A couple of years ago, we were far away from technology and the internet; no one could even envisage that technologies would become so accessible that anyone could even keep them in his pocket. Let’s stop right there! As of now, it’s actually happening in the real world, and we’re far from anything but the internet at any given moment of our daily life. The smartphone within our hand’s reach so perfectly proves it. And in every circumstance, it’s appropriately clear that there’s a battle of sorts going on between the tech giants for cloud services mastery.
Today, we have two Big “Cloud Computing for Business” giants – Amazon Web Services (AWS) & Microsoft Azure. Now a day’s, somehow Google & Alibaba are also trying to align them among cloud giants by providing Google cloud platform (GCP) & Alibaba cloud services. In this cloud tech war, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are superheroes in their power – touching millions of lives and making the world a better place. But who is the ultimate winner? A bird’s eye view may suggest that AWS is one step ahead or top of the cloud, but things are different than what they seem. There are several factors, including availability, price, etc., before making the judgment.
So, let’s discover the answer by discovering the winner of this two-way horse race for cloud dominance – AWS or Azure?
AWS vs. Azure | Why is this comparison need of the hour?
It can be overwhelming considering all the fuss about which cloud computing tech is the market leader. According to the 2022 State of the Cloud Report, the public cloud is a top priority for 38% of surveyed organizations, which is 29% higher than that was in 2017.
Together AWS and Azure have 50% control of the cloud computing services in the world. This is an intense competition that will only grow in time as both companies are targeting to get a strong toehold in the industry through innovation and investments.
Moreover, companies want a detailed comparison between these two giants before making the final move or migrating to a cloud platform. So, if hastiness, missteps, and roadblocks incur valuable resource losses, you must go ahead with the AWS Azure comparison for informed decision-making.
AWS vs Azure | Key Differences
Azure and AWS are both well-recognized cloud service providers, combatting a large piece of the cloud cake and revolutionizing the IT domain simultaneously. Presently, AWS and Azure account for 41.5% and 29.5% of the installed app workload, respectively. Google is also a tough competitor with a 3% share and gives a nudge to the AWS vs. Azure vs. GCP debate. But for Microsoft, the revenue is usually higher and double the growth rate of AWS. Therefore, it is not easy to decide which one is better.
But here’s what we can do. Let’s dive deeper into their features, properties, and services to identify which one is the best.
1. AWS vs Azure | Computing Power
Computation resources are the bases on which you’ll build your cloud environment. Choosing the accurate configuration will greatly impact the performance and speed of your platform, including the systems and services your people utilize, and it also affects your cost.
AWS
Amazon E2C (Elastic Compute Cloud), AWS Lambda, and Elastic Beanstalk are well-known premium computing services provided by AWS. They’re highly elastic and can monitor and scale your cloud apps automatically. It has modern container technology, including Kubernetes. You will find different AMI (Amazon Machine Images) options in the marketplace for selecting your desired operating system. You also have the ability to configure the machine with cores and memory.
Azure
When it comes to AWS vs. Azure services in cloud computing, Azure is one of the topmost players. It provisions multiple infrastructures, including virtual machines, container services, app functions, and more. There are several templates in the Azure Marketplace to select from, such as Ubuntu, NextGen WebApp, Firewall, SQL Server, Windows Server, etc. The Marketplace gives you the option to choose standardized sizes like VM and the desired region.
2. AWS vs Azure | Storage
Extended storage capabilities are one of the greatest reasons companies are moving towards cloud migration strategies, and its impact on business is tremendous. AWS and Azure both have storage options for your organization’s storage needs. It is up to you which one you pick for your needs.
AWS
AWS has its Simple Storage Service (S3) & large block storage (EBS) that you can use for object delivery and storage. Whenever you start an instance, it automatically allocates the needed storage, and when the instance gets terminated, the storage space will be destroyed (optionally).
Azure
On the other hand, Azure supports additional backup for retrieval and archival options, site recovery, and import-export. Azure uses the Microsoft cloud for primary storage purposes. It caters to all your data problems. Azure storage accounts provide static storage solutions in Azure.
3. AWS vs Azure | Networking
Azure and AWS cloud platforms manage worldwide cloud infrastructure. They are both champions in delivering modern networking services, providing high security, easy availability, state-of-the-art performance, and global coverage.
AWS
Amazon has a virtual private cloud that offers continuous and reliable services with the help of an extensive framework with over 210 edge locations, 77 points or zones, and 24 global territories.
Azure
Microsoft provides its clients with a virtual network (VNET) with cloud network locations at 60+ global regions and 170 points of presence (PoP). They generally keep their traffic limited to the Azure network. Therefore, they can offer secure, flexible, reliable, continuous, and fast services.
4. AWS vs Azure | Database
As databases contain diverse formats and loads of data, clients generally face certain problems while accessing the data. So, to tackle this issue, AWS and Azure have different databases that manage all sorts of content and material.
AWS
AWS also utilizes relational databases for longevity and is compatible with various database engines like MariaDB, Aurora, Oracle, Postgres, and MySQL. Additionally, it comes with Elastic Cache to capture needs and DynamoDB for NoSQL.
Azure
Regarding the use of databases between AWS and Azure, Azure also uses Postgres, PostgreSQL, and SQL databases for relational databases, Redis Cache for caching needs, and Cosmos database for NoSQL services.
5. AWS vs Azure | Security
Security is of mammoth importance when a cloud platform takes care of huge amounts of customer and business-related data. While considering AWS vs. Azure, both follow required compliance standards and security measures.
AWS
Since AWS is the most mature and eldest cloud platform, it has faced a broader array of issues and found concrete solutions for them accordingly. It structures API activity monitoring, data loss protection, Guard Duty for threat intelligence, granular IAM and security groups (firewall), and vulnerability assessment via AWS Inspector.
Azure
Azure lies in its dominant security structure that you can control from a single directory. So, Azure Active Directory is the one and only centralized source for all kinds of authorization and permission management. From compute storage to identity and networking to control management, Azure lets you implement concrete security measures at each application stack layer.
6. AWS vs Azure | Content Delivery Network
Additionally, a content delivery network or CDN is a distributed set of servers that can help you with effective and fast content delivery to your end users. There are several servers present in the local regions, which are a good option for storing content temporarily. There is also a detailed comparison between AWS and Azure in CDN services.
AWS
CloudFront provides the option for content delivery for AWS, which is easy and smooth to start. Also, it integrates seamlessly with simple storage solutions. You can find it at a very affordable price range, and it is therefore ideal for startups.
Azure
CDN solution by Azure delivers quick, stable, and high-bandwidth content to the users with an option of real-time analytics and improved security features. Moreover, it is highly scalable and tolerates high loads along with cache content generated by Azure storage blobs. Furthermore, these storage blobs are public.
7. AWS vs Azure | Cost
AWS or Azure, both of these cloud platforms provide a no-cost tier with a per(h/m/s)-on-demand pricing system for all services. But the final cost depends on the server, resource usage, time, etc.
AWS
AWS offers quite a composite pricing structure that often needs a third-party app for management. However, it features five principal pricing models, such as On-Demand (pay by the second/minute/hour or as per your need), Spot Instances (an excellent option to reduce costs through cloud cost optimization), Reserved Instances (particularly advantageous for a long-term commitment), etc.
Azure
You can purchase most of the Azure services under the “pay as you go” pricing model, which will charge you on a usage basis. It also offers exciting discounts for Spot Instances (Virtual Machines from Azure’s spare capacity, which you can terminate at brief notice) and Reserved Instances (1-3 years of association).