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Google Compute Engine vs Virtustream xStream 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Google Compute Engine
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Virtustream xStream
Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
29th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category, the mindshare of Google Compute Engine is 1.2%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Virtustream xStream is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Google Compute Engine1.2%
Virtustream xStream0.6%
Other98.2%
Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

AK
Cloud Engineer at Global Payments Inc.
SSH access has simplified my backend deployments but setup and architecture still need improvement
Currently, I have not found much value in the features or capabilities of Google Compute Engine because I only use SSH access, as I have not used many of their services. It is already set up by a different team, and I have been using them as it is a normal case, similar to a normal Linux server. I have noticed a positive impact since the deployment of Google Compute Engine; it is simpler. However, for those who are not very much familiar with Google Cloud, it can, at times, be difficult. Also, the freebies are not much from Google's side, referring to the credits, so that users can become more familiar since there is a limited amount or it is case-dependent. Without trying Google Compute Engine totally, I cannot tell you much about it. From my personal perspective, I suggest that while setting up Google Compute Engine, the process is hard compared to AWS. The complexity increases, especially if we want to access the things over the API; we need to explicitly set up things and can only access the CLI environment of GCP, which is sometimes a hectic task.
RH
Business Systems Manager at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Improves efficiencies, has encryption, and great mission-critical customer support
Previously we had an amateur solution where we were managing on our own data center but we had the management in-house. It was a strategic move to give people who were more competent and with business focus other core initiatives. It was a strategic outsource model. The equipment we were using was out date and at the end of its life cycle, we had to make some transitions, do a hardware replacement, or move on. We moved on to this solution.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The support for ephemeral instances has been particularly valuable for me. It allows me to significantly reduce costs for temporary virtual machines by automatically destroying them once they are no longer needed, which can result in cost savings of up to 90 percent. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."
"What I like the most about Google Compute Engine is SSH access and the different price categories."
"One of GCE's best features is the managed instance groups."
"From a feature perspective, I find API integration, automation capabilities, and features like preemptive and Spot instances valuable. Migration tools have also been useful."
"I recommend the tool to others since it has high availability features, scalability, and stability."
"Everything is simple and useful. The initial setup is not challenging."
"The main motive for choosing Google Compute Engine is pricing."
"Google Compute is highly scalable."
"Once we made the move to this solution, we received efficiencies, 100%, 200%, even up to 1000%, depending on some processes."
"The solution has encryption which we did not have before."
 

Cons

"Google Compute Engine needs to have multi-region support. It would also be nice to have a tracking mechanism."
"Sometimes support takes time to reply."
"There have been instances when a customer has tried to deploy a certain number of VMs inside a project, and they come across quota issues."
"It is not very user-friendly for non-experienced users"
"Google has a lack of focus on their products."
"There have been a few (rare) instances where I've encountered a stability issue during the beta pre-production stage of the product."
"The high availability features in Google are only available in Google Compute Engine in different regions. If I have another server outside Google, the high availability features in Google cannot synchronize with such a server."
"It has some limitations. For example, you don't get through layer two connectivity. So I've had some difficulty deploying custom VMs. For example, you can't deploy a KVM file to file directly on GCP."
"Our account representative was inexperienced, they could improve on how they are managing accounts."
"Our account representative was inexperienced, they could improve on how they are managing accounts."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is reasonably priced, considering its scalability features. If we want to extend the server's capacity, we can do it, and I think it's reasonable."
"I rate GCE's pricing a five out of ten since it's affordable."
"It's $60,000 to $70,000 a month to replace about $10,000 a month in data center costs."
"Google Compute Engine's pricing is flexible and the best of all other alternatives."
"In terms of improvement, one is definitely the licensing piece. So there is a feature, the BYOL (Bring Your Own License) licensing piece, to bring your own license. It is not that straightforward. It requires some support from Google to get it sorted, access those licenses, and configure those licenses."
"Google is providing money for learning Google Compute Engine. They offer a $300 free trial to new customers. Any beginner can easily get started."
"Google Compute Engine is not the least expensive solution. Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft One, are offering a less expensive solution. The price is based on usage. Whenever we use it, we have to pay for only usage. It is a pay-as-you-go model."
"The solution is a bit expensive, we are still negotiating the price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
26%
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Performing Arts
5%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise8
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Compute Engine?
Regarding the pricing and licensing of Google Compute Engine, when I refer to licensing, it implies the price or a credit-based system. While doing my personal projects, I prefer AWS over GCP and u...
What needs improvement with Google Compute Engine?
Currently, I have not found much value in the features or capabilities of Google Compute Engine because I only use SSH access, as I have not used many of their services. It is already set up by a d...
What is your primary use case for Google Compute Engine?
My usual use cases for Google Compute Engine involve deploying the backends and APIs only.
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Allthecooks, BetterCloud, Bluecore, Cosentry, Evite, Ezakus, HTC, Infectious Media, iStreamPlanet, Mendelics, SageMathCloud, Sedex, Treeptik, Wibigoo, Wix, zulily, Zync
Continental, Domino Foods, Florida Crystals, Intel, Lanx, UOL Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Akamai and others in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS). Updated: March 2026.
885,837 professionals have used our research since 2012.