Analysis of Cloud Provider Customer Spending: Key Insights and Market Implications

Cloud Adoption Trends

• Tipping Point Reached: Over 50% of enterprise and SMB workloads are now running on public clouds, according to Flexera’s 2025 report.
• Repatriation Limited: Only 21% of cloud workloads have been moved back to private data centers, with ongoing migration to the cloud still dominant.

Top Public Cloud Providers

• AWS: Leading with 79% respondents using it for running workloads.
• Microsoft Azure: Second at 77%, slightly ahead of AWS in enterprise spending.
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Third with 46% usage, highest among SMBs experimenting on its platform (20%).
• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI): Fourth with 27% usage.
• IBM Cloud: Fifth with 17% usage.

Spending Patterns

Monthly Spending Breakdown

• AWS:
  • 48% spend ≤ $200,000/month.
  • 17% spend between $1M-$5M+/month.
• Azure:
  • 50% spend ≤ $200,000/month.
  • 19% spend between $1M-$5M+/month.
• GCP:
  • 44% spend ≤ $200,000/month.
  • 7% spend between $1M-$5M+/month.
• Oracle:
  • 29% spend ≤ $200,000/month.
  • 3% spend between $1M-$5M+/month.
• IBM:
  • 24% spend ≤ $200,000/month.
  • 3% spend between $1M-$5M+/month.

Enterprise vs. SMB Spending

• Enterprises:
  • Azure leads with 22% spending $1M-$5M+/month.
  • AWS follows with 21% in the same tier.
• SMBs:
  • AWS dominates with 67% spending ≤ $200,000/month.
  • GCP sees growth, with 2% SMBs spending ≥$1M/month (up from 0% in 2024).

Discount Usage

• Overall: 96% of respondents use at least one cloud provider discount.
• Most Common Discounts:
  • Microsoft Enterprise Agreement: 45% usage.
  • Google Committed Use Discount: 44% usage.
  • AWS Reserved Instances: 42% usage.
  • AWS Enterprise Discount Program (EDP): 40% usage.
• Bespoke Negotiations: More common with Oracle (35%) and IBM (27%).

Hybrid Cloud and Multi-Cloud Strategies

• Adoption: 70% of respondents use hybrid cloud (public + private).
• Multi-Cloud Tools: Larger enterprises lead in multi-cloud tool usage.
• Steady State: Organizations prefer a mix of public and private clouds.

MSP Involvement

• Usage: 60% of respondents leverage Managed Service Providers (MSPs) for cloud management.
• Enterprises vs. SMBs:
  • Enterprises: 62% use MSPs.
  • SMBs: 48% use MSPs, up from 36% in 2024.

Long-Term Effects and Market Implications

• Growth Projection: Increasing cloud spending indicates sustained market growth.
• Provider Competition: AWS and Azure lead overall, but GCP gains traction among smaller spenders.
• Strategic Focus: Providers offering discounts and multi-cloud solutions are likely to gain competitive advantages.
• MSP Ecosystem: Growing reliance on MSPs suggests opportunities for partnerships and specialized services.

Regulatory and Cost Considerations

• Cost Management: High discount usage highlights cost sensitivity among organizations.
• Regulatory Impact: No direct mention, but ongoing cloud migration may influence future regulatory frameworks.