STACKIT vs. Azure, AWS & Google Cloud: Feature Breakdown
Marketplace
| Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud Marketplace | AWS Marketplace | STACKIT Marketplace | Azure Marketplace | Preconfigured third-party applications that can be deployed to single or multiple virtual machines. |
Data Platform
Database
| Type | Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Azure service description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relational database | Cloud SQL - SQL Server | Amazon RDS for SQL Server | SQLServer Flex | Azure SQL family (Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, SQL Server on Azure VM, Azure SQL Edge) | Azure SQL family of SQL Server database engine products in the cloud. |
| Cloud SQL MySQL & PostgreSQL | Amazon RDS for MySQL, Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL | MariaDB, PostgreSQL Flex | Azure Database for MySQL (Single & Flexible Server), Azure Database for PostgreSQL (Single & Flexible Server) | Managed relational database service where resiliency, security, scale, and maintenance are primarily handled by the platform. | |
| Horizontally scalable relational database | Cloud Spanner | Amazon Aurora Global Database | - | Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL, Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL (Citus) | A globally distributed database system that scales horizontally. |
| NoSQL | Cloud Bigtable | Amazon DynamoDB | MongoDB Flex | Azure Table storage, Azure Cosmos DB | A highly scalable NoSQL key-value store for rapid development using massive semi-structured datasets. |
| Cloud Firestore | Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon DocumentDB | - | Azure Cosmos DB | Globally distributed, multi-model database that natively supports multiple data models: key-value, documents, graphs, and columnar. | |
| Firebase Realtime Database | Amazon DynamoDB Streams | - | Azure Cosmos DB change feed | Change feed in Azure Cosmos DB is a persistent record of changes to a container in the order they occur. | |
| In-memory | Cloud Memorystore | Amazon ElastiCache | Redis | Azure Managed Redis | A secure data cache and messaging broker that provides high throughput and low-latency access to data for applications. |
Data Warehouse
| Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BigQuery | Amazon Redshift | - | Microsoft Fabric Warehouse, SQL Server Big Data Clusters, Azure Databricks | Cloud-based Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) that uses Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) to quickly run complex queries across petabytes of data. |
Data Orchestration and ETL
| Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Data Fusion | AWS Glue | Workflows | Azure Data Factory, Data Factory in Microsoft Fabric | Processes and moves data between different compute and storage services, as well as on-premises data sources at specified intervals. |
Big Data and Analytics
Big Data Processing
| Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dataproc | Amazon EMR | - | Azure Databricks, Microsoft Fabric Data Engineering | Managed Apache Spark-based analytics platform. |
Analytics and Visualization
| Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Dataflow | Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics | - | Azure Databricks, Azure HDInsight | Managed platform for streaming and batch data processing using Apache Beam. |
| Data Studio, Looker | Amazon QuickSight | - | Power BI | Business intelligence tools that build visualizations, perform ad hoc analysis, and develop business insights from data. |
| Cloud Search | Amazon OpenSearch Service | OpenSearch | Azure AI Search | Delivers full-text search and related search analytics and capabilities. |
AI and Machine Learning
| Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vertex AI | Amazon SageMaker | AI Model Serving | Azure Machine Learning | A cloud service to train, deploy, automate, and manage machine learning and foundation models. |
| TensorFlow | Amazon SageMaker, AWS Deep Learning AMIs | - | ML.NET, ONNX | Open-source machine learning frameworks. |
| Cloud Vision API | Amazon Rekognition | - | Azure AI Services Computer Vision | Use visual data processing to enable computers to identify and understand objects and people in images and videos. |
| Natural Language AI | Amazon Comprehend | - | Azure AI Language | Azure AI Language is a managed service for developing natural language processing applications. |
| Speech-to-Text | Amazon Transcribe | - | Azure AI services speech to text | Transcribe audio to text in more than 100 languages and variants. |
| AutoML Tables | Amazon SageMaker Autopilot | - | ML.NET Model Builder | Automated machine learning for structured data. |
| AutoML Vision | Amazon Rekognition Custom Labels | - | Azure AI Custom Vision | Customize and embed computer vision models for specific domains. |
| Dialogflow | Amazon Lex | - | Azure AI Language Question Answering | Build, train, and publish a sophisticated bot using FAQ pages, support websites, or product manuals. |
Compute
Virtual Servers
| Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compute Engine | Amazon EC2 | Compute Engine (Linux/Windows Server) | Azure Virtual Machines | Virtual servers allow users to deploy, manage, and maintain OS and server software. |
| Sole-tenant nodes | Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts | - | Azure Dedicated Host | Host your VMs on hardware that's dedicated only to your project. |
| Batch | AWS Batch | - | Azure Batch | Run large-scale parallel and high-performance computing applications efficiently in the cloud. |
| Compute Engine Autoscaler, Compute Engine managed instance groups | AWS Auto Scaling | - | Azure virtual machine scale sets | Allows you to automatically change the number of VM instances. |
| Cloud GPUs | Amazon EC2 GPU Instances | - | GPU Optimized VMs | GPU-optimized VM sizes for compute-intensive workloads. |
| VMware Engine | VMware Cloud on AWS | - | Azure VMware Solution | Redeploy and extend your VMware-based enterprise workloads. |
Containers and Container Orchestrators
| Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Run | AWS Fargate | - | Azure Container Apps | Service for running containers in Azure without provisioning virtual machines. |
| Artifact Registry, Container Registry | Amazon ECR | Container Registry | Azure Container Registry | Store Docker-formatted images. |
| Kubernetes Engine (GKE) | Amazon EKS | Kubernetes Engine | Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) | Deploy orchestrated containerized applications with Kubernetes. |
Functions
| Google Cloud service | AWS service | STACKIT service | Azure service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Functions | AWS Lambda | - | Azure Functions | Integrate systems and run backend processes in response to events or schedules without provisioning or managing servers. |
Sources & Further Reading
- STACKIT Documentation – Official STACKIT Cloud Services Documentation
Comprehensive guides on STACKIT’s EU-based cloud offerings, including compute, databases, and compliance features.
- Google Cloud Service Comparison – AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Service Mapping
Detailed comparison of services across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, including compute, AI/ML, and databases.
- Microsoft Azure Architecture Center – AWS to Azure Service Comparison (Compute)
Official Microsoft documentation mapping AWS services to Azure equivalents, with a focus on compute and migration strategies.
- EU Cloud Provider Alternatives – EU-Based & Open-Source Alternatives to Azure (2026) [1]
Guide to EU cloud providers like STACKIT, OVHcloud, and Hetzner, emphasizing sovereignty and compliance.
- GDPR-Compliant Cloud Solutions – GDPR Official Text & Guidelines
Legal framework for data sovereignty and compliance in the EU, critical for evaluating cloud providers.
- AWS vs. Azure vs. Google Cloud (2026) – Northflank’s Comprehensive Comparison [6]
Analysis of hyperscalers’ pricing, complexity, and migration challenges, with a focus on multi-cloud strategies.
- STACKIT Marketplace – STACKIT Marketplace
Preconfigured third-party applications and services for STACKIT’s EU cloud platform.
Additional Resources
- CLOUD Act & Data Sovereignty – U.S. CLOUD Act (Full Text)
Legal context for why EU businesses may avoid U.S.-based cloud providers like Azure.
- Open-Source Alternatives – CNCF Cloud Native Landscape
Curated list of open-source tools for self-hosting and avoiding vendor lock-in.