Azure to AWS services comparison/migration

This article helps you understand how Amazon Web Services (AWS) compare to Microsoft Azure services. Whether you are planning a multicloud solution with Azure and AWS, or migrating Azure to AWS, you can compare the IT capabilities of Azure and AWS services in all categories.

AWS and Azure for multicloud solutions

As the leading public cloud platforms, AWS and Azure each offer businesses a broad and deep set of capabilities with global coverage. Yet many organizations choose to use both platforms together for greater choice and flexibility, as well as to spread their risk and dependencies with a multicloud approach. Consulting companies and software vendors might also build on and use both AWS and Azure, as these platforms represent most of the cloud market demand.

 AWS and Azure are adding more services everyday so i will try to keep the content current.

Marketplace

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Marketplace	AWS Marketplace	Azure Marketplace	Easy-to-deploy and automatically configured third-party applications, including single virtual machine or multiple virtual machine solutions.

Compute

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Virtual servers	Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Instances	Azure Virtual Machines	Virtual servers allow users to deploy, manage, and maintain OS and server software. Instance types provide combinations of CPU/RAM. Users pay for what they use with the flexibility to change sizes.
	Amazon Lightsail	Azure Marketplace	Marketplace includes a selection of preconfigured VM images for various applications.
Container instances	EC2 Container Service (ECS)	Azure Container Service
	EC2 Container Registry	Azure Container Registry	Allows customers to store Docker formatted images. Used to create all types of container deployments on the cloud.
Microservices / container orchestrators	Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes (EKS)	Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)	Deploy orchestrated containerized applications with Kubernetes. Simplify monitoring and cluster management through auto upgrades and a built-in operations console.
Serverless	Lambda	Azure Functions	Integrate systems and run backend processes in response to events or schedules without provisioning or managing servers.
Backend process logic		Web Jobs	Provides an easy way to run background processes in an application context.
Batch computing	AWS Batch	Azure Batch	Run large-scale parallel and high-performance computing applications efficiently in the cloud.
Scalability	AWS Auto Scaling	Virtual Machine Scale Sets Azure AutoScaling	Lets you automatically change the number of instances providing a particular compute workload. You set defined metric and thresholds that determine if the platform adds or removes instances.

Storage

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Object storage	Simple Storage Services (S3)	Azure Storage—Block Blob (for content logs, files) (Standard—Hot)	Object storage service, for use cases including cloud applications, content distribution, backup, archiving, disaster recovery, and big data analytics.
Virtual Server disk infrastructure	Elastic Block Store (EBS)	Azure Storage Disk—Page Blobs (for VHDs or other random-write type data)	SSD storage optimized for I/O intensive read/write operations. For use as high performance Azure virtual machine storage.
Shared file storage	Elastic File System	Azure Files (file share between VMs)	Provides a simple interface to create and configure file systems quickly, and share common files. It’s shared file storage without the need for a supporting virtual machine, and can be used with traditional protocols that access files over a network.
Archiving — cool storage	S3 Infrequent Access (IA)	Azure Storage—Standard Cool	Cool storage is a lower cost tier for storing data that is infrequently accessed and long-lived.
Archiving — cold storage	S3 Glacier	Azure Storage-Standard Archive	Archive storage has the lowest storage cost and higher data retrieval costs compared to hot and cool storage.
Backup	AWS Backup	Azure Backup	Backup and archival solutions allow files and folders to be backed up and recovered from the cloud, and provide off-site protection against data loss. There are two components of backup—the software service that orchestrates backup/retrieval and the underlying backup storage infrastructure.
Hybrid storage	Storage Gateway	StorSimple	Integrates on-premises IT environments with cloud storage. Automates data management and storage, plus supports disaster recovery.
Bulk data transfer	AWS Import/Export Disk	Import/Export	A data transport solution that uses secure disks and appliances to transfer large amounts of data. Also offers data protection during transit.
	AWS Import/Export Snowball AWS Snowball Edge AWS Snowmobile	Azure Data Box	Petabyte- to Exabyte-scale data transport solution that uses secure data storage devices to transfer large amounts of data into and out of the AWS cloud, at lower cost than Internet-based transfers.

Networking and content delivery

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Cloud virtual networking	Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)	Virtual Network	Provides an isolated, private environment in the cloud. Users have control over their virtual networking environment, including selection of their own IP address range, creation of subnets, and configuration of route tables and network gateways.
Cross-premises connectivity	AWS VPN Gateway	Azure VPN Gateway	VPN Gateways connect virtual networks to other virtual networks, or customer on-premises networks (Site To Site). It also allows end users to connect to cloud services through VPN tunneling (Point To Site).
Domain name system management	Route 53	Azure DNS	Manage your DNS records using the same credentials and billing and support contract as your other Azure services
	Route 53	Traffic Manager	A service that hosts domain names, plus routes users to Internet applications, connects user requests to datacenters, manages traffic to apps, and improves app availability with automatic failover.
Content delivery network	CloudFront	Azure Content Delivery Network	A global content delivery network that delivers audio, video, applications, images, and other files.
Dedicated network	Direct Connect	ExpressRoute	Establishes a dedicated, private network connection from a location to the cloud provider (not over the Internet).
Load balancing	Classic Load Balancer Network Load Balancer Application Load Balancer	Load Balancer Application Gateway	Automatically distributes incoming application traffic to add scale, handle failover, and route to a collection of resources.

Database

Area	AWS Service	Azure Service	Description
Relational database	RDS	SQL Database	Relational database-as-a-service (DBaaS) where the database resilience, scale, and maintenance are primarily handled by the platform.
NoSQL—document storage, key/value storage	DynamoDB and SimpleDB	Azure Cosmos DB	A globally distributed, multi-model database that natively supports multiple data models: key-value, documents, graphs, and columnar.
Caching	ElastiCache	Azure Redis Cache	An in-memory–based, distributed caching service that provides a high-performance store typically used to offload nontransactional work from a database.
Database migration	Database Migration Service	Azure Database Migration Service	Typically is focused on the migration of database schema and data from one database format to a specific database technology in the cloud.

Analytics and big data

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Elastic data warehouse	Redshift	SQL Data Warehouse	A fully managed data warehouse that analyzes data using business intelligence tools. It can transact SQL queries across relational and nonrelational data.
Big data processing	EMR	Azure Databricks	Apache Spark-based analytics platform.
Data orchestration	Data Pipeline	Data Factory	Processes and moves data between different compute and storage services, as well as on-premises data sources at specified intervals. Users can create, schedule, orchestrate, and manage data pipelines.
	AWS Glue	Data Factory	Cloud-based ETL/data integration service that orchestrates and automates the movement and transformation of data from various sources.
Analytics	Kinesis Analytics	Stream Analytics	Storage and analysis platforms that create insights from large quantities of data, or data that originates from many sources.
Visualization	QuickSight	PowerBI	Business intelligence tools that build visualizations, perform ad hoc analysis, and develop business insights from data.
Search	Elasticsearch Service	Marketplace—Elasticsearch	A scalable search server based on Apache Lucene.
	CloudSearch	Azure Search	Delivers full-text search and related search analytics and capabilities.
Machine learning	SageMaker	Azure Machine Learning Studio	Produces an end-to-end workflow to create, process, refine, and publish predictive models that can be used to understand what might happen from complex data sets.
	Amazon Athena	Azure Data Lake Analytics	Provides a serverless interactive query service that uses standard SQL for analyzing databases.

Intelligence

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Conversational user interfaces virtual personal assistant	Alexa Skills Kits	Cortana Intelligence Suite —Cortana Integration	Services cover intelligence cognitive services, machine learning, analytics, information management, big data and dashboards and visualizations.
Speech recognition	Amazon Lex	Bing Speech API	API capable of converting speech to text, understanding intent, and converting text back to speech for natural responsiveness.
Text to Speech	Amazon Polly	Bing Speech API	Enables both Speech to Text, and Text into Speech capabilities.
Visual recognition	Amazon Rekognition	Computer Vision API	Distills actionable information from images, generates captions and identifies objects in images.

Internet of things (IoT)

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Internet of Things	AWS IoT Other Services (Kinesis, Machine Learning, EMR, Data Pipeline, SNS, QuickSight)	Azure IoT Suite (IoT Hub, Machine Learning, Stream Analytics, Notification Hubs, PowerBI)	Provides a preconfigured solution for monitoring, maintaining, and deploying common IoT scenarios.
	AWS IoT	Azure IoT Hub	A cloud gateway for managing bidirectional communication with billions of IoT devices, securely and at scale.
Edge compute for IoT	AWS Greengrass	Azure IoT Edge	Managed service that deploys cloud intelligence directly on IoT devices to run in on-premises scenarios.
Streaming data	Kinesis Firehose Kinesis Streams	Event Hubs	Services that allow the mass ingestion of small data inputs, typically from devices and sensors, to process and route the data.

Management and monitoring

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Cloud advisor	Trusted Advisor	Azure Advisor	Provides analysis of cloud resource configuration and security so subscribers can ensure they’re making use of best practices and optimum configurations.
Deployment orchestration (DevOps)	OpsWorks (Chef-based)	Azure Automation	Configures and operates applications of all shapes and sizes, and provides templates to create and manage a collection of resources.
	CloudFormation	Azure Resource Manager	Provides a way for users to automate the manual, long-running, error-prone, and frequently repeated IT tasks.
Management & monitoring (DevOps)	CloudWatch	Azure portal	A unified console that simplifies building, deploying, and managing your cloud resources.
	CloudWatch	Azure Application Insights + Azure Monitor	An extensible analytics service that helps you understand the performance and usage of your live web application. It's designed for developers, to help you continuously improve the performance and usability of your app.
	AWS X-Ray	Azure Application Insights + Azure Monitor	An extensible application performance management service for web developers on multiple platforms. You can use it to monitor your live web application, detect performance anomalies, and diagnose issues with your app.
	AWS Usage and Billing Report	Azure Billing API	Services to help generate, monitor, forecast, and share billing data for resource usage by time, organization, or product resources.
	AWS Management Console	Azure portal	A unified management console that simplifies building, deploying, and operating your cloud resources.
Administration	AWS Application Discovery Service	Azure Log Analytics in Operations Management Suite	Provides deeper insights into your application and workloads by collecting, correlating and visualizing all your machine data, such as event logs, network logs, performance data, and much more, from both on-premises and cloud assets.
	Amazon EC2 Systems Manager	Microsoft Operations Management Suite—Automation and Control functionalities	Enables continuous IT services and compliance through process automation and configuration management. You can transform complex and repetitive tasks with IT automation.
	AWS Personal Health Dashboard	Azure Resource Health	Provides detailed information about the health of resources as well as recommended actions for maintaining resource health.

Mobile services

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Pro app development	Mobile Hub	Mobile Apps	Provides backend mobile services for rapid development of mobile solutions, identity management, data synchronization, and storage and notifications across devices.
	Mobile SDK	Mobile Apps	Provides the technology to rapidly build cross-platform and native apps for mobile devices.
	Cognito	Mobile Apps	Provides authentication capabilities for mobile applications.
App testing	AWS Device Farm	Xamarin Test Cloud (front end)	Provides services to support testing mobile applications.
Analytics	Mobile Analytics	HockeyApp	Supports monitoring, and feedback collection for the debugging and analysis of a mobile application service quality.

Security, identity, and access

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Authentication and authorization	Identity and Access Management (IAM)	Azure Active Directory	Allows users to securely control access to services and resources while offering data security and protection. Create and manage users and groups, and use permissions to allow and deny access to resources.
	AWS Organizations	Azure Subscription and Service Management + Azure RBAC	Security policy and role management for working with multiple accounts.
	Multi-Factor Authentication	Multi-Factor Authentication	Helps safeguard access to data and applications while meeting user demand for a simple sign-in process. It delivers strong authentication with a range of verification options, allowing users to choose the method they prefer.
Encryption	Server-side encryption with Amazon S3 Key Management Service	Azure Storage Service Encryption	Helps you protect and safeguard your data and meet your organizational security and compliance commitments.
	Key Management Service CloudHSM	Key Vault	Provides security solution and works with other services by providing a way to manage, create, and control encryption keys stored in hardware security modules (HSM).
Firewall	Web Application Firewall	Application Gateway Web Application Firewall	A firewall that protects web applications from common web exploits. Users can define customizable web security rules.
Security	Inspector	Security Center	An automated security assessment service that improves the security and compliance of applications. Automatically assess applications for vulnerabilities or deviations from best practices.
	Certificate Manager	App Service Certificates available on the Portal	Service that allows customers to create, manage and consume certificates seamlessly in the cloud.
	GuardDuty	Azure AD, Operations Management Suite (OMS), Security Center
	AWS Macie	Azure Advanced Threat Protection Azure SQL Database Threat Detection	Detect and investigate advanced attacks on-premises and in the cloud. Detects anomalous activities indicating unusual and potentially harmful attempts to access or exploit databases.
Directory services	AWS Directory Service + Windows Server Active Directory on AWS	Azure Active Directory Domain Services + Windows Server Active Directory on Azure IaaS	Comprehensive identity and access management cloud solution that provides a robust set of capabilities to manage users and groups. It helps secure access to on-premises and cloud applications.
	Cognito	Azure Active Directory B2C	A highly available, global, identity management service for consumer-facing applications that scales to hundreds of millions of identities.
	AWS Directory Service	Windows Server Active Directory	Services for supporting Microsoft Active Directory in the cloud.
Compliance	AWS Artifact	Service Trust Platform	Provides access to audit reports, compliance guides, and trust documents from across cloud services.
Security	AWS Shield	Azure DDos Protection Service	Provides cloud services with protection from distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks.

Developer tools

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Media transcoding	Elastic Transcoder	Media Services	Services that offer broadcast-quality video streaming services, including various transcoding technologies.
Email	Simple Email Service (SES)	Marketplace—Email	Services for integrating email functionality into applications.
Messaging	Simple Queue Service (SQS)	Azure Queue Storage	Provides a managed message queueing service for communicating between decoupled application components.
Messaging	Simple Queue Service (SQS)	Service Bus Queues, Topics, Relays	Supports a set of cloud-based, message-oriented middleware technologies including reliable message queuing and durable publish/subscribe messaging.
Workflow	Simple Workflow Service (SWF)	Logic Apps	Serverless technology for connecting apps, data and devices anywhere—on-premises or in the cloud for large ecosystems of SaaS and cloud based connectors.
API management	API Gateway	API Management	A turnkey solution for publishing APIs to external and internal consumers.
	Elastic Beanstalk	Web Apps (App Service)	Managed hosting platforms providing easy to use services for deploying and scaling web applications and services.
	CodeDeploy CodeCommit CodePipeline	Azure DevOps	A cloud service for collaborating on code development.
	AWS Developer Tools	Azure Developer Tools	Collection of tools for building, debugging, deploying, diagnosing, and managing multi-platform, scalable apps and services.
App customer payment service	Amazon Flexible Payment Service and Amazon Dev Pay	None	Cloud service that provides developers a payment service for their cloud based applications.
DevOps	AWS CodeBuild	Azure DevOps	Fully managed build service that supports continuous integration and deployment.
Backend process logic	AWS Step Functions	Logic Apps	Cloud technology to build distributed applications using out-of-the-box connectors to reduce integration challenges. Connect apps, data and devices on-premises or in the cloud.
Programmatic access	Command Line Interface	Azure Command Line Interface (CLI) + Azure PowerShell	Built on top of the native REST API across all cloud services, various programming language-specific wrappers provide easier ways to create solutions.
Predefined templates	AWS Quick Start	Azure Quickstart templates	Community-led templates for creating and deploying virtual machine–based solutions.

Enterprise integration

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
	Amazon WorkMail Amazon WorkDocs	Office 365	Fully integrated Cloud service providing communications, email, document management in the cloud and available on a wide variety of devices.

Gaming

Area	AWS service	Azure service	Description
Scalable game servers	GameLift	PlayFab	Managed services for hosting dedicated game servers.
Gaming services and LiveOps	GameSparks	PlayFab	Services for things like identity, authentication, leaderboards, real-time analytics, and more.