AWS vs Azure: Comparison, Pros & Cons

Photo of author

By admin

AWS vs Azure: Comparison, Pros & Cons

If you are looking for an appropriate cloud service provider for your business, then you might have a few options to choose from. Now AWS and Azure are the most significant names in this industry but picking one between them isn’t easy. If you explore the services, both of these cloud platforms offer and their features and pros & cons, then you will find it harder to choose between these two. But if you consider the services you are looking for from a platform for your company, and you keep the price into consideration, then it will be easier to find your best solution. Check out this thorough comparison guide and the pros vs. cons of both AWS and Azure to realize which one is the best for your business.

A Brief Overview of AWS vs. Azure

Both AWS and Azure offer the same types of capabilities that include computing, pricing storage, and networking. Autoscaling, self-service, security, identity access, pay-as-you-go, compliance, instant provisioning, and more are included in both Azure and AWS. But AWS has a more user base throughout the world than Azure. It has 100,000 Weather-Forecasting Computer Cores, more than a million customers, and 2 million servers. AWS controls 40% of the whole cloud computing market portion that is more than Azure and Google Cloud combined. That goes without saying that AWS is the oldest cloud platform and experienced in computing services, mobile networking, computing functions, machine learning, deployments, and so on. But Azure is also about to dominate AWS in just a few years as it is growing its customer base of over 120K unique customers every month. More than 5 million companies use Azure, and Azure has created 40% revenue from new companies that make it a close competitor to AWS.

AWS VS Azure- Computing

A system always requires to calculate, compute, and process data which is the main reason why we use computers. An appropriate cloud computing service should provide around 100% scalability of processing nodes within a few minutes. But businesses need the scaling faster than individual system owners that’s because their workload is higher, and they need a faster solution. The more workload a company has, the more storage and computing power it will need. And in that case, there are two options: either buy extra hardware for data storage or participate in public or private cloud storage. Both AWS and Azure provide that solution.

In AWS, the primary computing solution is EC2 instances that provide great scalability, on-demand computing, EC2 container service, Autoscaling, AWS Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, and more. Azure, on the other hand, compute offerings regarding virtual machines that include cloud services, resource managers, etc. that help you with deploying applications on the cloud. AWS offers data analysis, storage, database, networking, compute, mobile developer tools, IoT, security applications, management tools, and more. Take a look at the differences between AWS and Azure in terms of computing in a nutshell:

  • AWS provides EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) for managing, deploying, and maintaining virtual servers. Azure provides Virtual Machines and Virtual Machine Scale Sets.
  • AWS provides Docker Container Registry through ECR (EC2 Container Registry), and Azure provides Container Registry.
  • In Azure, you will get Virtual Machine Scale Sets, Auto Scaling, and App Service Scale Capability (PAAS), but AWS only provides auto-scaling.

AWS Vs. Azure: Storage

Another essential thing you should look for in a cloud service provider is the storage capacity they are providing. When you run services in the cloud, you will need bigger data processing and enough space to save the data. In that case, AWS storage provides the longest-running capacity, and it is 100% trustworthy. Azure and Aws provide REST API access as well as server-side data encryption to ensure safe and secure data processing. In Azure, the storage security is known as Blob storage, and in AWS, it is known as Simple Storage Service (S3). AWS offers automatic replication and high storage availability across different locations, and temporary storage in the AWS works during certain times. For example, when an instance stops and starts or terminates and offer storage that resembles a hard disk, and you can attach that to any EC2 instance, the temporary storage starts to function well. AWS mostly use this temporary storage for their virtual machine volumes.

Azure uses block storage that is similar to AWS’s block storage or S3. Azure offers hot and cool storage for databases. Cool storage is less expensive than hot storage, but it includes an extra read and writes costs.

Differences in Pricing: AWS vs. Azure

Cost is another essential factor for organizations that are planning to move their services to the cloud. Both AWS and Azure offer a free introductory tier that has limited user abilities, and in that case, you can use the services and try them out before you decide to buy them. AWS and Azure have a credit system that is best for start-up organizations. In AWS, you will get a pay-as-you-go model that charges you every hour for using their services. Azure also provides the same pay-as-you-go model but it charges every minute does no matter how long or short you are using their services. So, in that case, in AWS, the more you use the services, the less you have to pay, and that’s why big businesses use AWS for their cloud solutions. Here are pricing models of AWS:

  • AWS allows you to pay instantly based on the usage of the services. You can even reserve an instance for up to 3 years.
  • You can even pay for on-demand services for using what you need but not processing instant payment.
  • You can also bid for extra services based on their availability status.

One thing we like about Azure is that they offer prepaid and monthly charges for allowing you with short-term commitments. But still, AWS is more flexible than Azure when we talk about price.

Differences in Databases: AWS vs. Azure

Database services are important for organizations because that’s what they need to store their workload and data. AWS and Azure provide database services related to NoSQL and relational databases. AWS provides RDS (Relational Database Service), and Azure provides SQL Server database that has high capacity, durability, and automatic replication. AWS works with both relational databases and NoSQL that is ideal for big data sources. AWS offers data analysis with EMR that builds an EC2 cluster and integrates itself with different AWS services. Azure supports NoSQL and relational databases, too, and big data under its Azure HDInsight as well as Azure table. Azure offers a Cortana Intelligence Suite that provides great analysis.

In AWS, there is a total of six popular database engines that include Microsoft SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Amazon Aurora, MariaDB, and Oracle, but Azure provides databases that are related to the MS SQL Server. With Azure’s databases, you can perform on different DB operations, and with AWS, you can control the DB operations more easily.

Differences in Container and Orchestration: AWS vs. Azure

AWS have more scopes in big data and data analysis offerings than Azure. Aws offers IoT, app development, development of computing environment, etc., depending on your needs. Azure offers Hadoop support, and Azure HDInsight and docker contain orchestration for windows and Hyper-V, and Linux containers as well. So, in that case, both AWS and Azure perform well in container orchestration and are helpful depending on your organizational needs.

AWS vs. Azure: Which One is Better?

If you are studying Aws of Azure, you need to know which one is easier. Well, in that case, you will find AWS is easier to learn than Azure because Amazon provides more content and documentation that are easy to understand. As per the salary of AWS and Azure job positions, you will get around $100,868 for managing Big Data solutions with Azure. AWS professionals get a $104,088 monthly salary which is not any less than Azure.

But please note that Azure will gain more potential in its earnings department after a few decades. But who knows many AWS will gain a lot too in that time frame? That’s why it is an individual choice to choose between AWS or Azure because both of them have their own potential and individuality. Depending on the kind of organization you want to work with, you can acquire similar knowledge. For example, AWS is for organizations with huge workloads. Azure is for start-ups mostly. Big organizations have more income opportunities, while start-ups can ensure you with some working experiences for freshers. That’s why you need to decide which one you want to learn between AWS vs. Azure, if you are looking for a job in the field.

Leave a Comment