AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: 2026 Cost Comparison

Choosing the right cloud provider can have a massive impact on your total cost of ownership. While AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) all offer similar capabilities, their pricing models and hidden costs vary significantly.

Executive Summary

Based on our analysis of 150+ enterprise workloads in 2026: AWS is the most mature ecosystem with the highest base prices, best for complex enterprise workloads. Azure is best for Microsoft-heavy shops with competitive pricing and hybrid benefits. GCP offers the most aggressive pricing, excellent for data/ML workloads, with a smaller ecosystem.

Compute Pricing Comparison

Standard compute instance with 4 vCPUs, 16GB RAM, running 730 hours/month: AWS (m6i.xlarge): $140.16/month, Azure (D4s v5): $140.16/month, GCP (n2-standard-4): $121.36/month. GCP is typically 10-15% cheaper on raw compute.

Storage Costs

Object storage per TB/month: AWS S3 Standard: $23.00, Azure Blob Hot: $18.40, GCP Standard Storage: $20.00.

Network/Egress Costs (The Hidden Killer)

Data transfer OUT to the internet (first 1TB/month): AWS: $0.09/GB, Azure: $0.087/GB, GCP: $0.085/GB. For an application serving 100TB/month: AWS ~$8,500, Azure ~$8,300, GCP ~$8,000.

Database Costs

Managed PostgreSQL (4 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 100GB storage): AWS RDS: $186.50/month, Azure Database: $179.50/month, GCP Cloud SQL: $173.00/month. Winner: GCP for compute-intensive databases.

Kubernetes/Container Costs

Managed Kubernetes Control Plane: AWS EKS: $72/month per cluster, Azure AKS: FREE (only pay for nodes), GCP GKE: $72/month per cluster. Winner: Azure for multi-cluster environments.

Hidden Costs to Watch

AWS Hidden Costs: NAT Gateway ($32.40/month + $0.045/GB), VPC Endpoints ($7.20/month per endpoint), CloudWatch Logs ($0.50/GB ingested + storage), Load Balancer ($16.20/month + processing fees).

Azure Hidden Costs: VNet Peering ($0.01/GB), Application Gateway ($18.40/month + processing), Log Analytics ($2.30/GB ingested).

GCP Hidden Costs: Cloud NAT ($0.044/hour + $0.045/GB), Load Balancing ($18.26/month + $0.008/GB), Cloud Logging ($0.50/GB ingested).

Total Cost of Ownership Example

Medium enterprise workload (50 compute instances, 10TB storage, 500GB database, 20TB egress): AWS Total: $13,840/month, Azure Total: $12,950/month, GCP Total: $11,890/month. GCP saves ~14% vs AWS in this scenario.

Decision Framework

Choose AWS if: You need the most mature ecosystem, your team has deep AWS expertise, or compliance requires specific AWS certifications.

Choose Azure if: You're heavily invested in Microsoft technologies, need hybrid cloud integration, or want free Kubernetes control plane.

Choose GCP if: Cost optimization is top priority, you have significant data/ML workloads, or want predictable spot instance pricing.

Conclusion

There's no universal "cheapest" cloud provider—it depends on your specific workload, usage patterns, and negotiating power. The key to controlling costs isn't provider selection alone—it's implementing proper governance, monitoring, and optimization practices regardless of platform.

Use our ROI Calculator to model your specific workload costs or schedule a walk-through to analyze your current cloud spending.