Oracle, Google Cloud, Roar Past Microsoft, AWS in RPO/Backlog Growth

Nov 4, 2025

Oracle and Google Cloud are surging ahead, outpacing Microsoft and AWS in RPO and backlog growth. Oracle's RPO grew an impressive 43%, while Google Cloud soared by 46%. In contrast, Microsoft and AWS reported just 6.5% and 2.5% growth, respectively. Year-over-year highlights reveal Oracle's RPO skyrocketed by 359%, and Google Cloud by 82%. The shift in market leadership suggests a significant transformation in cloud infrastructure, as these innovators adapt to meet evolving customer needs.

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INSIGHT

Smaller Clouds Outpacing Giants In Backlog Growth

Oracle and Google Cloud are growing RPO far faster than Microsoft and AWS, signaling stronger future contracted revenue.
Bob Evans highlights sequential RPO growth: Oracle +43% and Google Cloud +46% versus Microsoft +6.5% and AWS +2.5%.

INSIGHT

Scale Limits High Growth Percentages

Large incumbent vendors show single-digit RPO growth, making their scale a double-edged sword for growth percentages.
Evans stresses the magnitude of the differential: mid-40s versus low single digits is a substantive market shift.

INSIGHT

Annual Backlog Growth Amplifies The Gap

Year-over-year RPO tells a different story with Oracle at +359% and Google Cloud at +82%, while Microsoft shows +51%.
AWS lacked comparable annual disclosure last year, producing only a tiny sequential RPO change to $200 billion.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I take a look at how Oracle and Google Cloud are surging past Microsoft and AWS in RPO and backlog growth

Highlights

00:13 — There’s no question that 10, 12, 15 years ago, it was AWS and Microsoft that set the rules for cloud infrastructure. Google Cloud and Oracle, both of them, while much smaller in revenue than AWS and Microsoft, are growing much faster. My conclusion here is that Oracle and Google Cloud are roaring past Microsoft and AWS in RPO and backlog growth. Let me show you what I mean.

01:14 — Oracle, Google Cloud, Microsoft, AWS. I’ve got two sets of growth rates here. This first one looks sequentially — Q3 RPO growth versus total Q2 revenue — and what the growth rate is. Oracle: $455 billion RPO. It grew sequentially from their last quarter to this quarter — its RPO went up 43%. Google Cloud: $155 billion. From last quarter’s number to this quarter, its RPO growth rate was up 46%.

02:17 — Microsoft: $392 billion, huge number, but its RPO grew just 6.5%. Looks weak compared to the others, but then there’s AWS — $200 billion RPO for the quarter ended September 30. That’s an RPO growth of only 2.5%. So, we have these two high-flyers in the hyper-growth category, mid-40s, and the two big traditional cloud infrastructure vendors growing in single digits.

03:15 — RPO growth rates on an annual basis, year over year. Oracle’s up 359%. Google Cloud: huge jump here, 82% growth in their backlog year over year. Microsoft: very nice, 51% year over year. But if you look at the most recent number, it’s 6.5%. AWS — I can’t give you an annual growth number because a year ago AWS was not releasing its backlog numbers. In Q2, it was $195 billion.

04:03 — So, they went up $5 billion to $200 billion, and that’s why they had that small growth number. Now we all know those lines about “there are three kinds of lies — lies, damned lies, and statistics.” So, somebody might think I’m spinning a tale and fibbing or lying about these numbers, but the numbers themselves do not lie, and what they’re clearly showing is that Google Cloud and Oracle are doing new sorts of things.

04:46 — They're appealing to the new needs, demands, and requirements customers have, and it’s being reflected in the growth — not only their higher revenue growth rates, which reflect the past, but also their RPO or backlog growth rates, which reflect and look into the future.

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