AWS vs Azure
Service Comparison
30+ service categories mapped side by side. When studying for both certifications, this is the quickest way to understand how each cloud approaches the same problem.
| Category | ☁️ AWS | ⬡ Azure | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compute | |||
| Virtual Machines | EC2 | Virtual Machines | Both offer 100s of instance/VM sizes |
| Auto Scaling | EC2 Auto Scaling | VM Scale Sets | Scale in/out based on metrics |
| Serverless Functions | AWS Lambda | Azure Functions | Event-driven; pay per invocation |
| Containers (managed) | Amazon ECS / Fargate | Azure Container Instances | Run containers without managing servers |
| Kubernetes (managed) | Amazon EKS | Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) | Both manage the control plane |
| PaaS Web Hosting | AWS Elastic Beanstalk | Azure App Service | Deploy code; platform manages infra |
| Storage | |||
| Object Storage | Amazon S3 | Azure Blob Storage | Both offer hot/cold/archive tiers |
| Block Storage | Amazon EBS | Azure Managed Disks | Attach to VMs like a hard drive |
| File Storage | Amazon EFS | Azure Files | Shared file system; multiple VMs |
| Archival Storage | S3 Glacier | Azure Blob Archive | Long-term, low-cost storage |
| Data Migration | AWS Snow Family | Azure Data Box | Physical devices for large migrations |
| Database | |||
| Managed SQL | Amazon RDS | Azure SQL Database | Both support MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc. |
| NoSQL | Amazon DynamoDB | Azure Cosmos DB | Both offer single-digit ms latency |
| In-Memory Cache | Amazon ElastiCache | Azure Cache for Redis | Redis and Memcached options |
| Data Warehouse | Amazon Redshift | Azure Synapse Analytics | Petabyte-scale analytics |
| Networking | |||
| Virtual Network | Amazon VPC | Azure Virtual Network (VNet) | Private network in the cloud |
| CDN | Amazon CloudFront | Azure CDN / Azure Front Door | Cache content at edge locations |
| DNS | Amazon Route 53 | Azure DNS | Route 53 also offers domain registration |
| Dedicated Connection | AWS Direct Connect | Azure ExpressRoute | Private circuit to cloud; not over internet |
| VPN Gateway | AWS VPN Gateway | Azure VPN Gateway | Encrypted tunnel over public internet |
| Load Balancer (L7) | AWS Application Load Balancer | Azure Application Gateway | HTTP/HTTPS routing + WAF |
| Security & Identity | |||
| Identity & Access | AWS IAM | Microsoft Entra ID + Azure RBAC | Azure separates identity (Entra) from resource access (RBAC) |
| Key Management | AWS KMS | Azure Key Vault | Manage encryption keys and secrets |
| DDoS Protection | AWS Shield | Azure DDoS Protection | Both offer free basic + paid advanced |
| WAF | AWS WAF | Azure WAF (via App Gateway or Front Door) | Filter malicious HTTP/S traffic |
| Threat Detection | Amazon GuardDuty | Microsoft Defender for Cloud | ML-based threat detection |
| SIEM | Amazon Security Lake + SIEM partners | Microsoft Sentinel | Azure Sentinel is a first-party SIEM/SOAR |
| Management & DevOps | |||
| Monitoring | Amazon CloudWatch | Azure Monitor | Metrics, logs, alarms/alerts |
| Audit Logging | AWS CloudTrail | Azure Activity Log | Who did what, when, from where |
| Cost Management | AWS Cost Explorer + Budgets | Azure Cost Management + Billing | Both offer budgets and alerts |
| Infrastructure as Code | AWS CloudFormation / Terraform | ARM Templates / Bicep / Terraform | Terraform works with both clouds |
| CI/CD | AWS CodePipeline + CodeBuild | Azure DevOps / GitHub Actions | GitHub Actions works with both |
| Best Practice Advisor | AWS Trusted Advisor | Azure Advisor | Cost, security, performance recommendations |