Both Microsoft Azure and AWS are robust cloud platforms with strengths in different areas. AWS offers a more extensive range of services and a larger global presence, making it suitable for organizations with diverse needs and global operations. Azure provides tighter integration with Microsoft products and can be more cost-effective for organizations already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem. The choice depends on specific requirements, existing infrastructure, and cost considerations.
| Attribute | Microsoft Azure | AWS (Amazon Web Services) |
|---|---|---|
| Compute Instance Types | Offers various virtual machine (VM) sizes and configurations to fit different workloads. | Offers a wide selection of Amazon EC2 instance types with varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity. Instance types are grouped into families (e.g., General Purpose, Compute Optimized, Memory Optimized). Examples of general purpose instances include M7g, M6i, M6g, T4g, M5/M5d, M5a, M4, T3, T3a, and T2. |
| Storage Options | Blob Storage for unstructured data, Disk Storage for virtual machines and high-performance applications. Redundancy options: LRS, ZRS, GRS, RA-GRS. Scalability supports manual scaling. Premium SSDs, Standard SSDs and HDDs available. | Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) provides scalable object storage. AWS also offers serverless storage services like Amazon Elastic File System (EFS). |
| Database Services | Supports both Managed SQL and NoSQL options. Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database service. | AWS offers managed SQL options like Amazon RDS for SQL Server. NoSQL options include Amazon DynamoDB, a key-value and document database. |
| Networking Capabilities | Provides Virtual Network (VNet) and Network Security Groups. Offers Azure Firewall, a cloud-native firewall solution. | AWS provides Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) for network customization and isolation. Other networking capabilities include load balancing and DNS. AWS operates a large private network called the AWS Global Infrastructure. |
| Pricing Models | Pay-as-you-go (billed per second), Reserved Instances (1 or 3-year terms for discounts up to 72%), Spot Instances (utilize unused computing power at discounts up to 90%). | AWS uses pay-as-you-go pricing. They also offer Reserved Instances and Spot Instances for potential cost savings. |
| Geographic Regions and Availability Zones | Global presence with 60+ regions, each with at least three Availability Zones. | AWS has a global infrastructure with Regions and Availability Zones (AZs). As of August 2025, the AWS Cloud spans 117 Availability Zones within 37 Geographic Regions, with announced plans for 13 more Availability Zones and 4 more AWS Regions in New Zealand, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Chile, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. |
| Security Features | Multi-layered security controls in data centers. Azure Firewall for network traffic monitoring. Azure Key Vault for managing cryptographic keys. Over 100 compliance offerings integrated into Azure Security Center. | AWS operates under a shared responsibility model for security. They offer firewalls and DDoS protection. AWS has a broad range of compliance certifications and offers Identity and Access Management (IAM) for creating detailed permission sets for users. |
| Monitoring and Logging Tools | Azure Monitor for collecting and analyzing log data. Azure Security Center for unified security management and threat protection. | AWS CloudTrail records API calls for auditing, compliance, and operational risk monitoring. Amazon CloudWatch allows you to analyze logs and monitor metrics of AWS resources and hosted applications. Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service. |
| Containerization Support | Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Container Instances (ACI), and Azure Container Registry (ACR). Integrates with Docker and Kubernetes. | AWS offers serverless compute engines designed for containers that work with Amazon's Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) and the Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS). |
| Serverless Computing Options | Azure Functions is a serverless computing service. | AWS Lambda is a serverless compute service. AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers. |
| Developer Tools and SDKs | Comprehensive set of development tools for various platforms and languages. Supports languages like JavaScript, Python, .NET, and Node.js. SDKs for .NET, Java, JavaScript, Python, Go, C++, C, PHP, and Ruby. | AWS provides a comprehensive suite of developer tools, including SDKs for popular programming languages. These SDKs simplify calling AWS services from within your applications. AWS also offers tools like AWS Cloud9, a cloud-based IDE. |
| Support and Documentation Quality | Extensive documentation, community support, and third-party tool compatibility. | AWS has extensive documentation and a strong user community. |