Oracle Cloud vs. AWS

During the last decade, cloud computing has been growing at an exponential rate. The size of the cloud computing market is today larger than ever. COVID-19 outbreak accelerated digital transformation, making cloud computing a priority of choice. In 2020, the public cloud services market reached $257.5 billion in 2020. And according to Gartner forecasts, in 2021 the market revenue will increase 18.4% to a total of $304.9 billion.

Naturally, the cloud computing market has witnessed the rise of several players who now dominate the scene. Gartner's 2020 Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Professional and Managed Services, positions:

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Microsoft Azure
Google Cloud
Alibaba Cloud
Oracle Cloud

as indisputable market leaders.

If your organization aims to become more responsive to market changes and increase its operational efficiency, moving to the cloud is a smart move. And sooner or later, you'll have to choose a cloud provider. That's why we are here to give you a helping hand.

Why compare Oracle Cloud and Amazon Web Services? We decided to compare these cloud computing solutions delivered by two different vendors – a market leader and a smaller, but promising provider – to show you their pros and cons. Present how they differ in detail and indicate which factors you need to take into account when choosing the best cloud solution for your business.

Before we jump into details, let’s clarify some significant abbreviations, to be sure we’re on the same page. While browsing tips and clues on computing services you may find IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, DaaS and serverless. Following Microsoft and techopedia definitions:

IaaS - Infrastructure as a service - infrastructure is hosted on the public or private cloud instead of in a traditional on-premises data center. The infrastructure is delivered to customers on demand while being fully managed by the service provider.

PaaS - Platform as a service - offers the same kit as IaaS, plus additional features - middleware, development tools, business intelligence (BI) services, database management systems, and more. PaaS is designed to support the complete web application lifecycle: building, testing, deploying, managing, and updating.

SaaS - Software as a service - a complete software solution that you purchase on a subscription plan from a cloud service provider.

DaaS - Desktop as a service - a cloud computing solution in which virtual desktop infrastructure is outsourced to a third-party provider. DaaS relies on the virtual desktop, which is a user-controlled session or dedicated machine that transforms on-demand cloud services for users and organizations around the world.

Serverless - allows developers to build applications faster by cutting out the need to manage infrastructure. For serverless applications, the cloud provider automatically provisions, scales and manages the infrastructure required to run the code.

Note: the term ‘serverless computing’ applies to the event when the tasks linked with infrastructure provisioning and management are invisible to the developer. Servers are still running the code.

Why choose Oracle Cloud?

Oracle Cloud is a relatively new solution on the market and can't be compared to AWS in terms of scale. While Oracle Cloud might not occupy top positions in global cloud service provider rankings, the solution has a lot to offer. In fact, Oracle has set its cores on becoming a cloud leader in the future.

To help you recognize what Oracle Cloud is all about, let's explore its key features and capabilities.

Oracle key features

By combining IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and DaaS solutions, Oracle provides a broad range of cloud services and products such as:

Business analytics, including Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, Big Data, data visualization, autonomous analytics, and more.
Application development, including mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, database, and more.
Cloud infrastructure setup and maintenance.
Data integration and management.
Enterprise integration.
Cloud for customer services, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
Content and experience management.
Security solutions focused on safety and compliance.

Pros of Oracle Cloud

Oracle Cloud offers many services and products as an integrated set, allowing companies to lower their spending by eliminating the need to purchase third-party solutions. This is just one of the many advantages of Oracle. Check a detailed look at the pros of Oracle Cloud:

Integrated technology stack – Oracle delivers apps, middleware, and database as an entire, well-integrated system. There's no need to create a patchwork of third-party services coming from different vendors and go through the trouble of adapting them to the solution. To make the most of Oracle Cloud, it's best to invest in the all-inclusive version.
Smooth customization – Oracle allows its clients to be flexible in setting up the cloud service to match their unique requirements.
Cutting-edge technologies – Oracle is an industry leader whose advanced technologies make its cloud platform fast and high-performing. Speed is definitely a factor that sets this solution apart from others.
Scalable architecture – Oracle offers a sophisticated infrastructure that is fully scalable, allowing organizations to expand their IT platforms as they evolve. That feature is important for large enterprises that are going through the process of digital transformation and may want to revamp their operations in one area after another.
Niche focus – when building its cloud offer, Oracle focused on creating solutions that would match the requirements of specific customer segments. Instead of trying to grow its platform in every possible way, Oracle focuses on improving these capabilities.
Great customer support – you can be sure that your issue will be addressed quickly and effectively.

Cons of Oracle Cloud

No solution is perfect, and Oracle Cloud also has its cons. Here are the most important disadvantages of this cloud vendor you should be aware of:

Poor low-end offering – since Oracle is focused on the high end, the offering around the low end is limited.
Poor performance with solutions based on .NET.
A minimum product might not be enough – Oracle provides all the services and products out-of-the-box, but these are very minimal solutions that might not be sufficient for companies that need simple functionalities. Organizations in need of a comprehensive platform are even less likely to get what they need.

Why choose Amazon Web Services (AWS)?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a longstanding leader in providing cloud servers and storage to organizations looking to offload their data center infrastructures. In the fourth quarter of 2020, AWS generated revenue of approximately $12.7 billion.

Here's why so many companies choose AWS as their cloud provider today.

AWS Key features

AWS offers cloud storage that supports managed, hybrid, block, and low-cost archive storages (such as Elastic File System, Storage Gateway, Glacier, S3, EBS), as well as a wide range of data transport functionalities.
Support for various databases (Aurora, RDS, Redshift, DynamoDB). Note: Aurora, Redshift, and DynamoDB are AWS custom technologies.
Support for advanced technologies (the Internet of Things, augmented reality and virtual reality, machine learning)
Advanced computing functions.
Tools that enable monitoring of workloads, configuration, and more.
Tools for security and performance optimization.
Content delivery and networking.
Analytics and business productivity, Business Intelligence (BI).
Migration tools.
A broad range of developer tools (AWS Code Build, CodePipeline, CodeDeploy).
Top security, identity, and compliance management.
Mobile services.

Pros of AWS

AWS has an excellent track record of successful implementations, and its financial performance attracts even more organizations to its offer.

Here are the key advantages of AWS over competing solutions:

Wide range of capabilities – compared to other cloud providers, Amazon offers the largest number and variety of functionalities. Large organizations invest in AWS because it's a sure-fire way to take full advantage of everything cloud technologies have to offer.
Easy implementation, migration, and management – AWS is surrounded by a large ecosystem of consulting partners and independent vendors who help companies to implement AWS-pre-integrated SaaS solutions.
Security and compliance – companies migrating to AWS can be sure that the processes they perform in the cloud are fully secure and compliant.
Excellent support – Amazon's global reach is reflected in the technical support it provides to the customers of AWS. The extensive multilingual customer support with high availability makes the solution one of the most reliable options on the market. The list of supported languages is constantly growing too.
Data centers around the world – Amazon operates multiple small data centers across the entire globe. This enhances service localization and limits the risk of local incidents.
Continuous offer development – AWS is constantly evolving and enriching its platform with new offerings. The vendor also improves existing functionalities, especially their integration and management.
Pay-as-you-go fee model – AWS offers a pay-as-you-go fee model where customers get to control over how many services they pay for, adding new ones as they grow. Minimizing upfront costs is easy with AWS. Companies can lay out expenses as they grow, without investing in products or services they don't need.

Cons of using AWS

Still, AWS has its limitations that might inspire some customers to choose a different provider. Here are the most relevant disadvantages of AWS you need to take into account when making your decision:

The service implementation is complex – many AWS services require a lot of expertise when it comes to their implementation and support. Moreover, companies that want to make the most of them need to have a firm grasp of service updates and innovations. However, you can be sure that managed services providers know how to implement AWS technologies properly and can seek their assistance if you need it.
High pricing – an AWS-based solution might seem to come at a reasonable price. But if you want to create a custom solution that meets the specific requirements, be prepared for larger expenses than expected.

AWS or Oracle – which one should you choose?

The payment model of AWS allows smooth adaptability to market changes and fluctuations, helping your business stay nimble and invest in cloud computing at its own pace. Oracle Cloud also enables users to leverage flexibility, depending on how often customers need to rely on its services. AWS has established a large market presence and operates multiple data centers across the world. Their experience in delivering cloud services and excellent multilingual support is a significant competitive advantage.

The cloud solution takeaway

Oracle Cloud and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are the two notable players in the cloud market. Choosing between the two options might be tricky, but we hope this guide helps you determine which platform will suit your business needs best.

Running a small startup or an enterprise-sized organization? It doesn’t matter - your data and cloud computing needs will rapidly grow, so you need a solution that will accommodate easily. At Solidstudio we help to fit the right solutions. If you still have some concerns, feel free to drop your e-mail. Or fill the contact form and take advantage of our digital transformation experience. Check back soon!

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