Azure vs AWS Comparison
Very important mapping guide: translate services quickly and understand practical differences used in architecture and interviews.
Service Mapping
| Capability | Azure | AWS |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual Machines | Azure VM | EC2 |
| Blob/Object Storage | Blob Storage | S3 |
| Disk Storage | Managed Disks | EBS |
| File Storage | Azure Files | EFS |
| Serverless Functions | Azure Functions | Lambda |
| Managed SQL | Azure SQL | RDS / Aurora |
| NoSQL | Cosmos DB | DynamoDB |
| Virtual Network | VNet | VPC |
| DNS | Azure DNS | Route 53 |
| Identity | Entra ID + RBAC | IAM |
Key Differences
- Identity model: Azure is tightly integrated with Entra ID; AWS IAM is account-centric with strong role assumption patterns.
- Enterprise fit: Azure often preferred in Microsoft-heavy environments; AWS offers broad service maturity and ecosystem depth.
- Networking vocabulary: Similar concepts but different naming and default behaviors.
- Cost controls: Both support commitments and budgets, but savings constructs and discount programs differ.
Hands-on Thought Exercise
# Build your own translation matrix for your current Azure app # Example: # App Service -> Elastic Beanstalk or ECS/Fargate # Azure SQL -> RDS/Aurora # Key Vault -> Secrets Manager + KMS
Debugging Scenario
Problem
Team migrated from Azure and expects NSG-like behavior in AWS NACL.
NACL is stateless and subnet-scoped; Security Group is stateful and resource-scoped. Misunderstanding this causes blocked return traffic.
Interview Questions
Beginner: Azure VM maps to which AWS service?
EC2.
EC2.
Intermediate: Blob Storage equivalent in AWS?
Amazon S3.
Amazon S3.
Scenario: Your company is Microsoft-centric and asks Azure vs AWS recommendation. How answer?
Evaluate identity integration, existing skills, compliance, and cost profile instead of choosing by brand.
Evaluate identity integration, existing skills, compliance, and cost profile instead of choosing by brand.
Real-world Usage
Migration teams keep a live Azure-to-AWS service map in architecture docs to reduce decision delays and avoid wrong assumptions.
Summary
- Most core services have close equivalents.
- Differences in identity and network semantics are critical.
- Use mapping to accelerate migration and interview confidence.