Cloud Platforms are Like Phones: AWS, Azure, and GCP Compared

Hanzala
6 min read ⋅ Apr 27, 2025

When entering the world of cloud computing, many beginners feel overwhelmed by the number of services and the different platforms available. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) are three of the most dominant players in this field.
But here’s the thing: they all essentially do the same things — just differently.

The analogy is simple:
Cloud platforms are like phones.
iPhone, Samsung, Pixel — they all make calls, send messages, browse the web — but the interfaces and methods vary.
Similarly, AWS, Azure, and GCP offer the same core services — identity management, storage, computing, and networking — but they package and name them differently.

Once you understand the fundamentals of one, it becomes significantly easier to pick up the others.

Core Service Comparison

Let’s start by matching a few basic services across AWS, Azure, and GCP:

Service Type	AWS	Azure	GCP
Identity and Access Management	IAM	IAM	IAM
Object Storage	S3	Blob Storage	Cloud Storage
Virtual Machines (Compute)	EC2	Virtual Machines	Compute Engine

At a high level:

IAM services across all platforms manage user authentication, authorization, and permissions.
Object Storage like S3, Blob Storage, and Cloud Storage stores files (images, documents, backups) flexibly and scalably.
Compute Services like EC2, Azure VMs, and Compute Engine launch servers (virtual machines) to run applications.

The underlying mechanisms may differ slightly, but the concept remains the same.

4 Practical Developer-Focused Use Cases

Let’s dive into developer-focused use cases where understanding one cloud platform helps you transition to another.

1. Secure Access Management

Suppose you already know how to create IAM users and roles in AWS.
When you switch to Azure, you’ll find the same structure:

IAM in Azure handles Users, Groups, Roles, and Service Principals.
IAM in GCP focuses on roles and policies at the project, folder, and organization levels.

Technical Tip:
Master RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) principles. They are universal across AWS, Azure, and GCP.

2. Setting Up Object Storage for Applications

In AWS, you create an S3 bucket to store images or host a static website.
Azure and GCP offer similar solutions:

Azure: Blob Storage (Container with public access enabled).
GCP: Cloud Storage Bucket (set access via IAM policies).

Technical Tip:
Working with storage SDKs like boto3 (AWS), azure-storage-blob, or google-cloud-storage follows very similar patterns.

3. Launching and Managing Virtual Machines

Launching an EC2 instance in AWS? Here’s how it mirrors in other clouds:

Step	AWS	Azure	GCP
Select Image	AMI	Marketplace Image	OS Image
Choose Machine Type	Instance Type	VM Size	Machine Type
Set Firewall Rules	Security Group	NSG (Network Security Group)	Firewall Rule
Authentication	SSH Key Pair	SSH Key	SSH Key

Technical Tip:
Familiarize yourself with instance lifecycle management — launching, starting, stopping, terminating — across all clouds.

4. Cloud Networking Fundamentals

Networking basics are shockingly similar:

AWS: VPC, Subnets, Route Tables, Internet Gateway.
Azure: VNet, Subnets, NSGs, Route Tables.
GCP: VPC Network, Subnets, Firewall Rules, Cloud NAT.

Technical Tip:
If you understand CIDR block assignments and subnet routing in one platform, setting up networks in others becomes trivial.

Why Developers Should Master Cross-Cloud Skills

Understanding one cloud platform conceptually means:

You can work in multi-cloud environments.
You reduce dependency on one provider.
You improve your flexibility in migrations, hybrid architectures, and disaster recovery planning.

Today, cloud-native development often involves:

Containers (Kubernetes is cloud-agnostic)
Serverless computing (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Google Cloud Functions)
Event-driven architectures (SQS, EventGrid, Pub/Sub)

These patterns work similarly across clouds.

Conclusion

Cloud platforms — AWS, Azure, and GCP — are just like different brands of smartphones.
Same core functionality, just different designs and workflows.

Once you understand:

IAM (Identity and Permissions)
Storage (Object Storage like S3, Blob)
Compute (Virtual Machines and Containers)
Networking (VPCs and Subnets)

…you can confidently navigate across any cloud provider.

👉 Learn concepts, not buttons.

👉 Practice using CLI tools like aws, az, and gcloud to become even faster at adapting.

👉 Build a cross-cloud mindset and unlock career opportunities across startups, enterprises, and consulting firms worldwide.