Using MobileForce's new CLIPPER(TM) Cloud Pricing and Performance analyzer tool, we studies the pricing of 3 major CSPs for price effectiveness for small dollar consumers. MobileForce is intrigued by the dynamics of cloud pricing set by the 3 major CSPs, Google Cloud, AWS EC2, and Microsoft Azure, to attract and retain customers. It is clear to us that each of the CSPs has resorted to pricing cloud infrastructure, promotional offers and rate discounts in different ways. We, therefore, wanted to compare what a specific cloud instance deployment and management would cost across the 3 CSPs. To simplify things, we chose, AppEngine Instances, a realistic cloud instance scenario that has already been setup by Google Cloud as a PaaS for basic application development use types.

1. 1
Google
Cloud
AppEngine
is
42%
cheaper
than
AWS
EC2
and
55%
cheaper
than
MS
Azure!!
MobileForce
is
intrigued
by
the
dynamics
of
cloud
pricing
set
by
the
3
major
CSPs,
Google
Cloud,
AWS
EC2,
and
Microsoft
Azure,
to
attract
and
retain
customers.
It
is
clear
to
us
that
each
of
the
CSPs
has
resorted
to
pricing
cloud
infrastructure,
promotional
offers
and
rate
discounts
in
different
ways.
We,
therefore,
wanted
to
compare
what
a
specific
cloud
instance
deployment
and
management
would
cost
across
the
3
CSPs.
To
simplify
things,
we
chose,
AppEngine
Instances,
a
realistic
cloud
instance
scenario
that
has
already
been
setup
by
Google
Cloud
as
a
PaaS
for
basic
application
development
use
types.
2
Google
Cloud
AppEngine
is
a
PaaS
that
can
be
used
to
easily
set
up
and
develop
applications
by
simply
downloading
an
SDK.
Basic
performance
instance
hours,
storage
and
networking
operations
are
bundled
into
the
AppEngine
PaaS.
Our
goal,
then,
was
to
identify
the
components
of
the
AppEngine
PaaS
and
then
price
compare
by
replicating
the
individual
components
in
AWS
EC2
and
MS
Azure
environments.
It
is
important
to
note
that
not
all
services
available
under
AppEngine
PaaS
were
available
in
MS
Azure
environment
even
though
all
of
it
was
available
under
the
AWS
EC2
environment.
The
matrix
on
next
page
lays
out
the
service
component
availability
across
the
3
CSPs.
2014
Google
AppEngine
is
the
most
cost
efficient
service
for
small
dollar
consumers
Shiva
Badruswamy
President,
MobileForce
Inc.
Bellevue,
WA
4153719610

2. Cloud
Deployment
and
Management
Resource
Consumption
Assumptions
After
a
careful
study,
MobileForce
designed
a
realistic
application
development
consumption
profile.
We
assumed
the
following
for
a
moderate
application
development
environment:
• MAIN
SERVICE:
10
instances
were
assumed
needed
in
a
month
at
a
78%
instance
utilization
rate,
i.e.
5800
instance
hours
required
in
a
month,
with
about
7440
instance
hours
being
the
full
100%
utilization.
• ADDITIONAL
SERVICES:
o About
7.5
Million
READ/WRITE/SMALL
Storage
Operations.
o A
dedicated
MemCache
storage
and
processing
capacity
of
5GB
per
hour.
o A
100GB
set
aside
for
task
queues
and
logs
storage.
o 100GB
of
Internet
data
ingress
into
the
cloud
and
100GB
of
Internet
data
egress
to
Americas
destination
• 100GB
of
general
purpose
storage
for
objects
Google
AppEngine
offers
additional
services
that
MS
Azure
does
not
provide.
To
adjust
for
this
and
normalize
baseline,
we
assumed
that
these
services
(marked
with
an
“N”
in
the
table
above)
were
not
needed
across
all
3
platforms.
The
results
of
the
study
are
discussed
below.
Before
Bill
Discount
Pricing:
Google
Cloud
AppEngine
Instances
were
by
far
the
cheapest,
coming
in
28%
cheaper
than
AWS
EC2
and
43%
cheaper
than
MS
Azure
Instances
BEFORE
Discounts
Fees
Likely
Billed
By
CSP
Google
Cloud
AWS
EC2
Microsoft
Azure
Usage
Fees
for
MAIN
SERVICE
$289
$406
$510
Usage
Fees
for
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
$19
$18
$28
Total
upfront
and
usage
Fees
for
ALL
SERVICES
$307
$424
$539

3.
MOBILEFORCE
INC
10900
NE
8th
Street,
Suite
1000,
PMB#
140
Bellevue,
WA
98004
PHONE
4153719610
WEB
www.digitalmobileforce.com
Google
Cloud
AppEngine’s
sustained-­‐use
discount
formula
works
well
for
small
dollar
consumers!
Google
Cloud,
by
structuring
discounts
based
on
instance
utilization
rates
rather
than
volume
of
billing
dollars
spend
is
able
to
offer
discounts
as
high
as
22%
on
the
already
low
Google
Cloud
rates
even
for
small
dollar
consumers
of
cloud
services.
This
puts
Google’s
AppEngine
PaaS
as
a
great
starter
package
for
application
developers.
Effectively
speaking,
on
a
per
instance
hour
basis,
AppEngine
PaaS
comes
in
at
about
4
cents
compared
to
7
cents
for
AWS
EC2
and
9
cents
for
MS
Azure.
MS
Azure
lacking
in
features
and
coming
in
higher
has
to
restructure
the
services
to
make
it
more
attractive
to
small
dollar
consumers,
a
major
part
of
the
hot
growing
SMB
segment.
Google
Cloud’s
AppEngine
Instances,
however,
lack
the
extensive
feature
set
that
an
AWS
EC2
cloud
service
offers
beyond
the
immediate
Application
Development
environment.
Our
analysis
reveals
that,
by
far,
AWS
EC2
Platform
has
the
most
services
available
in
a
cloud
deployment
platform.
If
your
application
development
is
complex
and
requires
an
end-­‐to-­‐end
approach
with
extensive
monitoring
capabilities
and
market
places
for
software
patches
and
human
intelligence,
we
would
still
recommend
AWS
EC2
as
the
best
option
even
if
the
per
instance
hour
costs
at
7
cents
are
42%
higher
than
the
likely
4
cents
with
Google
AppEngine.
After
Bill
Discount
Pricing:
Google
Cloud
AppEngine
Instances
came
in
even
cheaper
as
the
Google
Cloud
was
the
ONLY
CSP
that
offered
a
bill
discount
for
small
monthly
fee
consumption
amounts.
Google’s
AppEngine
Instance
came
in
42%
cheaper
than
AWS
EC2
and
55%
cheaper
than
MS
Azure.
Likely
Bill
Discounts
Applied
by
CSP
Google
Cloud
AWS
EC2
Microsoft
Azure
Volume
Discount
on
Upfront
Costs
0%
0%
0%
Volume
Discount
on
Hourly
Costs
0%
0%
0%
Sustained
Use
Discount
21.52%
0.00%
0.00%
AFTER
Discounts
Fees
Likely
Billed
By
CSP
Google
Cloud
AWS
EC2
Microsoft
Azure
Usage
Fees
for
MAIN
SERVICE
$227
$406
$510
Usage
Fees
for
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
$19
$18
$28
Total
upfront
and
usage
Fees
for
ALL
SERVICES
$245
$424
$539
ON
A
PER
UNIT
BASIS:
AFTER
Discounts
Fees
Likely
Billed
By
CSP
Google
Cloud
AWS
EC2
Microsoft
Azure
MAIN
SERVICE
Units
(MSUs)
Consumed
5,800
5,800
5,800
MAIN
SERVICE
Capacity
Utilization
Rate
78%
78%
78%
MAIN
SERVICE
Usage
Fees
Paid
per
MSU
$0.0391
$0.0700
$0.0880
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
Usage
Fees
Paid
per
MSU
$0.0033
$0.0032
$0.0049
All
Fees
Paid
Per
MSU
$0.0423
$0.0732
$0.0929
Shiva Badruswamy