AWS vs Azure
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Comprehensive cloud platform offering 200+ services for compute, storage, databases, and infrastructure.
Large enterprises, startups, diverse workloads, AI/ML projects, and organizations avoiding vendor lock-in
Microsoft Azure
Comprehensive cloud computing platform offering compute, storage, databases, and enterprise services.
Microsoft-dependent enterprises, hybrid deployments, regulated industries, and organizations with Windows/.NET investments
Short Answer
AWS dominates in service breadth and large-scale deployments with 200+ services, while Azure excels in Microsoft ecosystem integration and hybrid cloud scenarios. Both are competitively priced in 2026, with Azure offering better raw storage costs and AWS providing superior flexibility for diverse workloads.
Our Verdict
AI-assistedAWS remains the market leader for general-purpose cloud and large-scale diverse workloads with unmatched service breadth and flexibility. Azure is the strategic choice for enterprises with heavy Microsoft dependencies, hybrid on-premises infrastructure, or strict compliance requirements. In 2026, both platforms are cost-competitive when properly managed, making the decision dependent on organizational fit rather than raw capability.
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Choose Amazon Web Services (AWS) if
Large enterprises, startups, diverse workloads, AI/ML projects, and organizations avoiding vendor lock-in
Choose Microsoft Azure if
Microsoft-dependent enterprises, hybrid deployments, regulated industries, and organizations with Windows/.NET investments
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Key Differences at a Glance
Key Facts & Figures
| Metric | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Microsoft Azure | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Storage Cost($/GB/month) | $0.023 | $0.018 | +28% |
| Archival Storage Cost($/GB/month) | $0.004 | $0.002 | +100% |
| Global Data Centers(regions) | 33 regions | 60+ regions | -45% |
| Market Share 2026(%) | 32% | 23% | +39% |
| Global Market Share (2026)(%) | 32% | 23% | +39% |
| Total Available Services(services) | 200+ | 200+ | — |
| Global Availability Zones(zones) | 33 | 60+ | -45% |
| Pricing Model Complexity(simplicity score) | 5/10 | 6/10 | -17% |
| ML/AI Service Innovation Rating(score) | 8/10 | 7/10 | +14% |
| Windows/Active Directory Integration(native score) | 4/10 | 10/10 | -60% |
| Supported Cloud Providers(count) | AWS only | — | — |
| Global Geographic Regions(regions) | 33 regions | — | — |
| Availability Zones (AWS regions)(zones) | 105+ zones | — | — |
| Available Services/Integrations(count) | 190+ native services | — | — |
| Time to Provision Standard EC2 Instance(seconds) | 30-45 (via Console/CLI) | — | — |
| Monthly Cost (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, Standard Instance)(USD) | $9.50 (t3.micro on-demand) | — | — |
| Outbound Data Transfer Cost per GB(USD) | $0.0116 | — | — |
| Global Data Center Regions(regions) | 33 regions | — | — |
| Global Market Share(%) | 32% of global cloud infrastructure (2024) | — | — |
| Service Count(services) | 200+ | — | — |
| Compute Cost (e2-medium equivalent)(USD/hour) | $0.0416 | — | — |
| Data Transfer Out Cost(USD/GB) | $0.02 | — | — |
| ML Training Setup Time(hours) | 8-12 hours (SageMaker) | — | — |
| BigQuery Query Latency(seconds) | 15-30 seconds (Athena, 1TB scan) | — | — |
| Enterprise Support Annual Cost(USD) | $15,000 | — | — |
| Kubernetes Integration Complexity(manual steps) | 18-25 steps (EKS setup) | — | — |
| Available Cloud Services/Products(count) | 200+ | — | — |
| Free Tier Duration(months) | 12 months + always-free services | — | — |
| Premium Support Response Time(hours) | 1 hour (Business Support) | — | — |
| Monthly Cost for 10TB Egress Data Transfer(USD) | $116 (after 1GB free) | — | — |
| Minimum Setup Time(minutes) | 120 minutes | — | — |
| Minimum Monthly Cost(USD) | $4.34 (t3.micro EC2 only) | — | — |
| Global Edge Locations(locations) | 280+ CloudFront locations | 60+ regions | +367% |
| Average Cold Start Latency(milliseconds) | 125ms (Lambda standard) | — | — |
| Setup Time to First Deploy(minutes) | 45-60 (configure VPC, IAM, EC2, security groups) | — | — |
| Built-in Database Support(count) | 8+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, ElastiCache, Neptune, DocumentDB, Keyspaces, Timestream) | — | — |
| SLA Uptime Guarantee(%) | 99.99% (us-east-1 region) | — | — |
| Concurrent Connections per Instance(requests/second) | 50,000+ (t3.large EC2) | — | — |
| Estimated Learning Time for New Developer(hours) | 80-100 hours | — | — |
| Supported Programming Languages for IaC(languages) | 3 languages (YAML, JSON, TypeScript/Python/Java via CDK) | — | — |
| Available Services/Resources(services) | 200+ AWS-specific services (largest portfolio in cloud) | — | — |
| Free Tier Cost(USD/month) | Free (1 year, then pay-as-you-go infrastructure costs) | — | — |
| AWS Regions/Availability Zones(regions) | 33+ geographic regions with 105+ availability zones | — | — |
| Certified Professionals(people) | 1M+ AWS Certified professionals | — | — |
| Data Warehouse Query Speed (Typical)(seconds) | 5-15 seconds (Synapse) | 5-15 seconds (Synapse) | — |
| Spark Performance (Query Speed)(x faster relative to standard Spark) | 1-2x faster (HDInsight baseline) | 1-2x faster (HDInsight baseline) | — |
| Total Service Offerings(services) | 200+ services across all categories | 200+ services across all categories | — |
| Compute Instance Cost (Standard)(USD per hour) | $0.40-$2.00 (VM-dependent) | $0.40-$2.00 (VM-dependent) | — |
| Typical Enterprise Migration Time(months) | 6-12 months (full cloud migration) | 6-12 months (full cloud migration) | — |
| SQL Query Performance (TPC-DS 100TB)(seconds) | 420 seconds | 420 seconds | — |
| Spark Job Acceleration(multiplier) | 1x baseline | 1x baseline | — |
| ML Frameworks Supported(count) | 40+ frameworks | 40+ frameworks | — |
| Global Region Availability(regions) | 60+ native | 60+ native | — |
| Enterprise Service Count(services) | 500+ | 500+ | — |
| Starting Monthly Cost (10TB workload)(USD) | $2,000-$4,000 | $2,000-$4,000 | — |
| DDoS Protection Capacity(Tbps) | 10 Tbps standard protection | 10 Tbps standard protection | — |
| Entry-Level VM Cost (Monthly)(USD) | $21.77/month (B1s instance) | $21.77/month (B1s instance) | — |
| Average DNS Query Response Time(milliseconds) | ~50-100ms (varies by region) | ~50-100ms (varies by region) | — |
| Supported Programming Languages (Workers/Serverless)(languages) | Node.js, Python, Java, .NET, Go, C# (Functions) | Node.js, Python, Java, .NET, Go, C# (Functions) | — |
| Enterprise Support Response SLA(minutes) | 60 minutes (Premium Support) | 60 minutes (Premium Support) | — |
All figures sourced from publicly available data. Last updated Jun 2026.
Key Differences
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
200+ services across all categories🏆
Microsoft Azure
175+ services with Microsoft focus
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Limited third-party integrations
Microsoft Azure
Native integration with Windows, .NET, Office 365, SQL Server🏆
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
AWS Outposts (minimal)
Microsoft Azure
Azure Stack Hub (enterprise-grade hybrid)🏆
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
$0.023 per GB/month (standard)
Microsoft Azure
$0.018 per GB/month (standard) - 22% cheaper🏆
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Bedrock with multiple model choices🏆
Microsoft Azure
Exclusive OpenAI partnership (GPT-4)
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Fargate (established, feature-rich)
Microsoft Azure
Container Instances (good, mature)
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Comprehensive, FedRAMP, HIPAA
Microsoft Azure
Superior for regulated industries🏆
Full Comparison
| Attribute | Amazon Web Services (AWS) |  Microsoft Azure |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Storage Cost($/GB/month) | $0.023 | $0.018 |
| Archival Storage Cost($/GB/month) | $0.004 | $0.002 |
| Pricing Model Complexity(simplicity score) | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Base Software Cost(USD/month) | Pay-per-use only | — |
| Terraform Cloud Team Plan Cost(USD/month per user) | N/A | — |
Show 13 more attributesMonthly Cost (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, Standard Instance)(USD) $9.50 (t3.micro on-demand) — Outbound Data Transfer Cost per GB(USD) $0.0116 — Compute Cost (e2-medium equivalent)(USD/hour) $0.0416 — Data Transfer Out Cost(USD/GB) $0.02 — Free Tier Duration(months) 12 months + always-free services — Monthly Cost for 10TB Egress Data Transfer(USD) $116 (after 1GB free) — Minimum Monthly Cost(USD) $4.34 (t3.micro EC2 only) — Free Tier Cost(USD/month) Free (1 year, then pay-as-you-go infrastructure costs) — Compute Instance Cost (Standard)(USD per hour) $0.40-$2.00 (VM-dependent) — Starting Monthly Cost (10TB workload)(USD) $2,000-$4,000 — Free Tier Monthly Requests(requests) Limited free tier; specific allocations by service — Entry-Level VM Cost (Monthly)(USD) $21.77/month (B1s instance) — Pro Plan Monthly Price(USD) Varies ($25-500+ for multi-service bundle) — | ||
| AI/ML Model Flexibility | Multiple models via Bedrock | Exclusive OpenAI partnership |
| Hybrid Cloud Support Maturity | AWS Outposts (limited) | Azure Stack Hub (enterprise-grade) |
| Global Data Centers(regions) | 33 regions | 60+ regions |
| Global Availability Zones(zones) | 33 | 60+ |
| Global Geographic Regions(regions) | 33 regions | — |
| Availability Zones (AWS regions)(zones) | 105+ zones | — |
Show 3 more attributesGlobal Data Center Regions(regions) 33 regions — Global Edge Locations(locations) 280+ CloudFront locations 60+ regions Global Region Availability(regions) 60+ native — | ||
| Container Serverless Performance | Fargate (feature-rich) | Container Instances (mature) |
| Market Share 2026(%) | 32% | 23% |
| Global Market Share (2026)(%) | 32% | 23% |
| Total Available Services(services) | 200+ | 200+ |
| ML/AI Service Innovation Rating(score) | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Hybrid Cloud Support Level(capability) | Moderate (Outposts) | Excellent (Stack/Arc) |
| Windows/Active Directory Integration(native score) | 4/10 | 10/10 |
| Microsoft Ecosystem Integration(native integrations) | Deep (Office 365, Teams, Dynamics, Power BI native) | — |
| Developer Community Size(developers) | Largest | Large |
| Container/Kubernetes Strength(native integration) | Strong (ECS/EKS) | Strong (AKS) |
| BigQuery-Grade Analytics(capability) | Via Athena/Redshift | Via Synapse |
| Supported Cloud Providers(count) | AWS only | — |
| Available Services/Integrations(count) | 190+ native services | — |
| Time to Provision Standard EC2 Instance(seconds) | 30-45 (via Console/CLI) | — |
| Average Cold Start Latency(milliseconds) | 125ms (Lambda standard) | — |
| Data Warehouse Query Speed (Typical)(seconds) | 5-15 seconds (Synapse) | — |
| Spark Performance (Query Speed)(x faster relative to standard Spark) | 1-2x faster (HDInsight baseline) | — |
| SQL Query Performance (TPC-DS 100TB)(seconds) | 420 seconds | — |
Show 2 more attributesSpark Job Acceleration(multiplier) 1x baseline — Average DNS Query Response Time(milliseconds) ~50-100ms (varies by region) — | ||
| GitHub Integration for IaC(native support) | AWS CloudFormation requires manual GitHub setup | — |
| Global Market Share(%) | 32% of global cloud infrastructure (2024) | — |
| Service Count(services) | 200+ | — |
| Available Cloud Services/Products(count) | 200+ | — |
| AI/ML Service Availability(availability) | SageMaker, Bedrock, Forecast, Lookout, Kendra | — |
| Built-in Database Support(count) | 8+ (RDS, DynamoDB, Aurora, ElastiCache, Neptune, DocumentDB, Keyspaces, Timestream) | — |
| ML Training Setup Time(hours) | 8-12 hours (SageMaker) | — |
| Kubernetes Integration Complexity(manual steps) | 18-25 steps (EKS setup) | — |
| Supported Programming Languages for IaC(languages) | 3 languages (YAML, JSON, TypeScript/Python/Java via CDK) | — |
| BigQuery Query Latency(seconds) | 15-30 seconds (Athena, 1TB scan) | — |
| Enterprise Support Annual Cost(USD) | $15,000 | — |
| Premium Support Response Time(hours) | 1 hour (Business Support) | — |
| Enterprise Support Response SLA(minutes) | 60 minutes (Premium Support) | — |
| Minimum Setup Time(minutes) | 120 minutes | — |
| Setup Time to First Deploy(minutes) | 45-60 (configure VPC, IAM, EC2, security groups) | — |
| Estimated Learning Time for New Developer(hours) | 80-100 hours | — |
| SLA Uptime Guarantee(%) | 99.99% (us-east-1 region) | — |
| Concurrent Connections per Instance(requests/second) | 50,000+ (t3.large EC2) | — |
| GitHub Stars | N/A (not a single GitHub repo) | — |
| Multi-Cloud Support(cloud providers) | AWS only | Azure only (with hybrid via Stack) |
| Available Services/Resources(services) | 200+ AWS-specific services (largest portfolio in cloud) | — |
| AWS Regions/Availability Zones(regions) | 33+ geographic regions with 105+ availability zones | — |
| Certified Professionals(people) | 1M+ AWS Certified professionals | — |
| Total Service Offerings(services) | 200+ services across all categories | — |
| Enterprise Service Count(services) | 500+ | — |
| Native ML Ops Tools(tools included) | Azure ML, AutoML (separate setup) | — |
| Data Governance Features(key capabilities) | Azure Purview, Synapse governance, encryption | — |
| Typical Enterprise Migration Time(months) | 6-12 months (full cloud migration) | — |
| ML Frameworks Supported(count) | 40+ frameworks | — |
| Data Governance Granularity(access level) | Database and table-level basic | — |
| ACID Transaction Support(boolean) | Limited (requires workarounds) | — |
| DDoS Protection Capacity(Tbps) | 10 Tbps standard protection | — |
| Supported Programming Languages (Workers/Serverless)(languages) | Node.js, Python, Java, .NET, Go, C# (Functions) | — |
Microsoft AzureShow 13 more attributes
Show 3 more attributes
Show 2 more attributes
Visual Comparison
Side-by-side comparison of numeric attributes
Pros & Cons
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Pros
- Broadest service portfolio with 200+ services
- Superior for large-scale and diverse workloads
- Bedrock AI with multiple model choices
- Advanced Fargate serverless container platform
- Most mature and battle-tested infrastructure
Cons
- Steeper learning curve for beginners
- Limited native Microsoft ecosystem integration
Microsoft Azure
Pros
- Seamless Microsoft ecosystem integration
- Enterprise-grade hybrid cloud with Azure Stack
- 22% cheaper storage costs vs AWS
- Exclusive OpenAI GPT-4 partnership
- Superior compliance and regulatory coverage
Cons
- Fewer total services (175 vs 200+)
- Less flexibility for non-Microsoft workloads
Frequently Asked Questions
Neither platform is inherently cheaper. AWS and Azure have near-identical compute pricing, but Azure undercuts AWS on storage by approximately 22% for standard storage and 50% for archival data. However, actual savings depend on workload optimization, commitment discounts, and cost management discipline. Both require active monitoring to prevent bill sprawl.
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