33 Ultimate Cloud Computing Statistics to Know Today

Cloud computing seems like a complicated thing, but chances are you’re using it daily. This service has been around for a while, and cloud computing statistics show many businesses enjoy its benefits.

Still, you might confuse cloud computing with hosting. The main difference is that traditional hosting stores files on a server. With cloud computing, users get way more services besides hosting, which is done in a virtual space – think Google Drive or Dropbox.

Currently, cloud computing is one of the hottest trends among industries, and according to numbers, its market can only expand.

Cloud Computing Facts (Editor’s Choice)

  • Amazon is the leading provider of cloud services with a market share of 32% in Q1 2021.
  • A total of 94% of all enterprises use cloud computing services.
  • North America dominated the global cloud computing market with a share of 40% in 2020.
  • In 2020, the prices of cloud services jumped from 25% to 50%.
  • End-user spending on cloud services could reach $482 billion in 2022.
  • About 84% of organizations claim traditional security solutions don’t work in a cloud environment.
  • By 2025, over 100 zettabytes will be stored on the cloud.
  • Google Drive is the most used cloud storage service globally.

Cloud Computing Growth 

Cloud computing became the preferred method of storing data and accessing tools and files online. Additionally, the rise of the pandemic forced businesses to shift online, causing the need for a better online environment. With Amazon being the best cloud computing company, the market will see the numbers grow.

1. The global cloud computing market hit $274.79 billion in 2020.

(Source: Grand View Research)

In 2020, the global cloud computing market size reached $274.79 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.1% from 2021 to 2028. In addition, the beginnings of artificial intelligence and machine learning will also positively affect the cloud computing market.

2. The cloud computing market accelerated the demand in Q3 2020.

(Source: Grand View Research)

Since the beginning of the pandemic, businesses realized they must find better solutions to manage their operations. According to the data on the growth of cloud computing, this service emerged as an ideal tool to help businesses migrate workloads and surpass COVID-19 restrictions. This led to increased demand in Q3 2020.

3. Software as a Service accounted for 54% of the market share in 2020.

(Source: Grand View Research)

When it comes to segments, Software as a Service (SaaS) accounted for the largest revenue share, surpassing 54% in 2020. Based on the cloud computing market share numbers, the high demand for SaaS is attributed to its flexible costs and easy maintenance and deployment.

4. The private deployment segment reached 45% of the market share in 2020.

(Source: Grand View Research)

Deployment insights show that the private deployment segment accounted for the highest market share of over 45%. Private cloud computing offers services on a private network and is only available to a handful of users.

5. Amazon is the leading provider of cloud services with a market share of 32% in Q1 2021.

(Source: Statista)

Huge cloud provider market share belongs to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon established itself as an early leader in the industry. At the moment, AWS holds 32% of the market share, which is more than the combined share of Microsoft and Google.

6. North America dominated the global cloud computing market with a share of 40% in 2020.

(Source: Grand View Research)

Regionally, North America dominated the global market with a share of 40% in 2020. Multiple IT companies helped the region keep first place. However, cloud computing growth statistics show that the Asia Pacific is also emerging as a crucial region for the cloud computing industry.

7. Global spending on the cloud will more than double by 2023.

(Source: HostingPill)

Forecasts show that the cloud computing market will more than double its size by 2023 and reach $623 billion. The global spending on this service will also see high digits and possibly reach $500 billion in 2023.

Current trends show cloud computing brings multiple benefits to organizations. However, since the pandemic, many businesses have seen a rise in the costs of cloud computing, which makes them optimize spending.

8. A total of 94% of all enterprises use cloud computing services.

(Source: SG Analytics)

Currently, 94% of enterprises already use some cloud computing services. Cloud computing has become highly important for business in recent years. Cloud computing stats also show that companies actively implement this technology.

9. In addition, cloud data centers processed 94% of all workloads in 2021.

(Source: Cloudwards)

Data shows that cloud data centers processed about 94% of all workloads in 2021. Saas processes accounted for 75% of the total workload. This shows that non-cloud data centers will soon remain behind the cloud solutions.

10. Salesforce is the largest SaaS company in the US.

(Source: Cloudwards)

Salesforce is among the biggest cloud computing companies in the US, with a market cap of $200 billion. Zoom is also pretty close, with a cap of $90 billion.

11. In 2020, the prices of cloud services jumped from 25% to 50%.

(Source: Help Net Security)

With the arrival of the pandemic, cloud computing costs skyrocketed since businesses were looking to support a remote workforce. About 30% of organizations saw a 25% to 50% increase in the cost of cloud computing services. Almost 20% saw a 50% to 100% jump in price month-to-month, during a six-month period.

12. A total of 61% of organizations planned to optimize cloud costs in 2021.

(Source: Cloudwards)

The rise in costs might be why 61% of organizations planned to optimize their cloud spending in 2021. A total of 76% planned to measure their cloud progress, calculate the cost efficiency and the savings they made, cloud cost savings statistics show.

13. End-user spending on cloud services could reach $482 billion in 2022.

(Source: Gartner)

By 2022, end-user spending on cloud services is forecasted to reach $482 billion. Additionally, by 2026, the public global cloud spending will surpass 45% of all enterprise IT spending.

14. The number of cloud computing apps has tripled since 2013.

(Source: Findstack)

The global number of cloud computing apps has tripled since 2013, cloud computing market growth data shows. Starting from 545 to now reaching 1,427 different services, cloud computing apps show no signs of stopping.

15. There are five billion cloud users.

(Source: FinancesOnline)

At the moment, about five billion people use cloud services to store data from their devices. Additionally, gaming is one of the best things people experience on the cloud. Therefore, the cloud gaming service industry will also drastically grow in the future. 

Cloud Security Statistics

Every system can have flaws, and cloud computing is not ideal either. A high percentage of experts are worried about cloud security since it’s easy to misconfigure cloud settings and leave the back door open for attackers.

16. A total of 84% of IT professionals are worried about cloud security.

(Source: ITSecurityWire)

Cloud computing security is a concern for 84% of IT experts. They’re especially worried about being hacked and not noticing it. Cloud computing technology trends show that the configuration of these services makes exploits hard to detect.

17. In addition, 75% of enterprises are worried about cloud security.

(Source: FinancesOnline)

Additionally, 75% of enterprises are either very concerned or extremely concerned about their security on the cloud. Cloud security is also one of the top three challenges for enterprises.

18. What’s more, 70% of organizations that use the public cloud suffered a security incident.

(Source: Sophos)

Based on the cloud computing security statistics, 70% of organizations that use public cloud services suffered a security incident in the last year. Multi-cloud organizations reported up to twice as many incidents compared to single-platform users.

19. Approximately 66% of organizations have their back doors opened because of misconfigured cloud services.

(Source: Sophos)

In addition, 66% of organizations leave their back doors open because of misconfigured cloud services. Based on the cloud computing hacking statistics, this is one of the paths hackers can use to gain access to data.

20. About 84% of organizations claim traditional security solutions don’t work in a cloud environment.

(Source: RedLock)

Unfortunately, traditional security solutions don’t work in a cloud environment, according to 84% of organizations. Only 16% of organizations reported success in using these methods to stay safe in the cloud environment, cloud computing usage statistics point out.

21. In 2021, 64% of organizations stated data loss and leakage is their biggest cloud security concern.

(Source: Statista)

In 2021, 64% of organizations stated their biggest concern when using the cloud service is data loss and leakage. Additionally, data privacy, confidentiality, and exposure of credentials are also among the top three concerns. Fraud, performance, and having to adopt new security tools were the least troublesome aspects.

Cool Facts About Cloud Computing

Cloud computing will soon store hundreds of zettabytes of data, and Google Drive will likely remain the top used cloud service globally. Here’s what the numbers say.

22. Citadel is the largest data center in the world, covering 1.3 million square feet.

(Source: Cloudwards)

The largest data center in the world is named the Citadel. It’s located in Tahoe Reno, Nevada and its largest building covers 1.3 million square feet. According to cloud computing facts, the full campus has eight data centers and covers 7.2 million square feet.

23. By 2025, over 100 zettabytes will be stored in the cloud.

(Source: Cloudwards)

Some estimates show that by 2025, there will be 100 zettabytes of data stored in the cloud. In the same year, there will be around 200 zettabytes of data in total, meaning about half will be on the cloud.

24. Google Drive is the most used cloud storage service globally.

(Source: Cloudwards)

Cloud storage statistics show that Google Drive is the most used cloud storage globally, with 94.44% of users. Dropbox is second, with 66.2%, and it’s known as the best cloud storage for collaboration.

25. Additionally, Google Drive surpassed one billion users in 2018.

(Sources: Cloudwards; HelloLeads)

What’s more, Google Drive also surpassed one billion users in 2018. Google Drive also has over 1,000 organizations that use its services.

Cloud Adoption by Industry 

Manufacturing is just one of the industries that will reap the benefits of cloud computing. The cloud will find its place in healthcare, education, financial services, and many more key areas.

26. Based on the forecasts, by 2025, a total of 30% of the business workload will reside in the cloud.

(Source: FinancesOnline)

By 2025, many IT experts claim that 30% of the business workload will be in the private cloud. Another 28% will be in the public cloud. Cloud adoption stats show that in the next five years, 95% of the workload will be on the cloud in total.

27. About 60% of businesses plan to use cloud technology in the next 18 months.

(Source: Findstack)

A total of 60% of businesses plan to use cloud technology in the next 18 months. Currently, about 45% of organizations use cloud infrastructures.

28. Manufacturing planned to spend $20 billion on cloud computing in 2021.

(Source: Findstack)

Based on the cloud adoption statistics, manufacturing is among the most prominent industries that will spend the most on cloud computing, an estimated $20 billion. The professional services industry will invest $18 billion and the banking industry $16 billion.

29. A total of 90% of experts believe cloud computing will improve the banking industry.

(Source: V2Soft)

Regarding the banking industry, about 90% of experts believe cloud computing would bring benefits. In addition, cloud computing adoption statistics show that cloud computing will primarily bring new ways of payment to this sector.

30. Additional 70% believe cloud computing will become important in the retail sector.

(Source: V2Soft)

The retail sector will also benefit from cloud computing, according to 70% of experts in the industry. Cloud computing makes retail more customer-friendly. Cloud computing is a cost-effective solution and allows scalability that supports the needs of retailers.

31. The market size of cloud computing in healthcare might reach $55 billion by 2025.

(Source: VEXXHOST)

Cloud computing statistics further show that the healthcare industry will also use cloud computing. By 2025, the market size of cloud in healthcare could hit $55 billion. The compound annual growth rate of the global healthcare cloud computing market will be 15%.

32. Cloud computing in the automotive industry will hit $9.62 billion by 2025.

(Source: GlobeNewswire)

When it comes to the automotive industry, the cloud computing market will reach $9.62 billion by 2025. The market growth will occur due to cost-efficient cloud services, growth in data generation, and the need for a customer-centric approach based on cloud usage statistics.

33. Cloud computing is forecast to have a 25.4% CAGR in the education sector by 2027.

(Source: VEXXHOST)

By 2027, the cloud computing market in the education industry will have a CAGR of 25.4%. Virtual classrooms, e-learning, virtual training labs, and lower software and hardware costs will lead the market growth.

Conclusion

Even though cloud computing seems complicated, cloud computing statistics show that many global organizations have already decided to use it for data storage, hosting, and more. This will lead to the growth of the cloud computing market.

Still, cloud computing could have some security flaws. Setting up the cloud environment might be challenging, and just one mistake could leave an organization vulnerable to attacks. At the same time, this is one of the main concerns for those who think about using cloud services.

FAQ

Many companies offer cloud storage services, and both individuals and businesses use the cloud. This is why it’s hard to determine the amount of data stored in the cloud.

According to some data, about 50% of all corporate data was stored in the cloud in 2021. By 2025, this percentage could remain the same, while the amount of data will increase.

There are five billion cloud users out there. Many people use cloud services for gaming while others store data and files from their devices. Google Drive is the most commonly used cloud service, with more than one billion users as of 2018.

In addition, end-user spending on cloud services will reach $482 billion by 2022 as more people get their data on the cloud.

The IT industry is one of the fastest-growing industries globally. At the moment, IT is witnessing massive changes coming from the adoption of the latest technologies such as AI, machine learning, and cloud computing.

Based on the latest data, cloud computing is a powerful, cost-effective, scalable, and highly beneficial service for organizations and individuals. This is why it’s safe to say that cloud computing is definitely a growing field.

Cloud computing is advertised as a cost-effective solution for businesses. However, the most recent numbers show that 36% of enterprises pay more than $12 million annually. Still, the majority of organizations pay about $1.2 million.

Unfortunately, the pandemic caused a change in cloud computing costs, as the numbers increased drastically. About 30% of organizations saw a 25% to 50% increase, and about 20% saw a 50% to 100% jump in costs during a six-month period.

No system is perfect, and cloud computing has some disadvantages as well. Some of the common risks that come with using the cloud include data loss or theft, account or service hijacking, DDoS attacks, and similar.

Additionally, outages are common and can happen at any moment since the cloud is solely based on the internet. There’s also an issue of limited control since all services are owned, managed, and monitored by the service provider.

The global cloud computing market hit $274.79 in 2020. Based on the forecasts, it’s expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.1% from 2021 to 2028. Additionally, end-user spending will reach $482 billion by 2022. 

Cloud computing services will expand to multiple industries, including manufacturing, retail, banking, healthcare, education, and others, according to cloud computing statistics.