AWS vs Azure: Which one you should opt for?

by | Nov 24, 2022

Since the expansion of online services, there’s been an explosion of cloud-based services and applications. This application performance is based on data storage, servers, network, database, and software. 

Cloud computing protects businesses from keeping files on any local storage or hard drives and saves them to the remote database. There are two main dominants in the cloud industry: Azure by Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Many organizations seek to know both services in detail and compare them before moving to a cloud-based environment. This article is going to spotlight both cloud service providers and compare them based on some essential parameters.

Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web services or what we commonly call AWS is the subsidiary of global ecommerce and tech giant Amazon. It provides 200 fully-featured services ranging from application development, database, computing, migration, security, and infrastructure management to millions of users. AWS is currently serving fast-paced startups, large and small businesses, and government agencies to reduce infrastructural costs and become more agile toward innovation.

AWS works on a Pay-as-you-go cloud computing model providing infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (Saas), and platform as a service (Paas) offerings. AWS helps in acquiring large-scale computing services faster and in an affordable way.

Amazon launched AWS services in 2002 and launched its own cloud product in 2006. This shows Amazon has earned a competitive edge over the years.

Benefits of Amazon Web Services

  • It provides organizations with a ready-to-use programming model, operating systems, cloud models, databases, and architectures.
  • Organizations need to pay for only what they use. There’s no upfront cost or long-term commitment.
  • The Pay-as-you-go model saves users from spending money on running and maintaining private data centers.
  • It allows users to deploy applications anywhere around the world with just a few clicks.

Microsoft Azure

In short, we simply call it the Azure cloud services and it comes under another global tech giant Microsoft. Currently Azure offers 200+ services including cloud computing, migration, AI, ML, networking, storage, and development. It leverages its extensive network of data centers with end-to-end services at high speed.

Just like AWS, Azure offers pay-as-you-go pricing with no upfront fee and subscribers can avail of the service as per business requirements. It offers several infrastructure and service tools, programming languages, and frameworks.

Azure was launched in 2008. It means it enjoys equal dominance in the market as AWS. It provides responsive solutions for healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, government agencies, and retail businesses.

Benefits of Azure cloud services:

  • Azure supports various cloud technologies and allows organizations to use tools & technologies they prefer.
  • It provides solutions for varied industries with a proven combination of cloud products and services.
  • Azure is the best consistent hybrid cloud delivering productivity, multilayered security, and complete coverage.
  • Azure claims that it is 5 times more affordable than AWS for Windows servers and SQL servers.

AWS vs Azure: An overview

Far of now, it is best to say that both AWS and Azure are global market leaders in the cloud service industry. They are pretty much similar to each other in terms of technologies, services, and affordability. Choosing between the two providers is a debatable choice. Then how should you consider which service is reliable for you?

It’s not all about the technology and affordability, the choice is based on your business goals and requirements. It’s more of a business need and user-friendliness rather than just a technological decision. The following points will give you a clear picture of which services you should opt for your business.

Difference between AWS and Azure cloud services

Open Source community

The open-source cloud platform is developed using open-source technologies and licensing agreements. It allows end users to avail the unique benefit of seamless integration of products and systems. It helps vendors and organizations enhance interoperability with other solutions and can cover any private, public, or hybrid cloud models. It covers a wide array of Saas, Iaas, Saas, and other solutions.

AWS is more friendly to open source community and it is compatible to integrate with varied open-source applications. Whereas Azure is still in the process of supporting open source community and currently provide options for corporate users to access existing active directory account. It only executes apps based on the .net framework Linux, Windows, and iOS environments. Thus, in open source regards AWS rules the market.

Storage offerings

Cloud storage is a concept of storing data and files on the internet via a cloud computing provider that enables access through a public or private network connection. The provider stores and manage data, storage servers, infrastructure, and network to ensure you get quick access to them virtually whenever needed. It removes the need for organizations to develop set up and maintain their own infrastructure.

While comparing, you can find AWS and Azure with equal storage capacity but their storage offerings vary. AWS offers Simple Storage Service (S3), Elastic Block Store (EBS), SDB, Glacier, and so on. Whereas Azure storage is based on Blob storage, Disk storage, Containers, Azure drive, and so on. Both providers offer the best storage service however, AWS S3 is known as a secure, scalable, and robust solution.

Documentation and Usability

Before proceeding to go ahead with any one option, it is essential to take care of the documentation and simplicity of use for each platform. Keeping in mind your business compatibility, and staff training you should go with the one that has an easy user interface.

In these terms, AWS offers greater ease and is ideal for first-time cloud adopters. It offers a feature-rich and user-friendly dashboard with extensive documentation for cloud services. Users can simply type queries into the AWS search box and navigate to documentation for a guide in terms of video and written lessons. While Azure’s documentation is less intuitive and searches friendly it offers convenience for all information and data in one place which makes it easy for users to access data quickly.

Database Efficiency

Database efficiency defines the compatibility of cloud providers to handle big data. Both AWS and Azure offer an extensive array of database services to manage structured and unstructured information. AWS is based on Amazon RDS and Azure on Azure SQL service database option.

Amazon’s Relational Database Services drives 6 database engines: MYSQL, MariaDB, Amazon Aurora, Microsoft SQL, PostGRE SQL, and Oracle. Whereas Azure database is purely based on Microsoft SQL. Azure has a more friendly and smoother interface database management. For data analytics, AWS uses Elastic Map Reduce (EMR) and Azure uses HD insights. Based on the comparison, AWS provides a relatively better environment to handle data.

Conclusion

AWS and Azure provide relative features, prices, and significant market share. Consider the above points before choosing to integrate the one for your business. If you’re looking to shift to a cloud-based environment, 5RiOS is there to give you guidance and cloud integration for your business. Fill out the form to book a consultation call with our team.