This article is based on an analysis originally published by The Register in early 2020, covering cloud computing trends from 2019.
The Big Picture: Cloud Growth in 2019
The competitive landscape of cloud computing did not change dramatically in 2019, but all three major players — Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud — continued to grow at a rapid pace, extending their dominance over smaller hosting and infrastructure providers.
In the quarter ending 30 September 2019:
- AWS reported 34% year-over-year revenue growth.
- Microsoft Azure reported 59% year-over-year revenue growth.
- Google reported that its “Other Revenues” segment — which includes Google Cloud — reached $6.4 billion, up 39% year-over-year, though it did not break out cloud revenue separately.
Market Share: Contested Numbers
AWS remains the largest IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) provider by a significant margin, though the exact figures depend heavily on which analyst you consult and how they define “cloud.”
- Gartner (July 2019) estimated AWS at 47.8%, Azure at 15.5%, and Google at 4.0%.
- Canalys (October 2019) estimated AWS at 32.6%, Azure at 16.9%, and Google at 6.9%.
The wide variance between estimates reflects genuine methodological differences. IaaS is an inherently slippery term: a cloud-hosted virtual machine is clearly IaaS, but cloud vendors actively push customers toward premium managed services that blur the line between IaaS, PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service).
Microsoft’s numbers shift considerably if Office 365 is included, since the synergy between Office 365, Azure Active Directory, and on-premises infrastructure is a key driver of Azure adoption. AWS, by contrast, has very little SaaS presence. Neither Microsoft nor Google consistently breaks out IaaS-specific revenue, making direct comparisons difficult.
Most analysts agree that while AWS is still growing fast, its share of the overall market is gradually eroding as Azure and Google close the gap.
AWS in 2019: Outposts and the Hybrid Push
The most significant AWS development of 2019 was arguably AWS Outposts, first previewed at re:Invent 2018 and made generally available in 2019. Outposts brings AWS hardware, APIs, and services physically on-premises into a customer’s own data centre. The value proposition is clear: it addresses latency-sensitive workloads and regulatory requirements that prevent data from leaving a specific location, while preserving a consistent AWS operational experience.
The trade-off is cost — running your own servers through AWS Outposts is an expensive proposition compared to traditional on-premises infrastructure. Nevertheless, analyst firm Canalys estimated that AWS would become a top-four on-premises server vendor in the US and Western Europe within three years of the announcement.
Historically, hybrid cloud has been Microsoft’s territory, through products like Azure Stack and Azure AD Connect. Outposts signals that AWS is serious about competing in that space.
Google Cloud in 2019: Anthos and the Kubernetes Advantage
Google Cloud’s headline announcement of 2019 was Anthos, launched in April. Anthos is a hybrid and multi-cloud application platform built on Kubernetes (K8s) — the container orchestration system that Google originally developed internally before open-sourcing it as part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.
Anthos allows organisations to deploy and manage containerised applications consistently whether they run on-premises, on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or on other public clouds such as AWS and Azure. This multi-cloud portability is a meaningful differentiator, particularly for enterprises wary of vendor lock-in.
Kubernetes is both Google Cloud’s biggest technical advantage and an awkward strategic topic for AWS. AWS supports K8s through Amazon EKS and claims to operate the largest Kubernetes footprint of any cloud provider, yet the ecosystem’s momentum and mindshare remain closely associated with Google. AWS CEO Andy Jassy addressed this tension directly, stating that he does not “believe in one tool to rule the world” — a clear reference to Kubernetes’ growing ubiquity.
Microsoft Azure in 2019: DevOps and GitHub
Microsoft completed its acquisition of GitHub in late 2018, but the platform’s integration with Azure deepened considerably through 2019. The most developer-relevant release was the general availability of GitHub Actions and GitHub Actions for Azure, which together allow teams to automate workflows from code commit through to deployment — including containerised applications, web apps, and serverless functions.
This tightly integrated CI/CD capability, combined with Azure DevOps (formerly VSTS), positions Microsoft strongly with development teams already inside the GitHub ecosystem. Analysts and practitioners noted that this tight coupling between developer tooling and cloud infrastructure is a meaningful on-ramp to broader Azure adoption.
Microsoft also benefited from a high-profile contract win: the US Department of Defence awarded the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract to Microsoft rather than AWS — a decision that visibly frustrated Amazon and led to a legal challenge.
Conference Impressions: Cloud Next, Ignite, and re:Invent
Reporters attending all three flagship cloud events in 2019 noted distinct personality differences between the providers:
- Google Cloud Next (London) impressed with engineering depth and technical quality, but the platform still felt smaller in breadth compared to AWS and Azure.
- Microsoft Ignite demonstrated Microsoft’s strength in packaging complex cloud capabilities into approachable services, though the event also surfaced awkward moments around Azure’s handling of Intel speculative execution vulnerabilities.
- AWS re:Invent was the largest of the three by far, with Outposts as the headline announcement. AWS also showed visible frustration about both the Kubernetes debate and the JEDI contract loss to Microsoft.
Who Won 2019?
Picking a single winner is difficult. The original analysis from The Register leaned toward Microsoft as having the best 2019, largely due to the GitHub Actions integration, the JEDI win, and effective packaging of hybrid and DevOps capabilities. However, the same analysis rated AWS as more promising for 2020 given the Outposts rollout, and expected Google to continue gradually gaining market share on the back of Kubernetes and Anthos momentum.
The Cost Question
One recurring criticism of all three major providers is pricing. Commentators, including blogger Cal Peterson, noted what some have called the “Amazon premium” — the observation that AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are significantly more expensive than smaller or specialised hosting providers for equivalent raw compute capacity.
PHP inventor Rasmus Lerdorf has been cited as having made direct VM-price comparisons across providers that highlighted this gap. The major cloud vendors justify higher prices through breadth of services, global infrastructure, compliance tooling, SLAs, and managed service availability — all of which matter in enterprise contexts. But for teams primarily buying raw compute and storage, the big three are rarely the cheapest option.
Looking Ahead
The 2019 landscape set clear trajectories. AWS was deepening its hybrid story through Outposts. Google was betting on Kubernetes and open-source credibility to attract cloud-native developers. Microsoft was leveraging its enterprise relationships and developer tooling — particularly through GitHub — to make Azure the natural choice for organisations already in the Microsoft ecosystem.
For DevOps engineers evaluating cloud strategy, the lesson from 2019 is that the “best” cloud depends heavily on workload type, existing tooling, compliance requirements, and budget. Market share numbers alone don’t tell the full story.