Identity & access management · AWS vs Google Cloud
IAM Access Analyzer vs Policy Intelligence (role recommendations, Policy Analyzer)
IAM Access Analyzer maps partly to Policy Intelligence: role recommendations remove excess permissions, and Policy Analyzer shows who has access to what.
Side-by-side comparison
| Aspect | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Service | IAM Access Analyzer | Policy Intelligence (role recommendations, Policy Analyzer) |
| Lifecycle | Generally available | Generally available |
| What it is | Finds resources shared externally or internally, identifies unused roles, keys, and permissions, validates policies, runs custom policy checks, and generates least-privilege policies from CloudTrail activity. | Role recommendations to remove excess permissions and Policy Analyzer to find who has access to what. |
| Pricing model | External access analysis is free. Unused and internal access analysis and custom policy checks are billed. | Role recommendations have no charge; some Policy Analyzer features depend on the Security Command Center tier. |
| Docs | IAM Access Analyzer docs | Policy Intelligence (role recommendations, Policy Analyzer) docs |
| Pricing page | IAM Access Analyzer pricing | — |
Key differences
- There is no single service that flags external or public access findings like Access Analyzer; Security Command Center covers some misconfigurations.
Pricing summary
Pricing models only. No prices are quoted because they change by region and over time.
- AWS
- External access analysis is free. Unused and internal access analysis and custom policy checks are billed. IAM Access Analyzer pricing →
- GCP
- Role recommendations have no charge; some Policy Analyzer features depend on the Security Command Center tier.
And on Azure?
Partial match Azure's equivalent is Microsoft Entra ID Governance (access reviews). AWS vs Azure comparison →
Verification notes
- Policy Intelligence tier requirements were not confirmed from a price page on 2026-10-27.
FAQ
What is the Google Cloud equivalent of IAM Access Analyzer?
IAM Access Analyzer maps partly to Policy Intelligence: role recommendations remove excess permissions, and Policy Analyzer shows who has access to what.
How does pricing compare between IAM Access Analyzer and Policy Intelligence (role recommendations, Policy Analyzer)?
AWS: External access analysis is free. Unused and internal access analysis and custom policy checks are billed. Google Cloud: Role recommendations have no charge; some Policy Analyzer features depend on the Security Command Center tier. Check the official pricing pages for current rates.
What is the Azure equivalent?
Microsoft Entra ID Governance (access reviews) (partial match). Microsoft maps IAM Access Analyzer to Microsoft Entra access reviews (part of Entra ID Governance).