IaaS provider Google Cloud is based on one of the strongest networks already in place.
Even if it has flaws, it should be taken into account if you’re looking for infrastructure.
To learn why, read our review of Google Cloud.
If your company is looking for an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform, you’ve probably heard of the major names like Microsoft Azure and Amazon’s AWS.
IaaS is Google’s approach, and while it’s not nearly as robust as AWS yet, Google Cloud has developed into a respectable cloud computing platform.
In this assessment of Google Cloud, we’ll concentrate on its storage capabilities to evaluate how it compares.
Key Learnings
An IaaS offering that offers remote computing and cloud storage features is Google Cloud. Even while the rest of the platform can be difficult to understand, its cloud storage is quite simple to utilize. It can be challenging to understand Google Cloud’s pricing structure, which can lead to problems later on. As a result, you might pay unforeseen costs.
One of the greatest IaaS security systems available today, Google even offers zero-knowledge encryption for buckets. To do this, we’ll concentrate on the factors that are most important for storage, such as pricing, server distribution, and security, in order to push the boundaries of Google Cloud services.
Stay tuned for a detailed examination of the Google Cloud platform.
Pricing
If we merely consider storage prices, Google Cloud’s pricing appears to be reasonable.
In fact, the price is nearly same to that of Amazon S3.
Things only start to go wrong when it comes to consumption rates.
According to us, Google’s pricing policy is very complicated and may cost you money if unforeseen transactions occur.
Rates for Google Cloud Storage
Though they differ by region and storage type, the Google Cloud platform offers affordable data storage rates for its cloud services.
In North America, South Carolina and Iowa, which serve the central and eastern parts of the country, respectively, have the lowest pricing.
For normal storage, nearline storage, cold storage, and archiving, the monthly cost of cloud storage is $0.020 per GB, $0.010 per GB, and $0.004 per GB, respectively.
All storage types, aside from ordinary storage, have a minimum storage period, so bear that in mind.
The timeframes for nearline storage are 30 days, for cold storage they are 90 days, and for archival storage they are 365 days.
You will be charged extra fees if you attempt to delete or change your saved data before these times have passed.
Rates of Google Cloud Usage
Egress expenses and operations costs can be used to categorize Google Cloud usage rates.
Egress is the process of transferring your data from one server or server area to another, including deleting it from the Google Cloud platform.
The prices you pay for using the server to upload, copy, download, or delete files are known as operation charges.
Exit Rates
Depending on where you’re sending and receiving data, egress charges change.
A number of times, egress costs are not charged.
As long as the target and destination servers are on the same continent, this includes transporting data inside the same location, between locations in a dual-region, and to and from a multi-region server.
The cost is $0.01 per GB if you’re moving data across servers on the same continent but none of the aforementioned conditions apply.
The cost will, however, be determined by the destination and the volume of data being transmitted if you are transferring to another continent.
The prices start at $0.08 per GB and go up to $0.23 at the highest end.
Performance Rates
If you thought the pricing was difficult enough, operation fees also include additional subdivisions.
Classes A, B, and free operations make up this list of operation types.
The procedures you receive as part of your trial are free.
5,000 Class A operations and 50,000 Class B operations are provided without charge.
Without getting into the specifics of the various operation classes, let’s just state that prices can range from $0.004 for Class B operations on regular storage to $0.50 for Class A operations on archive storage. For more information, visit the Google Cloud pricing page.
The price of Amazon S3 is an order of magnitude cheaper than this.
Always-free Google Cloud
You receive 5GB of storage and $300 in credit to use for operations and trying out features when you create your account, as well as a free trial period of 90 days before you have to pay a monthly charge.
Additionally, you are entitled to a set number of previously discussed free procedures.
All of these advantages are still yours even with a premium plan, though.
This implies that the first 5GB of storage, as well as the first 5,000 Class A operations or 50,000 Class B operations you carry out, are free of charge.
However, take in mind that these tariffs only apply to the United States and that various regions can have various free usage caps.
The Google Cloud platform employs Google’s global server network for remote computation and storage.
Although the network is now spread across 29 different server locations, there are plans to add 10 more in the near future.
In terms of server distribution, there are nine servers in North America, seven in Europe, nine in Asia, and two in Australia.
There are two servers in South America as well, but none at all in Africa. Overall, Amazon S3 has fewer servers than Google Cloud, but Amazon’s network at least extends to Africa.
However, Microsoft Azure’s massive server network easily outperforms both cloud service competitors.
Performance
In our speed testing, Google Cloud came out on top as one of the best providers.
When downloading and uploading, the service rapidly and consistently reached its maximum speeds.
Throughout the course of our tests, speeds stayed constant until they reached their maximum.
The outcomes of our speed tests, which involved downloading and uploading a 5GB test folder over a 100 Mbps symmetrical connection, are shown below.
In addition to these remarkable download and upload speeds, the web console itself is incredibly snappy, and web sites load almost instantaneously, which we primarily credit to Google’s extensive global network of data centers.
The infrastructure that powers Google’s other services, such as Google Search and Google Workspace, is also used by Google Cloud (formerly G Suite).
This gives it a significant performance advantage over other cloud service providers, such Wasabi or Backblaze B2, who only run a single data center in a given region.
Effortless Use
It’s very simple to get into the Google Cloud platform if you only use it for its cloud storage (like IDrive e2).
You must first build a bucket before you may store files on the cloud storage servers of Google Cloud.
Simple actions like naming your bucket and selecting a server location are all that are required to create one.
Then, all that’s left to do is drag and drop your files into the upload window.
Naturally, since everything is done online, there is no way to automate the procedure without utilizing third-party tools.
You can automate your backups by configuring Google Cloud to work with CloudBerry Backup (MSP360) as we’ll demonstrate below.
Implementing the Web Console
The web portal for Google Cloud combines an intuitive, well-designed user interface with a complete lack of instructions for what to do once you get there.
In contrast to AWS’s rather user-friendly UI, it is obviously designed with developers in mind and is not always friendly to beginners and non-programmers.
You have access to a number of services, including:
- Google’s cloud-based object storage for storage
- Tool for massive data analytics: BigQuery
- Virtual machines and remote computing tool Compute Engine
- Cloud Functions: A service for task automation
- Web application platform known as App Engine
- VertexAI is Google’s comprehensive machine learning platform.
- Tools for managing databases — Google Cloud includes management tools for a range of databases.
- Micro VPS instances: Virtual private servers that are simple to customize.
- Networking tools – Control the network settings of other users, including VPNs, DNS, and the sharing of data.
You aren’t entirely left on your own, though.
A handy “getting started” option is provided, which walks you through a few easy activities to help you become familiar with the interface.
Unfortunately, these guides are only available from the console’s home page. We would want to see guides similar to these when you launch a Google Cloud service, or at the very least, a few tool tips explaining what each button does.
Tools for Google Cloud Command Line
You can use scripts to automate your process using Google Cloud’s command line.
You can install apps, manage your buckets, build virtual machines, and do basic operations on your cloud storage.
Additionally, you can automate work within each Google Cloud application using particular command-line tools, such as “kubectl” for Kubernetes or “bq” for BigQuery.
Security
AES 256-bit encryption is used by Google Cloud to secure data at rest, and TLS is used to encrypt data in transit. So far, this is quite conventional.
Additionally, it supports two-factor authentication and SSO service integration.
But because Google is one of the biggest tech firms in the world, there is an added level of security.
In other words, you may anticipate unbreakable server security in addition to hardware fail-safes in the event that a server stack fails.
Additionally, you can use your own private encryption key to protect each individual bucket.
This type of encryption, which we refer to as zero-knowledge encryption, ensures that not even Google itself can access the information in your buckets.
Last but not least, Google Cloud offers all the capabilities and tools required for compliance with data management standards like GDPR and HIPAA.
Support
Like the majority of other IaaS providers, Google Cloud’s billing tiers only offer little assistance.
You have to pay, and it’s not cheap, to get better tech help.
The least expensive support package is $29 per month, which is exactly what Microsoft Azure and Amazon S3 charge.
This tier, however, lacks 24/7 support, making it unsuitable for handling emergencies.
Additionally, it is only offered in English.
Better choices are available at the next support tier, such as quicker response times and a round-the-clock emergency hotline.
It offers support for Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in addition to English.
It also increases the cost to $500 per month, which is five times more than what Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure charge for enhanced support.
An account manager, training, customer-focused assistance, and other delights are included in a higher tier.
You need to get in touch with support for a price quote, however we anticipate the price to be significantly higher.
Final Reflections
Although Google Cloud may be challenging to comprehend, we hope that this Google Cloud Platform review has provided you with some clarity.
Although Google Cloud has improved since our last evaluation, its cost is still out of reach, particularly for support.
How do you feel about Google Cloud?
Is its pricing a turnoff to you?
Tell us in the comments section below.
As always, I appreciate you reading.
