This article is based on reporting originally published at qz.com, covering cloud market dynamics as of early 2020. Figures reflect 2019 full-year and Q4 2019 results.
AWS Still Leads, But the Gap Is Narrowing
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has dominated cloud computing for over a decade, and as of 2019 it still commanded roughly one-third of a global cloud market estimated at $107 billion. That is an extraordinary position—but the trajectory of growth tells a more nuanced story. AWS grew 34% in Q4 2019, continuing a deceleration trend that began in 2018. Meanwhile, its two largest competitors were accelerating.
Microsoft Azure grew 62% in the final quarter of 2019, making it the fastest-growing major cloud provider for that period. Google Cloud posted full-year 2019 revenue of $8.9 billion, representing approximately 53% year-over-year growth. Even from a smaller base, those numbers signal a structural shift in enterprise cloud buying behaviour.
The Competitive Landscape at a Glance
| Provider | Key 2019 Metric | Notable Trend |
|---|---|---|
| AWS (Amazon) | ~33% global market share | Growth decelerating since 2018 |
| Microsoft Azure | 62% Q4 2019 growth | Fastest-growing in Q4; clear #2 |
| Google Cloud | $8.9 B full-year revenue; ~53% YoY growth | Fastest full-year grower, but smaller base |
| Alibaba Cloud | N/A (global figures) | Holds #3 globally outside the US |
One important caveat: AWS is still nearly twice the size of Azure by revenue. Glenn O’Donnell, Vice President and Research Director at Forrester, told Quartz that AWS will almost certainly retain its top position barring a catastrophic event such as a major security breach or prolonged outage. The gap, however, is closing.
Government Contracts Are Reshaping the Race
The competitive dynamics extend well beyond commercial enterprise deals. Two significant government contract developments in 2019–2020 have the potential to redraw the map.
The JEDI Contract
The Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract—a single-award, decade-long deal worth up to $10 billion—was awarded to Microsoft over AWS. The decision was widely seen as a watershed moment: it demonstrated that the U.S. Department of Defense considered Azure a credible, enterprise-grade alternative to AWS. Amazon contested the award in court, alleging bias in the evaluation process, but the initial contract award represented a significant reputational win for Microsoft.
Beyond the contract value itself, the JEDI win carries a halo effect. Federal agencies and defense contractors often follow the Department of Defense’s technology decisions, which could translate into a sustained pipeline of additional wins for Azure in the public sector.
The CIA Multi-Cloud Shift
Since 2013, AWS had served all 17 agencies that make up the U.S. Intelligence Community under a $600 million contract—a significant exclusive arrangement. In early 2020, the CIA signaled it intended to move toward a multi-cloud model, opening procurement to multiple providers. This created an opportunity for Azure, Google Cloud, and others to compete for intelligence community workloads that were previously off-limits.
Why Enterprises Are Embracing Multi-Cloud
Government procurement decisions reflect a broader enterprise trend: vendor diversification. O’Donnell noted that part of Azure’s commercial growth stems from enterprises deliberately hedging against vendor lock-in by running workloads across both AWS and Azure. This multi-cloud strategy reduces dependency on a single provider and gives organizations negotiating leverage on pricing and SLAs.
For DevOps teams, this has practical implications. Infrastructure-as-code tooling such as Terraform, cross-cloud observability platforms, and cloud-agnostic container orchestration (Kubernetes) have all gained traction partly because they help organizations operate across providers without duplicating operational overhead.
The Real Battle: Third Place
With AWS entrenched at number one and Azure securing a firm grip on second place, the most dynamic competition is for the bronze medal position—and it differs by geography.
- In the United States: Google Cloud holds third place. Its 2019 full-year growth of approximately 88% (cited in the original reporting) was impressive, but it started from a smaller base than Azure—roughly one-third the size of Microsoft’s cloud business at the time.
- Globally: Alibaba Cloud claims third place when international markets are included, reflecting its dominance in Asia-Pacific and especially China.
Google’s ability to win U.S. federal contracts—a segment where it has historically been less competitive than AWS and Azure—could be the deciding factor in whether it consolidates a global third-place position. Regulatory approvals, security certifications (FedRAMP High, IL4, IL5), and the ability to meet data sovereignty requirements are all prerequisites that take years to obtain, making the federal market a slow-moving but high-value battleground.
Key Takeaways for DevOps and Engineering Teams
- AWS remains the default-safe choice for most workloads, but its growth deceleration suggests enterprises are actively evaluating alternatives.
- Azure’s momentum in enterprise and government makes it a serious architectural option, especially for organizations already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem (Active Directory, Office 365, Visual Studio).
- Google Cloud’s strengths—data analytics, machine learning, and Kubernetes (which originated at Google)—make it compelling for specific use cases even if overall market share lags.
- Multi-cloud is becoming standard practice, not an edge case. Building cloud-agnostic abstractions from the start of a project reduces future migration costs.
- Government contract signals matter. Public sector procurement choices often foreshadow where enterprise IT budgets will shift over the following two to three years.
The cloud war is far from over—if anything, the competitive pressure is intensifying. For engineering leaders, the practical takeaway is straightforward: design for portability, invest in cloud-agnostic skills, and watch the government procurement space closely. The vendor you standardize on today may not hold the same market position in five years.