Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · Workflow Orchestration Software

AWS Step Functions vs Google Cloud Workflows

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 6 checks side by side
Higher score AWS Step Functions #1 in Workflow Orchestration Software 9.3/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit site
Google Cloud Workflows #7 in Workflow Orchestration Software 8.9/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 5 features Visit Google Cloud

AWS Step Functions leads on 1 check, Google Cloud Workflows on 0, and 5 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 6 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreAWS Step Functions · 9.3/10
  • Free planboth
  • Most featuresAWS Step Functions · 5 of 5

AWS Step Functions scores higher on our rubric for workflow orchestration software: 9.3 against 8.9 out of 10; our editors rank them #1 and #7.

AWS Step Functions offers visual workflow builder; Google Cloud Workflows doesn't.

AWS Step Functions is the better fit for AWS-native cloud orchestration. Google Cloud Workflows is the better fit for google Cloud service orchestration.

  • AWS Step Functions fits best

    AWS-native cloud orchestration

  • Google Cloud Workflows fits best

    Google Cloud service orchestration

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature AWS Step Functions 9.3/10 Visit ↗ Google Cloud Workflows 8.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.3 8.9
Ranking #1 in Workflow Orchestration Software #7 in Workflow Orchestration Software
Best for AWS-native cloud orchestration Google Cloud service orchestration
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price $1/unit usage-based $0.01/unit/mo
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud Cloud
Platforms Web Web
Support Docs Docs
Integrations 220+ integrations 16 integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features AWS Step Functions 5/5 · Google Cloud Workflows 4/5
Visual workflow builder ✓ (best) —
Event triggers ✓ ✓
Automatic retries ✓ ✓
Execution observability ✓ ✓
Human approvals ✓ ✓
Specs
Deployment model Cloud Cloud
Our review
Pros
  • Visual state-machine design with branching, parallelism, retries, and approvals
  • Deep integrations across AWS services and HTTPS endpoints
  • Execution history, visual debugging, and CloudWatch Logs integration
  • Ordered steps, branching, parallel execution, retries, and callbacks
  • Eventarc triggers plus connectors for major Google Cloud products
  • Step-level execution history, Cloud Logging, and Cloud Monitoring metrics
Cons
  • Cloud deployment model limits use outside AWS-hosted environments
  • Standard Workflows charge for state transitions, including retries
  • Express Workflows target executions lasting up to five minutes
  • Cloud-only deployment limits portability across environments
  • Google Cloud-centric integrations may not suit multi-cloud teams
  • YAML or JSON authoring lacks a visual workflow builder
Our verdict

AWS Step Functions is a managed workflow orchestration service for coordinating distributed applications, microservices, data-processing jobs, machine-learning pipelines, and IT automation. It suits teams building on AWS that need visual…

Read the review →

Google Cloud Workflows is a fully managed orchestration service for defining and executing sequences across Google Cloud services, custom services, and HTTP APIs. It suits teams coordinating serverless applications, automated processes, IT…

Read the review →
  1. AWS Step FunctionsWorkflow Orchestration Software 9.3Free plan
  2. Google Cloud WorkflowsWorkflow Orchestration Software 8.9Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • AWS Step Functions — where it wins

    • Visual state-machine design with branching, parallelism, retries, and approvals
    • Deep integrations across AWS services and HTTPS endpoints
    • Execution history, visual debugging, and CloudWatch Logs integration

    Where it doesn't

    • Cloud deployment model limits use outside AWS-hosted environments
    • Standard Workflows charge for state transitions, including retries
    • Express Workflows target executions lasting up to five minutes

  • Google Cloud Workflows — where it wins

    • Ordered steps, branching, parallel execution, retries, and callbacks
    • Eventarc triggers plus connectors for major Google Cloud products
    • Step-level execution history, Cloud Logging, and Cloud Monitoring metrics

    Where it doesn't

    • Cloud-only deployment limits portability across environments
    • Google Cloud-centric integrations may not suit multi-cloud teams
    • YAML or JSON authoring lacks a visual workflow builder
  • AWS Step Functions9.3/10 · Free plan

    A strong AWS-native choice for state-machine orchestration and event-driven automation.

    Visit siteFull verdict →
  • Google Cloud Workflows8.9/10 · Free plan

    A low-cost managed workflow engine for coordinating Google Cloud services and APIs.

    Visit Google CloudFull verdict →

More comparisons

All workflow orchestration software comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update