Top 10 Cloud Computing Service Provider Companies in 2021

Investment in the cloud is rapidly growing as companies aim for greater agility, uptime, and resilience. In 2021, more than 1 in 3 companies will spend $12 million+ on the cloud. This raises a key question — how to best utilize this investment and execute a smart multi-cloud strategy that perfectly meets your business needs? This article discusses the top 10 cloud providers in 2021 and their key features.

Table of Contents

• • Must-Have Features to Look for in Your Cloud Computing Service Provider
  • Top 10 Cloud Computing Service Provider Companies That Should be on Your Radar

Must-Have Features to Look for in Your Cloud Computing Service Provider 

Cloud computing usage was already on the rise before the pandemic, and now it has become an essential part of your digital transformation strategy. From small businesses to global enterprises and governments, a sophisticated cloud environment can help deliver high-uptime services and introduce greater agility. This makes your choice of cloud computing service partner extremely important. 

As the Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report suggests, 92% of enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy, with companies using 2.6 public and 2.7 private clouds on average. Over a third will spend $12 million every year on public cloud technology, and 90% anticipate budget overruns due to the pandemic. In other words, cloud adoption is not only crucial, but you need to consider investing in more than one service provider to perfectly optimize resource utilization, performance, and business alignment. 

Here are the five must-have features that should guide your decision in today’s vast private and public cloud market space. 

Essential Features of a Cloud Computing Service Provider

1. 1. Hyperscale: The hosting environment must be able to scale quickly and significantly as demand increases, integrating with new services. 
   2. Marketplace: The provider must have a marketplace of ready-to-use integrations, third-party applications, and certified partners. 
   3. Pay-as-you-go pricing: Resources must be billed as per real-world provisioning and utilization and not follow a monthly tiered structure. 
   4. AI capabilities: The provider must bring strong artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities in the form of cognitive services to augment your cloud apps. 
   5. Managed services: The provider must be able to offer remote support and end-to-end management if needed, with minimal in-house intervention. 

Also, make sure to look for compliance with industry-relevant regulatory standards (like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act for healthcare) and ensure there is a hosting region that matches your company’s and local government’s mandates. 

Also Read: What Is Platform as a Service (PaaS)? Definition, Examples, Components, and Best Practices

Top 10 Cloud Computing Service Provider Companies That Should be on Your Radar 

Now that you know the key features to screen for when selecting a cloud computing solution, let us look at the world’s leading service providers in this segment. The following list is in alphabetical order. 

Disclaimer: This list is based on publicly available information from Gartner Magic Quadrant (MQ) Opens a new window and customer reviewsOpens a new window and includes vendor websites that sell to mid-to-large enterprises. Readers are advised to conduct their own final research to ensure the best fit for their unique organizational needs.

1. Alibaba Cloud 

Overview: Alibaba Cloud has a strong international presence with purpose-built products, solutions, and services for the U.S. market. This international business unit is headquartered in Singapore, geared for the APAC market and other global regions. Gartner names Alibaba as a Niche Player in its MQ, ahead of competitors like Oracle, IBM, and Tencent.  

Key features: Key features of Alibaba Cloud include: 

• • Extensive product catalog for infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
  • Tailored solutions for mid-sized and large enterprises, as well as different verticals 
  • Conversational AI service 
  • Rich data analytics and marketing use cases 
  • Developer solutions to start building cloud-based apps 

USP: Alibaba is the market leader in Asia’s cloud services segment, with a particular focus on cloud-based ecommerce and sales & marketing analytics. Further, it offers many migration solutions, including moving an ecommerce store to Alibaba Cloud, deploying virtual desktop infrastructure, and migrating on-premise servers. 

Pricing: Specific products are billed separately, after-sales support plans start from $100 for businesses. 

Editorial comments: Companies with a strong Asia presence should definitely consider Alibaba Cloud as one of its public cloud partners while also keeping in mind geopolitical headwinds. For large ecommerce players needing to host their infrastructures in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, this is a top option. 

Also Read: What Is Cloud Computing? Definition, Benefits, Types and Trends 

2. Amazon Web Services (AWS) 

Overview: AWS, a subsidiary of Amazon, is the #1 leader in cloud infrastructure and platform services as per the Gartner MQ. In fact, it is ahead of its closest competitors Microsoft and Google by a wide margin and contributes 52% of the entire parent company’s operating income, as per its Q4 2020 announcement. AWS is globally known for bagging large deals with enterprises and governments, including the recent £15 million hosting deal with National Health Service (NHS) Scotland. Also, you will find a large community of experts, learning materials, and support resources to get started with the AWS cloud environment. 

Key features: Key features of AWS include: 

• • Ready to implement solutions for database migration, ecommerce, internet of things (IoT), and AI/ML applications
  • A massive AWS marketplace of third-party software and integrations 
  • Reference architectures to replicate your apps and workloads in AWS 
  • AWS Solutions Construct, an open-source extension of the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK)
  • A large ecosystem of partners, consultancies, and advisory services 

USP: AWS’s biggest differentiator is undoubtedly its marketplace, containing solutions and services for advanced analytics, DevOps, networking, storage optimization, data management, and more. Along with this, AWS also offers its own managed services solution without involving a third-party managed service provider (MSP), reducing your in-house overheads. 

Pricing: AWS follows a pay-as-you-go model with volume-based discounts, and discrete services are billed separately. 

Editorial comments: For companies and public sector organizations that need to host data in a specific region, AWS has multiple options across Japan, Australia, India, Italy, Singapore, Sweden, France, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Bahrain, and other countries. AWS provides strong expertise in cutting-edge areas of development like edge computing, conversational AI, and blockchain. 

Also Read: What Is Cloud Computing Security? Definition, Risks, and Security Best Practices

3. Google Cloud Platform 

Overview: After AWS and Microsoft, Google is the only Leader as per the Gartner Magic Quadrant, focusing primarily on marketing analytics, machine learning, and digital workspaces. It has everything you need to create a fully functional cloud environment, from app development and hosting to AI training and database management. Google is also known for its notable open-source contributions like Kubernetes and TensorFlow, giving a boost to the cloud services economy overall. 

Key features: Some of the key features of Google Cloud Platform include:

• • Industry solutions for financial services, the public sector, retail, healthcare, energy, etc. 
  • The Anthos platform for application modernization 
  • A wide range of prebuilt products, including API management and serverless computing 
  • Strong AI/ML capabilities, including speech-to-text in 40+ languages 
  • The recently acquired Looker platform for cloud-based analytic
    

USP: An important USP that sets Google Cloud Platform apart is its ability to run containerized applications and Kubernetes clusters with ease. Further, it has sophisticated AI functionalities – like pre-trained models for detecting emotion and dynamic media translation. 

Pricing: Products are billed individually as per usage; new customers get $300 in free credits and access to 20+ products. 

Editorial comments: Google is a recognized market leader in cloud-based AI/ML, thanks to its open-source contributions. However, Gartner notes that it lags in terms of IoT and edge computing advancements, so adoption will depend entirely on your business use case. 

Also Read: Common AWS Services Explained: EC2, RDS, S3, VPC

4. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) 

Overview: HPE provides cloud services as part of its HPE GreenLake solution. It is a private cloud solution that’s highly flexible, ready to scale up as needed. HPE has partnered with vendors like SAP as well as several MSPs to enable a holistic cloud computing environment. HPE also has a networking subsidiary in Aruba, which powers edge computing and IoT-based solutions. Apart from GreenLake, HPE offers SimpliVity for cloud application management and HPE Synergy for software-defined infrastructure. 

Key features: HPE’s key features include: 

• • Secure private cloud with one-click provisioning 
  • On-premise virtual desktop infrastructure 
  • Storage, data protection, and big data processing services 
  • Networking as a service through Aruba 
  • End-to-end machine learning support 

USP: A unique feature of HPE GreenLake is that its data management platform is built on open-source technology. This prevents lock-in to a single platform. Also, HPE’s partnerships with RedHat, VMware, and other private cloud players enable it to provide comprehensive solutions and services. 

Pricing: HPE follows customized pricing based on your technology needs. 

Editorial comments: If private cloud services are a focus area at your organization, HPE offers a compelling option with an impressive suite of features, a series of subsidiaries and acquired provider solutions and partnerships with some of the world’s biggest technology giants. Interestingly, HPE supports SAP HANA implementations out of the box, letting your gain from SAP Cloud while keeping the infrastructure on-premise. 

Also Read: What Is Cloud Encryption? Definition, Importance, Methods and Best Practices

5. IBM 

Overview: Gartner ranks IBM as a Niche Player in its cloud MQ, along with Tencent, Oracle, and Alibaba. IBM is geared primarily for enterprise use cases, aided by its acquisition of RedHat in 2019. It pays special attention to multi-cloud and hybrid cloud requirements, guiding 360-degree implementations right from strategic consulting to app modernization, building new services, and managing the new hosting environment. 

Key features: IBM cloud’s key features include: 

• • Application modernization powered by RedHat 
  • Cloud-native service delivery and maintenance 
  • Containerization, microservices, automation, and DevOps
  • Partnerships with companies like Taos and TruQua for specific solutions expertise 
  • Cloud services for existing public cloud investments, including Microsoft, Google, and AWS

USP: IBM’s biggest USP is its suite of ancillary services and solutions to support cloud deployments. For example, IBM Garage can be instrumental in driving app development through an agile startup approach, while the company’s professional services reduce in-house efforts and overheads. Additionally, you get access to IBM Watson APIs, one of the world’s leading enablers of artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

Pricing: You can get started with a Free Lite account that gives you access to 40 free-forever services. On upgrading to a paid tier, you will receive $200 in credits and switch to per-service pricing. 

Editorial comments: With hybrid and multi-cloud environments becoming increasingly popular, providers like IBM could prove central to your cloud strategy. Apart from infrastructure management and optimization, it can bring together your varied cloud resources, enable integration, introduce analytics and AI capabilities, and aid in specific application delivery like for SAP. 

Also Read: Top 10 Cloud Security Challenges 2021 Needs to Address

6. Lumen Cloud by CenturyLink  

Overview: Lumen Cloud is a private cloud and managed services solution by technology major CenturyLink. The cloud platform can be deployed as a service and integrates with every major OS, including Windows Server, CentOS, Debian, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Ubuntu. Servers are fully customizable, and there are plenty of options when it comes to choosing your cloud hosting location. Lumen uses Autoscale to orchestrate your cloud infrastructure and enforce policies. 

Key features: Some of the key features of Lumen Cloud include: 

• • A library of blueprints to help build complex multi-server environments 
  • Runner for one-click resource provisioning and collaborative cloud resource management 
  • Zone-based firewalls and role-based system access 
  • Regular backups to in-region data centers 
  • 70% maximum allocation per server to accommodate unpredictable spikes 

USP: Lumen’s USP is reliability and performance. You can finetune your remote servers’ performance capabilities with up to 128GB of RAM, 16 vCPU cores, and 4TB of storage with hourly pricing. This ensures low latency storage at less than 5ms. Additionally, it has a robust cloud-based network, secure through multi-layered VPN. 

Pricing: Pricing varies as per region and service; a minimum threshold of 72 hours per month is applicable. 

Editorial comments: For companies unsure about exposing enterprise data to shared resources, Lumen is a stepping stone into the cloud world. It offers excellent uptime and network resilience, along with stringent compliance measures, packaged cloud management tools, and APIs for connecting with your existing software. The ability to choose your server configurations is a massive differentiator, not to mention essential data protection services like disaster recovery and relational database management. 

Also Read: What Is Container Security? Definition, Components, Best Practices, and Software

7. Microsoft Azure 

Overview: After AWS, Microsoft is the second company to be named Leader in the Gartner MQ. The company has a globally distributed presence with Azure data centers in nearly every market region. Microsoft strengthened its presence in the open-source cloud services domain through the recent acquisition of GitHub. Azure offers a powerful environment for cloud-based app development, thanks to Visual Studio Codespaces and its developer tools. 

Key features: Some of the key features of Microsoft Azure are

• • Products and services for every major use case, including cloud-based communication, cognitive services, analytics, and AI/ML 
  • Cloud-based containers without the need to manage servers 
  • Azure Spring Cloud for microservice app development 
  • Rich cognitive capabilities, including object recognition, speech-to-text, text analytics, and personalization 
  • Azure Percept for out of the box edge computing 

USP: The biggest USP of Azure is the sheer expansiveness of the Microsoft ecosystem. Whether it is for cloud hosting or SaaS-based communication, general productivity, or app development, Microsoft boasts of powerful solutions in nearly every segment. Azure comes with 200+ prebuilt products and services and 17,000+ apps in the marketplace. 

Pricing: Azure has a per-service pricing model. 

Editorial comments: Microsoft Azure is ideal for organizations with extensive app development, deployment, and maintenance needs. It also partners with Oracle, VMware, and SAP, to bring serverless and containerization support, not to mention a strong market presence in its own right. 

Also Read: What Is Cloud Data Protection? Definition, Importance and Best Practices

8. Oracle 

Overview: Oracle’s cloud solution, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), is a niche player as per the Gartner MQ. Oracle has reportedly invested heavily in its cloud capabilities and can handle a broad range of use cases without being limited to Oracle apps alone. OCI is available for both public and on-premise requirements, with the latter being protected through a private firewall and a designated data center region. 

Key features: Key features of OCI include: 

• • Oracle Cloud Lift services to help plan and execute cloud migration 
  • Oracle Exadata to run complex data processes on-premise 
  • Integration through API gateways, data connectors, and bespoke cloud services 
  • Software-based network management 
  • Cloud security through a cloud access security broker (CASB) capability and identity access management (IAM) 

USP: Oracle Autonomous Database, a self-driving optimization engine, is what sets the company apart. It uses ML to automate routine tasks and detects flaws to initiate self-healing. This makes your Oracle-based cloud data centers more resilient while consuming less time, costs, and effort overheads. 

Pricing: Oracle offers two free-forever services with 40 GB storage, and you get $300 in credits on registering for the paid tier. 

Editorial comments: Oracle cloud is an excellent solution for companies looking to migrate to the cloud for the first time, requiring extensive migration support and cost optimization. Oracle handles hybrid architectures very well, and its free tier provides a solid starting line for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) moving to the cloud.

Also Read: What Is Private Cloud Storage? Definition, Types, Examples, and Best Practices

9. Tencent Cloud 

Overview: Tencent has a sizable international presence. It has data centers spread across the U.S., Australia, Canada, Brazil, Russia, and the Netherlands, along with Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and India. Its primary use case is cloud-based gaming, where it has won an outsized market presence. Importantly, Tencent Cloud has 1 billion+ monthly active users, making it more popular than both IBM and Oracle. 

Key features: Some of the key features of Tencent Cloud include: 

• • Extensive expertise in gaming, video, and secure live broadcasting 
  • Specific services for the WeChat customer ecosystem 
  • Powerful products and services across AI, Big Data, serverless, containerization, storage, mobile, and more. 
  • Dedicated solutions for content delivery networks (CDN)
  • Web-based business enablement from website construction to operations and web app delivery

USP: Tencent’s USP is undoubtedly its gaming and mobile service capacities, augmented by its video services, AI, security, and developer tools. Further, Tencent has a wide range of services in the communication segment, such as a cloud-based video communications service, a conference assistant, email push services, and content delivery. 

Pricing: Tencent offers per-product pricing in compute, storage, CDN, and security categories. 

Editorial comments: For companies where gaming and video services are central to the business value proposition, Tencent Cloud could prove game-changing. It has prebuilt services for nearly every gaming, video, and content delivery use case, along with ancillary services you might need to engage with your customer base. 

Also Read: What Is Cloud Storage? Definition, Types, Benefits, and Best Practices

10. VMware 

Overview: Leveraged by customers in 130 countries, VMware is among the most popular companies for private and hybrid cloud deployments. It is particularly beneficial if you are looking to build applications in a cloud-based, containerized environment while ensuring software quality. Applications can be optimized for any environment, enabling mobility between data centers and the edge or any cloud platform of your choice. 

Key features: Some of the key features of VMware include: 

• • The VMware Cloud Foundation platform to manage virtual machines and containerized workloads
  • vRealize to manage cloud service deployment across various parts of your infrastructure 
  • VMware Cloud Universal, a consolidated solution bringing together Kubernetes, edge platforms, AWS resources, Dell EMC resources, and private servers
  • The Cloud Console for end-to-end visibility and centralized control 
  • Partnerships with Google Cloud, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft Azure 

USP: VMware’s unique value proposition is its ability to host “any app on any cloud.” It is compatible with all application types, including those inside containers and apps built using microservices. Finally, its 120+ cloud partnerships allow you to create any combination of a hybrid or multi-cloud environment, which can be managed using a centralized console. 

Pricing: The pricing depends on your cloud mix and the number of virtual machines to be deployed. 

Editorial comments: If you have a sprawling cloud landscape with investments across multiple providers, containerized environments, and on-premise servers, a solution like VMware Cloud is essential to cut through the clutter. It creates a cohesive environment equipped with application modernization and deployment tools, supported by a global presence. 

Here’s how these top 10 providers address the must-have feature requirements we discussed earlier. 

Also Read: Top 10 Cloud Data Protection Companies in 2021

With cloud deployments expanding rapidly, it is vital to choose the best-fit provider for your business and match workloads with the most appropriate environment. For example, an IoT app must be best suited to AWS, while IBM Watson could power AI apps, and Google Cloud augments your digital marketing capabilities. An intelligent cloud strategy will be the secret to success in a digitally empowered business landscape, and these top 10 companies could be valuable partners on the road ahead.

Have you used any of the above cloud services and solutions? If yes, tell us about your experience on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We would love to hear from you!