Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Pricing (2026)

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

Cloud Infrastructure pricing comparison · 2026

Amazon Web Services (AWS) pricing ranges from $0–$15000/month, while Google Cloud Platform (GCP) ranges from $0–$48.92/month. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is typically 9% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.

Cloud Infrastructure

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

$0–$15000
/month
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
Cloud Infrastructure

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

$0–$48.92
/month
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) both operate in the cloud infrastructure category. This page compares their list pricing.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Amazon Web Services (AWS) Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Free Tier Free /month Free /month
On-Demand (t3.micro) $7.59 /month $6.12 /month
On-Demand (t3.medium) $30.37 /month $48.92 /month
Savings Plans (1-Year Compute) Custom Custom
Enterprise Support $15K /month Custom

Cost at Scale

Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

8 scenarios
$15
Developer Sandbox
25/month
$150
Small Web Application
250/month
$1,500
Production SaaS Platform
3,000/month
See all 8 scenarios →

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

6 scenarios
$10
Developer Playground
15/month
$100
Startup Web Application
200/month
$1,000
Production Data Platform
2,500/month
See all 6 scenarios →

Market Intelligence

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Median annual cost
$398
Based on
164 deals

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Median annual cost
$429
Based on
54 deals

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) 7 hidden costs

high
Data Egress and Bandwidth Costs 10-30% of license costs
medium
Lambda Hidden Service Dependencies 5-15% of license costs
high
GPU and ML Instance Cost Shock $2,160-$14,400
high
Managed Service Premium (Fargate, Aurora, Redshift) $21-$100
medium
VPC Endpoint Charges per Service 5-15% of license costs
See all Amazon Web Services (AWS) hidden costs →

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) 5 hidden costs

critical
Unexpected API and Service Charges Despite Free Credits $50-$500
critical
No Hard Spending Limits on Pay-As-You-Go Services 100-500% of expected budget
high
Billing Transparency and Reporting Limitations 10-20% of license costs
high
Unintentional Overage Charges 10-50% of license costs
medium
API Token Costs for AI Services $500-$5,000
See all Google Cloud Platform (GCP) hidden costs →

Contract Terms

Term Amazon Web Services (AWS) Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
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
Minimum 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 Yes