliable, with rare network issues and minimal maintenance needed for consistent performance.
I have not experienced any crashing or instability with Google App Engine.
However, large code bases can still cause it to slow down.
I would rate the stability of Google App Engine a perfect 10 out of 10, as it is completely managed by Google.
 

Room For Improvement

EC2 users seek affordable pricing, better AWS integration, enhanced support, easier customization, scalability, and improved interoperability with other systems.
Google App Engine struggles with high costs, limited language support, complex migration, inadequate documentation, and restrictive platform features.
It would be beneficial if Flex services could scale down to zero instances during periods of no traffic.
The pricing is higher compared to alternatives like Kubernetes and Compute Engine.
In the Flex environment, SSH access is not available for private instances.
 

Setup Cost

Amazon EC2 pricing is complex, with variable costs and options requiring careful planning to manage budgets and ensure cost-effectiveness.
Google App Engine offers flexible pricing, affordable for front-end applications, but costs rise with increased usage and advanced features.
For F1 usage with 256 MB, it is free.
My GCP billing is about 10 lakh INR per month, and Google App Engine contributes only 25,000 to 30,000 INR.
The pricing of Google App Engine largely depends on the features chosen; if we opt for the standard edition, it is less expensive, while the flexible option incurs more costs due to always having an instance running.
 

Valuable Features

Amazon EC2 is favored for its scalability, reliability, cost-effectiveness, robust security, and seamless AWS integration with minimal setup.
Google App Engine provides serverless, scalable app development with easy integration, enhancing productivity and security without infrastructure management.
The solution offers scalability, autoscaling based on user demand, and security, as Google manages all updates and security patches.
I also appreciate the Google App Engine standard environment because it handles traffic scaling without manual intervention.
Deploying code is straightforward without worrying about deployment or integration.
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EC2
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
Compute Service (6th)
Google App Engine
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Cloud Services solutions, they serve different purposes. Amazon EC2 is designed for Compute Service and holds a mindshare of 8.4%, up 7.0% compared to last year.
Google App Engine, on the other hand, focuses on PaaS Clouds, holds 2.1% mindshare, down 2.4% since last year.
Compute Service Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Amazon EC28.4%
AWS Lambda18.2%
AWS Batch17.7%
Other55.7%
Compute Service
PaaS Clouds Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Google App Engine2.1%
Microsoft Azure18.4%
Amazon AWS13.0%
Other66.5%
PaaS Clouds
 

Featured Reviews

KatlegoMabila - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers customization and flexibility with great support
Scalability depends on whether the client wants to scale up or scale down. It decreases resources based on demand. The great aspect of scalability is the flexibility to allow business success to optimize resource solutions and cost efficiency. Another crucial aspect of scalability is auto-scaling. When you have the opportunity to auto-scale, it can't always be available for everything. If you have chosen to integrate with auto-scaling, it's marvellous and doesn't require additional effort. Auto-scaling gives you the edge by using the capacity you have efficiently, scaling up or down as needed. These flexibilities within the EC2 feature instances of AWS play a crucial role in helping me utilize AWS EC2 Intelligent efficiently.
Chandra Shekar Reddy Arrabolu - PeerSpot reviewer
Effortless server management and automatic scaling boost productivity
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.
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Comparison Review

it_user8586 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 14, 2013
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Transportation Company
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Educational Organization
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise26
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EC2?
The scalability and elasticity are helpful.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EC2?
Advice on Setup Cost, Pricing, and Licensing for EC2: 1. Start Small & Use Free Tier if Possible For new users or small applications, the AWS Free Tier offers limited EC2 usage free for 12 mont...
What needs improvement with Amazon EC2?
There are some specific features, such as ML features and AI features, that I would to see included in the next releases of Amazon EC2. Additionally, there is functionality available in Databricks ...
What do you like most about Google App Engine?
The product's setup and deployment phases are easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google App Engine?
Google App Engine is affordable compared to other available platforms. The pricing structure is reasonable and not overrated.
What needs improvement with Google App Engine?
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...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, EC2
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Netflix, Expedia, TimeInc., Novaris, airbnb, Lamborghini
Khan Academy, Best Buy, Gigya, MetOffice, Getaround, Mimiboard, NewsLimited, WebFilings, and CloudLock.
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