Difference Between AWS and Azure

What is Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a platform that provides us access to several computer resources, such as serverless computers, virtual machines, etc. This is possible with the help of the Internet. As a user, all you need to do is go to a cloud service provider and connect through the Internet, and you have access to all computer resources. The Cloud service providers have massive data centers. In these data centers, there are hundreds of servers. These are very safe locations where a large amount of data is stored. Every cloud service provider charge user only for the service they use. We will discuss the two major cloud service providers, AWS and Microsoft Azure.

What is Amazon Web Service (AWS)

AWS is a short form for Amazon Web Services. Its parent company is Amazon. AWS is a cloud platform that offers several on-demand operations like data storage, content delivery, etc. AWS offers a wide range of services and tools that enable businesses, organizations, and individuals to build, deploy, and manage various applications and services in the cloud. It offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where users only pay for the resources and services they consume. It is the largest cloud platform available.

It is easy to use flexible, reliable, scalable, cost-effective, and secure platform.

With AWS, users can leverage a vast array of services, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS), storage and content delivery, databases, analytics, machine learning, Internet of things (IoT), security and identity, and management and monitoring.

Amazon Web Service was launched in July 2000. In 2002 Amazon began building its infrastructure: To handle the increasing demands of its e-commerce business, Amazon started developing its infrastructure and building data centers. In 2004 Amazon launched Amazon Prime, a subscription-based service that offers free shipping for eligible products. Amazon Cloud Computing was launched in March 2006. Adam Selipsky is the CEO of Amazon Web Services.

Services Offered by AWS

AWS offers the following services:

Compute Services:

These Services help developers build, deploy and scale an application in the cloud platform, i.e., EC2, Lambda, Elastic container service, Elastic load balancer, and Lightsail. One of the most widely used services within the compute section is EC2 which means Elastic cloud computing.

Storage Services:

It provides web data storage service for archiving data. It helps in data recovery. Some storage services are S3, Glacier, EBS, and Storage Gateway.

Database Services:

AWS offers cost-efficient, highly secure, and scalable database instances in the cloud. Database Services include RDMS, Dynamo DB, Elastic Cache, Amazon Redshift, etc.

Networking Services: It offers a highly secure cloud platform and helps connect physical networks to private virtual networks with high transfer speed. Some networking services are VPC Route S3, Direct Connect, Cloud Front, etc.
Developer Tool service: It helps to build and run an application source code automatically. Some developer tool services are code star, code build, code deploy, code Pipeline, etc.
Security Services: It helps monitor a safe environment for AWS resources with limited access.

What is Microsoft Azure

The name of Azure also knows Microsoft Azure. Azure is a Cloud computing platform that comes under Microsoft. It is an online portal through which you can manage and access resources and services provided by Microsoft. Microsoft Azure supports many programming Languages, tools, and frameworks. It provides many facilities, such as software as a service, platform as a service, and infrastructure as a service. It was released on 27th October 2008.

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service that allows users to create, modify, test, deploy, and maintain applications. It also provides free access for the first 12 months. It makes our work more accessible by giving us virtual machines, fast ways to process data, tools for analysis and monitoring, and so on. Azure's pricing is also easy to understand and less expensive. People often say, "Pay as you go," meaning you only pay for what you use. It provides more than 200 services.

Key Difference Between Azure and AWS

AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Microsoft Azure are leading cloud computing platforms. While they offer similar services and solutions, there are some differences between AWS and Azure. Here are some key points differentiating the two:

	AWS	AZURE
1.	AWS offers direct connections.	Microsoft Azure offers express routes.
2.	AWS provides security using defined roles with permission control features.	Microsoft Azure provides security with permission on whole account.
3.	AWS machine can be accessed separately.	Azure machines are grouped into cloud services and respond to the same domain name with various ports,
4.	AWS has 55 availability zone with 8 more on the way.	Azure has 44 availability zone with 12 more on the way.
5.	AWS has a larger Market as compared to Azure as it was launched in 2006.	Azure is gaining significant market share. It was launched in 2010.
6.	AWS has the Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) for container orchestration,	Azure provides Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) as its primary offering.
7.	AWS has a more extensive ecosystem with a wide range of third-party integrations, partner solutions, and a robust marketplace	Azure has been expanding its ecosystem and marketplace as well,
8	AWS has a more mature serverless ecosystem with additional services like Amazon API Gateway, AWS Step Functions, and AWS EventBridge	Azure provides similar functionality with Azure Logic Apps, Azure Event Grid, and Azure API Management.
9.	AWS offers Amazon Managed Blockchain.	Azure provides Azure Blockchain Service.
10.	AWS covers 40 percent of the market share.	Azure covers 30 percent of the market share.
11.	The largest instance that AWS offers is 256 GB RAM + 16 vCPUs	The Largest instance that Azure offers is 224 GB RAM + 16 vCPUs.
12.	AWS holds first place in terms of market share.	Azure holds second place in terms of market share.
13.	AWS has high profile customers like Airnb, Netflix, Uniliver, BMW, Samsung, Xiaomi etc.	80 percent of the fortune 500 companies have put their faith in Azure recently. Some of its customers are Apple, Fujifilm, Hewlett etc.
14.	AWS has a better relation with open source communities leading to more open source integration.	Azure is not comfortable with open source communities.
15.	In AWS for two Virtual CPUs + 8 GB RAM would cost 0.0928 USD/hour	In Azure for two Virtual CPUs + 8 GB RAM would cost 0.096 USD/hour
16.	After learning AWS one can move into AWS sysops, AWS architect and AWS development.	After learning Microsoft Azure one can move into cloud system administrator, configure firewall etc.
17.	AWS does not emphasize on hybrid cloud earlier. It focus on Technology now.	Azure has always emphasized on hybrid cloud.

AWS OR AZURE

AWS has been a consistent pioneer in the cloud service, and its more mature infrastructure causing less downtime each year, makes AWS a preferable choice for many users, but Microsoft Azure needs to catch up to AWS. Azure is constantly growing and can overcome AWS within a period. However, Today, AWS stands at no 1 position, and Azure stands at no 2.