Level Up Your IT Career With The Top 3 Cloud Platforms in 2025

Cloud Computing is a technology that delivers computing services—such as servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet or the cloud. Here are the basic concepts of cloud computing:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Cloud computing provides on-demand computing resources, including servers, storage, and networking. It offers users granular control over the underlying infrastructure. For example, Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines, and Google Compute Engine.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS): Cloud computing offers a platform for developing, testing, and deploying applications without managing the underlying infrastructure. It also provides a development environment, databases, and other services, such as Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure App Service, and Heroku.
• Software as a Service (SaaS): Cloud computing delivers software applications over the Internet, eliminating the need for local installation and maintenance. Users can access the software through a web browser. Examples include Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Salesforce.

Benefits of Cloud Computing Platforms

Cloud computing platforms offer various benefits to different businesses, making Cloud computing a great career choice. Some of the benefits are mentioned below:

• Scalability: Easily scale resources up or down to meet changing demands.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Pay only for the resources you consume, reducing upfront costs.
• Flexibility: Access resources from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Security: Benefit from robust security measures provided by cloud providers.
• Reliability: High availability and disaster recovery capabilities.
• Faster Time to Market: Rapidly deploy and update applications.
• Global Reach: Access a global network of data centers.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud computing platform provided by Amazon that offers various on-demand services like computing power, storage, and databases. Launched in 2006, AWS is one of the leading cloud service providers, known for its scalability, security, and extensive service offerings. If you are looking for a career in AWS, you must know what it offers.

Key Services and Features of AWS

Here are some of the key services and features of AWS:

• Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): The Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) provides scalable virtual servers (instances) in the cloud. It supports various instance types, auto-scaling, and custom configurations for flexible computing power.
• Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service): The Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) offers object storage for storing and retrieving any amount of data. It also provides availability, durability, versioning, and lifecycle policies for managing data effectively.
• Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service): The Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) manages relational databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server). It offers features like automated backups, scaling, and built-in security features for reliable database management.
• AWS Lambda: AWS Lambda is a serverless computing service to run code without managing servers. It provides automatic scaling, event-driven execution, and pay-per-use pricing for efficient cloud functions.
• Amazon DynamoDB: Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database service. It provides low-latency performance, scalability, and built-in security for modern applications.
• Amazon CloudFront: Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) for faster content distribution. It provides features like edge locations, caching, and seamless integration with S3 and EC2 for global delivery efficiency.

Strengths of AWS

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is known for its comprehensive range of services and reliability. Below are the key strengths that make AWS a preferred choice for businesses worldwide:

• Scalability: AWS provides on-demand scalability, allowing businesses to scale up or down based on demand easily. Services like EC2 and Lambda ensure resources are efficiently allocated, supporting workloads of any size.
• Security and Compliance: AWS offers advanced security features like encryption, identity management, and compliance with industry standards. Tools such as AWS Shield and IAM provide robust protection for applications and data.
• Global Reach: With a vast network of data centers and edge locations worldwide, AWS ensures low latency and high availability, making it easy to deploy applications globally.
• Wide Range of Services: AWS offers over 200 fully-featured services, including computing, storage, databases, AI, machine learning, and analytics. This comprehensive suite addresses diverse business needs.
• Cost-Effectiveness: AWS’s pay-as-you-go model helps businesses save costs by only paying for the resources they use. Services like Reserved Instances and Spot Instances further optimize cost efficiency.
• Innovation and Integration: AWS continuously introduces new features and services. Seamless integration between services, like S3 and CloudFront, enables businesses to innovate quickly and efficiently.

Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, offering various cloud services like computing, storage, databases, and AI. It integrates deeply with Microsoft products, such as Windows Server, Office 365, and Active Directory, making it ideal for enterprises already using Microsoft technologies. Azure supports hybrid cloud strategies, enhancing on-premises solutions with cloud-based scalability and flexibility. If you are looking for a career in Azure, you must know what it offers.

Key Services and Features of Azure

Here are some of the key services and features of Azure:

• Azure Virtual Machines (VMs): Scalable cloud-based virtual servers that support both Windows and Linux workloads. They enable businesses to deploy and manage applications without on-premises hardware.
• Azure App Service: A fully managed platform for building web and mobile applications, with support for multiple programming languages and continuous deployment capabilities.
• Azure SQL Database: A fully managed relational database service that offers built-in intelligence, automated maintenance, and scalability for applications.
• Azure Functions: A serverless computing service to run event-driven code, ideal for automating tasks without managing infrastructure.

Strengths

Microsoft Azure offers a wide range of services. Here are some of Azure's key strengths, each contributing to its reliability, scalability, and efficiency for businesses of all sizes: 

• Scalability: Azure's cloud services allow seamless scaling of resources up or down based on demand, ensuring optimal performance and cost efficiency without infrastructure constraints. 
• High Availability: Azure provides high availability with data centers located worldwide, ensuring reliable performance, redundancy, and reduced latency for global operations.
• Security: Azure has built-in security features like Azure Active Directory, encryption, and threat detection to help protect data, applications, and workloads from cyber threats.
• Hybrid Cloud Capability: Azure supports hybrid cloud environments, allowing seamless integration of on-premises, edge, and cloud resources for enhanced flexibility and compliance. 
• Cost Efficiency: Azure’s pay-as-you-go model and pricing flexibility reduce IT costs, offering savings with Azure Hybrid Benefits for existing licenses. 

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a suite of cloud computing services provided by Google that enables businesses to build, deploy, and scale applications efficiently. It offers a robust infrastructure designed for high performance, scalability, and flexibility, with a strong emphasis on data analytics, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. If you are looking for a career in GCP, you must know what it offers.

Key Services and Features

Google Cloud Platform or GCP offers various services and features that are mentioned below:

• Computer Engine: Compute Engine is a scalable service offering on-demand virtual machines (VMs). It lets users create and manage customizable VMs for applications, workloads, and compute-heavy tasks. Businesses can flexibly scale capacity to match needs, making it ideal for simulations, high-performance computing, and data processing.
• App Engine: App Engine is a fully managed platform for building, deploying, and scaling web applications. It supports various programming languages, including Python, Java, Go, and Node.js, making it accessible to developers from different backgrounds. It is ideal for hosting web and mobile applications, enabling developers to focus on writing code while Google Cloud manages the underlying infrastructure, security, and scaling processes.
• Cloud Storage: Cloud Storage is an object storage service that offers high availability, durability, and security for data. It supports features like multi-regional storage, versioning, and lifecycle management, which allow organizations to store and manage their data effectively. Cloud Storage is suitable for handling large datasets, media files, backups, and archival data.
• BigQuery: BigQuery is a serverless, fully managed data warehouse designed for large-scale analytics. It allows users to analyze massive datasets in real-time using SQL-like queries without the need to manage infrastructure. BigQuery automatically scales compute and storage resources based on the size of the dataset and the complexity of the query. This makes it ideal for businesses looking to derive insights from petabytes of data quickly and efficiently.
• Cloud AI Tools: Cloud AI Tools provide a suite of APIs and services to help developers build and integrate artificial intelligence into their applications. These tools include the Vision API for image recognition and classification, which can identify objects, text, and landmarks in images. These AI tools simplify the integration of advanced AI capabilities into products and services without requiring extensive machine-learning expertise.

Strengths of Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud Platform offers powerful, flexible, and secure cloud computing solutions. Here are its key strengths:

• Scalability: GCP offers automatic scaling for compute resources, handling sudden traffic spikes efficiently. Businesses can effortlessly scale up or down, ensuring performance and cost efficiency.
• Global Network: GCP leverages Google's vast global infrastructure to provide low latency, high-performance networking, ensuring reliable access and faster data delivery worldwide.
• Cost Efficiency: Competitive pricing, pay-as-you-go models, and sustained use discounts help businesses optimize costs while gaining the benefits of powerful cloud services.
• Security: GCP implements multi-layered security, encryption by default, and regular audits, protecting data from threats and ensuring compliance with industry standards.
• Innovative Tools: It offers AI, machine learning, and Big Data tools like Vertex AI, BigQuery, and Dataflow, which enable businesses to derive insights and automate processes.

Cloud Platforms differ on various measures like features, pricing, and more. Here is the comparison between all these platforms: 

Choosing the right platform can be quite confusing, given all the platforms have distinct features. Here’s how you can choose the right platform:

Workload Requirements

Different cloud providers excel in different areas.

• Compute-Intensive Tasks: AWS and Google Cloud are strong contenders for AI/ML workloads due to their robust compute instances and GPU offerings.
• Storage Solutions: For data lakes and analytics, Azure provides seamless integration with Microsoft’s ecosystem.
• Latency-Sensitive Applications: Providers with more global data centers reduce latency for real-time applications.

Budget

Cloud pricing can vary significantly based on services, regions, and usage.

• AWS: Offers pay-as-you-go pricing with volume discounts.
• Azure: Competitive pricing for enterprises leveraging Microsoft tools.
• Google Cloud: Offers sustained use discounts and flexible pricing models. Evaluate long-term costs like data egress fees and reserved instance pricing.

Technical Expertise

• AWS: Rich documentation and community support but has a steep learning curve.
• Azure: Easier for businesses familiar with Microsoft environments.
• Google Cloud: Known for ease of use and developer-friendly tools.
  Consider the training and certification your team may need to manage the chosen platform effectively. 

Learning Cloud Computing will help you understand cloud platforms better. You can learn about cloud computing through online cloud computing courses. Here are some of our top picks:

• Docker for Absolute Beginners by Coursera: The Docker for Absolute Beginners course will take you through two hours of hands-on labs, understanding docker architecture, Docker commands for managing images and containers Networks in docker, Volumes in docker, how to use a web app as a docker.
• Cloud Computing E-Degree by Eduonix: The Cloud Computing E-Degree course will teach you the basics of cloud computing and become a cloud computing professional. This e-degree will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the concepts and techniques of cloud computing.
• Cloud Networking by Coursera: The Cloud Networking course will show you what the network must do to enable cloud computing. It will discuss current practices with industry experts and look into new research that could shape the future of the cloud network.
• Serverless Applications with AWS by O’Reilly: The Serverless Applications with AWS course shows you how to create serverless applications using AWS Lambda or other cloud-based services. It will guide you through the creation of a fully functioning image resizing service based on AWS Lambda.
• Amazon Web Services - Virtual Private Cloud by O’Reilly: The Amazon Web Services - Virtual Private Cloud course will show you how to create your Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) in this Amazon Web Services – Virtual Private Cloud training course. This course will cover the basics of VPC and how to build your VPC. Jon will then teach you about the components and functions of a VPC. This tutorial also covers security in VPC.

Choosing the right cloud platform involves balancing workload needs, budget constraints, technical capabilities, and the risk of vendor lock-in. Hybrid and multi-cloud strategies offer flexibility and resilience, while a well-planned migration ensures a smooth transition to the cloud. This article mentions the best practices with which businesses can harness the full potential of cloud computing.

If you are interested in learning more about Cloud Computing platforms, you can always start by pursuing online certification courses. Careervira offers the top Cloud Computing courses. Don’t wait! Get enrolled today!