Google Cloud

About Google Cloud

Financials

Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.

Products by Google Cloud

All products by Google Cloud reviewed by our AI panel of experts.

Google Vertex AIMachine Learning Platforms

Build, deploy, and scale ML models on Google Cloud infrastructure

Free8.2/10

LookerAI Analytics

Governed BI platform with AI-powered conversational analytics on Google Cloud

Free7.6/10

How Our Review Panel Scores Google Cloud

Six independent reviewer personalities assessed Google Cloud's products on their own terms. They disagreed by 2.2 points — The Skeptic was the hardest to convince, The Decision Maker the most positive.

Averaged across 2 reviewed products in our catalog. Scores are out of 10.

Competitive Landscape

Who Google Cloud competes with, and how they differ.

Databricks8.4/10

Lakehouse-centric platform combining data engineering, ML, and analytics on open formats (Delta Lake), competing directly with Vertex AI for enterprise ML workloads but with a stronger multi-cloud, open-source orientation.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

Microsoft7.8/10

Power BI competes with Looker in BI/analytics, and Azure AI/Azure Machine Learning compete with Vertex AI, with tighter integration into the Microsoft 365 and Azure ecosystem versus Google's GCP-centric stack.

9 products reviewed on TopReviewed

Salesforce7.7/10

Tableau competes directly with Looker in enterprise BI and data visualization, emphasizing self-service analytics and a mature drag-and-drop interface rather than Looker's modeling-layer (LookML) approach.

2 products reviewed on TopReviewed

AWS8.3/10

SageMaker and Amazon QuickSight compete with Vertex AI and Looker respectively, offering a broader range of granular ML infrastructure services under AWS's larger cloud market share.

2 products reviewed on TopReviewed

W&B8.0/10

Focused specifically on experiment tracking and model management for ML engineers, a narrower and more developer-centric tool compared to Vertex AI's full managed platform breadth.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

Metabase8.2/10

Open-source, self-hosted BI tool aimed at smaller teams and simpler dashboarding needs, undercutting Looker on price and setup complexity but lacking enterprise governance depth.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

Company Timeline

Key milestones in Google Cloud's history, with sources.

1. Oct 23, 2025Partnership

   Anthropic expands Google Cloud TPU commitment in a deal worth tens of billions

   Anthropic secured access to up to 1 million Google TPUs and over a gigawatt of compute capacity coming online in 2026, Google Cloud's largest TPU commitment to date.

   networkworld.com
2. Dec 13, 2023Launch

   Gemini Pro launched on Vertex AI

   A week after unveiling its Gemini model family, Google made Gemini Pro available to enterprise developers on Vertex AI and in Google AI Studio.

   venturebeat.com
3. Oct 27, 2023Partnership

   Google commits up to $2B to Anthropic, deepening its AI cloud ties

   Google agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Anthropic ($500M upfront, $1.5B over time), building on an earlier $300M stake and a reported Google Cloud services contract.

   cnbc.com
4. Apr 25, 2023Milestone

   Google Cloud posts its first-ever quarterly operating profit

   Alphabet's Q1 2023 results showed Google Cloud generating $191M in operating income on $7.45B of revenue, its first profitable quarter after years of losses.

   cnbc.com
5. May 18, 2021Launch

   Vertex AI launched at Google I/O

   Google Cloud introduced Vertex AI, a unified managed machine-learning platform merging its AutoML and AI Platform tooling, claiming ~80% less code to train models than competing platforms.

   techcrunch.com
6. Feb 13, 2020Acquisition

   Google completes $2.6B acquisition of Looker

   Google Cloud closed its purchase of analytics firm Looker, its first major deal under CEO Thomas Kurian, to bolster BigQuery and business-intelligence offerings.

   techcrunch.com
7. Nov 16, 2018Milestone

   Thomas Kurian named to succeed Diane Greene as Google Cloud CEO

   Former Oracle president Thomas Kurian was named to take over Google Cloud leadership in early 2019, tasked with improving enterprise sales execution against AWS and Microsoft Azure.

   techcrunch.com
8. Nov 19, 2015Milestone

   Diane Greene hired to lead a newly unified Google Cloud business

   VMware co-founder Diane Greene joined Google (via its acquisition of her startup Bebop) to run a consolidated cloud division combining Google Cloud Platform, Google for Work and Google Apps.

   fortune.com
9. Dec 3, 2013Launch

   Google Compute Engine reaches general availability

   After 18 months in preview (announced at Google I/O 2012), Compute Engine opened to all customers with an SLA, expanded OS support and lower pricing, competing directly with AWS EC2.

   infoworld.com
10. Apr 7, 2008Launch

    Google App Engine launches in preview

    Google's first cloud computing service launched in limited preview for 10,000 developers, offering a hosted, auto-scaling application platform and predating the Google Cloud Platform brand.

    techcrunch.com