Quick answer
Neither AWS nor Google Cloud is cheaper for everything. Monthly costs at official US East list prices checked October 14, 2026: Small SaaS, $255.88 on Google Cloud and $304.15 on AWS; Mobile app backend, $84.63 on AWS and $164.48 on Google Cloud; Media and downloads, $1,052.80 on AWS and $1,246.18 on Google Cloud. The biggest difference is the NoSQL database: $13.75 a month on AWS against $56.31 on Google Cloud.
- Official list prices
- 3 usage levels
- 12 regions
- Feature comparison
- Free calculator
How to compare AWS and Google Cloud costs
- 1Pick a usage level (Small SaaS, Mobile app backend, Media and downloads), then change the numbers or add more items with the + buttons.
- 2Choose the Region where your users are. Prices differ by region.
- 3Adjust the numbers in each card. Every field has an i tip explaining it.
- 4Compare the two monthly totals, then open Cost breakdown to see exactly how AWS and Google Cloud bill each line.
Which is cheaper, AWS or Google Cloud?
Monthly list prices in US East with the always-free allowances applied:
| Usage per month | AWS | Google Cloud | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small SaaS: 2 app servers, PostgreSQL, file storage | $304.15 | $255.88 | Google Cloud by $48.27 |
| Mobile app backend: serverless API, NoSQL, user uploads | $84.63 | $164.48 | AWS by $79.85 |
| Media and downloads: 5 TB of files, 10 TB downloaded a month | $1,052.80 | $1,246.18 | AWS by $193.38 |
AWS is cheaper for a mobile app backend in all 12 regions the calculator covers. Servers favor Google once its sustained use discount applies; bandwidth favors AWS, whose internet egress is cheaper than Google's default Premium Tier.
What are the AWS and Google Cloud unit prices?
List prices in AWS us-east-1 (N. Virginia) and Google Cloud us-east1 (South Carolina), read on October 14, 2026:
| Price (US East, on-demand) | AWS | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Server, 2 vCPU / 8 GB, per hour | $0.096 (m6i.large) | $0.097118 (n2-standard-2) |
| SSD disk | $0.08 per GB-month (gp3) | $0.10 per GB-month (balanced) |
| Serverless, per million requests | $0.20 | $0.40 |
| Serverless compute | $0.0000166667 per GB-s | $0.000024 per vCPU-s + $0.0000025 per GiB-s |
| Object storage, per GB-month | $0.023 | $0.02 |
| Object writes, per million | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Object reads, per million | $0.40 | $0.40 |
| PostgreSQL, 2 vCPU / 8 GB, per hour | $0.178 | $0.1386 |
| Database storage, per GB-month | $0.115 | $0.17 |
| NoSQL, per million reads | $0.125 | $0.60 |
| NoSQL, per million writes | $0.625 | $1.80 |
| Internet egress, per GB | $0.09 | $0.12 |
| CDN, per GB | $0.085 | $0.08 |
Is AWS or Google Cloud cheaper in your region?
A serverless mobile app backend (functions, NoSQL and user uploads), priced in each of the 12 regions the calculator covers:
| Region | AWS | Google Cloud | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| US East | $84.63 | $164.48 | AWS |
| US West | $84.63 | $137.76 | AWS |
| Canada | $88.31 | $174.33 | AWS |
| Brazil (São Paulo) | $115.08 | $209.60 | AWS |
| Ireland | $86.42 | $152.99 | AWS |
| UK (London) | $88.48 | $179.97 | AWS |
| Germany (Frankfurt) | $89.43 | $179.97 | AWS |
| India | $90.89 | $153.16 | AWS |
| Singapore | $93.03 | $179.02 | AWS |
| Japan (Tokyo) | $90.68 | $156.96 | AWS |
| South Korea (Seoul) | $91.51 | $201.99 | AWS |
| Australia (Sydney) | $93.63 | $200.15 | AWS |
How do AWS and Google Cloud compare on features?
| AWS | Google Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic VM discount | None | Sustained use, up to 20% on N2 |
| VM billing | Per second, 60-second minimum | Per second after a 1-minute minimum |
| Free serverless each month | 1M Lambda requests + 400,000 GB-s | 2M Cloud Run requests + 180,000 vCPU-s |
| Free internet egress | 100 GB a month | 100 GB from Cloud Storage, 1 GB from VMs (US regions) |
| New-customer credit | $100, plus up to $100 more | $300 for 90 days |
| Cheapest paid support | Business Support+, from $29 a month | Standard, from $29 a month |
| Global footprint | 39 regions, 124 availability zones | 43 regions, 130 zones |
Facts from each provider's own documentation, checked October 14, 2026.
What are the key differences between AWS and Google Cloud?
- Discounts. Google takes up to 20% off N2 VMs that run all month, automatically. On AWS the comparable savings need a Savings Plan commitment (up to 72% off for 1 or 3 years).
- Egress. AWS gives 100 GB a month of free internet egress across the account. Google includes 100 GB a month of Cloud Storage downloads and 1 GB from VMs in its US regions, and charges more per GB on its default Premium Tier; its Standard Tier is cheaper and includes 200 GB a month.
- Serverless. Lambda bills each request's duration per millisecond; Cloud Run functions bill instance time rounded up to 100 ms but include a larger free allowance (2 million requests).
- Databases. Cloud SQL is priced as vCPUs plus memory; RDS by instance size. Cloud SQL keeps backups up to 365 days, RDS up to 35.
- Credits. New Google Cloud customers get $300 for 90 days; new AWS customers $100 plus up to $100 more.
Should you choose AWS or Google Cloud?
Choose AWS if
- your app sends a lot of data straight to users (downloads, media, APIs with large responses)
- you want the widest choice of managed services
- your team already knows AWS, or your customers require it
Choose Google Cloud if
- you run always-on servers and want lower bills without committing to a term
- you build on containers and serverless (Cloud Run) and want a generous free tier
- you use Firestore, BigQuery or other Google data services
More comparisons: AWS vs Azure · Google Cloud vs Azure · AWS vs Cloudflare · Google Cloud vs Cloudflare · Azure vs Cloudflare · Amazon EC2 vs Compute Engine · AWS Lambda vs Google Cloud Run · Amazon S3 vs Google Cloud Storage · Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud SQL · Amazon DynamoDB vs Firestore.
Where do these prices come from?
Both sides use the provider's own published price list, read on October 14, 2026, for the same region, with the always-free allowances applied.
- AWS: Amazon EC2 On-Demand pricing · AWS Lambda pricing · Amazon S3 pricing · Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL pricing · Amazon DynamoDB pricing · EC2 data transfer pricing
- Google Cloud: Compute Engine VM pricing · Cloud Run pricing · Cloud Storage pricing · Cloud SQL pricing · Firestore pricing · Network (egress) pricing
Prices are in US dollars, on-demand, for Linux, with no commitments. Every figure on this page is generated from the same price snapshot as the calculator, and automated tests check each claim whenever the prices change. A month is 730 hours and 1 TB is 1,024 GB. Providers change prices from time to time, so for a purchase decision confirm the final figure in the provider's console.
Moving between AWS and Google Cloud?
Playxoft builds and runs production backends on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and Cloudflare, and plans migrations between them with no surprise downtime, including white-label work for agencies. Send us your architecture or last month's invoice and we will tell you, free, which side is cheaper for your real usage. Get a free cloud cost review.
Frequently asked questions
Last updated by the Playxoft engineering team.