We’ve been asked a couple times now about the differences between Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Here are our thoughts on how the two compare:
- Security: Microsoft is the industry leader when it comes to protection and privacy of data evidenced by the fact that they were the first cloud provider to adopt the new international standard for cloud privacy, ISO 27018. Security has been built into Azure from the beginning with Microsoft’s Security Development Lifecycle (SDL).
- Ease of Use: With Azure you can make ground on your first day in the cloud. It gives you access to already familiar technologies like Windows and Linux, Active Directory, and virtual machines.
- Pricing: Cloud providers know that they have to be ultra-competitive to win market share in the cloud business and both AWS and Azure have cut prices multiple times. Prices are generally very close and both offer free introductory tier pricing before charging and provide price calculators for customers. You can take a look at the AWS calculator and see how it compares to the Azure calculator. Ultimately, because price is so close, the decision between AWS and Azure comes down to the feature set for both and which fits best with the particular organization.
- Pros and Cons of Both: AWS has the largest market share for cloud right now although Microsoft is quickly gaining speed. Benefits of Azure include ease of use because it links well with Microsoft on-premise systems that are already in play in an organization like Windows Server, System Center, and Active Directory. Another of Azure’s strengths is in its PaaS capabilities. On the other hand, if you want to run anything other than Windows Server, AWS might be a better fit although Microsoft has stated that it now provides support for Red hat Linux operating systems and more.
If you're looking for a more detailed comparison, check out Microsoft's chart.
October 20, 2025 — Early today, Amazon Web Services experienced a major incident centered in its US‑EAST‑1 (N. Virginia) region. AWS reports the event began around 12:11 a.m. PT and tied back to DNS resolution affecting DynamoDB , with mitigation within a couple of hours and recovery continuing thereafter. As the outage rippled, popular services like Snapchat, Venmo, Ring, Roblox, Fortnite , and even some Amazon properties saw disruptions before recovering. If your apps or data are anchored to a single cloud, a morning like this can turn into a help‑desk fire drill. A multi‑cloud or cloud‑smart approach helps you ride through these moments with minimal end‑user impact. What happened (and why it matters) Single‑region fragility: US‑EAST‑1 is massive—and when it sneezes, the internet catches a cold. Incidents here have a history of wide blast radius. Shared dependencies: DNS issues to core services (like DynamoDB endpoints) can cascade across workloads that never directly “touch” that service. Multi‑cloud: practical resilience, not buzzwords For mid‑sized orgs, schools, and local government, multi‑cloud doesn’t have to mean “every app in every cloud.” It means thoughtful redundancy where it counts : Multi‑region or multi‑provider failover for critical apps Run active/standby across AWS and Azure (or another provider), or at least across two AWS regions with automated failover. Start with citizen‑facing portals, SIS/LMS access, emergency comms, and payment gateways. Portable platforms Use Kubernetes and containers, keep state externalized, and standardize infra with Terraform/Ansible so you can redeploy fast when a region (or a provider) wobbles. (Today’s DNS hiccup is exactly the kind of scenario this protects against.) Resilient data layers Replicate data asynchronously across clouds/regions; choose databases with cross‑region failover and test RPO/RTO quarterly. If you rely on a managed database tied to one region, design an escape hatch. Traffic and identity that float Use global traffic managers/DNS to shift users automatically; keep identity (MFA/SSO) highly available and not hard‑wired to a single provider’s control plane. Run the playbook Document health checks, automated cutover, and comms templates. Then practice —tabletops and live failovers. Many services today recovered within hours, but only teams with rehearsed playbooks avoided user‑visible downtime. The bottom line Cloud concentration risk is real. Outages will happen—what matters is whether your constituents, students, and staff feel it. A pragmatic multi‑cloud stance limits the blast radius and keeps your mission‑critical services online when one provider has a bad day. Need a resilience check? Akins IT can help you prioritize which systems should be multi‑cloud, design the right level of redundancy, and validate your failover plan—without overspending. Let’s start with a quick, 30‑minute review of your most critical services and RPO/RTO targets. (No slideware, just actionable next steps.)
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