AWS vs Google Cloud Platform: Pricing Comparison 2026
Side-by-side pricing comparison of AWS and Google Cloud Platform. See all plans, features, and costs at a glance.
Bottom line: AWS starts at $2020/mo and Google Cloud Platform starts at Custom pricing. Compare all 6 pricing tiers side by side.
Last updated: June 15, 2026
AWS vs Google Cloud Platform: Quick Pricing Facts
| Feature | AWS | Google Cloud Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $2020/mo | Custom pricing |
| Number of Plans | 4 | 2 |
| Free Tier | No | Yes |
| Pricing Model | usage-based | usage-based |
| Annual Discount | N/A | N/A |
AWS and Google Cloud Platform are both priced at $2020/mo, making them equally accessible Hosting & Infra tools. Together they offer 6 pricing plans with 6 features compared, so the best choice comes down to which features match your needs.
Google Cloud Platform stands out with a free plan for getting started.
Review the detailed tier-by-tier comparison above to see exactly which features are included at each price point and find the best fit for your Hosting & Infra needs.
| Pricing Plans |  AWS Try free |  Google Cloud Platform Try free |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | How does AWS pricing work? Custom pricing | Free Tier $0/monthCheapest Includes
|
| Tier 2 | How do you pay for AWS? Custom pricing | Custom Pricing Custom pricing Includes
|
| Tier 3 | Is AWS Private Pricing right for you? Custom pricing | - |
| Tier 4 | Pricing for AWS products $2020/monthCheapest | - |
← Swipe to compare plans →
Ready to get started? Try either tool free — no credit card required.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose AWS if:
- •AWS has the broadest service catalog - 200+ fully featured services covering compute, storage, databases, AI, IoT, and everything in between
- •Market dominance means more third-party integrations, more community resources, and more engineers with AWS experience on the job market
- •AWS's global infrastructure spans 33 regions with 105 availability zones, offering the widest geographic coverage for latency-sensitive applications
- •Enterprise features like AWS Organizations, Control Tower, and Landing Zone provide governance frameworks for multi-account enterprise deployments
Choose Google Cloud Platform if:
- •Google Cloud leads in data analytics - BigQuery, Dataflow, and Looker provide a best-in-class analytics and data warehouse stack
- •GCP's Kubernetes offering (GKE) benefits from Google creating Kubernetes - it is the most advanced and well-integrated managed K8s service
- •Sustained-use discounts apply automatically without commitments, reducing compute costs by up to 30% for consistent workloads
- •Google's AI and ML services (Vertex AI, Gemini API, TPU access) leverage decades of research and proprietary hardware
AWS and Google Cloud Platform are two of the three hyperscale cloud providers, and most enterprise decisions between them come down to existing expertise, specific workload requirements, and pricing models. AWS pricing is complex and varies by service. EC2 on-demand instances start around $0.0116/hour for t3.micro. S3 storage starts at $0.023/GB/month. RDS databases start at $0.017/hour. Reserved instances and Savings Plans reduce costs 30-72% with 1-3 year commitments. The AWS Free Tier includes 750 hours of t2.micro EC2, 5GB S3, and 25GB DynamoDB for 12 months. GCP pricing is generally 20-40% lower than AWS for comparable compute. E2-micro instances start at $0.0084/hour. Cloud Storage starts at $0.020/GB/month. Cloud SQL starts at $0.0150/hour. GCP's sustained-use discounts automatically reduce costs for workloads running more than 25% of the month, without requiring commitment. The GCP Free Tier includes an e2-micro instance (always free), 5GB Cloud Storage, and 1GB BigQuery queries per month. Choose AWS if you need the broadest service catalog, the most third-party integrations, or if your team already has AWS expertise. Choose GCP if your primary workloads are data analytics, machine learning, or Kubernetes - GCP leads in these areas. For most web applications and microservices, both platforms are equally capable, and the decision should weight team expertise and existing investments over technical differences.
Frequently Asked Questions: AWS vs Google Cloud Platform
How many pricing plans does AWS have vs Google Cloud Platform?
Does AWS or Google Cloud Platform offer a free plan?
Does AWS or Google Cloud Platform offer custom enterprise pricing?
How do AWS and Google Cloud Platform compare for Hosting & Infra?
Sources
- AWS Official Pricing- Vendor pricing page
- Google Cloud Platform Official Pricing- Vendor pricing page
Related Articles
Best Cloud Hosting & Infrastructure Pricing Compared (2026)
Cloud hosting pricing: AWS (pay-per-use), Google Cloud ($300 free credit), DigitalOcean ($4-48/mo), Vercel (free-$20/mo), Heroku ($5-25/mo), Cloudflare Workers (free-$5/mo). Compare IaaS vs PaaS costs.
Vercel vs Netlify Pricing: Which Is Cheaper in 2026?
Vercel ($0-$20/user/mo) vs Netlify ($0-$99/mo). Deep comparison of bandwidth, build minutes, serverless functions, and team pricing to find the cheapest hosting option.
Track Price Changes
Get notified when pricing changes for these tools.