Based on 219 reviews and ratings
Based on 137 reviews and ratings
Highlights
Google App Engine and Google Compute Engine are both services businesses can use for deploying applications once they’ve been coded. Google App Engine is a platform-as-a-service solution designed to make app deployment as easy possible. In contrast, Google Compute Engine is an infrastructure-as-a-service tool that provides a highly configurable and flexible platform for application deployment. Both options are most popular with small businesses, but Google App Engine is more popular with larger businesses, likely due to its automation features.
Features
Google App Engine and Google Compute Engine both provide a platform for application deployment, but they also have some standout features that are important to consider.
Google App Engine provides a host of automation features that make it easy for businesses to focus on app development, instead of configuring the deployment. As applications deployed on Google App Engine see more or less use, the platform will automatically adjust the number of instances without input from a developer. Google App Engine also provides a software development kit to help users optimize applications for the platform.
Google Compute Engine allows for a high level of customization so users can set up their deployment however they want. Businesses with a skilled development team can create as many or as few virtual machines as they want, while customizing them for the needs of their applications. Google Compute Engine is also generally more affordable compared to Google App Engine, which can make it more appealing to businesses on a smaller budget.
Limitations
Google App Engine and Google Compute Engine both help businesses deploy their applications, but they also have a few limitations that are important to consider.
Google App Engine provides a high level of automation and is simple to use, but isn’t as customizable as Google Compute Engine. Businesses with specific needs for their application may prefer the customizability of Google Compute Engine. Additionally, while Google App Engine’s software development kit is great for applications that are developed with Google App Engine, it can be difficult to take advantage of it if for applications that were developed before Google App Engine was selected.
Google Compute Engine is highly customizable, but it isn’t as automated or easy to use. Businesses using Google Compute Engine will have to manually adjust the volume of their virtual machines as application traffic grows or shrinks. Google Compute engine needs a development team to work with it, unlike Google App Engine, which can be managed with less effort.
Pricing
Google App Engine pricing depends on the type of instance, but starts as low as $0.05 per hour per instance.
Google Compute Engine offers pay as you go pricing starting as low as $0.006543 per hour.
Provided by the TrustRadius Research Team
Published on July 16, 2020
Feature Set Ratings
Platform-as-a-Service
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Ease of building user interfaces

Scalability

Platform management overhead

Workflow engine capability

Platform access control

Services-enabled integration

Development environment creation

Development environment replication

Issue monitoring and notification

Issue recovery

Upgrades and platform fixes

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime

Dynamic scaling

Elastic load balancing

Pre-configured templates

Monitoring tools

Pre-defined machine images

Operating system support

Security controls

Automation

Attribute Ratings
- Google Compute Engine is rated higher in 4 areas: Likelihood to Recommend, Likelihood to Renew, Usability, Support Rating
Likelihood to Recommend
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Likelihood to Renew
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Usability
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Performance
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Support Rating
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Implementation Rating
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Likelihood to Recommend
Google App Engine
Google Compute Engine

Pros
Google App Engine
- Quick to develop, quick to deploy. You can be up and running on Google App Engine in no time.
- Flexible. We use Java for some services and Node.js for others.
- Great security features. We have been consistently impressed with the security and authentication features of Google App Engine.
Google Compute Engine
- A simple web-based interface that is a breeze to train new engineers to use. Our experienced engineers never have trouble finding or doing anything on GCE.
- Sustained use and Committed use discounts mean we get top-tier VMs for an incredibly competitive price.
- Wonderful identity and access management that gives us peace-of-mind when granting access to machines to contractors and other 3rd parties.
- Fast VMs, lastest in hardware, and enough RAM to power even the hungriest of our services.
Cons
Google App Engine
- There is a slight learning curve to getting used to code on Google App Engine.
- Google Cloud Datastore is Google's NoSQL database in the cloud that your applications can use. NoSQL databases, by design, cannot give handle complex queries on the data. This means that sometimes you need to think carefully about your data structures - so that you can get the results you need in your code.
- Setting up billing is a little annoying. It does not seem to save billing information to your account so you can re-use the same information across different Cloud projects. Each project requires you to re-enter all your billing information (if required)

Google Compute Engine
- The L7 load balancer can be difficult to get set up. It's limited in its functionality, especially with the container engine.
- It's hard to find certain objects on the web console. Often times the things I need to get to are buried in advanced menus.
- Google's decision to only support MySQL on their relational DB service means that I have to manage Postgres instances in Compute on my own, managing everything from storage to backups.
Pricing Details
Google App Engine
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
Starting Price
Google App Engine Editions & Modules
Edition
Starting Price | $0.051 |
---|---|
Max Price | $0.301 |
- Per Hour Per Instance
Additional Pricing Details
—Google Compute Engine
General
Free Trial
Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
Starting Price
Google Compute Engine Editions & Modules
Edition
On-demand price - Predefined vCPUS | $0.031611 / vCPU1 |
---|---|
Preemptible Price - Predefined vCPUs | 0.006655 / vCPU1 |
One-year commitment price - Predefined vCPUS | $0.019915 / vCPU1 |
Three-year commitment price - Predefined vCPUS | $0.014225 / CPU1 |
On-demand price - Predefined Memory | $0.004237 / GB1 |
Preemptible Price - Predefined Memory | 0.000892 / GB1 |
One-year commitment price - Predefined Memory | $0.002669 / GB1 |
Three-year commitment price - Predefined Memory | $0.001907 / GB1 |
- Hour
Additional Pricing Details
Prices vary according to region (i.e US central, east, & west time zones). Google Compute Engine also offers a discounted rate for a 1 & 3 year commitment.Likelihood to Renew
Google App Engine
Google Compute Engine
Usability
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Support Rating
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
- The documentation needs to be better for intermediate users - There are first steps that one can easily follow, but after that, the documentation is often spotty or not in a form where one can follow the steps and accomplish the task. Also, the documentation and the product often go out of sync, where the commands from the documentation do not work with the current version of the product.
- Google support was great and their presence on site was very helpful in dealing with various issues.

Alternatives Considered
Google App Engine

Google Compute Engine
Return on Investment
Google App Engine
- Effective employee adoption through ease of use.
- Effective integration to other java based frameworks.
- Time to market is very quick. Build, test, deploy and use.
- The GAE Whitelist for java is an important resource to know what works and what does not. So use it. It would also be nice for Google to expand on items that are allowed on GAE platform.
Google Compute Engine
- Positive impact on the OpEx with reduction in CapEx resulting from reducing the time to move a workload from on-prem to the cloud
- Incased RoI by reducing need for on-prem compute
- Improved agility by providing the option to take on new AI workloads for test and dev without the need for upfront investment in