Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Name: Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Brand: Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Availability: OnlineOnly

Cloud Infrastructure pricing comparison · 2026

Amazon Web Services (AWS) pricing ranges from $0–$50000/month, while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) ranges from $0–$48.92/month. These products use different pricing models ( vs Per-seat subscription), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.

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See pricing on each vendor's site

Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.

Visit Amazon pricing

Free plan limits → Discount programs →

Visit Google pricing

Free plan limits → Discount programs →

Compare

2 products · Cloud Infrastructure

Side-by-side · live

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers pay-as-you-go cloud infrastructure with no upfront commit

verified 5d ago

$398 $429

View pricing →

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the third-largest cloud infrastructure provider with roughl

verified 7w ago

$398 $429

View pricing →

Verdict · Vendr median · year 1

Amazon saves $31 vs Google · 25 seats

Cheapest $398

Spread 7%

Estimated license cost

at 25 seats

List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.

On-Demand — t3.medium

$9.1K/yr

year 1 license · $30/seat

On-Demand (e2-standard-2)

$15K/yr

year 1 license · $49/seat

What buyers actually pay

median, annual

Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.

↓ Lowest median

Median annual

$398/yr

Vendr · n=164

Median annual

$429/yr

Vendr · n=54

REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from

Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs

Sources 4 sourced facts

2 contract · Vendr median · 1 review platform

Last verified 5d ago

Confidence Medium confidence

Sources 11 sourced facts

9 hidden-cost · 1 contract · Vendr median

Last verified 1mo ago

Confidence Medium confidence

REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder

Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.

REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker

Severity-ranked, sourced

No hidden costs documented

5 documented

Unexpected API and Service Charges Despite Free Credits

$50-$500

3 sources
No Hard Spending Limits on Pay-As-You-Go Services

100-500% of expected budget

2 sources
Billing Transparency and Reporting Limitations

10-20% of license costs

2 sources
Unintentional Overage Charges

10-50% of license costs

1 source
API Token Costs for AI Services

$500-$5,000

1 source

REF · 04

Contract terms

The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.

Amazon

Google

Auto-renewal

✓ No

—

Cancellation

On-Demand instances can be stopped or terminated at any time with no notice; Reserved Instances commit to 1 or 3-year terms

—

Commitment

None for On-Demand; 1 or 3 years for Reserved Instances and Savings Plans

1 year for committed use discounts

Price escalation

No published price escalation schedule; AWS has historically reduced prices over time, though GPU, ML, and managed service pricing remains high

—

Can downgrade

✓ Yes

REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews

TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2

TrustRadius

7.6/5 (735)

Best for

Developers learning AWS, small experiments, and proof-of-concept projects

Watch out

Customer support described as 'terrible' with 24-hour outages and no resolution

No public ratings yet

Best for

Developers exploring GCP, data analytics experimentation, and serverless prototyping

Watch out

Easy to accidentally incur charges beyond free tier

Decide

Get a quote from each vendor

Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.

Visit Amazon pricing

Free plan limits → Discount programs →

Visit Google pricing

Free plan limits → Discount programs →

License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.

Cloud Infrastructure