AWS vs GCP pricing for startups: both have credit programs (AWS Activate: $1k-$100k; GCP for Startups: $2k-$200k). Compare ongoing costs: GCP sustained-use discounts apply automatically (no commitment) - typically 5-15% cheaper for steady-state. AWS has deeper service discounts with Savings Plans but needs commitment. The team that runs steady workloads picks GCP; the team that runs bursty + needs the AWS service catalog picks AWS.
Table of contents
- Startup credit programs
- Compute pricing comparison
- Data egress and the hidden cost
- Managed service pricing
- Hidden costs to watch
- The credit-strategy recommendation
- FAQ
Startup credit programs
AWS Activate:
- Founders: $1,000 in credits (self-serve, no application).
- Portfolio: $3,000-$100,000 (requires VC affiliation).
- Valid for 1-2 years depending on tier.
GCP for Startups:
- $2,000 in credits (self-serve for eligible startups).
- Up to $200,000 over 2 years (with VC partner).
- Valid for 1-2 years.
Both also offer:
- Free tier ongoing (small workloads run free).
- Technical support credits.
- Partner network benefits.
The team that picks based on credits alone should pick GCP for higher amounts. The team that picks based on the underlying platform picks based on workload fit.
Compute pricing comparison
For a startup workload (4 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 100GB SSD, 1TB egress):
| AWS (us-east-1) | GCP (us-east-1) | |
|---|---|---|
| On-demand | ~$140/mo (m6i.xlarge) | ~$120/mo (e2-standard-4 + sustained-use) |
| 1-yr commit | ~$95/mo (Savings Plan) | ~$95/mo (Committed Use) |
| 3-yr commit | ~$65/mo | ~$60/mo |
For sustained workloads, GCP’s automatic sustained-use discounts make it slightly cheaper without commitment. AWS catches up with Savings Plans.
The team that doesn’t want to manage commitments picks GCP. The team that wants maximum discount with commitment flexibility picks AWS.
Data egress and the hidden cost
Data egress is where startups get surprised:
- AWS: $0.09/GB to internet (first 10TB/month).
- GCP: $0.12/GB to internet (slightly more expensive for direct egress).
- Both: Free egress to same region, free to CloudFront/CDN.
For a startup serving 10TB/month to users: AWS costs $900/mo in egress, GCP costs $1,200/mo.
The team that uses CloudFront (AWS) or Cloud CDN (GCP) in front of storage reduces egress costs significantly.
Managed service pricing
Comparable managed services:
- Kubernetes: EKS $0.10/hr vs GKE Standard $0.10/hr (GKE Autopilot is per-pod).
- Postgres: RDS ~$0.045-$0.115/hr vs Cloud SQL ~$0.04-$0.13/hr (similar).
- Object storage: S3 $0.023/GB vs Cloud Storage $0.020/GB (GCP slightly cheaper).
- CDN: CloudFront $0.085/GB (first 10TB) vs Cloud CDN $0.08/GB (similar).
- Functions: Lambda $0.20/1M requests vs Cloud Functions $0.40/1M (GCP 2x more).
- Pub/Sub: SNS $0.50/1M publishes vs Pub/Sub $0.40/1M (GCP slightly cheaper).
Most managed services are within 10-20% of each other. The team that picks based on specific service pricing finds small differences don’t move the needle.
Hidden costs to watch
AWS surprises:
- NAT Gateway data processing ($0.045/GB).
- Inter-AZ data transfer ($0.01/GB each way).
- Public IPv4 ($0.005/hour since Feb 2024).
- CloudWatch logs ingestion ($0.50/GB).
GCP surprises:
- Sustained use only applies to vCPU and RAM, not to disks or network.
- Premium network tier is more expensive.
- BigQuery on-demand ($6.25/TB scanned) can dominate analytics bills.
The team that models these hidden costs before launch has fewer surprises.
The credit-strategy recommendation
The team that runs a startup:
- Apply for both credit programs.
- Run proof-of-concept on the platform that fits the workload best.
- Compare actual costs after 3-6 months.
- If AWS credit was applied to non-AWS services (some partners accept AWS credits for other services), use those first.
- Plan for post-credit costs at scale.
The team that picks based on credits alone usually finds the underlying platform cost dominates after credits run out.
FAQ
Which cloud gives more startup credits?
GCP for Startups offers up to $200k (with VC partner). AWS Activate offers up to $100k. Both have self-serve tiers ($1-2k). The team that applies to both gets the most total credits.
Is GCP or AWS cheaper for a startup?
Depends on workload pattern. GCP cheaper for sustained compute (sustained-use discounts automatic). AWS cheaper for bursty workloads (spot instances, savings plans for baseline + on-demand for spikes). Compare with the calculator for your specific workload.
Do credits expire?
Yes - typically 1-2 years from issue. The team that uses credits before they expire avoids waste. AWS Activate credits expire after the term (varies by tier). GCP credits expire after 1 year for self-serve, 2 years for VC partner.
Can I switch clouds later?
Yes but expensive. Plan the migration carefully. The team that picks well at start saves 3-6 months of migration cost.
What about Azure credits for Startups?
Microsoft for Startups: up to $150k in Azure credits. Similar to GCP and AWS programs. The team that uses Microsoft stack picks Azure. The team that doesn’t, picks based on the platform.
If you are sizing the infrastructure for the kind of project this post covers, the RunxBuild hosting calculator is the right place to model the line items. The compute, the memory, the storage, the bandwidth, the database - each one is a separate number, and the team’s mental model for the platform is the sum of those numbers. The RunxBuild dashboard is where the team sees the actual usage in one place.
Useful related references: