Cloud service providers: Top clouds and how to choose your cloud provider
Choosing the right cloud hosting solutions for your business, website, or application is a critical decision. Below we’ll walk you through the top cloud providers today and how to compare their benefits and features.
What is a cloud provider?
Cloud providers refer to businesses that offer cloud computing services such as cloud infrastructure (including virtual machines and virtual private servers, databases, cloud storage, and more to users who want to host websites and applications in the cloud. Cloud providers offer multiple services distributed across a network of data centers, usually located around the world. Cloud providers are an alternative to traditional on-premise hosting infrastructure, which has declined in usage due to the easily accessible and affordable nature of cloud hosting solutions.
Some of the largest cloud providers offer hundreds of products, but the most commonly used cloud services include: Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Databases, Storage, Kubernetes, Serverless/Functions.
Top cloud providers
The top cloud providers by market share, often referred to as hyperscaler clouds, are Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure. AWS is the largest cloud provider, but many businesses look for AWS alternatives as AWS can be very complex, especially for the needs of individual developers and small businesses, and their pricing can be expensive when factoring in AWS egress costs. Smaller clouds like DigitalOcean offer reliable cloud hosting that is simpler to use and often more cost-effective than the big three clouds—learn how DigitalOcean compares to AWS and Google Cloud Platform.
DigitalOcean is the ideal cloud provider for small-to-medium-sized businesses, startups, and individual developers who want a simple cloud solution with a range of product offerings, developer-friendly features, robust documentation, and cost-effective, transparent pricing. Sign up today to get started.
How to choose between cloud providers
When comparing cloud providers, you should consider several factors, including price, global data center locations, products, customer support, documentation, and more. A cloud provider is typically a long-term commitment—while businesses can switch cloud service providers, the process can be time-consuming and expensive, so choosing the right cloud provider from the start will set you up for success.
Pricing
Consider cost, including both base product pricing, egress pricing (also known as bandwidth or data transfer fees), and additional pricing for add-ons like support. Certain cloud providers like AWS are known for their pricing complexity, so understanding how prices break down and will scale as you grow is important.
Product offerings
Most cloud providers offer some sort of virtual machine or VPS hosting, though some may only offer shared hosting services, which are more suitable for low-traffic websites. Many cloud providers will also offer managed databases, storage, load balancing, Kubernetes, and other products that may be part of your long-term infrastructure. Research what you’ll need and choose a cloud provider that offers those products.
Support
Support is a critical but often overlooked component of choosing any vendor, and choosing a cloud provider is no different. Many cloud providers don’t offer free support beyond billing questions, while some like DigitalOcean offer free ticketed support for all users, and low monthly-cost options for more robust support plans with faster response times.
Data center locations
It’s important to consider where the majority of your users will be located when accessing your website or application when choosing a cloud service provider. Most larger cloud providers have a network of global data centers, but may have gaps in certain locations.
Documentation
In addition to ticketed support, documentation is also important for self-diagnosing a problem with your cloud infrastructure. Look into product documentation, community forums, instructional tutorials, and more before deciding what cloud service provider to use.
Supported operating systems
While most cloud providers support Linux operating systems, some like Microsoft Azure also offer Windows-based virtual machines. Know what operating system and distribution, such as Ubuntu 22.04, you plan to use to ensure your chosen cloud provider can support it. Some cloud providers also offer tutorials on how to install and manage operating systems.
Additional resources to choose your cloud provider
DigitalOcean vs Google Cloud Platform
Comparing AWS, Azure, GCP
Understanding AWS egress costs
DigitalOcean vs AWS
What is a hyperscaler cloud?
AWS alternatives
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing provides cloud services, including cloud infrastructure such as servers, cloud storage, databases, and more, virtually via an internet connection, so that websites and applications do not need to own and manage their own servers or data centers. Cloud computing makes it extremely easy for anyone to get access to cloud infrastructure at a low cost and without the overhead required for setting up physical servers. There are many cloud computing providers today, with some of the largest including Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alibaba Cloud for the Chinese cloud market, Microsoft Azure, Dell Technologies Cloud, and IBM Cloud. Smaller providers like DigitalOcean also provide cloud computing services tailored to the needs of specific groups, such as small businesses and startups. The cloud infrastructure market has grown hugely over the past decade, and cloud service providers now have a combined market size of over $569 billion dollars in 2022.
What is the difference between infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service?
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a service (SaaS) are different services that are often provided by one cloud service provider. IaaS is a type of cloud computing that gives users complete control over their virtual server or infrastructure configuration, without having to manage the underlying physical servers. Platform as a Service allows users to build applications without managing the operating system, runtime, or other infrastructure components of their server. SaaS are very common, and give users an interface to work with without needing to configure any backend technology - many emerging technologies are built as SaaS tools, such as those which allow you to view customer data, send emails, or conduct other regular business processes such as marketing and sales.
How do I choose a cloud service provider?
There are many cloud service providers out there, from large public clouds like Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, to regional or more niche cloud service providers who focus on a specific region or type of cloud computing. Cloud providers like DigitalOcean give users a range of services including managed services such as managed databases and managed Kubernetes, virtual machines or virtual private servers, managed web hosting through Cloudways by DigitalOcean, and even GPUs for artificial intelligence computing services from Paperspace by DigitalOcean.
Should I choose a public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, or multi-cloud service provider?
There are multiple options available for a new application or website looking to choose a cloud service provider. When thinking about cloud computing, most businesses today will use public cloud services, though some large enterprises may create a private cloud where they utilize their own data centers and on-premises hardware. A private cloud is usually not the first choice for smaller businesses, who can benefit from the easily accessible cloud computing services available from public cloud service providers. Hybrid cloud models mean that the user both uses a public cloud service provider and also some on-premises data center servers, and may be used if a business has a specific need for some on-premises servers.
What are the top cloud service providers?
The top cloud service providers include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure Cloud, Google Cloud Platform, the third largest hosting company. While these three cloud service providers are the top by market share, there are many other cloud services providers that offer similar services, often with less complexity, a smaller range of products, and sometimes a lower cost. DigitalOcean is an excellent alternative to these three top cloud service providers, as it offers many cloud computing services, including CPU compute, databases, GPUs to support artificial intelligence, and Kubernetes, but has lower bandwidth costs and more simple services than many larger providers. Other alternative cloud platforms include IMB Cloud, Oracle Cloud, and Dell Technologies Cloud service provider. All of these providers offer a range of cloud resources and cloud based services, but have differences in the specific services they offer, cloud costs, data center locations, and more.
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