AWS and Azure together account for over 60% of the global cloud market. If you're choosing between them — or running workloads on both — understanding the real price differences is critical. This guide compares every major cost category with actual 2026 prices.
VM Compute — The Biggest Cost Driver
For a standard 8 vCPU / 32GB RAM instance in Asia Pacific (Singapore region):
- AWS m7i.2xlarge: $0.403/hr on-demand · $0.258/hr 1yr RI = $188/month
- Azure D8s v5: $0.384/hr on-demand · $0.240/hr 1yr reserved = $175/month
Azure is approximately 7% cheaper than AWS for general-purpose compute in AP region. The gap widens with Azure Hybrid Benefit if you have existing Windows Server licences — up to 40% additional savings.
Storage Pricing
- AWS S3 Standard: $0.0207/GB/month (after March 2026 price cut)
- Azure Blob Hot: $0.018/GB/month
Azure wins on storage — 13% cheaper than AWS for hot-tier object storage. Both offer equivalent cold/archive tiers with similar pricing.
Egress Fees
- AWS: $0.09/GB (first 100GB free)
- Azure: $0.087/GB (first 10GB free)
Egress pricing is nearly identical. Both charge significantly more than OCI ($0.0085/GB). For data-heavy workloads, both AWS and Azure egress costs become a major expense.
Managed Databases (PostgreSQL HA, 8 vCPU / 32GB)
- AWS RDS PostgreSQL Multi-AZ: $835/month
- Azure PostgreSQL Flexible HA: $424/month
Azure wins decisively on managed databases — 49% cheaper after Azure's January 2026 price reduction. For database-heavy workloads, this single difference can justify Azure over AWS.
Kubernetes (Managed)
- AWS EKS: $73/month per cluster control plane
- Azure AKS: Free control plane — pay only for nodes
Azure AKS is free for the control plane. If you run 5 Kubernetes clusters, Azure saves $365/month ($4,380/year) on control plane fees alone.
AI and LLM APIs
- GPT-4o via Azure OpenAI: $2.50/M input · $10/M output
- AWS Bedrock (Claude Sonnet): $3.00/M input · $15/M output
- AWS Bedrock (Llama 3.3 70B): $0.72/M tokens
Azure OpenAI is cheaper for GPT-4o (the most popular enterprise model). AWS Bedrock has broader model selection including Llama at competitive rates.
When AWS Wins
- You need the broadest managed service catalogue (200+ services vs Azure's 150+)
- Your team has deep AWS expertise — migration cost outweighs price difference
- You need specific AWS services: Kinesis, DynamoDB, SageMaker, Redshift
- Marketplace commitments or EDP (Enterprise Discount Programme) in place
When Azure Wins
- You're a Microsoft shop — Office 365, Active Directory, Windows Server
- Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server and SQL Server licences
- PostgreSQL or MySQL databases (49% cheaper than AWS RDS)
- Free AKS control plane for multi-cluster Kubernetes environments
- GPT-4o / OpenAI models via Azure OpenAI Service
5-Year TCO — AWS vs Azure (100 servers)
- AWS optimised (reserved pricing): $1,530,000
- Azure optimised (reserved + Hybrid Benefit): $1,140,000
Azure delivers approximately 25% lower 5-year TCO for a typical enterprise workload with Microsoft licensing already in place.
Calculate Your Specific Numbers
Generic comparisons only go so far. Use TCOIQ's VM Compare to compare specific instance types, or upload your actual billing data for a precise AWS vs Azure TCO analysis in 60 seconds.