Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers deliver cloud-based IT infrastructure on demand, enabling customers to avoid the complications of managing their own cloud servers. Adoption in the IaaS market is growing – HG Insights has identified 2.1 million businesses buying IaaS, with a total value of $150 billion. Forecasts estimate that this number will grow to $201.81 billion by 2027.
We recently released the 5th annual HG Insights IaaS Market Report (previously the Intricately Cloud Hosting Report), which includes a deep analysis of global IaaS adoption, usage, and spend. Additionally, the report adds insights from G2’s IaaS provider rankings, combining their user satisfaction and market presence data with HG’s proprietary data on customer base size and spend.
We have analyzed the IaaS provider landscape and the top quadrant from the G2 Grid® – “Leaders” – and compared them to the top providers according to a number of HG data attributes.
Read on for more on the IaaS Leaders from G2 and download the free report here.
What are Infrastructure as a Service Providers?
IaaS is one of the three main cloud computing services provided by third party providers so customers can focus on their core business:
- Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) – Used to deliver cloud-hosted IT infrastructure for businesses in key areas like data storage, virtual machines (VMs), servers, networking resources, and high-performance computing (HCM)
- Platform as a service (Paas) – Provider-hosted hardware and software that is delivered as a cloud platform to the user for application development and deployment
- Software as a service (SaaS) – Delivers fully cloud-based software to customers via a web application
Companies use IaaS solutions for a number of reasons, from convenience and flexible scaling to low overhead and maintenance costs. While the customer remains responsible for their own operating system, data, and applications, an IaaS cloud computing provider manages the other infrastructure needs including the servers, network, load balancing, big data analytics, processing power, and data storage. The infrastructure can be accessed through a dashboard or application programming interface (API).
Key considerations when choosing an IaaS provider
According to G2, there are four top factors that positively affect user satisfaction for IaaS providers and can be a good starting point when evaluating options. These factors include:
- Public cloud (rather than private cloud)
- Has the product been a good partner in doing business?
- Virtual Machines (VMs)
- High-Performance Computing (HPC)
Other capabilities to look for in an IaaS provider include customizable solutions, a proven history of migration success, adequate support levels, and top-tier security.
How IaaS Providers Are Ranked By G2 and HG Insights
HG Insights’ 2023 Infrastructure as a Service Market Report discusses top IaaS providers based on a number of factors, including G2 ratings. For context, here is how both companies rank cloud services providers and IaaS sellers specifically:
HG Insights publishes a number of market reports each year focusing on cloud spend, adoption, and usage within the broader cloud landscape. In this report, leading IaaS providers were ranked based on both relative market share and growth of customer base since 2019.
“G2 scores products and sellers based on reviews gathered from our user community, as well as data aggregated from online sources and social networks. Together, these scores are mapped on our proprietary G2 Grid, which you can use to compare products, streamline the buying process, and quickly identify the best products based on the experiences of your peers.”
Top IaaS Providers According to G2 Ratings
The G2 Grid ranks IaaS providers on both user satisfaction and market presence, dividing them into four quadrants: Leaders, High Performers, Contenders, and Niche. Let’s briefly review the 11 IaaS companies named Leaders by G2:
1. Amazon EC2
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Compute Cloud, or AWS – EC2, is an IaaS offering providing resizable cloud computing capacity. AWS is the largest IaaS provider by far, capturing more than 50% of relative market share among the 10 largest providers.
G2 user rating: 4.6
HG Market Report: The AWS Ecosystem in 2022
2. Google Compute Engine
Compute Engine is Google Cloud Plaform’s IaaS offering that enables businesses to build and run cloud-based VMs.
G2 user rating: 4.4
HG Market Report: The Google Cloud Platform Ecosystem in 2023
3. DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean was rated the #1 Easiest To Use IaaS software by G2 users. The company’s services (including IaaS) skew heavily to the small business segment.
G2 user rating: 4.6
4. Azure Virtual Machines
Microsoft’s IaaS offer gives customers the flexibility of virtualization across a range of computing solutions. According to HG data, Azure captures more than 22% of relative market share among the 10 largest providers.
G2 user rating: 4.4
HG Market Report: The 2023 Microsoft Azure Ecosystem Report
5. Linode
Another popular option with small businesses, Linode (owned by Akamai) offers Linux virtual machines and a set of tools to develop and deploy applications.
G2 user rating: 4.5
6. IBM Cloud Pak for Data
IBM Cloud Pak® for Data is one of several IBM offerings on the G2 IaaS list (IBM Cloud Virtual Servers falls in the Contenders quadrant of the Grid and IBM Cloud Pak for Applications is in the Niche quadrant).
G2 user rating: 4.3
7. Vultr
Vultr is ranked #3 in terms of Easiest to Use IaaS software by G2 users. It is a favorite of both developers and small businesses and aims to be a cost-effective and locally accessible option for businesses around the world.
G2 user rating: 4.2
8. NetApp HCI
HCI is NetApps enterprise scale IaaS solution. It enables organizations to guarantee performance, run multiple applications, and deploy NetApp HCI across data centers.
G2 user rating: 4.4
9. VMware Cloud Director
While VMware receives a 4.2 rating from G2 users, it has the lowest number of reviews among the Leaders group, so there isn’t as much data on user experience. VMware vCloud Suite is used most by Mid-Market and Small Businesses.
G2 user rating: 4.2
10. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Another Linux server platform, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) enables business to deploy workloads on-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge.
G2 user rating: 4.5
11. Virtual Machine Manager
Offered by Synology, Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) allows businesses to run multiple VMs on network-attached storage (NAS) and allocate IT resources across multiple VMs.
G2 user rating: 4.5
For more information on the overall IaaS provider landscape and the High Performers, Contenders, and Niche companies, check out the G2 Grid.
Comparing the User Rating, Customer Base, and G2 Score for IaaS Companies
In the report, G2 rankings and user ratings were combined with proprietary HG customer count data to showcase the full picture of IaaS companies and their place in the market.
As you can see, rankings by G2 score (which is how businesses are placed on the Grid) don’t necessarily align precisely with the companies that have the largest customer base or highest user rating. The top 10 providers by relative market share (shown in the earlier chart) also have some differences from the list.
This illustrates the massive opportunity in the IaaS market for providers to win market share from competitors. DigitalOcean, for example, has one of the highest G2 user ratings and has plenty of space to win over customers from others in the market.
Download the 2023 Infrastructure as a Service Market Report
As shown by HG’s proprietary data and insights from the G2 Grid® and provider rankings, the IaaS landscape is brimming with opportunities for providers to capture market share with competitive offerings.
You’ve come to the right place for actionable IaaS insights, and to learn where the market is heading in 2023 and beyond. Be sure to read the full report below and contact our team for a demo of the powerful HG Insights platform.
Download the Report
Looking for more insights? See some of HG’s most popular market reports below:
