Azure vs AWS: Who is the winner in the Cloud Platform?

With cloud computing at its top, numerous cloud provider companies have approached the Cloud domain to assert dominance. Azure and AWS have been consistent and have now claimed the top honors for quite some time. Nevertheless, the majority of the individuals are concerned about which Cloud vendor they should select?

In this particular article on Azure vs AWS, we are going to compare these 2 Cloud giants which will help you to comprehend what is going to satisfy your business requirements in a better manner.

AWS vs Azure — A Quick Comparison

Therefore, we will not waste time and begin this comparison in the following paragraphs:

• Pricing

The Pay-as-you-go structure is provided by both AWS as well as Azure pricing models. While you’ll be charged by AWS on an hourly basis, Azure is going to charge you on a basis of per minute.

You’ll be provided much more flexibility by Azure in terms of short-term subscription programs. Azure happens to be much more expensive as compared to AWS once the architecture begins to scale up when it comes to some particular services.

• Compute Services

The compute parameter happens to be the subsequent halt in this particular Azure vs AWS comparison. Compute services or computation are amongst the core services in terms of Cloud Computing, which is comprehensible since the word compute is present in the phrase Cloud Computing.

Given the vast volume of data produced at present, there is still a need for faster processing methods. Compute resources ensure instances can be spawned in minutes and scaled up instantly if desired. Both AWS as well as Azure provide programs that meet these requirements.

• AWS provides services such as EC2, AWS Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, ECS, and so on. Azure also provides related features such as Software Service, Azure Virtual Machine, Azure Functions plus Container Service, and so on. It is also clear that these facilities are equally necking to the neck.

• When you consider the amount, however, azure cases start to get more expensive as the scale increases.

• While considering an instance with 64vPCU plus 256GB RAM, you’ll be charged $3.20 every hour by AWS while Azure is going to charge approximately $6.76 every hour.

After taking care of computation, the subsequent notable concern happens to be storing this information, and we would be throwing some light on this.

Read Also: List of Top 10 Most Popular Azure Services

• Storage services

Reliable as well as long-running storage services are provided by both Azure web app as well as AWS. While Azure Storage Services come with Disk Storage, Blob Storage, plus Standard Archive, AWS provides services such as EBS, AWS S3, as well as Glacier.

Automatic replication and high-availability are ensured by AWS S3 across various regions. In terms of short-term storage in AWS, it begins to function every time the instance begins and stops. When it is terminated, block storage is provided by it just like hard disks and it is possible to attach them to any EC2 instance or they can also be kept separate.

Azure makes use of page blobs and temporary storage for VM volume. Azure comes with a Block Storage option which functions in AWS as an S3 counterpart. Apart from this, Azure likewise offers a couple of types in their storage, namely, hot and cold storage. After talking about Storage Services, we will see how Azure and AWS fair when it comes to Database Services.

• Database Services

At present, the data which is generated is available in various formats, and therefore, the databases holding this information likewise require evolving. Various database services are provided by both Azure and AWS for handling structured as well as unstructured information.

• Cloud Computing Training

In case you are searching for durability, Azure has got Azure SQL Server Database while AWS comes with Amazon RDS. Different database engines are supported by Amazon RDS including MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Amazon Aurora, Microsoft SQL, and Oracle while when talking about Azure, the SQL server database is based on SQL as suggested by the name.

Azure has got a smoother and friendlier interface while better provisioning is provided by AWS with many more instances. Both these tools can boast of having innovative features. In case we are going to discuss the capacity of these services, they are almost even since both have got services for Big Data and analytics. While Azure has got HD Insights, AWS can boast of having EMR. Cortana Intelligence Suite is likewise provided by Azure and it comes with Spark, Hadoop, HBase, and Storm.

When it comes to maturity, a more mature environment is provided by AWS particularly for Big Data.

Must Read: Top 7 Benefits of Azure Web Apps for the Development of Enterprise Apps

We’ll now see how AWS can be compared with Azure in terms of networking.

• Networking Services

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud allows the formation of separated networks within the Cloud umbrella. This allows the users to generate route tables, subnets, network gateways, and private IP address ranges.

Microsoft Azure Virtual Network is a comparable version to VPC, enables you to perform everything done by VPC. Both suppliers have methods of extending the on-premise information center into the firewall options and cloud as well.

The container as well as Orchestration Support

It has already been established by us that AWS offers more aged Big Data as well as for analytics products. It has got different services in its toolbox covering domains such as IoT, mobile application development, or development of a computing environment according to requirements. Additionally, they assist Docker.

Microsoft happens to be an equal here and might go one step further because it provides Hadoop support with solutions such as Azure HDInsight. Azure which Windows Server 2016 offers implementation with Docker for both Hyper-V containers and Windows containers.

The system likewise operates Linux or Windows containers.

The ultimate bit in this particular ‘AWS vs Azure’ post happens to be Compliance.

• Compliance

Amazon features an excellent partnership with the government departments making sure considerably better government cloud products. Additionally, they offer excellent security measures guaranteeing appropriate access to specific users with regards to interacting with the cloud, this aspect is vital when businesses are coping with delicate information.

Microsoft provides more than 50 compliant products. Some significant ones consist of HIPAA, ITAR, CJIS, DISA, FIPS.

Final Rating:

Both Azure and AWS display powerful features and it is hard to select a clear winner. Azure is fantastic with regards to Hybrid Cloud as well as combining with Microsoft collection of products, while AWS provides more versatility and additional features. It quite definitely comes down to the specifications of you or your company. Therefore, make it a point to pick sensibly.