Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Microsoft Azure
- ✦ EC2 Compute
- ✦ S3 Storage
- ✦ Lambda Serverless
- ✦ Virtual Machines
- ✦ App Service
- ✦ Azure Functions
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are both Cloud Hosting tools. Compare features, pricing, and ratings below to find the best fit for your team.
When to Choose Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Microsoft Azure
The question that matters: “In what situation will I regret choosing A over B after 3 months?”
AWS ECS/EKS deploys new container revisions while health checks verify readiness and API Gateway shifts traffic - all without dropping a single request.
S3 stores assets and CloudFront caches them at 600+ edge locations globally, serving a 50MB file to Tokyo in 50ms instead of 2 seconds.
Deployment slots in App Service swap .NET apps to production in 90 seconds with built-in rollback - replacing multi-hour maintenance windows entirely.
Azure Functions with queue triggers scale compute to match demand, cutting 50,000-record batch processing costs 80% versus reserved capacity.
Pricing Comparison & PlansHigh· Verified May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Plans
Free tier available
AWS Free Tier
FreeBest for: Ideal for new users to explore AWS services without upfront costs
- ✓Access to over 30 always-free services up to specified limits
- ✓$100 USD credits upon sign-up for new customers
- ✓Earn up to an additional $100 USD credits by exploring foundational services
- ✓Free account plan for up to 6 months, no charges until upgrade to paid plan
- ✓Ideal for experimenting and building proof of concepts
Pay-as-you-go (On-Demand)
Contact SalesBest for: Offers maximum flexibility with no long-term commitments
- ✓Pay only for the individual services you need
- ✓No upfront costs or long-term contracts
- ✓Pay for services only for as long as you use them
- ✓Easily adapt to changing business needs without overcommitting budgets
- ✓Billed per hour, per second, per GB, or per request depending on the service
Savings Plans
Contact SalesBest for: Provides significant discounts over On-Demand pricing in exchange for a 1-year or 3-year commitment to a consistent amount of compute usage.
- ✓Save over On-Demand pricing with a commitment to a specific amount ($/hour) of usage
- ✓Discounts up to 72% compared to On-Demand rates
- ✓Includes Compute Savings Plans (up to 66% off, flexible across EC2, Fargate, Lambda)
- ✓Includes EC2 Instance Savings Plans (up to 72% off, specific instance family in a region)
- ✓Includes Database Savings Plans (up to 35% off, covers various database services)
Reserved Instances
Contact SalesBest for: Offers a discount compared to On-Demand pricing by committing to a specific instance configuration for a 1-year or 3-year term.
- ✓Significant discount (up to 75%) compared to On-Demand Instance pricing
- ✓Capacity reservation when used in a specific Availability Zone
- ✓Available for Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS
- ✓Standard RIs offer flexibility to change AZ, instance size, networking type
- ✓Convertible RIs offer flexibility to change instance families, OS, tenancies (up to 66% discount)
Spot Instances
Contact SalesBest for: Leverages unused EC2 capacity for up to 90% savings compared to On-Demand prices
- ✓Access to unused AWS capacity
- ✓Up to 90% discount off On-Demand prices
- ✓Pay-as-you-go model for interruptible workloads
- ✓Ideal for fault-tolerant and interruption-tolerant workloads
- ✓Instances can be reclaimed by AWS with a two-minute warning
Enterprise Discount Program (EDP)
Contact SalesBest for: Designed for large enterprises with substantial AWS spend, offering custom discounts and terms based on negotiated agreements.
- ✓Tailored discount program for enterprise cloud users
- ✓Requires demonstrated history of significant AWS cloud usage (typically $1M+ annually)
- ✓Negotiated discounts on total AWS billing
- ✓Commitment period typically 1-5 years
- ✓Access to benefits like Enterprise Support, dedicated teams, prototyping support, and training credits
Microsoft Azure Plans
Free tier available
Free Account
FreeBest for: Ideal for new users to explore Azure services with limited free services and credits for 12 months.
- ✓Access to basic Azure services
- ✓Free for 12 months
- ✓Limited usage for free services
- ✓One-time $200 credit for first 30 days
Pay-as-you-go
Contact SalesBest for: This flexible option charges you only for the resources you consume, perfect for variable workloads and testing.
- ✓Charges based on actual resource usage
- ✓Billed monthly
- ✓No upfront commitment
- ✓Maximum flexibility
- ✓Access to all Azure services
Reserved Instances
Contact SalesBest for: Commit to one or three year terms for virtual machines and other services to achieve significant cost reductions compared to Pay-as-you-go.
- ✓Fixed price agreements for 1-year or 3-year terms
- ✓33-72% discounts compared to Pay-as-you-go
- ✓Commitment to specific resource types (e.g., VM family, region, size)
- ✓Cost-effective for long-term, predictable workloads
Azure Savings Plans
Contact SalesBest for: Save money on compute services by committing to a fixed hourly spend for one or three years, offering flexibility across regions and services.
- ✓Receive 30-65% discounts
- ✓Commit to a fixed hourly spend for 1-3 years
- ✓Discounts apply automatically across VMs, Functions, Container Instances, and App Service
- ✓Flexible across regions and compute services
Capability Breakdown
2 differences found across 18 standardized features
- •EC2 Compute
- •S3 Storage
- •Lambda Serverless
- •RDS Databases
- •CloudFront CDN
- •ECS/EKS Containers
- •API Gateway
- •IAM Security
- •CloudWatch Monitoring
- •Route 53 DNS
- •SageMaker AI/ML
- •VPC Networking
- •Elastic Beanstalk
- •Lightsail
- •200+ Services
- •CloudFormation Templates
- •CodePipeline CI
- •CodeBuild Automation
- •CodeCommit Version
- •CodeArtifact Repos
- •XRay Tracing
- •CloudTrail Logging
- •Config Compliance
- •OpsWorks Management
- •Workspaces Desktop
- •Workdocs Storage
- •Directory Service
- •Cognito Identity
- •Pinpoint Marketing
- •SES Email
- •SQS Messaging
- •SNS Notifications
- •MQ Messaging
- •MSK Streaming
- •Kinesis Analytics
- •Glue ETL
- •Lake Formation
- •OpenSearch Service
- •QuickSight Analytics
- •Rekognition Vision
- •Transcribe Audio
- •Comprehend Text
- •Lex Chatbots
- •Connect Contact
- •Step Functions
- •AppFlow Integration
- •AppSync GraphQL
- •CloudHSM Security
- •Key Management
- •Certificate Manager
- •Shield Protection
- •WAF Firewall
- •Firewall Manager
- •Resource Groups
- •Tag Editor
- •Cost Explorer
- •Budgeting Alerts
- •Trusted Advisor
- •Support Hub
- •Well Architected
- •Control Tower
- •CloudDevelopment Kit
- •AWS Cloud9
- •CodeGuru Review
- •DevOps Guru
- •XRay Insights
- •Performance Hub
- •Virtual Machines
- •App Service
- •Azure Functions
- •Azure SQL
- •Cosmos DB
- •Blob Storage
- •Azure Kubernetes
- •Azure DevOps
- •Azure AI
- •Active Directory
- •CDN
- •Load Balancer
- •Monitoring
- •Key Vault
- •200+ Services
- •Azure Firewall
- •Virtual Network
- •ExpressRoute
- •Azure Databricks
- •Azure Synapse
- •Data Factory
- •Azure Cache
- •Service Bus
- •Event Grid
- •Azure Maps
- •Azure Sphere
- •Azure Sentinel
- •Azure Monitor
- •Azure Advisor
- •Azure Policy
- •Azure Cost
- •Resource Manager
- •Azure Migrate
- •Azure Site
- •Recovery Services
- •Azure Backup
- •Azure Storage
- •Data Lake
- •Azure Data
- •Azure Analytics
- •Azure Machine
- •Media Services
- •Azure Search
- •Azure Stream
- •Azure IoT
- •Azure Automation
- •Azure Service
- •Azure Support
- •Azure Consulting
- •Azure Marketplace
- •Azure Partner
- •Azure Community
- •Azure Forum
- •Azure Blog
- •Azure Training
- •Azure Certification
- •Azure Tutorial
- •Azure Guide
- •Azure Handbook
- •Azure Reference
- •Azure Architecture
- •Azure Design
- •Azure Deployment
- •Azure Management
- •Azure Security
- •Azure Compliance
- •Azure Governance
- •Azure Risk
- •Azure Audit
- •Azure Assessment
- •Azure Migration
- •REST API
- •Azure CLI
- •SDK (10+ languages)
- •ARM Templates
- •Bicep
Strengths & Limitations
Evaluative strengths and weaknesses: not feature lists
- +Unmatched breadth of 200+ fully-featured services
- +Most extensive global cloud infrastructure and availability zones
- +Deepest enterprise adoption and third-party ecosystem support
- +Mature, robust services for compute, storage, and databases
- +Pioneering serverless (Lambda) and managed container services
- −Complex pricing models can lead to unexpected, high costs
- −Steep learning curve due to the sheer number of services
- −Data egress fees are significantly higher than competitors'
- −Inconsistent UI/UX across different service consoles
- −Premium support plans are expensive for smaller teams
- +Seamless integration with Microsoft 365, Teams, and Active Directory.
- +Strong hybrid cloud capabilities with Azure Arc and Azure Stack.
- +Extensive PaaS offerings like App Service and Azure SQL Database.
- +Robust enterprise-grade security and compliance certifications.
- +Generous free tier with popular services free for 12 months.
- −Pay-as-you-go pricing can be complex and difficult to forecast.
- −The Azure Portal UI can feel cluttered and overwhelming for new users.
- −Documentation is vast but can be inconsistent across different services.
- −Less dominant in the startup and open-source community compared to AWS.
- −Support costs can be high for enterprise-level technical assistance.
At a Glance
Recent Price History
Amazon Web Services (AWS) removed the "Savings Plans & Reserved Instances" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) added a new "Savings Plans" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) removed the "Pay-as-you-go" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) added a new "Pay-as-you-go (On-Demand)" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS) added a new "Spot Instances" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Microsoft Azure added a new "Azure Savings Plans" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 28, 2026
Microsoft Azure added a new "Reserved Instances" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 28, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Comparisons
Sources & Data Trail · Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-30)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.5/5 · 80 reviews
- 4.Capterra·Capterra verified reviews · 4.6/5
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Sources & Data Trail · Microsoft Azure
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-28)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.4/5 · 73 reviews
- 4.Capterra·Capterra verified reviews · 4.5/5
- 5.TrustRadius·TrustRadius verified reviews
- 6.PeerSpot·PeerSpot enterprise peer reviews
- 7.StackShare·StackShare developer community