AWS vs Azure: which platform should you choose for your business?
Choosing a Cloud platform is a decision that can impact the architecture, costs, and growth capacity of a business for years.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are two of the leading cloud computing ecosystems. Both allow for deploying applications, storing information, managing databases, running containers, implementing artificial intelligence, and building highly scalable enterprise infrastructures. However, choosing between AWS and Azure should not be reduced to determining which has more services or which is more popular.
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The right question is: which platform fits better with your company's infrastructure, applications, technical knowledge, and goals?
AWS vs Azure: main differences
AWS and Azure offer equivalent services in practically all major categories of Cloud infrastructure: computing, storage, databases, networking, serverless, containers, analytics, artificial intelligence, and security.
The differences mainly arise in each company's technological ecosystem, their workloads, and how they want to manage their infrastructure.
AWS officially highlights the breadth of its catalog and currently states that it has more than 240 services, while Azure particularly emphasizes its integration with Microsoft technologies and its capabilities for enterprise and hybrid scenarios.
When to choose AWS?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers an extremely broad Cloud ecosystem that allows for building virtually any type of infrastructure.
It can be especially interesting for organizations looking for a cloud-native architecture, needing a wide variety of managed services, or wanting multiple alternatives for designing each component of their platform. AWS indicates that its global infrastructure currently reaches 123 Availability Zones distributed across 39 geographic regions, in addition to new regions and zones announced.
AWS may be a good option when:
You are building a cloud-native platform from scratch.
You need a wide variety of specialized services.
You work with distributed architectures.
You heavily use containers and microservices.
You need serverless architectures.
Your team already has experience with AWS.
You want to build data platforms, machine learning, or artificial intelligence within the same ecosystem.
The existence of services such as EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, EKS, SageMaker, or Bedrock allows for building very different architectures without leaving the AWS ecosystem.
When to choose Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft Azure can be particularly attractive for organizations that already work intensively with Microsoft technologies. Companies using Windows Server, SQL Server, Microsoft 365, .NET, or Microsoft identity solutions may find operational advantages by keeping a significant part of their infrastructure within the same ecosystem.
Microsoft specifically highlights the integration between Azure, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Entra, as well as its focus on hybrid infrastructures.
Azure may be a good option when:
Your infrastructure is primarily based on Microsoft technologies.
You use Windows Server.
You work with SQL Server.
Your team develops .NET applications.
Microsoft Entra ID is part of your identity strategy.
You need to connect on-premise and Cloud infrastructure.
Your organization maintains a hybrid environment.
This does not mean that Azure is exclusively a platform for Microsoft technologies. It also supports open-source languages, frameworks, and technologies.
AWS vs Azure for enterprise infrastructure
In traditional infrastructure, both platforms offer equivalent solutions for running servers, networks, storage, and databases. In AWS, an architecture can combine services such as:
EC2 + S3 + RDS + VPC + Elastic Load Balancing.
In Azure, an equivalent architecture could use:
Azure Virtual Machines + Blob Storage + Azure SQL + Virtual Network + Azure Load Balancer.
The fundamental difference will not necessarily be in the ability to build the architecture, but in which ecosystem allows the organization to manage it more efficiently.
AWS vs Azure for companies using Microsoft
Here Azure has a particularly relevant advantage.
Microsoft offers mechanisms to leverage existing licenses for Windows Server and SQL Server through Azure Hybrid Benefit, which can significantly impact the economic analysis of certain migrations. Therefore, an organization with a historical infrastructure based on Microsoft should consider Azure before making a decision.
However, this does not mean that AWS is ruled out. AWS allows for running Windows workloads and has numerous enterprise services compatible with these environments.
AWS vs Azure for hybrid Cloud
Many companies cannot migrate their entire infrastructure to the cloud immediately.
Some applications remain in on-premise data centers due to technical, regulatory, economic, or security requirements. In these scenarios, hybrid Cloud emerges.
Azure has developed a strategy specifically aimed at connecting on-premise, Cloud, and Edge infrastructure. Microsoft presents hybrid operation as one of Azure's main differentiators. AWS also has hybrid solutions and allows extending its infrastructure and operational experience to on-premise and Edge environments. Therefore, once again, the decision should analyze the existing architecture.
AWS vs Azure for containers and Kubernetes
Containers have become an important piece of modern Cloud architectures.
Both platforms offer managed Kubernetes services:
AWS → Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) Azure → Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
AWS also acknowledges that team experience and structure are important factors when selecting a technology strategy, especially in organizations using Kubernetes and Platform Engineering.
This introduces a criterion that many AWS vs Azure comparisons overlook: your team's experience may be more important than small differences between services.
AWS vs Azure for artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence has become another strategic area for both providers. AWS has an ecosystem that includes services such as Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock, in addition to infrastructure geared towards machine learning and generative AI.
Microsoft Azure also has a broad artificial intelligence ecosystem integrated with its Cloud and enterprise services.
The choice in AI projects should consider additional factors: models used, data architecture, necessary GPUs, existing integrations, security, data localization, scalability, inference cost, and team experience.
Therefore, an AI strategy should not choose the Cloud provider solely based on a general comparison between AWS and Azure.
Which is cheaper: AWS or Azure?
There is no universal answer. The cost depends on the architecture and actual consumption. A company should analyze, among other factors:
Virtual machines used.
CPU and memory.
Storage.
Databases.
Data transfer.
Outbound traffic.
Regions.
High availability.
Backups.
Managed services.
Discounts and consumption commitments.
Existing licenses.
In certain scenarios, Microsoft Azure can benefit from leveraging existing licenses for Windows Server and SQL Server through Azure Hybrid Benefit. AWS, on the other hand, has models like Savings Plans to reduce costs under certain usage commitments.
Therefore, comparing only the price of a virtual machine in AWS and Azure can provide an incomplete view. The right approach is to calculate the total cost of the architecture.
AWS vs Azure in security
Both providers offer advanced ecosystems for security, identity, encryption, monitoring, and compliance. AWS states that its infrastructure is designed for sensitive workloads used by financial, healthcare, and government organizations.
Azure also has a broad catalog of security and compliance solutions and highlights its integration with Microsoft's identity and security ecosystem. However, using AWS or Azure does not automatically make an infrastructure secure. Incorrect configurations of permissions, networks, storage, or identities can create vulnerabilities regardless of the provider. The architecture and the Cloud team's knowledge remain fundamental.
Do you need to choose only one platform?
Not necessarily.
Some organizations use multicloud strategies, distributing workloads between AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or other providers. It may also happen that a company maintains its main infrastructure on AWS but uses certain services from Azure, or vice versa.
However, using multiple providers also increases complexity.
It may require: more technical knowledge, different IAM systems, greater observability, more complex networking strategies, different security tools, cross-platform cost management, and automation compatible with different providers.
Therefore, multicloud should not be adopted simply to avoid choosing between AWS and Azure. There must be a clear technical or business reason.
What profile does your company need for AWS or Azure?
Choosing the platform is only part of the problem. After that, you need professionals capable of designing and managing it correctly.
Cloud Engineer
Manages and optimizes infrastructure deployed on AWS or Azure. This profile is suitable for organizations that already have their Cloud architecture defined and need to operate and evolve the platform.
Cloud Architect
Designs the complete architecture. Analyzes availability, security, networking, storage, databases, scalability, and costs to determine how workloads should be distributed.
DevOps Engineer
Automates infrastructure and deployments using technologies such as: Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and CI/CD.
Can work interchangeably on AWS, Azure, or multicloud architectures depending on their experience.
Cloud Migration Specialist
Specialized in moving applications and systems from on-premise infrastructure to AWS or Azure. Can analyze dependencies, workloads, storage, and databases before executing the migration.
Cloud Security Engineer
Focuses specifically on identity, permissions, networks, data protection, monitoring, and Cloud security.
AWS or Azure: what should your company choose?
The decision can be simplified by analyzing the technological context.
The last variable is especially important. If a company has an experienced team in AWS, migrating to Azure simply because certain services seem more attractive can introduce learning and operational costs. The same applies in the opposite direction.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, AWS or Azure?
No platform is universally better. AWS may be particularly attractive due to the breadth of its Cloud ecosystem, while Azure offers very solid integration with Microsoft technologies and hybrid environments. The choice depends on each company's architecture and needs.
Do AWS and Azure offer the same services?
Not exactly, but both cover the main categories of Cloud Computing: virtual machines, storage, databases, networking, Kubernetes, serverless, security, analytics, and artificial intelligence.
Is Azure better for companies that use Microsoft?
It can present significant advantages when the organization already uses technologies such as Windows Server, SQL Server, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Entra. Additionally, certain clients may leverage Azure Hybrid Benefit for eligible licenses.
Is AWS suitable for large companies?
Yes. AWS offers infrastructure and services aimed at both startups and large organizations and has specific solutions for enterprise environments.
Can I use AWS and Azure at the same time?
Yes. It is possible to develop a multicloud strategy, although it increases the complexity of infrastructure, security, observability, and operation.
What professional do I need to manage AWS or Azure?
You will typically need a Cloud Engineer. To define complex architectures, a Cloud Architect may be necessary, while automation and CI/CD may require a DevOps Engineer.
Can I migrate from AWS to Azure or from Azure to AWS?
Yes, although the difficulty will depend on how much the application relies on proprietary services from each platform. An architecture based on portable technologies can facilitate future migration.
Conclusion: AWS vs Azure depends on your architecture, not on the winner of a comparison
The choice between AWS and Azure should not be framed as a competition to determine which is the best Cloud platform. AWS offers an extremely broad ecosystem and a global infrastructure designed for multiple types of workloads. Azure stands out particularly for its integration with the Microsoft ecosystem and its enterprise and hybrid capabilities.
The right decision depends on what applications your company uses, what infrastructure it currently has, what knowledge the team possesses, and what architecture needs to be built. And here, a factor as important as choosing the technology comes into play: having the right talent to implement it. At lateam, you can incorporate Cloud Engineers, Cloud Architects, Cloud migration specialists, and DevOps professionals with experience in AWS, Microsoft Azure, and other infrastructure technologies.
