Introduction
Contents
AWS vs Microsoft Azure Statistics: Selecting the right cloud service is a significant decision in today’s tech-driven world. As more companies move their data and apps online, the battle between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure has become a hot topic. These two cloud giants make up over 50% of the cloud market, and both offer powerful tools for running websites, apps, and business systems.
But which one is better in 2024? In this guide,” AWS vs Microsoft Azure Statistics – Which is Better?”, we’ll look at the latest user numbers, market share %, revenue (USD), features, and performance data to help you decide. Whether you run a small business or work in IT, these facts will help you pick the cloud service that fits your needs best.
Editor’s Choice
- The number of people using Microsoft Azure worldwide is approaching 1 billion. According to Azure Active Directory, there are around 722.22 million users right now.
- Roughly 85% of companies on the Fortune 500 list rely on Azure Cloud services.
- Amazon S3 Glacier is the most cost-effective option for storing archived files. It costs just USD 0.004 per GB/month, which is 82% cheaper than regular S3 Standard storage.
- At present, Azure controls 21% of the global cloud computing market.
- In terms of geography, about 40% of Azure’s main clients are based in the United States, while 7% are in the United Kingdom.
- AWS Glue, used for data processing (ETL), charges USD 0.44 per DPU-hour, and billing is done by the second.
- Most of Azure’s traffic also originates from the US, with nearly 93.53% of users logging in daily from desktop devices.
AWS vs Microsoft Azure Basic Specification Differences
Parameters | AWS | Azure |
Price |
Less expensive |
More expensive |
Captured market share |
31% (-2%) |
24% (+2%) |
Pricing model |
AWS charges on an hourly basis |
Azure is charged on a per-minute basis |
Networking |
AWS’ VPC allows users to create private networks |
Azure makes use of a VPN |
User interface |
Rich and user-friendly user interface |
Less intuitive and search-friendly user interface |
Level of encryption |
High |
Low |
Security |
More secure |
Less secure |
Cloud storage offerings |
AWS S3, EBS, etc. |
Blob Storage, Disk Storage, etc. |
Supports Linux system |
Yes |
Work in progress |
Flexibility |
More flexible |
Less flexible |
Hybrid cloud |
Work in progress |
Excels in hybrid cloud |
Number of data centers (regions) |
32 regions, 102 availabilities |
44 regions, 163 availabilities |
Number of services provided |
Over 200 services |
Over 200 services |
Database services |
Aurora, RDS, DynamoDB |
Cosmos DB, SQL Database |
Developer tools |
AWS Code Pipeline, Code Deploy |
Azure DevOps, GitHub |
Hybrid cloud support |
AWS Outposts |
Azure Arc, Azure Stack |
Monitoring services |
CloudWatch |
Azure Monitor |
AI functionality |
Amazon SageMaker |
Azure Machine Learning |
Compute services |
EC2, Lambda |
Virtual Machines, Functions |
Migration services |
AWS Migration Hub |
Azure Migrate |
Integrations |
Extensive third-party integrations |
Deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem |
(Reference: statista.com)
#1. AWS
- In the last quarter of 2024, Amazon Web Services (AWS) remained the leader in the global cloud market, with about 30% of the market share. This is more than Microsoft Azure’s 21% and Google Cloud’s 12%.
- AWS made over USD100 billion in cloud revenue in 2024, which is a 19% increase compared to the previous year.
- Since 2020, AWS has expanded its customer base by 357%, and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) experienced a 28% increase in users from 2023 to 2024.
- AWS has data centers in 33 regions worldwide, covering areas such as North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region.
#2. Microsoft Azure
- Microsoft Azure had approximately 20% of the global cloud market share in 2024, making it the second-largest cloud service provider after Amazon Web Services (AWS), which holds 31%. (Source: Canalys.com)
- In the last quarter of 2024, Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud division, including Azure, earned USD 25.5 billion, showing a 19% increase compared to the same time last year. (Source: Canalys.com)
- Azure experienced a significant increase in usage as more people sought AI services. Usage of Azure OpenAI more than doubled in the past six months. (Sources: Cloudzero.com)
AWS vs Microsoft Azure User Statistics
#1. AWS
(Reference: sortlist.com)
Enterprise | 10% |
SMBs |
90% |
- In the above chart, we can see the AWS users in enterprises and SMBs
- Amazon Web Services has nearly 1 million active users in approximately 190 countries.
- Approximately 90% of Amazon Web Services users are small and medium-sized businesses.
- Amazon Web Services has achieved an almost 85% adoption rate in the enterprise segment.
- 6% of the software developers stated that they had used Amazon Web Services last year.
- Amazon Web Services operates data centres in Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the United States, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and Brazil.
- AWS operates in two distinct areas: one for the United States Government and another for consumers.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) supports thousands of businesses across 245 countries and territories, which is twice as many regions as its closest competitor.
- Approximately 64% of companies utilizing cloud services select AWS, making it the most popular choice among large businesses.
- The majority of AWS traffic comes from the United States (56.9%), followed by India (18.3%), Japan (14%), the United Kingdom (6.4%), and Brazil (4.3%).
- AWS has reached an 85% usage rate among enterprise-level organizations. (Source: State of Cloud Reports)
- AWS now builds the same amount of infrastructure every single day that it used to take a full year to build just 7 years ago.
#2. Microsoft Azure
(Source: usesignhouse.com)
- In the above chart, we can see the Top Industries using Microsoft Azure.
- Approximately 40% of Microsoft Azure’s users are from the US, which translates to nearly 288.9 million customers.
- The U.K. accounts for approximately 7% of Azure’s total users or around 50.5 million people.
- Besides these two leading regions, Azure is also used in countries like Canada, Australia, India, and several European nations. However, the number of users from these areas is much smaller.
- Each of these countries makes up less than 0.5% of Azure’s total customer base.
(Reference: usesignhouse.com)
Male | 65.1% |
Female |
34.9% |
- In the above chart, we can see the rate of Male and Female users of Microsoft Azure.
(Source: usesignhouse.com)
- The 15–24 age group ranks as the second most common user of Microsoft Azure, comprising nearly 26% of all users.
AWS vs Microsoft Azure – Companies’ Adoption
#1. AWS
(Reference: sortlist.com)
Netflix | USD19 million |
Twitch |
USD15 million |
|
USD13 million |
|
USD11 million |
Turner Broadcasting |
USD10 million |
BBC |
USD9 million |
Baidu |
USD9 million |
ESPN |
USD8 million |
Adobe |
USD8 million |
|
USD7 million |
- Netflix runs more than 100,000 servers on AWS. These handle nearly all its needs, including data storage, analytics, recommendation systems, and video processing.
- Most of the Fortune 500, and over 90% of Fortune 100 companies, use the AWS Partner Network (APN) to create digital tools and services for their customers.
- NASA is one of AWS’s biggest clients. It uses the platform to handle and process data coming from Mars.
- Retail is the #1 industry using AWS, with over 57,600 businesses registered. Other top industries include software development, IT services, construction, and healthcare.
- Asianet News Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. cut its operating costs by 50% by using AWS Lambda, which charges based on sub-second usage.
- Unilever said AWS helped them speed up website launches — going from 2 weeks to just 2 days — and made it easier to update websites and marketing campaigns quickly.
- General Electric (GE) migrated more than 350 apps to AWS and reported a 50% reduction in total cost of ownership.
#2. Microsoft Azure
(Reference: usesignhouse.com)
Verizon | USD79.9 million per year |
MSI Computer |
USD78 million per year |
LG Electronic |
USD76.7 million per year |
CenturyLink |
USD61.9 million per year |
NTT America |
USD48.7 million per year |
Wikipedia Foundation |
USD42.6 million per year |
LinkedIn Corp |
USD41.2 million per year |
News Corp |
USD40.5 million per year |
Adobe |
USD39.9 million per year |
Intel |
USD38.5 million per year |
AWS vs Microsoft Azure Price Statistics
#1. AWS
- With On-Demand pricing, you only pay for the time you use—either by the second (minimum 60 seconds) or by the hour, depending on the type of service.
- For T3 and T4g burstable instances (Unlimited mode), AWS charges approximately USD 0.05 per CPU hour for Linux, RHEL, and SLES systems and around USD 0.096 per CPU hour for Windows.
- If you’re ready to commit for 1 or 3 years, AWS Savings Plans can lower your costs by up to 72% compared to On-Demand rates.
- Similarly, Reserved Instances (RIs) offer up to 75% off the regular price when paid upfront or with partial payment options.
- Spot Instances lets you use extra computing power AWS isn’t using at the moment—these can cut your costs by up to 90%. However, AWS can stop these at any time with a 2-minute warning.
- AWS Glue, used for data processing (ETL), charges USD0.44 per DPU-hour, and billing is done by the second.
- In places like the US East (Ohio), AWS began charging $0.10 per CPU hour for extended support, effective from March 2024 through March 2026.
- A typical db. r5. A large instance with 2 CPUs would cost USD 0.20/hour during this period.
- LightSail block storage is priced at USD0.10 per GB each month.
- Amazon S3 Glacier is the most cost-effective option for storing archived files. It costs just USD0.004 per GB/month, which is 82% cheaper than regular S3 Standard storage.
- In 2024, AWS held the top spot with 32% market share, beating Azure (23%) and Google Cloud (12%).
- About 67% of CIOs made cutting cloud costs a top priority for 2025.
#2. Microsoft Azure
- With Azure’s pay-as-you-go plan, you only get charged for what you use, by the minute or hour.
New users get access to a Free Tier for 12 months, which includes:
- 750 hours of B1S virtual machines per month
- 5 GB of blob storage
- 32 GB of SQL database storage
(Reference: forbes.com)
Year | Azure Base Case | Azure Bull Case |
FY 2025E |
USD76 billion |
USD78 billion |
FY2026E |
USD101billion |
USD107billion |
FY2027E |
USD134billion |
USD149 billion |
FY2028E |
USD178billion |
USD207billion |
- In the above chart, we can see the Azure Revenue Statistics from 2025 to 2028(predicted).
- If you agree to use certain Azure services for 1 or 3 years, you can save up to 72% compared to regular on-demand pricing.
Here is what you could save:
- Up to 80% off for Windows virtual machines and SQL databases
- Up to 65% off for Synapse Analytics and Cosmos DB
- Around 55% off App Services
- Up to 38% off storage
- Azure also offers Savings Plans, where you commit to spending a set amount per hour for 1 to 3 years. These plans can save you up to 65% versus regular rates.
- Spot VMs use unused Azure capacity at up to 90% lower prices. These are ideal for tasks that can be paused or stopped, such as test runs, batch processing, or AI training.
- If you already own licenses for Windows Server or SQL Server, you can use them with Azure to cut costs by up to 80%.
- There are also special Dev/Test prices for developers and testers, with savings of up to 57% on non-production workloads.
They also try to match AWS pricing on key services.
- Linux VMs start at $ 0.004 per hour.
- Azure Functions from USD0.20 per million executions
- Block storage starts at USD0.023/GB/month.
Conclusion
Based on the latest 2024-2025 data, both AWS and Microsoft Azure remain the top choices in the cloud services industry, leading with around 31% of the global market, while Azure is close behind with nearly 25%.AWS is renowned for its extensive feature set and reliable performance, making it a popular choice among developers and small business owners.
In contrast, Azure is favored by many large companies because it works well with Microsoft tools like Windows and Office. Choosing between the two depends on your company’s goals, current systems, and budget. Azure offers strong flexibility and growth potential, while AWS is a great choice for businesses seeking easy integration and hybrid cloud support.