A cloud benchmark is a performance test—either synthetic or based on real applications—designed to evaluate the capabilities of cloud infrastructure. This includes testing compute power, memory bandwidth, disk input/output, and networking. These benchmarks are generally provider-neutral, enabling engineering teams to measure how their workloads respond to factors like scaling, variability, efficiency, and reliability.

Used during cloud migration planning, pre-deployment checks, or infrastructure assessments, benchmarks simulate real or synthetic workloads to reveal how systems perform under pressure and at scale. This process helps identify potential bottlenecks, performance limits, or design weaknesses early on.

Ultimately, cloud benchmarks equip teams with the data needed to make informed infrastructure decisions that align closely with application needs.

Cloud benchmarks provide the data organizations need to make informed choices about their cloud infrastructure. By measuring performance across different instance types, regions, and providers, benchmarks help optimize everything from cost efficiency to how applications behave under various conditions. This insight reduces risks like over-provisioning, underperformance, and vendor lock-in.

Beyond immediate comparisons, benchmarks shed light on the trade-offs between performance, scalability, and cost—guiding architectural decisions. As workloads and business needs evolve, benchmarks support ongoing optimization by establishing performance baselines for monitoring and anomaly detection. When integrated into CI/CD pipelines, they help teams catch regressions early and ensure infrastructure keeps pace with workload demands over time.

Grounding infrastructure strategy in measurable performance data, cloud benchmarks enable building systems that are faster, more resilient, and cost-conscious at scale.

• Google PerfKitBenchmarker:
• Ampere Performance Toolkit:
• SPEC Cloud