Google Cloud has been named a Leader in Forrester's Public Cloud Platforms assessment and received the highest score in the current offering category.
Forrester examined 10 public cloud providers against 30 criteria and awarded Google Cloud the highest possible score in 23. Those areas included vision, innovation, AI development services, database services, analytics services, containers and Kubernetes services, modernisation services, and security services.
The assessment described Google Cloud as well suited to companies seeking rapid technology change and a broad AI-enabled cloud platform. It added that AI already runs through the platform, positioning the business to move closer to end users within enterprises.
"Google Cloud's vision is to enable the 'agentic enterprise,' and AI already permeates its platform, positioning the company to push further up the tech stack toward business users who increasingly shape AI adoption in the enterprise. Google Cloud is a good fit for enterprises seeking rapid technology innovation and a broad AI-enabled cloud platform."
The ranking comes as large cloud providers compete to show they can support AI agents alongside more conventional enterprise workloads. Google Cloud has argued that businesses do not want separate infrastructure for newer applications and instead need tools that sit on the same platforms already used for databases, microservices, and other software.
Platform focus
Part of that case rests on Kubernetes, the container orchestration system first developed at Google and now widely used across the industry. Forrester gave Google Cloud the highest possible scores in container and Kubernetes services, serverless functions, and operations management services.
The report highlighted strength in operations management as well as containers and Kubernetes services, and did not identify significant gaps in those areas.
"Operators will find strong offerings in operations management as well as containers and Kubernetes services. Our evaluation did not identify significant capability gaps."
Google Cloud recently added several features aimed at running agent-based software with more predictable costs and controls. They include sandboxing tools for running untrusted agent code, a feature called GKE Pod Snapshots to suspend and restart idle sessions, and predictive routing in GKE Inference Gateway to cut response delays and improve cache hit rates.
Those additions reflect a broader shift among cloud providers as customers look for ways to manage the higher compute demands of AI systems without duplicating infrastructure. The emphasis has increasingly moved from raw model access to the surrounding software, data handling, and operations needed to put those systems into production.
Data layer
Forrester also gave Google Cloud top marks in database services, analytics services, data integration services, and data governance services. The report pointed to what Google calls its Agentic Data Cloud, which links analytics and transactional systems.
Google Cloud has presented that approach as a way to reduce the lag and duplication that can arise when operational databases and analytical systems are kept separate. For AI agents, that matters because responses often depend on access to current enterprise records rather than data copied through multiple pipelines.
Recent additions in this part of the portfolio include bi-directional zero-copy data sharing between SAP systems and BigQuery through SAP BDC Connect for BigQuery, a metadata and context tool called Knowledge Catalog, and lakehouse federation for access to live data from Iceberg and BigQuery through a PostgreSQL data plane. AlloyDB users can also replicate data continuously to BigQuery and Iceberg tables through Datastream.
Forrester said the company's long-standing position in databases and analytics underpinned its performance in those categories, including support for multicloud and hybrid environments.
"Google Cloud's traditional strength in database services and analytics drives strong performance, including multicloud and hybrid capabilities, along with an Agentic Data Cloud that bridges analytics and transactional systems."
The latest assessment gives Google Cloud external endorsement at a time when the public cloud market is increasingly judged on how well it handles AI, data integration, and day-to-day operations rather than compute alone. Google's argument is that the same infrastructure foundations behind services such as Search, YouTube, Maps, and Gmail can be adapted for enterprise customers building AI systems and more conventional business software on the same estate.