Google Cloud
Google's cloud — the home turf for data warehousing, Kubernetes and AI, running on the same infrastructure as Search and YouTube.
What it is, and why we use it.
Google Cloud Platform offers the usual cloud building blocks — compute, storage, managed databases — but its centre of gravity is data and machine learning. BigQuery made warehouse-scale analytics feel instant, Google invented Kubernetes (and GKE is the smoothest managed version), and Vertex AI plus Gemini live here natively. It runs on the network Google built for its own products.
We reach for Google Cloud when a product is data-shaped: analytics pipelines into BigQuery, container workloads on GKE, and Gemini through Vertex AI when a client's data must stay inside Google's trust boundary. For Google-Workspace organisations, it keeps everything under one identity and one bill.
Google Cloud vs AWS vs Azure.
Google Cloud against the market leader and the enterprise incumbent — where its data and ML strengths earn the pick.
| Dimension | Google Cloud | AWS | Azure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | Amazon | Microsoft | |
| Strongest at | Data warehousing, Kubernetes, AI/ML | Breadth & maturity | Enterprise & Microsoft integration |
| Signature service | BigQuery — serverless analytics | S3 / EC2 — the originals | Active Directory + Azure AI |
| Kubernetes | GKE — Google invented K8s | EKS — solid | AKS — solid |
| AI story | Vertex AI + Gemini, native | Bedrock (multi-model) | Azure OpenAI |
| Market share | Third, growing | First | Second |
Google Cloud wins when
- Analytics and data warehousing are the core workload
- You want the best managed Kubernetes experience
- Gemini / Vertex AI keep client data in-boundary
AWS wins when
- You want the broadest, safest default
- A niche managed service only AWS offers is needed
- Hiring depth is the deciding factor
Azure wins when
- The org runs on Microsoft 365 and .NET
- Enterprise compliance and EAs drive it
- Hybrid cloud is required
Google Cloud is our pick when the product's heart is data or ML — BigQuery and GKE are genuinely best-in-class. For general-purpose hosting we still default to AWS for its breadth; the right cloud is the one that fits the workload, not the logo.
Thinking about Google Cloud?
Tell us what you're building — we'll tell you honestly whether Google Cloud is the right tool for it.