In a time where the reliability and stability of cloud service providers comes into spotlight, we pick our top ten that will help you propel your business to the next level. We recently talked about building your own local network with a Raspberry Pi starter kit, but why not build a cloud network instead? Before we list our top ten cloud service providers it’s worth knowing that makes a great service.
What makes a professional cloud service?
For me there are a few key things that determine how good cloud is. The obvious is value for money and most compete fiercely to give you serious performance for your money. Deploying services needs to be quick and efficient too. Nothing is worse than having an app in mind but spending hours to setup and deploy packages to support your work.
It goes without saying reliability is key too. Uptime and consistent usability is a must. An unreliable cloud service could cost you big in lost clients, or search rankings. Yes, Google very quickly reduces your traffic if your server is throwing 5XX type errors. Just imagine if you were running a live website on cloud and it failed leaving clients angry and upset. It doesn’t bare thinking about.
So with that in mind let’s take a look at the best cloud services available…
1. Digital Ocean
My personal favourite is Digital Ocean. You can sign up to them and get up to a whopping $100 cloud free on this link too. They have something called ‘disk images’ and you can start with a tiny $5 droplet to get going and scale at the click of a button so you never spend more than you need. These effectively allow you to very quickly setup pre loaded software rigs. So if you want to run WordPress it will take you about 10 minutes to get a blog up and running if you basic server skills. It goes without saying, using this type of cloud that is not managed requires a reasonable level of skill or a willingness to learn.
The number of preset software images they have is huge, it doesn’t matter if you’re interested in NodeJS or need a LAMP stack, they have the lot all ready and will deploy in seconds, so no need to bash away at your terminal command line.
2. AWS
The biggest, most reliable, high quality, and top notch service is probably AWS. I prefer Digital Ocean but this is no slur on AWS. Their cloud is second to none. It’s so easily scaleable and to say they are so popular because they were the first to enter the arena is just not fair. They really are innovators and produce excellent cloud.
3. Google Cloud: Cloud Computing Services
Google cloud computing services is by far the best, most technical, and highest skilled engineers. I don’t have enough superlatives for this setup. If I had one complaint, it would be the amount of skill you need to learn their setup. I’ll say this though, the documentation is incredible. If you’re into AI and machine learning, this is where you go.
4. Rackspace
I just wanted to mention Rackspace, I had an extremely disappointing experience with them when I attempted to use their cloud DNS. They didn’t even allow me to pass security and open an account due to my IP location with which I live. Very inward, not progressive. Worst of all they wasted my time emailing me asking questions then not even respond. To be fair I’ve heard good things hence attempting to use them but no, not for me, a customer lost for life.
5. Alibaba Cloud
New to the scene is Alibaba cloud computing services mainly aimed at China but has 19 different CDN locations worldwide. I like their cheapest droplet which is $2.50. That’s half the price of my favourite provider and gives you a chance to learn and gain skills for the price of a cup of coffee. You could run Bitcoin gaming casinos on Alibaba cloud with ease.
6. Oracle Cloud
This is an old and trustable service. Large scale projects are no problem at all with this company. If I had any real positives to mention here it would be their level of skills handling cyber attacks. They have sophisticated apps that will help to protect you.
7. IBM Cloud
IBM cloud is for heavyweight users as well as light. They even have a free cluster which is nice and a great way to introduce people to their services. This is a highly organised operation designed to help you realise advancement in technology and AI.
8. Verizon Cloud
Being one of the older and more notable providers you can expect an excellent service. The top features include scalability as well as easy infrastructure controls.
9. VMWare
VMWare cloud deserves a mention because of their reliability and progressive investment in the cloud ecosystem.
So there you have it, a whole host of cloud services to get you going in the right direction.
