AWS vs. GCP Security: Feature-by-Feature Comparison for Startups

AWS vs. GCP Security: The Honest Comparison

Both AWS and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) are excellent security choices — both significantly outperform self-hosted infrastructure. The choice between them isn't usually "which is more secure" in absolute terms, but "which security model fits our architecture, compliance requirements, and team expertise."

This comparison focuses specifically on security features relevant to startups building SOC 2-compliant, Zero Trust-aligned applications.

Quick Summary

| Security Domain | AWS | GCP | Edge | |---|---|---|---| | IAM Flexibility | Extremely granular | Simpler, opinionated | AWS (more granular) | | Default Security Posture | Permissive defaults | More secure defaults | GCP | | Encryption at Rest | Opt-in (on by default for most services) | On by default for all services | GCP | | Threat Detection | GuardDuty | Security Command Center | Tie | | Network Security | Security Groups + NACLs + WAF | Firewall Rules + Cloud Armor | Tie | | Compliance Certifications | 143+ | 120+ | AWS (more) | | Secret Management | Secrets Manager | Secret Manager | Tie | | Zero Trust Features | IAM + VPC + PrivateLink | BeyondCorp + VPC SC | GCP (Zero Trust-native) | | Audit Logging | CloudTrail | Cloud Audit Logs | Tie | | DDoS Protection | Shield (Standard free, Advanced $3K/mo) | Cloud Armor (usage-based) | Depends on scale |

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

AWS IAM

AWS IAM is the most powerful and flexible cloud IAM system — and the most complex. Key features:

Users, Groups, Roles, Policies — Fine-grained permissions at every resource level
Service Control Policies (SCPs) — Org-level guardrails that override even admin permissions
IAM Roles Anywhere — Extend IAM to on-premises workloads
AWS SSO (IAM Identity Center) — Federated access across accounts
Cross-account roles — Secure access sharing between AWS accounts
Resource-based policies — Permissions attached directly to resources (S3, KMS, etc.)

Tradeoff: AWS IAM's power comes with complexity. Misconfigured IAM is the #1 cause of AWS security incidents. The blast radius of a misconfiguration can be enormous.

GCP IAM

GCP IAM is more opinionated and simpler to reason about:

Primitive, Predefined, and Custom roles — Less freeform than AWS, but easier to audit
Organization policies — Org-level constraints that prevent misconfigurations (e.g., prevent public GCS buckets)
Workload Identity Federation — Keyless auth for CI/CD and external workloads
VPC Service Controls — Create security perimeters around GCP resources to prevent data exfiltration
Cloud Identity — Managed directory service with device context

Tradeoff: GCP IAM is easier to reason about and harder to misconfigure badly. Less flexible for complex multi-account architectures.

Verdict: AWS wins on flexibility; GCP wins on simplicity and secure defaults. For DevSecOps teams enforcing least privilege, GCP's opinionated model reduces configuration surface area.

Encryption

AWS Encryption

At rest: Not all services encrypt by default — requires explicit configuration
KMS: AWS Key Management Service for customer-managed keys (CMK)
CloudHSM: Dedicated HSM for regulatory requirements
S3 default encryption: Enabled by default (SSE-S3) but other methods require config

GCP Encryption

At rest: All data encrypted by default using Google-managed keys — no configuration required
CMEK: Customer-managed encryption keys (Cloud KMS)
Cloud EKM: External key management — keep keys outside Google
Confidential Computing: Encrypted data in use (not just at rest/transit)

Verdict: GCP wins on encryption defaults. "Secure by default" means fewer configuration mistakes. GCP's Confidential Computing for encrypted data in use is genuinely ahead.

Threat Detection and Security Monitoring

AWS: Amazon GuardDuty

Intelligent threat detection using ML + threat intelligence
Analyzes CloudTrail, VPC Flow Logs, DNS logs
Detects: compromised credentials, cryptocurrency mining, unusual API calls, data exfiltration
Pricing: Based on data volume (typically $1K–$5K/month for mid-size workloads)

AWS: Amazon Macie

Discovers and protects sensitive data in S3
PII detection, encryption status, access patterns
Relevant for compliance with SOC 2 and privacy regulations

GCP: Security Command Center (SCC)

Centralized security and risk management platform
Asset inventory, vulnerability scanning, threat detection
Built-in integration with Chronicle (Google's SIEM)
Detects: misconfigurations, anomalous IAM activity, known malware hashes

GCP: Chronicle SIEM

Petabyte-scale security analytics
12 months of hot log retention (vs. CloudTrail's 90 days default)
Backed by Google's threat intelligence (VirusTotal)

Verdict: Tie. GuardDuty has more mature ML-based detection; Chronicle has better log retention and analytics scale. Both provide excellent threat detection for compliance purposes.

Network Security

AWS Network Security

Security Groups: Stateful firewall at the instance level
NACLs: Stateless firewall at the subnet level
AWS WAF: Layer 7 protection against OWASP Top 10
AWS Shield: DDoS protection (Standard free, Advanced $3K/month)
PrivateLink: Private connectivity to services without internet exposure
VPC Flow Logs: Network traffic monitoring

GCP Network Security

Firewall Rules: VPC-level, more flexible than Security Groups
Cloud Armor: WAF + DDoS protection (usage-based, no monthly minimum)
Hierarchical Firewall Policies: Org-level rules applied before VPC rules
Private Service Connect: Private connectivity (equivalent to PrivateLink)
VPC Service Controls: Data perimeter — prevents data exfiltration even via API calls
Network Intelligence Center: Traffic analysis and flow visualization

Verdict: GCP's VPC Service Controls are a significant security differentiator — they enforce data perimeters that AWS doesn't natively match. For enterprises with strict data residency requirements, this matters.

Compliance Certifications

AWS Certifications (143+)

Key certifications: SOC 1/2/3, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, PCI DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP High, GDPR, CSA STAR, IRAP (Australia), MTCS (Singapore), and many more.

GCP Certifications (120+)

Key certifications: SOC 1/2/3, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, PCI DSS, HIPAA, FedRAMP High, GDPR, CSA STAR, and regional certifications.

Verdict: AWS has more total certifications and a longer track record in regulated industries (government, financial services, healthcare). GCP is catching up rapidly and covers all major international standards.

Zero Trust and Modern Security Architecture

AWS Zero Trust Approach

AWS doesn't use the term "Zero Trust" officially but enables it through:

IAM granularity + SCP guardrails
VPC + PrivateLink for network isolation
AWS Verified Access (ZTNA for corporate applications)
Amazon Verified Permissions (Cedar policy engine)

GCP Zero Trust: BeyondCorp Enterprise

GCP is the only hyperscaler that built its internal security model (BeyondCorp) as a product available to customers. Key features:

Context-aware access based on user identity, device health, location
Application-level access without VPN
Native integration with Chrome browser for device trust
IAP (Identity-Aware Proxy) for zero-trust application access

Verdict: GCP wins on Zero Trust. BeyondCorp is the original Zero Trust implementation, and GCP's native product advantage here is real. For teams building Zero Trust architecture, GCP's tooling is more mature and opinionated.

Startup Recommendation

Choose AWS if:

Your enterprise customers or regulated industry partners require it (many large banks and government agencies have AWS-first policies)
You're pursuing FedRAMP or DoD compliance
You need the broadest ecosystem of third-party security tools and integrations
Your engineering team has deep AWS expertise

Choose GCP if:

Security-by-default and reduced misconfiguration risk is your priority
You're building ML/AI features alongside security-sensitive workloads (GCP's AI/ML tooling + BigQuery + Security is a natural combination)
Zero Trust is a core architectural requirement from day one
You prefer simpler IAM and fewer foot-guns

The Real Answer

Most enterprise customers accept both. Architect for security principles (Zero Trust, least privilege, encryption everywhere) rather than cloud-specific features, and your compliance posture will be strong on either platform.

How 100x Helps

100x Engineering builds security-first cloud infrastructure on both AWS and GCP:

DevSecOps pipelines with cloud-native security integrations
Zero Trust architecture using AWS IAM/Verified Access or GCP BeyondCorp
VAPT-ready infrastructure with security controls that pass penetration testing
SOC 2-aligned configuration with automated evidence collection

We're cloud-agnostic and build to your compliance and architecture requirements.