<AWS vs AZURE ; Which is better ? />

Cloud services are an attractive option for many business owners because they don't have to worry about the secondary needs of self-hosting large databanks and servers, such as renting space for them, providing power, and cooling. On top of that, they don't have to manage the staff associated with this hardware and their needs.

Companies have to keep up with the ever-changing demand and supply race. If they allocate fewer resources to cater to the rising demand, they can miss out on viable customers and lose profits. On the other hand, if they give too many resources, they may have to endure higher operational costs lowering their margins. This is where cloud services like Amazon's AWS and Microsoft's Azure come in. Both provide many benefits, such as computing, networking, and databases, but which platform is better suited for your business?

Account

Azure subscriptions have an assigned owner responsible for billing and permissions management. They exist independently of their owner accounts and can be reassigned to new owners. In AWS, any resources created under the account are tied to it.

Compute

Both provide compute services with EC2 instances and virtual machines, respectively. They differ in RAM, CPU, and storage capabilities, all primary requirements for your daily computation.

The technology lets you work on these virtual computers over the cloud and choose what software runs on them. EC2 provides a broad selection of instances depending on your application, whereas Azure VMs perform a similar function. Both are configured and scaled differently and require several services to run in parallel.

EC2 may not suit enterprises with older and localized infrastructure as it works better with other AWS tools. Also, novice users may experience difficulties in understanding its complex nature and may need to refer to its literature for help. Azure Virtual Machines works exceptionally well with Microsoft products.

Storage

With AWS, your storage can be of three:

S3 allows object storage with easy accessibility via an Internet-accessible API. EBS is block-level storage for access by a single VM. And, EFS has shared storage EC2 instances.

Azure storage services can be Blob storage stores text or binary data with public or private access. Table storage allows vast amounts of NoSQL key-attribute structured datasets to be stored, allowing rapid development and fast access. Queue storage provides messaging for workflow processing and communication between components of cloud services. File storage, similar to AWS's EFS, offers shared storage for legacy applications.

Using Azure, you have the freedom to launch your preferred OS on their file system. Amazon does not allow this feature but lets you choose from the OS they offer and save them as images. This prevents losing the image in the event a VM is deleted. This is a problem in Azure, and users need to navigate this carefully. If they delete a VM, they lose the image, and can't be recovered.

In case of damage to files, both provide recovery options due to replication in different zones.

Database

Relational database and NoSQL database services are a feature of both platforms. AWS's NoSQL and relational databases work perfectly with their other services to handle vast amounts of data and perform analytics. Azure's NoSQL and relational databases also have similar capabilities as Amazon's, however, it provides the option of fewer relational databases.

Network service

Both cloud computing platforms provide similar network capabilities like load balancing, DNS management, and cross-premises connectivity. However, AWS has many more data centers in different regions worldwide providing the same features.

Open Source

Considering that Amazon came early to the cloud computing market, it has better relations with the open-source community. However, Microsoft has products that have existed longer and have a large market share. Therefore, it is easier for Microsoft users to integrate to Azure if they are familiar with their development tools, such as .net.

Hybrid

Azure has firm hybrid cloud support due to users opting for multiple cloud computing platforms and on-premise applications for their hardware and software needs. On the other hand, AWS has recently adopted policies and gives its users the hybrid options they seek.

Pricing

Cost is a significant factor when considering cloud-based services for both large corporations and small businesses. As more and more competitors offer similar services, there will be changes in pricing accordingly; however, at this moment, there is no significant difference between AWS and Azure. Companies may have to face higher operational costs in the long run, but it beats the lower up-front cost require to scale their businesses.

Their pricing models are different and straightforward. Clients pay for the services required to come up rather than a one-time payment for the whole solution. Both offer discounts, but AWS can become difficult to interpret when they don't apply to all their services.

Verdict

It's hard to discern which cloud computing platform is better. Both provide very similar services as per their clients' needs allowing companies to dynamically cater to their client base and scale their operations on the go.

The process is simple for both; companies have to log on to their portals and virtually create their required infrastructure. It can be done within a day, whereas doing it physically would require months and months of hard work.

It's hard to discern because it depends on the business's needs and ease of operation when choosing one of the two services. They could opt for a multi-platform approach based on pricing, better services, or region availability. Right now, it's too soon to say which is the clear winner, but AWS has an advantage due to a larger market share.