Cloud computing platforms have grown in popularity over the years and more businesses are making the move. These platforms host the storage, servers, network and network applications, allowing businesses to access files remotely from anywhere with an internet connection.

There are more benefits for businesses of all sizes to make the move and at this rate, it’s becoming inevitable. We spoke to expert providers of IT Support Services in London about why people should move to these platforms and the reasons are clear. In comparison to traditional private servers, cloud computing platforms are flexible and scalable, they offer better security and performance features and finally, it’s a more cost-effective solution.

And when it comes to cloud computing platforms on the market, two of the biggest companies to choose from are AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Microsoft Azure. AWS has long been a favourite and from a glance, it might seem like the superior option of the two but Microsoft Azure is quickly becoming a worthy competitor.

AWS was one of the first cloud providers to hit the market launching in 2006. The platform was created and operated by Amazon to provide a variety of cloud-based products for businesses with a pay-as-you-go pricing model. AWS is often used for storage, databases, networking, development, and enterprise applications.

Microsoft Azure came later, officially launching in 2010 and was targeted at businesses and developers as a cloud computing operating system. The platform acts as a portal to cloud services and resources provided by Microsoft. Similarly to AWS, users just need an internet connection to connect to and access services like computing, storage, IoT, networking, migration, analytics, containers and databases, developer tools, AI and much more. The platform is free to start and uses a pay-per-use model so that you only pay for the services you need.

For starters, AWS is still the global market share leader for public cloud services. It’s been a popular choice for decades and will continue to be. But Microsoft Azure is growing every day. So how does Azure match up? Let’s break it down with the help of TechQuarters who are a trusted IT Support Company.

Storage

Storage is a key functionality of any cloud platform and for both AWS and Azure, have a reliable and strong system. Azure’s storage is referred to as Blob storage and AWS’ is S3 or Simple Storage Service. Both include the basic features like server-side data encryption and REST API access.

AWS better caters to services like S3, EBS Glacier and AWS. Azure on the other hand is better for storage services like Blob Storage, disk storage and standard archiving.

Cost

Both AWS and Azure have pricing and services based on requirements but they differ slightly. Both offer free introduction tiers that have restricted usage limits but when it comes to paid subscriptions – AWS has an hourly rate and Azure on a minute basis.

AWS can be cheaper the more you use it by purchasing reserved instances, on-demand instances or spot instances. But for businesses starting out, Azure does offer short-term commitments with pre-paid or monthly charges.

Security

AWS has built an infrastructure according to best practices and standards. The platform uses redundant and layered controls, testing and validation and automation to ensure the infrastructure is continuously monitored and protected.

Azure’s security relies on Microsoft’s Cloud Defender service which is powered by AI and safeguards to ensure security and data privacy.

Development tools

For AWS there are two serverless tools called AWS Fargate and Lambda.

Whereas Azure offers a serverless platform that when used with Azure DevOps pipelines, users can streamline and manage complicated workflows. Capabilities such as Azure Bot Service, IoT Edge, stream analytics, time series insights, AI and more are available.

Container and Orchestration Support

AWS has more advanced big data and analytics solutions that offer services in IoT, mobile app development or computing environment building. AWS also offers Docker support.

Microsoft does also offer these services but also provides support for Hadoop with Azure HDInsight.

All that being said, the reality is that it shouldn’t be down to a technical decision between AWS and Microsoft Azure. Even Office 365 Consulting providers can tell you that both AWS and Azure are solid choices for cloud services and will do a great job in 99% of cases. Some put it down to – if a business is looking for IaaS or a more diverse set of tools then AWS is a good pick whereas Azure offers a more powerful PaaS provider.

The biggest difference that should be taken into consideration is that AWS is provided by Amazon and Azure by Microsoft. If your business is already running on a mostly Microsoft Office system then Azure will be a better option.