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Nearly One-Third of Developers are Turning to Alternative Cloud Providers, New Research from SlashData Finds

Hyperscalers and Alternative Cloud Providers: The Advantages of a Hybrid Public Cloud Model

Alternative cloud usage nearly doubles over the past four years, as multicloud becomes prevailing approach for cloud computing infrastructure

PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY 31, 2022 — Developers increasingly rely on multiple cloud providers for their infrastructure needs. That’s the finding from research conducted by SlashData. The 21st edition of the global Developer Nation survey, which asked nearly 3,500 backend services developers which providers they turn to for their cloud infrastructure, found that one out of every four respondents (27%) uses an alternative cloud provider like Linode, DigitalOcean, or OVHcloud. The survey results also found that usage of alternative cloud providers has nearly doubled over the past four years, a period in which usage of the three largest hyperscalers, AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), only grew by 18%.

As the cloud market continues to boom — Gartner predicts global cloud revenue to total $474 billion in 2022 — more organizations are seeking out cloud providers that cater to their specific needs, beyond the complex and costly offerings of the big three hyperscalers. In fact, SlashData’s latest research found that while half (51%) of developers stated that AWS, Microsoft Azure, and GCP served as their primary service provider, the majority (78%) of respondents use more than one provider for cloud services.

“Developers and businesses are craving simpler, more affordable, and more reliable cloud services,” said Blair Lyon, vice president of cloud experience at Linode. “We’re seeing tremendous growth of multicloud approaches as organizations look for the best provider fit to solve their specific challenges. This trend will only continue to gain momentum as multicloud becomes the prevailing cloud strategy for businesses.”

A recent report from 451 Research found that large hyperscale providers are not always ideal for all cloud use cases — and that alternative cloud providers are increasingly bridging the gap for use cases that previously went overlooked or underserviced, including for small businesses and independent developers. In addition, a 2021 survey of devops professionals by Techstrong Group (formerly Accelerated Strategies Group) found alternative cloud providers were used by one-third of those survey respondents.

“Since we began tracking this category over the past few years, developers have increasingly turned to alternative cloud providers for their infrastructure needs,” said Konstantinos Korakitis, Director of Research at SlashData. 

The 22nd edition of the Developer Nation survey is currently live, so if you are a developer anywhere in the world, you can share your input here.

About Linode

Linode accelerates innovation by making cloud computing simple, accessible, and affordable to all. Founded in 2003, Linode helped pioneer the cloud computing industry and is today the largest independent open cloud provider in the world. Linode empowers more than a million developers, startups, and businesses across its global network of 11 data centers.