Simple hosting & virtual desktops · AWS vs Google Cloud
AWS Elastic Beanstalk vs App Engine / Cloud Run
Elastic Beanstalk maps partly to App Engine, a fully managed platform for web apps.
For new apps, Cloud Run is Google's general-purpose managed app platform.
Side-by-side comparison
| Aspect | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Service | AWS Elastic Beanstalk | App Engine Cloud Run |
| Lifecycle | Generally available | Generally available Generally available |
| What it is | Upload-your-code web app platform. Standard mode runs apps on EC2 with load balancing and scaling. The newer Cluster mode runs apps on a service-operated EKS cluster. | Fully managed serverless platform for web apps, in standard (sandboxed runtimes, scale to zero) and flexible (containers on VMs) environments. Fully managed platform for running containers, functions, and source code as services, jobs, or worker pools, with request-based autoscaling and scale to zero. |
| Pricing model | There's no additional charge for Elastic Beanstalk. You pay for the EC2, load balancer, and storage resources it creates. | App Engine standard is billed per instance-hour by instance class, with a free tier. Cloud Run is billed for vCPU-seconds, GiB-seconds, and requests. |
| Docs | AWS Elastic Beanstalk docs | App Engine docs Cloud Run docs |
| Pricing page | AWS Elastic Beanstalk pricing | App Engine pricing Cloud Run pricing |
Key differences
- Beanstalk provisions EC2 instances you can see and access; App Engine standard and Cloud Run hide the servers entirely.
- App Engine flexible runs containers on Compute Engine VMs, closest to Beanstalk's model.
Pricing summary
Pricing models only. No prices are quoted because they change by region and over time.
- AWS
- There's no additional charge for Elastic Beanstalk. You pay for the EC2, load balancer, and storage resources it creates. AWS Elastic Beanstalk pricing →
- GCP
- App Engine standard is billed per instance-hour by instance class, with a free tier. Cloud Run is billed for vCPU-seconds, GiB-seconds, and requests. App Engine pricing → Cloud Run pricing →
And on Azure?
Partial match Azure's equivalent is Azure App Service. AWS vs Azure comparison →
FAQ
What is the Google Cloud equivalent of AWS Elastic Beanstalk?
Elastic Beanstalk maps partly to App Engine, a fully managed platform for web apps. For new apps, Cloud Run is Google's general-purpose managed app platform.
How does pricing compare between AWS Elastic Beanstalk and App Engine and Cloud Run?
AWS: There's no additional charge for Elastic Beanstalk. You pay for the EC2, load balancer, and storage resources it creates. Google Cloud: App Engine standard is billed per instance-hour by instance class, with a free tier. Cloud Run is billed for vCPU-seconds, GiB-seconds, and requests. Check the official pricing pages for current rates.
What is the Azure equivalent?
Azure App Service (partial match). AWS Elastic Beanstalk maps to Azure App Service.