Performance comparison of cloud virtual machines

Purpose The performance of virtual machines (VMs) has an important role in the overall effectiveness of deployed IT solutions. Many organizations leverage VMs which run in a cloud environment instead of traditional on-premises machines. It is therefore important to select the most suitable cloud provider according to the performance of the VM. This study aims to compare the performance of VMs running under Microsoft, Amazon and Google, the three largest available cloud service providers who offer Infrastructure-as-a-Service. Design/methodology/approach Linux Ubuntu 20.04 LTS distribution was deployed as the reference operating system and comparisons were accomplished with the Phoronix Test Suite, which offers hundreds of benchmarking tests. For the aims of the study, 13 relevant tests covering the major areas of VMs were selected. Findings The study’s analysis revealed that the VM running at Amazon Web Services (AWS) exceeded the performance of machines at Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The study’s comparison showed that the AWS platform achieved a final score 87% and Microsoft Azure and GCP both achieved 77%. Originality/value The performance of the VM is a factor that organizations might consider when they select a suitable cloud provider. This study provides an insight into high-performance cloud VMs and the methods of comparing their performance. The study delivers a significant contribution in comparing the performance of publicly accessible cloud VMs since no studies to date have been published on this topic.