In the early 19th century, people were using storage devices to store data. Cloud computing was invented in 1990. Some organizations and people have been started to use it. After 2005, more cloud service providers comes into the market and started to sell cloud services at the cheapest rate.
Due to the low cost of cloud services, most businesses have started to use them. In the 21st century, the use of cloud services has grown exponentially. Should you also want to use cloud services? In this tutorial, we will go through the step-by-step guide to choose the best cloud service providers.
Why Cloud service providers?
Cloud service providers allow us to store data at remote locations rather than the local computer. It gives you the flexibility to deploy and manage the applications remotely from any location. Cloud service providers provide IT resources such as hardware, virtual machines, and storage devices, etc. to the users. Users have to pay based on as much as they use the resources.
Users can save lots of money by taking cloud services on the rent, as they don’t need to set up the whole infrastructure. Also, it is scalable. When you need more resources, you can demand them. When you don’t need resources, you can scale down and save the expense.
As cloud service providers have the latest and updated hardware, we can get better performance of the hosted application. Furthermore, cloud storage is more secure than local storage as cloud service providers have a special team to look into that. Even though after any disaster, we can recover data from the cloud as they keep the backup of every data on the different servers.
If you developers are more interested to know about cloud computing, read our article.
Factors to consider while choosing a cloud service providers
Users should keep in mind these factors before they choose any cloud providers.
- The first thing you should decide is that which type of cloud service you need such as public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud.
- The main concern while storing the data in the cloud is of security of the data. So, check that how secure is the cloud provided by cloud providers.
- Also, decide that on which hardwares you need control and choose any service such as IaaS, PaaS, and Saas according to that.
- To access data quickly from the cloud storage, check which physical location your data will be stored. You should choose any cloud provider which have remote servers near to your location.
- Users should focus on the pricing structure of the cloud services. However, every cloud providers charges based on as much as you use.
- Look for the availability is the main thing while choosing a perfect cloud service provider.
- The final thing is that look for the best customer service. For example, if customer support is slow and resolves your query within 1 weak, it can affect your business.
Top 8 cloud service providers
Here, we have chosen some of the best cloud providers by considering the above factors.
1. Amazon web Services (AWS)
One of the most popular cloud services is Amazon Web Services (AWS). In 2002 AWS was launched in the market, and In 2008 AWS has started to provide IaaS for the first time to the clients. The AWS provides 200+ services such as EC2, dynamoDb, storage space, Elastic cloud computing, email service, etc.
Users can use free trial services to test the AWS. The main reason to use AWS is that it has customers from 190+ countries so that they are growing their data centers in most countries. Currently, Aws data centers are available in 44 different zones. Amazon has the best feature of multi-region backup. Due to that, we can’t lose our data in any kind of disaster.
Currently Netflix, Linkedin, and Facebook, etc are the big spenders on the AWS. They spend around $1 billion on the yearly basis.
2. Google Cloud
Nowadays, most smartphone users are using Google’s cloud service which is Google drive. Google Drive is an example of the public cloud. Users can use it based on the purchased subscription.
However, Google cloud also provides other services such as Hybrid and Multi-cloud, Security and Identity, Management Tools, Migration, Networking, Serverless Computing, and Internet of Things, etc. Associate cloud engineer and G-suit is one of the Google Cloud certifications.
It is divided into 4 broad categories. Storage, Big data, computing, and services. It provides Iaas to deploy your applications. Also, provides SaaS such as G-suit, Gmail, Drive, etc. Furthermore, Google provides tools and hardware to build AI and Machine Learning related projects such as Google collab.
3. Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure provides the IT resources on demand of their clients. It also offers more than a hundred offers like AWS. In the services, It includes Analytics, AI and ML tools, DevOps, Database, Developer tools, Migrations, Networking, and security, etc. As a cloud service, it offers IaaS, Paas, Saas, and serverless computing. The clients can choose any service according to their needs.
Users can try Microsoft Azure for 30 days using its free trial services. The cost of Microsoft Azure is similar to the cost of AWS and users need to according to the use of resources. Microsoft Azure provides consistency across the cloud with commonly used resources and tools by developers.
4. Salesforce
Salesforce provides an easy interface so that users can customize applications easily. We can integrate the apps from the other platforms into the salesforce via API. It provides only Software as a service (SaaS) to use. Salesforce has launched a mobile app so that users can customize the resources via mobile app at any location even though they have a computer or not.
Also, salesforce has grown its business by building various marketing tools. To grow your business, you can use salesforce marketing tools. If you separately buy such types of marketing tools, maybe you need to pay more for them. To grow your business using marketing tools, you should use the Salesforce cloud.
5. IBM Cloud
IBM cloud is managed by the IBM company. It provides all kinds of cloud services like other cloud providers and users can access it via a public, private, or hybrid cloud model. IBM Cloud offers high-performing services for your business. So, your online business never faces the issue of downtime.
It offers AI and ML tools, analytics, IoT, networking, monitoring, and logging like other cloud service providers. A total of 60 data centers of the IBM cloud is available to store the data. The cost of the IBM cloud is slightly higher than AWS and Microsoft Azure.
6. Digital Ocen
Digital ocean is the cheapest cloud service provider among all prestigious cloud providers. It has 19 data centers worldwide and 600k+ customers in over 185+ countries. The Availability of digital ocean cloud services is more than 99.99% which is a good reason to choose a digital ocean.
The estimated cost of the digital ocean for a small business is around $5 whereas the same cost for the AWS is around $8. However, you can choose a performance plan or standard plan according to your need. It is a good platform to deploy your day applications in a single click as it provides Iaas. Also, it serves a Saas.
7. Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba Cloud has been started in 2009 in Singapore. Alibaba is one of the largest cloud service providers in China, and it is available in 19 different regions and 56 zones.
It offers different cloud services such as CDN, Application services, cloud communications, media services, etc. Alibaba Cloud is the best provider of IaaS. It provides all facilities to the developers to develop cloud-based applications. Alibaba is also one of the best e-commerce company so that they have developed their marketing tools, and provided them to their users.
The pricing plan for the Alibaba Cloud starts from $100 for small businesses.
8. DropBox
DropBox provides only SaaS services. It provides cloud storage like a Google drive. Users can backup their files, folders, whole mobile, tablet, or laptop devices. We can use the DropBox on our smartphone also as it provides the application.
The pricing structure of the DropBox includes the prepaid plan. You can purchase any subscription plan according to your requirement. It provides 1TB of data storage at a cost of around $120. However, you can use its free trial service to get familiar with DropBox.
Conclusion
Here, we have suggested the top 8 cloud providers. AWS and Microsoft Azure are the top cloud providers and both offer the nearly same service at different prices. To use IaaS, or PaaS, you should choose AWS or Azure.
However, you can choose Google cloud for any obvious reason or use any specific tool. If you need business tools to grow your business with cloud services, you can go for the Salesforce, and Alibaba cloud. The DropBox is should be chosen when you need to store only files and folders. If you have just started your business and your budget is low, you can go for the Digital ocean.
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