Cloud Pricing Comparison AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud

Key factors affecting cloud costs in 2025

Before we get into each platform prices, several things need to be understood about what influences cloud pricing:

Computing Resources: Prices for virtual machines (VMs), containers, and serverless computing functions.

Storage: Prices for object storage, block storage, and backup solutions.

Network: Costs arising from data interconnection or egress and those generated by Load load-balancing services and CDNs (such as Akamai or ChinaCache).

Databases: Fees for managed database services, including both SQL databases as well as NoSQL

Additional Services: Charges related to service integrations into Artificial Intelligence or ML (machine learning), analytics, and security options.

Cloud computing possesses its pricing systems. These models include pay-as-you-go, reserved instances, or committed use contracts and should be familiar to anyone trying to shave dollars off their IT spending this year.

Pricing Models Overview

Category	AWS	Azure	Google Cloud
Compute	On-Demand, Reserved Instances, Spot Instances	Pay-As-You-Go, Reserved Instances, Spot VMs	On-Demand, Committed Use Contracts, Preemptible VMs
Storage	Pay per GB, tiered pricing (S3 Standard, Infrequent Access, Glacier)	Hot, Cool, and Archive tiers	Standard, Nearline, Coldline, Archive tiers
Networking	Data transfer fees, Direct Connect, Load Balancing	Egress data charges, ExpressRoute, Load Balancing	Egress data charges, Cloud Interconnect, Load Balancing
Databases	RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora	SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Managed Instances	BigQuery, Firestore, Cloud SQL

Each provider's pricing model offers distinct advantages and is designed to cater to various workload requirements and budget considerations.

AWS Pricing in 2025

Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to be at the forefront of cloud technology with a full secret service affair. Shown below is a summary of major AWS services and their prices in

2025:

1. Compute(EC2, Lambda)- $ 6 to $ 4

On-Demand Instances: Amazon's on-demand pricing lets you pay for computing power by the hour or the second, depending on how long each instance spends doing work. For example, a t4g.micro instance costs around $0.0085 an hour.

Reserved Instances: When you commit your money for one or three years, you can save up to 72% over On-Demand pricing.

Spot Instances: Users can bid on unused AWS computing capacity, saving up to 90% off the price of On-Demand Instances if they like. However, they tend not to fare well for flexible workloads that may vary widely in quality and are simply interrupted quickly.

AWS Lambda: AWS serverless computing offering is priced per request and compute time used. The first million requests are free, while the remaining requests cost $0.20 for every 1 million.

2. Storage (S3, EBS)

S3 Standard Storage: S3 Standard is suitable for highly accessed data and costs $0.023 per GB up to 50 TB per month.

S3 Infrequent Access (IA): Most appropriate for data that is less frequently accessed but needs to be accessed as quickly as possible when it is. S3 IA charges $0.0125 per GB, with a retrieval charge that applies.

S3 Glacier: Best for archival data storage, Glacier storage costs $0.004 per GB per month. There are multiple retrieval times and prices based on the retrieval option chosen.

Elastic Block Store (EBS): General-purpose SSD (gp3) volumes cost $0.08 per GB per month, balancing price and performance.

3. Networking (Bandwidth, Load Balancer)

Data Transfer Out: AWS charges $0.09 per GB for the first 10 TB of data transferred to the Internet monthly.

Elastic Load Balancing (ELB): Application Load Balancers will be charged $0.025 per hour and an additional $0.008 per GB of data handled by the load balancer.

4. Databases (RDS, DynamoDB)

Amazon RDS: Pricing for managed relational database service is engine-dependent, instance size-dependent, and deployment type-dependent. For instance, a db.t3.micro MySQL instance costs about $0.017 per hour.

DynamoDB: AWS's NoSQL database service provides on-demand and provisioned capacity. In provisioned capacity, write capacity units (WCUs) cost $1.25 per WCU-month, and read capacity units (RCUs) cost $0.25 per RCU-month.

5. New updates or pricing changes

AWS announced some price updates in 2025 to make it more cost-effective and flexible for companies. The highlights are listed below:

Savings Plans Improvements

AWS Savings Plans allow up to 72% cost savings on EC2, Lambda, and Fargate usage.
Compute Savings Plans cover any instance family in any region within AWS, with flexible pricing.
EC2 Instance Savings Plans provide more discounted prices but with instance-type commitment.

New AWS Graviton Instances (ARM-Based)

AWS launched Graviton4-based instances with 25% improved price performance over Graviton3.
The instances provide improved efficiency for ARM architecture workloads, lowering compute costs.

EBS Volume Tiering

A new volume tiering scheme provides cost savings on less-used EBS volumes.
Users can automatically transfer data to lower-cost Cold HDD tiers, lowering storage costs by 30%.

Data Transfer Cost Adjustments

AWS decreased inter-region data transfer prices by 10%, which helps multi-region applications.
CloudFront egress charges decreased by 15%, making the use of CDNs more price-effective.

Serverless Price Reductions

AWS Lambda now charges in 1ms units, saving customers overage on workloads that only run for milliseconds.
The free tier still has 1 million requests per month, but above that, 10% fewer requests are more affordable than in 2024.

These pricing changes enable customers to save cloud spend without limiting flexibility and scale.

Learn more: Why invest in AWS Management Services

Azure Pricing in 2025

This cloud service maintains its distinguishing characteristic, a reasonable operation price, making it popular. In 2025, Azure has optimized its pricing structures in computing, storing data, moving bits across the net, and maintaining a database. This immediately reduces costs for both enterprises and start-ups.

1. Compute Pricing in Azure (Virtual Machines & Functions)

Azure supplies many VM types for general computing, fast computing workloads, and AI/ML usage.

Virtual Machines (VMs): In 2025, Azure's compute pricing will remain competitive with AWS and Google Cloud. Spot Instances offer up to 80% discounts.

Windows Server & SQL Server Discounts: The Azure Hybrid Benefit allows users with licenses to save up to 40% on their VMs.

Serverless Compute: Azure Functions now has per-millisecond billing, meaning it's cheaper for event-driven applications.

AI-Optimized VMs: Microsoft has introduced cheaper AI-optimized GPU instances, reducing the cost of training machine learning models.

2. Storage Pricing in Azure (Blob Storage & Managed Disks)

Azure's range of storage services provides scalable, flexible solutions for enterprises.

Blob Storage: Azure Blob Storage is still one of the cheapest cloud storage options, at $0.018 per GB.

New Cold & Archive Tiers: Even cheaper prices for long-term storage

Managed Disks: Azure has introduced auto-scaling disk storage, so businesses pay only for what they use instead of pre-provisioning storage.

3. Networking Pricing in Azure (Traffic, VPN, Load Balancer)

Azure's networking costs have been refined to remain competitive in hybrid multi-cloud environments.

Inbound Traffic is Now Free: Azure no longer charges for incoming traffic, which aligns with AWS and Google Cloud.

Reduced Outbound Data Fees: As much as 10% lower prices for inter-region traffic, making multi-cloud more affordable

Load Balancers & VPNs: Azure has simplified VPN pricing, reducing network costs for hybrid clouds

4. Database Pricing in Azure (SQL Database & Cosmos DB)

Azure offers scalable and cost-effective database solutions with significant pricing updates.

Azure SQL Database: Now equipped with auto-scaling pricing, you only pay for active workloads at any given time, thus reducing idle resource costs.

Cosmos DB NoSQL Pricing Improvements: Azure has moved to charge elastic per millisecond execution prices, reducing the cost of read-heavy applications.

Azure is an attractive option for enterprises needing Windows compatibility, hybrid clouds, and scalable storage and computing solutions.

5. New updates or pricing changes

Microsoft Azure made major pricing changes in 2025 to offer more economical services for businesses and small companies.

Hybrid Benefits Expansion: azure can now save companies up to 50% on its compute costs if they bring their own Windows Server and SQL Server licenses

New Spot Instance Discounts: azure now offers up to 80% off for Spot VMs, making it more cost-effective than previous options in non-mission critical cases

Auto-Scaling for Managed Databases: Azure SQL and Cosmos DB now offer per-second billing with auto-scaling, which can significantly reduce the costs of running dynamic workloads.

Networking Cost Reductions: In 2025, Azure eliminated charges for inbound transfers and charged 10% less for egress data, making the deployment of multi-region systems cheaper.

Blob Storage Lifecycle Pricing: new policies for automated tiering keep storage levels appropriate to enterprises with fluctuating data usage.

These advances firmly establish Azure as a worthwhile contender for those businesses who want Windows compatibility, hybrid cloud integration, and optimized cloud spending.

Google Cloud Pricing in 2025

Google Cloud is now the leader in low-cost cloud solutions, particularly AI, data analytics, and multi-cloud deployment, which can save you money over other services. In 2025, Google proposed a series of plans for how cloud computing might be affordable for businesses. These were implemented one month later and widely reported by many news services.

1. Google Cloud Compute Pricing (Compute Engine & Cloud Run)

Google Cloud can flexibly assess each customer's input and discount and further optimize the fees.

Discounts for Sustained Usage: Automatically reduce costs on long-running instances by up to 30%.

Custom Machine Types: Users can configure vCPU and RAM sizes, reducing the cost.

ARM-Based Instances: They're 25% cheaper than traditional x86 instances, making inexpensive cloud computing available to more people in need.

Cloud Run Pricing: Per-millisecond pricing for Serverless now starts at $0, making event-driven applications cheaper.

2. Google Cloud Storage Pricing (Cloud Storage & Persistent Disks)

Google provides low-cost, high-availability storage services, and users love them.

The Cost of Cold & Archive Storage Goes Down Again: For six months, Google has reduced archive storage costs by 15%; this is now the lowest price for long-term storage anywhere in the world.

Automated Data Tiering: With AI-based lifecycle management, Google now moves data that has been used only occasionally but is expensive to accommodate onto cheaper media.

Persistent Disks: Google Cloud now allows users to automatically resize disks, so they can reduce the cost of storing digital materials.

3. Google Cloud Networking Pricing (Cloud Interconnect & Costs)

Google Network improved its pocketbook attractiveness by reducing egress fees and providing free CDN ingress.

Outbound Data Transfer Fees: 12% less than last year.

Cloud Interconnect is Now 15% Less Expensive: less money spent out-of-pocket for multi-cloud networking.

Free CDN Ingress: Google relieved enterprises with substantial content bases by canceling the entrance charges for Cloud CDN.

4. Google Cloud Database Pricing (BigQuery & Firestore)

Google Cloud database costs dramatically dropped, notably in BigQuery and NoSQL Service expenditures.

Reserved BigQuery: You can now use it for a wider range of on-demand analytical activities, with prices dropping by as much as 40 percent on some workloads.

Auto-Scaling of Firestore: Google has now introduced use-based prices. Businesses only pay what they use when performing database operations.

Discounts for Training: AI Models or TPU now cost 20% less due to pay-as-you-go pricing.

Google Cloud is still the best choice for AI-driven applications, data technology, and businesses that want to place more emphasis on cost.

5. Newest changes in pricing

Google Cloud continues its aggressive cost-cutting strategy in 2025, making it the best option for AI workloads and scalable cloud solutions. It is also affordable if that's what you need.

Sustained Usage Discounts Increased: Google Increased Its Sustained Usage Discount For Compute Engine To 30%: Long-running instances are now much cheaper.

Less AI & Machine Learning Cost: TPU v5 instances are now 20% cheaper, making training more affordable for startups and enterprises.

Cloud Storage Cold Tier Savings: This is in addition to Automated Data Tiering, which was made available at the beginning of the year for cost-efficient storage management.

New Pay-As-You-Go BigQueryPricing: It offers on-demand pricing for businesses with fluctuating data analysis needs.

Networking Costs Down: Google Cloud has reduced outbound egress fees by 12% and eliminated CDN ingress charges. It’s the best choice for content-heavy businesses.

These new prices place Google Cloud in a key position for AI, analytics, and multi-cloud support.

Feature-Based Cost Comparison

To provide a direct cost comparison, below is a side-by-side breakdown of AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud across major services:

Compute Pricing Comparison

Cloud Provider	Standard VM Type	Price (On-Demand)	Price (Reserved, 1 Year)	Price (Spot/Preemptible)
AWS	t4g.micro (2vCPU, 8GB RAM)	$0.096/hr	$0.05/hr	$0.02/hr
Azure	D2s_v5 (2vCPU, 8GB RAM)	$0.096/hr	$0.048/hr	$0.02/hr
Google Cloud	n2-standard-2 (2vCPU, 8GB RAM)	$0.084/hr	$0.045/hr	$0.015/hr

Storage Pricing Comparison

Cloud Provider	Standard Object Storage (per GB)	Cold Storage (per GB)	Archive Storage (per GB)
AWS S3	$0.023	$0.012	$0.004
Azure Blob	$0.018	$0.012	$0.002
Google Cloud Storage	$0.020	$0.010	$0.002

Database Pricing Comparison

Cloud Provider	Managed SQL Database	NoSQL Option	Price
AWS	RDS (t3.micro)	DynamoDB	$0.017/hr
Azure	SQL Database	CosmosDB	$0.504/hr
Google Cloud	BigQuery	Firestore	$5 per TB

Networking Cost Comparison

Cloud Provider	Outbound Data Transfer (per GB)	Load Balancer	CDN Pricing
AWS	$0.09	$0.025/hr	$0.08/GB
Azure	$0.087	$0.025/hr	$0.075/GB
Google Cloud	$0.08	$0.025/hr	$0.06/GB

Which Cloud is the Best for Your Budget?

Best for Startups & Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses

Google Cloud: Provides reduced networking prices and auto-applied sustained-use discounts.

AWS Free Tier: Gives unlimited usage of several services to new organizations.

Best for Large Enterprises

AWS: Provides the largest set of services and is highly available for big-scale operations.

Azure: Azure is best for organizations that are already on Microsoft platforms (Windows, SQL Server).

Best for AI/ML Workloads

Google Cloud: GCP with Tensor Processing Units provides one of the best AI platforms for AI-driven companies.

AWS boasts a powerful AI/ML stack in this Way: From EC2 GPU instances to train deep learning models, using MXNet or TensorFlow to teach machine Learning algorithms (and indeed run the models on them ).

Conclusion

When choosing a cloud provider in 2025, consider cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and the specific needs of your workload.

AWS remains the leading provider of services in the market while offering economical reserved pricing.
Azure is best for heavily Microsoft-owned enterprise environments. Its deep integration with enterprises and incentives from software maker Cisco Systems(hardware rebates) also make it a good place to start.
With economical AI and analytics offerings, Google Cloud emphasizes data-centric businesses. Above all, your choice should reflect what best suits your company's needs.

Informed decisions about cloud expenditures allow us to take full advantage of the information on the latest price changes and service prices. Aress simplifies cloud decision-making with top-notch cloud consulting, migration, and cost optimization services. We help businesses save money by choosing the best cloud services for their needs: AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. We supply implementation expertise, expect profit analysis, and continue to offer uninterrupted excellence in management services to facilitate workloads on the Internet combined into one. To know more, contact us now.

FAQ

1. Which is cheaper: AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud?

Google Cloud generally has lower networking costs and automatic discounts.

AWS offers the best long-term savings with Savings Plans and reserved pricing.

Azure development is cost-effective for Microsoft-based workloads due to Hybrid Benefit Pricing.

2. What is the market share of AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud in 2025?

AWS: ~32-34%

Azure: ~24-26%

Google Cloud: ~10-12%

3. Which cloud provider offers the best discounts?

Here are some of the best discounts you can get:

Google Cloud automatically applies Sustained-Use Discounts.

AWS provides Savings Plans and Spot Instances for cost reduction.

Azure gives hybrid benefit pricing to enterprises that use Microsoft software.

4. Which cloud model is the cheapest?

Every model is affordable according to the usage of it:

On-Demand: Most flexible but expensive.

Reserved Instances: Best for long-term savings (AWS, Azure).

Spot/Preemptible Instances: Cheapest but unreliable (AWS Spot, Google Preemptible).

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