Ahmed Abdelwahed

Ahmed Abdelwahed

Technical Trainer | Cloud & Infrastructure Specialist

ahmed@abdelwahed.me

Technical Blog

From the Server Room
to the Cloud

200+ Delivered Courses
30+ Certificates
10+ Years in IT

Azure, AWS, Google Cloud | Comparative Guide

Azure, AWS & Google Cloud — Comparative Guide | Ahmed Abdelwahed
Microsoft Azure Amazon AWS Google Cloud Updated for 2026 Comparative Guide

Azure, AWS & Google Cloud
Comparative Guide

A comprehensive, practitioner-focused reference covering 13 domains — from global infrastructure and Kubernetes to AI/ML services and security best practices — side-by-side across all three major cloud platforms.

Ahmed Abdelwahed Multi-Cloud Reference

About This Guide

The cloud landscape moves fast. With Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud each releasing dozens of updates every quarter, staying current requires significant effort. This guide distills the most important services, new capabilities, and architectural best practices from all three platforms into a single, practitioner-focused reference. Whether you’re preparing for a multi-cloud architecture decision, studying for a certification, or delivering training to enterprise teams — this guide gives you the grounding to compare services confidently and make informed platform choices.

What’s New in 2026

Azure

AKS Automatic

Fully managed Kubernetes tier — auto-upgrades, auto-heals, and auto-scales without operator intervention.

Azure

Entra Internet / Private Access

ZTNA and SWG capabilities natively integrated with Microsoft Entra identity — replacing legacy VPN.

Azure

Azure OpenAI — GPT-4o & o3

Exclusive enterprise access to OpenAI’s latest models with private endpoints and content filtering.

AWS

EKS Auto Mode

AWS manages compute, storage, and networking automatically — operators focus on workloads only.

AWS

Amazon Nova Models

AWS’s new multimodal model family (Nova Micro, Lite, Pro) available via Amazon Bedrock from Dec 2024.

AWS

Resource Control Policies

New IAM policy type that controls permissions from the resource side — across accounts and organizations.

GCP

Gemini 2.0 on Vertex AI

Multimodal foundation model with 2M token context window — available for enterprise workloads.

GCP

Parallelstore

Google-managed Lustre-compatible parallel file system for AI/ML training and HPC workloads.

GCP

Cross-Cloud Network

Direct interconnects to Azure and AWS — unifying multi-cloud connectivity through Google’s backbone.

Guide Contents

01

Global Infrastructure & Reach

Regions, AZs, backbone networks, sovereign cloud, and on-premises extension options.

02

Identity & Access Management

Entra ID, AWS IAM Identity Center, Cloud IAM, ZTNA, and workload identity federation.

03

Virtual Machines

VM families, Graviton/ARM processors, Spot pricing, confidential compute, and auto-scaling.

04

Containers & Kubernetes

AKS, EKS, GKE, serverless containers, registries, and multi-cloud K8s management.

05

Serverless Computing

Azure Functions, AWS Lambda, Cloud Run, event-driven patterns, and API management.

06

Storage Services

Object, block, file, and parallel storage — tiers, IOPS benchmarks, and redundancy options.

07

Networking & Connectivity

VNet/VPC, load balancers, CDN, DDoS, Private Link, NGFW, and WAN services.

08

Databases

Managed relational, NoSQL, in-memory, and distributed databases across all platforms.

09

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Unified backup services, replication, WORM storage, RPO/RTO targets, and immutable vaults.

10

Monitoring & Observability

Metrics, logs, traces, APM, managed Grafana/Prometheus, SIEM, and compliance auditing.

11

DevOps & CI/CD

Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, AWS CodePipeline, Cloud Build, and IaC tooling.

12

AI & Machine Learning

LLM APIs, foundation models, ML platforms, AI hardware, and vector search services.

13

Security Best Practices

Zero Trust, CSPM, encryption, secrets management, supply chain, and compliance governance.

Quick Comparison

Domain Microsoft Azure Amazon AWS Google Cloud
Managed KubernetesAKS / AKS AutomaticEKS / EKS Auto ModeGKE Standard / Autopilot
Serverless ContainersAzure Container AppsAWS Fargate (ECS/EKS)Cloud Run (Gen 2)
Gen AI / LLM AccessAzure OpenAI (GPT-4o, o3)Bedrock (Claude, Nova, Llama)Vertex AI (Gemini 2.0)
Object StorageBlob (Hot / Cool / Archive)S3 (Standard / Glacier)Cloud Storage (4 classes)
Private ConnectivityExpressRoute (100 Gbps)Direct Connect (100 Gbps)Cloud Interconnect (100 Gbps)
SIEM / Threat DetectionMicrosoft SentinelGuardDuty + Security LakeChronicle (Google SecOps)
Zero Trust NetworkEntra Internet/Private AccessAWS Verified AccessBeyondCorp Enterprise / IAP
Hybrid / Multi-Cloud K8sAzure ArcEKS Anywhere / Hybrid NodesGKE Enterprise / Anthos

Who Is This For

🏗
Cloud Architects

Design multi-cloud and hybrid solutions with confidence across all three platforms.

📚
MCT Trainers

Reference material for delivering multi-vendor cloud training to enterprise and government clients.

🎯
Certification Candidates

Cross-platform context for AZ-900, AZ-305, SAA-C03, ACE, and multi-cloud exams.

🔐
Security Engineers

Compare IAM, CSPM, Zero Trust, and threat detection implementations side-by-side.

⚙️
DevOps Engineers

Evaluate CI/CD pipelines, container platforms, and IaC tooling across providers.

🤖
AI / ML Teams

Choose the right platform for LLM access, model training, inference, and vector search.

Guide Details

Version26.03
·
PlatformsAzure · AWS · Google Cloud
·
AuthorAhmed Abdelwahed

Download the Complete Guide

Covering 13 cloud domains across Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud — updated for 2026. Free to download, no sign-up required.