AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Dutch Market Perspective 2025

Choosing the right cloud provider is one of the most critical technology decisions Dutch businesses face. With AWS holding 32% of the global cloud market, Microsoft Azure at 23%, and Google Cloud at 11%, each provider offers distinct advantages. For Dutch companies ranging from Amsterdam startups to Rotterdam logistics firms and Eindhoven tech companies, understanding these differences is essential for making an informed decision.

Executive Summary

After analyzing hundreds of Dutch cloud deployments and working with companies across various sectors, here’s our assessment:

AWS is the best choice for most Dutch businesses due to its comprehensive service portfolio, mature ecosystem, strong European presence, and extensive partner network in the Netherlands. It excels in innovation velocity, offering 3,000+ services and features compared to Azure’s ~200 and GCP’s ~100 major services.

Azure is optimal for companies heavily invested in Microsoft technologies (Office 365, Active Directory, Dynamics 365) or enterprises with existing Microsoft Enterprise Agreements. Its hybrid cloud capabilities through Azure Arc are unmatched.

Google Cloud leads in data analytics, machine learning, and Kubernetes-based workloads. It’s ideal for data-intensive organizations and companies building modern, container-native applications.

For the remainder of this article, we’ll dive deep into the technical, economic, and strategic factors that inform these recommendations, with specific context for the Dutch market.

Data Center Locations and EU Compliance

Data sovereignty and GDPR compliance are paramount for Dutch businesses. All three providers have European presence, but with different approaches.

AWS Europe Infrastructure

AWS operates two regions in Europe that are primary choices for Dutch companies:

eu-west-1 (Ireland): Launched in 2007, this is the most established AWS region in Europe with three Availability Zones. It offers the complete AWS service catalog and is the default choice for most Dutch companies. Latency from Amsterdam to Dublin averages 10-15ms.

eu-central-1 (Frankfurt): Launched in 2014 with three Availability Zones, this region provides German data residency for companies with strict data localization requirements. Latency from Amsterdam to Frankfurt averages 5-8ms.

eu-west-2 (London): While post-Brexit this is technically not EU, it’s still widely used by Dutch companies for its excellent connectivity and full service availability.

AWS also operates eu-west-3 (Paris), eu-north-1 (Stockholm), eu-south-1 (Milan), and eu-central-2 (Zurich), giving Dutch companies extensive choice for multi-region architectures.

AWS Local Zones: AWS announced plans for Local Zones in Amsterdam, bringing compute and storage closer to Dutch users for ultra-low latency applications.

Azure Europe Infrastructure

Microsoft Azure operates multiple European regions:

West Europe (Netherlands): Located in Amsterdam data centers, this is the natural choice for Dutch companies. It offers three Availability Zones and low latency (1-2ms within Netherlands). This gives Azure a latency advantage for applications serving Dutch users exclusively.

North Europe (Ireland): Paired region with West Europe for disaster recovery, located in Dublin.

Azure’s physical presence in the Netherlands is a competitive advantage for workloads that require the absolute lowest latency or strict Dutch data residency.

Google Cloud Europe Infrastructure

Google Cloud Platform operates several European regions:

europe-west4 (Netherlands): Located in Eemshaven, this region provides Dutch data residency with three zones. Latency within Netherlands is excellent (1-3ms from Amsterdam).

europe-west1 (Belgium): Located in St. Ghislain, offering proximity to Netherlands with three zones.

Google’s Netherlands presence is strong, particularly given their fiber network infrastructure throughout Europe.

GDPR and Data Residency Comparison

All three providers are GDPR compliant and offer data residency guarantees:

AWS: Provides explicit region selection and data never leaves your selected regions unless you configure it to. AWS Artifact provides GDPR compliance documentation. Strong AVG (GDPR) compliance with extensive documentation in Dutch.

Azure: Offers similar guarantees with Trust Center documentation. Integration with Microsoft 365 compliance tools is seamless. Microsoft’s EU Data Boundary commitment ensures data stays in EU.

Google Cloud: Provides region selection and GDPR compliance. Organization Policy constraints can enforce data residency. Strong commitment to GDPR with extensive compliance documentation.

Winner for Dutch Companies: Tie between all three for GDPR compliance. Azure and GCP have slight latency advantages for Netherlands-only workloads due to Amsterdam/Eemshaven presence. AWS wins for companies needing multi-region European coverage due to broader regional availability.

Service Portfolio and Innovation

The breadth and depth of services directly impacts what you can build and how quickly you can innovate.

AWS Service Portfolio

AWS offers the most comprehensive cloud service catalog:

Compute: EC2 (VMs), Lambda (serverless), ECS/EKS (containers), Fargate (serverless containers), App Runner, Lightsail, Batch, Outposts, Wavelength, Local Zones - 15+ distinct compute options.

Databases: RDS (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server), Aurora (MySQL/PostgreSQL compatible), DynamoDB (NoSQL), DocumentDB (MongoDB compatible), Neptune (graph), Timestream (time-series), QLDB (ledger), Keyspaces (Cassandra compatible), MemoryDB for Redis, ElastiCache - 11 purpose-built database engines.

Analytics: Athena, EMR, Redshift, Kinesis, Glue, Lake Formation, QuickSight, MSK (Kafka), OpenSearch, Data Exchange, Clean Rooms - comprehensive data analytics stack.

AI/ML: SageMaker (complete ML platform), Rekognition, Comprehend, Translate, Polly, Transcribe, Lex, Personalize, Forecast, Fraud Detector, Bedrock (generative AI) - 20+ AI/ML services.

Developer Tools: CodeCommit, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, CodePipeline, Cloud9, X-Ray, extensive SDK support in 10+ languages.

The breadth is staggering - AWS launches 3,000+ new features and services annually. For Dutch software companies, this innovation velocity means you can adopt cutting-edge technology without waiting for custom development.

Azure Service Portfolio

Azure offers strong breadth, particularly in hybrid and enterprise scenarios:

Compute: Virtual Machines, Azure Functions, AKS (Kubernetes), Container Instances, App Service, Azure Spring Apps, Batch, Azure Stack (hybrid).

Databases: SQL Database, Cosmos DB (multi-model), Database for PostgreSQL/MySQL/MariaDB, Managed Instance, Azure Cache for Redis - 8 database options.

Analytics: Synapse Analytics, HDInsight, Databricks, Data Factory, Stream Analytics, Data Lake, Power BI - solid analytics portfolio.

AI/ML: Azure Machine Learning, Cognitive Services, Bot Service, Applied AI Services - good AI/ML capabilities but less breadth than AWS.

Developer Tools: Azure DevOps, GitHub integration (Microsoft owns GitHub), Visual Studio integration - excellent for .NET developers.

Hybrid Cloud: Azure Arc, Azure Stack, Azure Stack HCI - unmatched hybrid capabilities.

Azure’s strength is integration with Microsoft’s ecosystem. For Dutch companies using Office 365, Dynamics 365, or Windows-based infrastructure, Azure provides seamless integration that competitors can’t match.

Google Cloud Service Portfolio

GCP focuses on data, analytics, and modern application development:

Compute: Compute Engine, Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, GKE (best-in-class Kubernetes), App Engine - strong container focus.

Databases: Cloud SQL, Cloud Spanner (globally distributed), Firestore, Bigtable, Memorystore - 5 database options with unique capabilities (Spanner’s global consistency is impressive).

Analytics: BigQuery (best-in-class data warehouse), Dataflow, Dataproc, Pub/Sub, Looker - exceptional data analytics, especially BigQuery.

AI/ML: Vertex AI, TensorFlow (Google created it), AI Platform, Vision AI, Natural Language AI, Translation API - strong ML heritage from Google’s research.

Developer Tools: Cloud Build, Cloud Source Repositories, strong Kubernetes tooling - excellent for container-native development.

GCP’s strength is specialization. BigQuery is the fastest, easiest-to-use cloud data warehouse. GKE is the reference implementation for Kubernetes. If your workload aligns with GCP’s strengths, it’s exceptional.

Innovation Velocity Comparison

Measuring by number of significant service launches and feature releases:

AWS: ~3,000 new features/services annually. Regular major launches at re:Invent (November) and re:Inforce (June). Examples from 2024: Bedrock Agents, S3 Express One Zone, Aurora Limitless Database.

Azure: ~1,000 new features annually. Major announcements at Microsoft Ignite and Build conferences. Examples from 2024: Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager, Azure AI Studio, Azure Boost.

Google Cloud: ~600 new features annually. Announcements at Google Cloud Next. Examples from 2024: Gemini integration, AlloyDB AI, Vertex AI improvements.

Winner: AWS by a significant margin. The innovation velocity directly benefits Dutch companies by providing more tools to solve business problems without custom development.

Pricing Comparison in Euros

Let’s compare real-world scenarios relevant to Dutch businesses, with pricing in Euros as of January 2025.

Scenario 1: Small Business Web Application

Requirements:

• 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM compute instance
• 100 GB database (PostgreSQL)
• 500 GB object storage
• 1 TB monthly data transfer
• EU data center
• Running 24/7

AWS Pricing (eu-west-1 Ireland):

• EC2 t3.large: €0.0928/hour × 730 hours = €67.74/month
• RDS db.t4g.large: €0.168/hour × 730 hours = €122.64/month
• S3 Standard 500 GB: €0.023/GB = €11.50/month
• Data transfer out 1 TB: €0.085/GB × 1000 GB = €85/month
• Total: €286.88/month

With 1-year Reserved Instances (no upfront):

• EC2: €44.16/month (35% savings)
• RDS: €81.76/month (33% savings)
• Total with RI: €222.42/month

Azure Pricing (West Europe Netherlands):

• D2s v5: €0.096/hour × 730 hours = €70.08/month
• Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server (D2s_v3): €0.173/hour × 730 hours = €126.29/month
• Blob Storage LRS 500 GB: €0.0182/GB = €9.10/month
• Data transfer out 1 TB: €0.081/GB × 1000 GB = €81/month
• Total: €286.47/month

With 1-year Reserved:

• VM: €46.31/month (34% savings)
• Database: €84.20/month (33% savings)
• Total with RI: €220.61/month

Google Cloud Pricing (europe-west4 Netherlands):

• n2-standard-2: €0.097/hour × 730 hours = €70.81/month
• Cloud SQL PostgreSQL (db-n1-standard-2): €0.176/hour × 730 hours = €128.48/month
• Cloud Storage Standard 500 GB: €0.020/GB = €10/month
• Egress 1 TB: €0.095/GB × 1000 GB = €95/month
• Total: €304.29/month

With 1-year Committed Use Discounts:

• Compute: €43.90/month (38% savings)
• Cloud SQL: €85.68/month (33% savings)
• Total with CUD: €234.58/month

Winner: Azure is slightly cheaper (€220.61/month), followed closely by AWS (€222.42/month). Google Cloud is 6% more expensive. Difference is minimal for this workload.

Scenario 2: Medium Enterprise Application

Requirements:

• 20 vCPU, 80 GB RAM (4× medium instances)
• Managed Kubernetes cluster (3 nodes)
• 5 TB PostgreSQL database with read replicas
• 10 TB object storage
• 10 TB monthly data transfer
• Load balancer
• EU data center

AWS Pricing (eu-west-1):

• 4× EC2 m6i.2xlarge: €0.368/hour × 730 × 4 = €1,074.56/month
• EKS cluster: €0.10/hour × 730 = €73/month
• 3× m6i.xlarge for nodes: €0.184/hour × 730 × 3 = €402.96/month
• RDS db.r6i.2xlarge Multi-AZ: €1.472/hour × 730 = €1,074.56/month
• RDS read replica: €0.736/hour × 730 = €537.28/month
• S3 10 TB: €235/month
• Data transfer 10 TB: €850/month
• ALB: €25.92 + €0.008/LCU-hour = ~€50/month
• Total: €4,297.36/month

With 1-year Savings Plans (37% discount):

• Total: €2,932/month

Azure Pricing (West Europe):

• 4× D8s v5: €0.384/hour × 730 × 4 = €1,121.28/month
• AKS: Free (only pay for nodes)
• 3× D4s v5 for nodes: €0.192/hour × 730 × 3 = €420.48/month
• Azure Database PostgreSQL Flexible Server (E8ds_v4) Multi-AZ: €1.394/hour × 730 = €1,017.62/month
• Read replica: €0.697/hour × 730 = €508.81/month
• Blob Storage LRS 10 TB: €184.32/month
• Data transfer 10 TB: €810/month
• Load Balancer: €20.44 + usage = ~€45/month
• Total: €4,107.51/month

With 1-year Reserved (35% discount):

• Total: €2,843/month

Google Cloud Pricing (europe-west4):

• 4× n2-standard-8: €0.388/hour × 730 × 4 = €1,133.44/month
• GKE Standard: €0.10/hour × 730 = €73/month
• 3× n2-standard-4 for nodes: €0.194/hour × 730 × 3 = €424.86/month
• Cloud SQL PostgreSQL (db-n1-highmem-16) HA: €1.584/hour × 730 = €1,156.32/month
• Read replica: €0.792/hour × 730 = €578.16/month
• Cloud Storage 10 TB: €200/month
• Egress 10 TB: €950/month
• Load Balancer: €22.63 + usage = ~€48/month
• Total: €4,563.78/month

With 1-year CUD (38% discount):

• Total: €3,062/month

Winner: Azure (€2,843/month) is cheapest, AWS (€2,932/month) is 3% more expensive, GCP (€3,062/month) is 8% more expensive. For enterprise workloads, Azure’s pricing advantage becomes more pronounced.

Scenario 3: Data Analytics Workload

Requirements:

• Data warehouse with 10 TB storage
• Daily queries processing 1 TB data
• 5 TB object storage for data lake
• EU data center

AWS Pricing:

• Redshift ra3.4xlarge (2 nodes): €3.248/hour × 730 × 2 = €4,742.08/month
• S3 5 TB: €117.50/month
• Athena queries (1 TB/day × 30): €5/TB × 30 TB = €150/month
• Total: €5,009.58/month

Azure Pricing:

• Synapse Analytics DW1000c: €8.18/hour × 730 = €5,971.40/month
• Blob Storage 5 TB: €92.16/month
• Total: €6,063.56/month

Google Cloud Pricing:

• BigQuery storage 10 TB: €200/month
• BigQuery analysis (1 TB/day × 30): €5/TB × 30 TB = €150/month
• Cloud Storage 5 TB: €100/month
• Total: €450/month

Winner: Google Cloud by an enormous margin (91% cheaper than AWS, 93% cheaper than Azure). BigQuery’s serverless model and columnar storage are transformative for analytics workloads. This demonstrates the importance of choosing the right cloud for the right workload.

Pricing Insights for Dutch Companies

1. No Clear Overall Winner: Pricing varies significantly by workload. Azure tends to be 2-5% cheaper for traditional enterprise workloads. GCP is dramatically cheaper for analytics but more expensive for traditional compute.

2. Commitment Discounts: All three providers offer 30-40% discounts for 1-3 year commitments. For Dutch businesses with predictable workloads, these are essential for cost control.

3. Spot/Preemptible Instances: AWS Spot (up to 90% discount), Azure Spot (up to 90% discount), and GCP Preemptible VMs (up to 80% discount) offer massive savings for fault-tolerant workloads.

4. Egress Costs: Data transfer out is expensive on all platforms (€0.08-0.10/GB). Multi-cloud strategies are expensive due to egress fees. Dutch companies should consolidate workloads in a single cloud when possible.

5. Hidden Costs: AWS charges for some services (e.g., EKS control plane €73/month) that Azure/GCP don’t. Conversely, Azure charges for some features AWS includes free. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis is essential.

Compute Services Comparison

Virtual Machines

AWS EC2:

• Largest instance variety: 600+ instance types
• Best CPU options: Intel, AMD, AWS Graviton (ARM) - Graviton provides 40% better price/performance
• Flexible purchasing: On-Demand, Reserved, Savings Plans, Spot
• Best networking: Up to 400 Gbps, Elastic Network Adapter, placement groups
• Dutch benefit: Instance types launched in all EU regions quickly

Azure Virtual Machines:

• 300+ instance types
• CPU options: Intel, AMD, Ampere (ARM in preview)
• Hybrid: Azure Stack allows running Azure VMs on-premises
• Good networking: Up to 200 Gbps, Accelerated Networking
• Dutch benefit: Physical presence in Netherlands for ultra-low latency

Google Compute Engine:

• 150+ machine types
• CPU options: Intel, AMD, Tau T2A (ARM)
• Custom machine types: Specify exact vCPU/memory ratio
• Good networking: Up to 200 Gbps
• Dutch benefit: Eemshaven data center, excellent network infrastructure

Winner: AWS for variety and performance options. Azure for hybrid scenarios. GCP for custom machine flexibility.

Serverless Compute

AWS Lambda:

• Most mature: Launched 2014, largest ecosystem
• 1ms billing granularity
• 15-minute maximum runtime
• Support for 12 programming languages natively
• Best integration with other AWS services (EventBridge, Step Functions)
• Cold start: ~100-200ms for common runtimes
• Dutch benefit: Runs in all EU regions, including Ireland and Frankfurt

Azure Functions:

• Flexible plans: Consumption, Premium, Dedicated
• 1ms billing granularity
• 10-minute timeout (Consumption), unlimited (Premium/Dedicated)
• Excellent integration with Microsoft ecosystem
• Cold start: ~200-400ms
• Dutch benefit: Runs in Netherlands region

Google Cloud Functions/Cloud Run:

• Cloud Functions: Simple event-driven functions (9-minute timeout)
• Cloud Run: Container-based, any language/runtime (60-minute timeout)
• 100ms billing granularity (more expensive for short functions)
• Best cold start performance: ~50-100ms with minimum instances
• Dutch benefit: Runs in Netherlands (Eemshaven)

Winner: AWS Lambda for ecosystem maturity and integration. Azure Functions for Microsoft stack integration. Cloud Run for containers and flexibility.

Kubernetes

AWS EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service):

• Control plane: €0.10/hour (€73/month) per cluster
• Managed node groups, Fargate for serverless pods
• Good integration with AWS services (IAM, CloudWatch, ALB)
• Regular Kubernetes updates (usually 1-2 months behind upstream)
• Add-ons: EBS CSI driver, VPC CNI, CoreDNS managed

Azure AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service):

• Control plane: Free (huge cost advantage for many clusters)
• Excellent Azure integration (Active Directory, Azure Monitor, Azure Policy)
• Regular Kubernetes updates
• Strong hybrid story with Azure Arc
• Dutch benefit: Runs in Netherlands with excellent performance

Google GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine):

• Control plane: Free for Autopilot mode, €0.10/hour for Standard
• Best Kubernetes experience (Google created Kubernetes)
• Fastest Kubernetes updates (often same-day as upstream)
• Autopilot mode: Fully managed, only pay for pod resources
• Best-in-class: GKE is the gold standard for Kubernetes

Winner: GKE is the best Kubernetes service. AKS wins on cost (free control plane). EKS is solid but less differentiated.

Database Services Comparison

Relational Databases

AWS RDS/Aurora:

• Engines: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server
• Aurora: MySQL/PostgreSQL compatible, 3× faster, 1/10th cost of commercial databases
• Aurora Serverless v2: Auto-scales in seconds, pay per second
• Multi-AZ for HA, read replicas for scaling
• Automated backups, point-in-time recovery
• Aurora Global Database: Cross-region replication with <1 second latency
• Dutch context: Available in all EU regions

Azure SQL Database/PostgreSQL/MySQL:

• SQL Database: Managed SQL Server, unique features (elastic pools, hyperscale)
• Azure Database for PostgreSQL: Flexible Server with High Availability
• Azure Database for MySQL: Flexible Server
• Excellent Active Directory integration
• Hyperscale: Up to 100 TB databases
• Dutch context: Runs in Netherlands region

Google Cloud SQL/AlloyDB:

• Cloud SQL: PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server
• AlloyDB: PostgreSQL-compatible, 4× faster than standard PostgreSQL
• Good HA and replication
• AlloyDB AI: Built-in vector embeddings for ML
• Dutch context: Available in Netherlands (Eemshaven)

Winner: AWS Aurora for performance and features. Azure for Microsoft SQL Server workloads. Google AlloyDB is compelling for PostgreSQL + AI workloads.

NoSQL Databases

AWS DynamoDB:

• Key-value and document store
• Single-digit millisecond latency at any scale
• Pay-per-request or provisioned capacity
• Global Tables: Multi-region, active-active replication
• DynamoDB Streams for change data capture
• Best-in-class: Industry-proven at massive scale (Amazon.com uses it)

Azure Cosmos DB:

• Multi-model: Document, key-value, graph, column-family
• Globally distributed, 99.999% SLA
• Multiple consistency models
• Expensive but very powerful
• Unique feature: Change feed for real-time processing

Google Cloud Firestore/Bigtable:

• Firestore: Document database, excellent for mobile apps
• Bigtable: Wide-column store, HBase compatible, massive scale
• Bigtable powers Google Search, Maps, Gmail
• Great performance but less feature-rich than DynamoDB

Winner: AWS DynamoDB for most use cases. Cosmos DB for multi-model requirements. Bigtable for HBase migrations.

Machine Learning and AI Comparison

ML Platforms

AWS SageMaker:

• Complete ML lifecycle platform
• SageMaker Studio: Jupyter-based IDE
• SageMaker Canvas: No-code ML
• Built-in algorithms: 17 common algorithms pre-built
• Model training: Distributed training, automatic model tuning
• Model deployment: Real-time and batch inference, multi-model endpoints
• MLOps: SageMaker Pipelines, Model Registry, Model Monitor
• Features: 250+ ML capabilities
• Dutch benefit: Available in all EU regions

Azure Machine Learning:

• Comprehensive ML platform
• Azure ML Studio: Web-based IDE
• AutoML: Automated machine learning
• MLOps: Azure ML Pipelines, Model Registry
• Excellent integration with Azure ecosystem
• Designer: Drag-and-drop ML
• Dutch benefit: Runs in Netherlands

Google Vertex AI:

• Unified ML platform
• Vertex AI Workbench: Managed Jupyter notebooks
• AutoML: Best-in-class automated ML
• Pre-trained APIs: Vision, Natural Language, Translation (Google’s core strength)
• TensorFlow integration: Seamless (Google created TensorFlow)
• Vertex AI Pipelines: ML workflow orchestration
• Dutch benefit: Available in Netherlands

Winner: AWS SageMaker for breadth and enterprise features. Azure ML for Microsoft ecosystem integration. Google Vertex AI for TensorFlow and AutoML.

Generative AI

AWS Bedrock:

• Foundation models: Anthropic Claude, Meta Llama, Cohere, AI21 Labs, Stability AI
• Agents: Build autonomous AI agents
• Knowledge Bases: RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)
• Fine-tuning: Customize models with your data
• Guardrails: Control model behavior
• Recent launch (2023) but rapidly maturing

Azure OpenAI Service:

• Exclusive access to OpenAI models: GPT-4, GPT-3.5, DALL-E, Whisper, Codex
• Same models as ChatGPT but enterprise-ready
• Content filtering, abuse monitoring
• Enterprise features: VNet integration, private endpoints, managed identity
• Strong advantage: Only cloud provider with official OpenAI partnership

Google Cloud Vertex AI (Gemini):

• Gemini Pro/Ultra: Google’s latest foundation models
• PaLM 2: Large language model
• Imagen: Text-to-image
• Codey: Code generation
• Advantage: Google’s own AI research

Winner: Azure OpenAI Service for access to GPT-4. AWS Bedrock for model variety and customization. Google for proprietary Gemini models.

Ecosystem and Partner Network in Netherlands

AWS Partner Network in Netherlands

AWS has the most mature partner ecosystem in the Netherlands:

AWS Partners in Netherlands (200+ registered partners):

• Consulting Partners: Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini, Schuberg Philis, Innovalor, Xebia
• Technology Partners: Datadog, HashiCorp, MongoDB, Snowflake, Confluent
• Dutch ISVs: Many Dutch software companies have AWS-optimized versions

AWS Marketplace: 12,000+ software listings, easy procurement

AWS Training: AWS Training Partner program, extensive Dutch language training

Community: Active AWS User Groups in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht. AWS Summit Amsterdam annually.

Benefits for Dutch companies:

• Local expertise for migrations and implementations
• Dutch-language support from partners
• Proven case studies from similar Dutch companies
• Integration with Dutch software ecosystem

Azure Partner Network in Netherlands

Microsoft has strong enterprise presence in Netherlands:

Microsoft Partners in Netherlands (500+ gold partners):

• Strong in traditional enterprises
• Excellent for Microsoft technology stack
• Many longstanding Microsoft partners

Azure Marketplace: 10,000+ applications

Benefits:

• Deep Microsoft relationship
• Enterprise Agreement synergies
• Strong in regulated industries (banking, government)

Google Cloud Partner Network

Google Cloud has smaller but growing presence:

Google Cloud Partners: ~50 registered partners in Netherlands

• Growing ecosystem
• Strong in data analytics and ML

Google Cloud Marketplace: 2,000+ solutions

Benefits:

• Excellent for modern, cloud-native companies
• Strong in tech sector

Winner: AWS has the largest, most mature ecosystem in Netherlands. Azure strong in enterprise/Microsoft shops. GCP growing but smaller.

Support and Documentation in Dutch

AWS Support

Documentation:

• 90%+ in English only
• Some key services documented in Dutch
• AWS Console available in Dutch (beta)
• AWS Training in Dutch through partners

Support Plans:

• Basic: Free, community forums
• Developer: €29/month, business hours email support
• Business: €100/month or 10% of usage, 24/7 phone/chat
• Enterprise: €15,000/month or 10% of usage, Technical Account Manager

Dutch considerations:

• Most documentation in English (industry standard)
• Partner ecosystem provides Dutch support
• Growing Dutch language content

Azure Support

Documentation:

• Extensive Dutch documentation
• Azure Portal fully translated to Dutch
• Microsoft Learn in Dutch

Support Plans:

• Basic: Free
• Developer: €29/month
• Standard: €100/month
• Professional Direct: €1,000/month
• Premier: Custom pricing

Dutch considerations:

• Best Dutch language support
• Strong local Microsoft presence
• Enterprise Account Managers speak Dutch

Google Cloud Support

Documentation:

• Primarily English
• Limited Dutch content
• Console in Dutch (partial)

Support Plans:

• Basic: Free
• Standard: Starting at €150/month
• Enhanced: Starting at €500/month
• Premium: Custom

Dutch considerations:

• Least Dutch language support
• Growing local presence

Winner: Azure for Dutch language support. AWS adequate with partner support. GCP improving but still limited.

When to Choose Each Cloud Provider

Choose AWS When:

1. You need the broadest service portfolio: AWS’s 200+ services mean you can solve almost any problem without custom development.

2. Innovation velocity matters: 3,000+ annual feature launches mean cutting-edge capabilities.

3. You’re building greenfield applications: AWS’s modern services (Lambda, DynamoDB, Aurora) excel for new development.

4. You need proven scale: AWS powers Netflix, Amazon.com, and thousands of high-scale applications.

5. Partner ecosystem matters: The AWS Partner Network in Netherlands is unmatched.

6. Compliance and certifications: AWS has the most compliance certifications globally.

7. You want multi-region resilience: AWS’s 30+ regions worldwide enable robust DR strategies.

Example Dutch companies: Booking.com (partially on AWS), Adyen (AWS customer), many Amsterdam startups choose AWS as default.

Choose Azure When:

1. You’re heavily invested in Microsoft: Office 365, Azure AD, Dynamics 365, SharePoint integration is seamless.

2. You have Microsoft Enterprise Agreement: Leverage existing relationship and discounts.

3. Hybrid cloud is critical: Azure Stack, Azure Arc are best-in-class for hybrid scenarios.

4. You’re running Windows workloads: Windows Server, SQL Server licenses you already own.

5. You need Netherlands data residency with lowest latency: Physical presence in Amsterdam.

6. Enterprise governance is paramount: Azure Policy, Management Groups excel for large enterprises.

7. You want OpenAI/GPT-4 access: Azure OpenAI Service is unique.

Example Dutch companies: ING Bank (hybrid Azure), Philips (Azure for healthcare), Dutch government agencies (Azure).

Choose Google Cloud When:

1. Data analytics is core to your business: BigQuery is transformative.

2. You’re doing advanced ML/AI: Google’s AI research and TensorFlow integration are strong.

3. You’re building Kubernetes-native applications: GKE is the best Kubernetes experience.

4. You need cost-effective analytics: BigQuery’s pricing model is dramatically cheaper for analytics.

5. You’re in Netherlands and need low latency: Eemshaven data center.

6. You value simplicity: GCP’s UI and APIs are often simpler than AWS/Azure.

7. Open source is important: Google contributes heavily to Kubernetes, TensorFlow, etc.

Example Dutch companies: Coolblue (multi-cloud including GCP), Rijksmuseum (BigQuery for analytics), tech startups.

Multi-Cloud Strategy: Is It Right for You?

Multi-cloud is trendy but challenging. Here’s honest advice for Dutch companies:

Arguments For Multi-Cloud:

1. Avoid vendor lock-in: Theoretical flexibility to switch providers.
2. Best-of-breed services: Use AWS for compute, GCP for analytics, Azure for Microsoft integration.
3. Regulatory requirements: Some industries require data in multiple locations.
4. Disaster recovery: Multi-cloud provides additional resilience.

Arguments Against Multi-Cloud:

1. Increased complexity: Managing 2-3 clouds requires 2-3× the expertise.
2. Higher costs: Egress fees make data movement expensive. No bulk discounts.
3. Security challenges: More attack surface, more tools to secure.
4. Talent scarcity: Finding engineers expert in all three clouds is difficult.
5. Integration complexity: Data synchronization, identity management, networking become very complex.

Our Recommendation for Dutch Companies:

Single cloud for most companies: Choose one primary cloud (AWS for most, Azure for Microsoft shops, GCP for data-intensive) and go deep. The efficiency gains outweigh theoretical vendor lock-in risks.

Multi-cloud only when:

• You acquired a company using a different cloud (gradual migration recommended)
• Specific regulatory requirements mandate it
• You’re large enough (1,000+ employees) to have dedicated teams per cloud
• You’re using a specific best-of-breed service (e.g., using BigQuery alongside primary AWS infrastructure)

Avoid multi-cloud for:

• “Avoiding vendor lock-in” (the costs usually exceed benefits)
• Theoretical disaster recovery (better DR: multi-region within one cloud)
• Resume-driven development

Migration Strategies for Dutch Companies

Migrating from On-Premises to Cloud

The Dutch market has many companies with legacy on-premises infrastructure. Here’s how to approach migration to each cloud:

AWS Migration:

• AWS Migration Hub: Central place to track migrations
• AWS Application Discovery Service: Discover on-premises applications
• AWS Database Migration Service: Migrate databases with minimal downtime
• AWS Server Migration Service: Migrate VMs
• AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP): Funding and support
• Dutch partners: Schuberg Philis, Innovalor, Xebia specialize in AWS migrations

Azure Migration:

• Azure Migrate: Comprehensive migration platform
• Azure Site Recovery: VM replication and migration
• Azure Database Migration Service: Database migrations
• Azure Hybrid Benefit: Re-use existing Windows/SQL licenses
• FastTrack for Azure: Microsoft engineering support
• Dutch benefit: Leveraging existing Microsoft relationship

Google Cloud Migration:

• Migrate to Virtual Machines: Lift-and-shift migrations
• Database Migration Service: Migrate databases
• Transfer Appliance: Ship large datasets (petabytes) physically
• Smaller ecosystem of migration partners in Netherlands

7-R Migration Strategy

All three clouds support these migration patterns:

1. Rehost (Lift-and-shift): Move VMs as-is. Fastest migration.
2. Replatform (Lift-and-reshape): Minor optimizations (e.g., RDS instead of self-managed database).
3. Repurchase (Drop-and-shop): Move to SaaS (e.g., Salesforce instead of custom CRM).
4. Refactor/Re-architect: Rebuild for cloud-native (serverless, containers).
5. Retire: Decommission applications no longer needed.
6. Retain: Keep on-premises (for now).
7. Relocate: Hybrid (Azure Stack, AWS Outposts).

Recommendation: Start with Rehost for 70% of workloads (quick wins), Replatform for 20% (easy improvements), Refactor for 10% (strategic applications).

Real-World Dutch Company Scenarios

Scenario 1: Amsterdam Fintech Startup (30 employees)

Profile: Building payment processing platform, needs to scale rapidly, limited DevOps expertise.

Recommendation: AWS

• Why: Richest ecosystem of managed services (RDS, ElastiCache, Lambda) reduces operational burden. Strong compliance (PCI-DSS Level 1). Extensive startup support (AWS Activate credits). Proven at scale (Adyen uses AWS).
• Architecture: API Gateway + Lambda for APIs, Aurora PostgreSQL for transactions, DynamoDB for session state, Cognito for auth.
• Cost: ~€5,000/month initially, scaling to €50,000/month as they grow.

Scenario 2: Rotterdam Logistics Company (5,000 employees)

Profile: Traditional logistics company, heavy Microsoft user (Office 365, Active Directory), needs to modernize while maintaining hybrid infrastructure.

Recommendation: Azure

• Why: Seamless integration with existing Microsoft ecosystem. Azure AD integration reduces auth complexity. Azure Stack Hub for on-premises requirements (some systems can’t move to cloud). Hybrid Benefits reuse existing Windows/SQL licenses saving 40%.
• Architecture: Azure VMs for enterprise apps, Azure SQL Database, Azure AD, ExpressRoute for hybrid connectivity, Azure Stack Hub for edge locations.
• Cost: ~€200,000/month, but 30% savings vs AWS due to license reuse.

Scenario 3: Eindhoven IoT Manufacturer (500 employees)

Profile: Industrial IoT company producing sensors, massive time-series data (TB per day), ML for predictive maintenance.

Recommendation: AWS (with BigQuery for specific analytics)

• Why: AWS IoT Core for device connectivity, Timestream for time-series data, SageMaker for ML models. Could use BigQuery via data export for specific analytics queries (demonstrates valid multi-cloud use case).
• Architecture: IoT Core + Kinesis + Timestream + SageMaker, with nightly exports to GCS for BigQuery analysis.
• Cost: ~€80,000/month (mostly storage and ML inference).

Scenario 4: Utrecht Data Analytics Consultancy (50 employees)

Profile: Consultancy building analytics solutions for clients, needs powerful data warehouse, frequent large dataset queries.

Recommendation: Google Cloud (GCP)

• Why: BigQuery is dramatically better and cheaper for analytics workloads. Netherlands data center. Looker for BI. Vertex AI for ML.
• Architecture: BigQuery for data warehouse, Cloud Storage for data lake, Dataflow for ETL, Looker for dashboards, Vertex AI for ML models.
• Cost: ~€15,000/month (10× cheaper than equivalent on AWS/Azure).

Scenario 5: Nationwide Dutch Retailer (20,000 employees)

Profile: Large retailer, e-commerce platform, physical stores, omnichannel requirements, existing Oracle databases.

Recommendation: AWS (primary) with Azure (secondary for specific workloads)

• Why: AWS for e-commerce platform (proven with largest retailers globally). Aurora for most databases. Oracle RDS for legacy Oracle apps that can’t be migrated yet. Potential Azure for Office 365 integration in corporate IT.
• Architecture: Multi-AZ across eu-west-1 (Ireland) and eu-central-1 (Frankfurt). CloudFront for CDN. ECS Fargate for microservices. Aurora for product catalog. DynamoDB for shopping cart. Elasticsearch for search.
• Cost: ~€500,000/month.

Conclusion: Why AWS Leads for Most Dutch Companies

After deep analysis of services, pricing, ecosystem, and real-world implementations, AWS emerges as the best choice for most Dutch businesses in 2025:

AWS Advantages:

1. Broadest service portfolio: 200+ services solve more problems out-of-the-box.
2. Innovation leadership: 3,000+ annual feature launches drive competitive advantage.
3. Mature ecosystem: Largest partner network in Netherlands.
4. Proven scale: Powers world’s largest applications.
5. Multi-region flexibility: Best for resilient, global architectures.
6. Startup to enterprise: Scales with your company’s growth.

When Azure Wins:

• Deep Microsoft ecosystem investment
• Hybrid cloud requirements
• Windows/SQL Server workloads with existing licenses
• Netherlands-only latency-sensitive applications

When Google Cloud Wins:

• Data analytics is core business (BigQuery is transformational)
• Kubernetes-native applications
• Advanced ML/AI requirements
• Cost-optimized analytics workloads

For most Dutch companies starting cloud journey: AWS is the safe, comprehensive choice. Its breadth, maturity, and ecosystem provide the best foundation for digital transformation.

At Forrict, we specialize in AWS implementations for Dutch companies. Our team brings deep AWS expertise combined with understanding of the Dutch market, regulatory requirements (AVG/GDPR), and business culture. Whether you’re migrating legacy infrastructure, building new applications, or optimizing existing AWS deployments, we provide architecture, implementation, and ongoing support.

Contact us to discuss your cloud strategy and how AWS can accelerate your digital transformation.