Overview: AWS and Azure in direct comparison
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are the two dominant cloud platforms worldwide. For mid-sized businesses, the question is: which platform fits your processes, your team, and your budget better? Both offer a huge range of services – the decision depends less on feature count than on existing IT infrastructure and strategic priorities.
| Criterion | AWS | Microsoft Azure |
|---|---|---|
| Service scope | Largest service catalog worldwide (200+ services) | Very large (600+ services including Microsoft ecosystem) |
| Pricing model | Pay-as-you-go, Savings Plans, Reserved Instances | Pay-as-you-go, Reserved VM Instances, Hybrid Benefit |
| Microsoft integration | Possible via connector services | Native: Office 365, Active Directory, Teams, .NET |
| SAP on cloud | AWS for SAP (certified) | SAP on Azure (deeper integration, more references) |
| Kubernetes / containers | EKS (managed Kubernetes), ECS, Fargate | AKS (managed Kubernetes), Azure Container Apps |
| Mid-market support | AWS Business/Enterprise Support (from $100/month) | Microsoft Unified Support, partner support |
| Windows VM costs | Standard Windows license costs included | Hybrid Benefit: cheaper with existing licenses |
| Data analytics / ML | SageMaker, Redshift, Glue – very powerful | Azure ML, Synapse Analytics, Power BI |
AWS strengths and when AWS is the better choice
AWS has the largest service catalog of any cloud provider and was a pioneer in cloud computing. The platform suits greenfield cloud-native projects especially well, where no existing Microsoft stack needs integration. AWS scores through service maturity, global availability, and a huge community.
- Startups and international scaling – AWS is the preferred platform for fast-growing companies with a global focus
- Kubernetes / EKS – Elastic Kubernetes Service is considered especially mature and battle-tested for container-based architectures
- Data engineering – AWS Glue, Redshift, Kinesis, and S3 offer a first-class ecosystem for data pipelines and analytics
- Linux-heavy stack – if your company primarily uses open source and Linux, AWS is often the more cost-efficient choice
- Serverless and microservices – AWS Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB are leading services in the serverless space
Azure strengths: when Microsoft Azure fits better
Microsoft Azure is the natural choice for companies already invested in Microsoft products. Deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem – Office 365, Active Directory, .NET, Teams, and Dynamics 365 – makes Azure the preferred cloud provider for mid-sized businesses with a Windows-centric IT landscape.
- Windows-heavy teams – Azure Active Directory, Entra ID, and Intune integrate seamlessly into existing Windows infrastructure
- SAP on Azure – Microsoft has deep partnerships with SAP; many SAP customers prefer migrating to Azure
- Hybrid with on-premises – Azure Arc and Azure Stack enable seamless hybrid scenarios for companies not moving fully to the cloud
- Azure Hybrid Benefit – existing Windows Server and SQL Server licenses can be applied, making Windows VMs significantly cheaper
- .NET development – Azure DevOps, Azure App Service, and Azure Functions are optimized for the .NET stack
AWS vs Azure: cost comparison for typical mid-market workloads
For a typical mid-sized company with 50 users, we compare costs for the most important workloads. Note: Azure is often cheaper for Windows VMs through Hybrid Benefit when existing on-premises licenses are available.
Compute (VMs, 50 users)
- AWS: EC2 t3.medium ~€70–90/month
- Azure: B2ms ~€60–80/month (cheaper with Hybrid Benefit)
- Azure advantage for Windows through Hybrid Benefit
Storage (1 TB / month)
- AWS S3: ~€23/month
- Azure Blob: ~€18–21/month
- Comparable; egress costs can vary
Database (managed SQL)
- AWS RDS: ~€100–180/month
- Azure SQL: ~€90–160/month (Hybrid Benefit possible)
- Azure advantage with SQL Server licenses
Total costs depend heavily on your existing license situation. A company with active Windows Server and SQL Server licenses can save up to 40% with Azure through Hybrid Benefit. For pure Linux environments, the differences are much smaller.
Cloud migration for mid-sized businesses
We analyze your existing IT infrastructure and recommend the cloud platform that fits your processes, your team, and your budget – independently and vendor-neutral.