eng Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Software Engineering 2014-03-18 2 1 8 12 10.12691/ajse-2-1-2 AJSE2014212 article J. Pourqasem 1 S. Karimi 1 S.A. Edalatpanah saedalatpanah@gmail.com 2 3 Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran Department of Applied Mathematics, Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran Cloud computing is emerged from internet technology that is distinguished from previous generation of distributed systems i.e. Grid Computing. Grid Computing and Cloud Computing have similarity and difference in basic components. In this paper we present a comparison of Grid Computing and Cloud Computing between principles of them. Furthermore, this paper gives insights into the essential characteristics of both. http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajse/2/1/2/ajse-2-1-2.pdf grid computing cloud computing comparison