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Joy Imarah
Joy Imarah

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AWS vs Azure Multi-Region Cost Analysis (Part 3)

#azure #cloudcomputing #devops #webdev

Introduction

Cloud pricing behaves differently depending on provider, region, and workload design. In this project, I built identical infrastructure across AWS and Microsoft Azure to compare real-world cost differences across multiple regions.
The goal was to understand not just pricing - but how location changes cloud economics.

Architecture Overview

The same workload was deployed across both providers:

Compute
AWS: EC2 t3.micro (Linux)
Azure: B1s Virtual Machine (Linux and Windows with Azure Hybrid Benefit)

Storage
AWS: 32GB EBS + 50GB S3 Standard
Azure: 32GB Managed Disk + 50GB Blob Storage (Hot Tier)

Networking
100GB outbound internet traffic per month

💰 Final Cost Comparison (US Region Baseline)
AWS: $19.15/month

Linux AWS estimate
Azure (Linux): $12.07/month
Azure (Windows + AHB): $12.07/month

Key Insight
AWS is approximately 58.6% more expensive than Azure for this workload.

🌍 Regional Cost Comparison (Major Insight)

This is where pricing differences become more interesting.

🇺🇸 US East (Baseline)
AWS: $19.15
Azure: $12.07

🌏 Asia (Tokyo / East Asia)
AWS (Tokyo)
$24.40/month

Azure (East Asia)
$13.91/month (Linux VM + Blob Storage)

👉 AWS is ~75% more expensive than Azure in Asia

🇪🇺 Europe (Ireland / West Europe)
AWS (Ireland)
$20.14/month

Azure (West Europe)
$13.27/month (Linux VM + Blob Storage)

👉 AWS is ~51.8% more expensive than Azure in Europe

📊 Summary of Regional Impact
RegionAWS CostAzure CostAWS IncreaseUS East$19.15$12.07~58.6%Europe$20.14$13.27~51.8%Asia$24.40$13.91~75%

🔍 Key Findings

  1. Data transfer is the biggest AWS cost driver Outbound traffic significantly increases AWS pricing.
  2. Azure is more stable across regions Pricing variation is smaller and more predictable.
  3. Asia is the most expensive region Both providers increase pricing, but AWS increases much more sharply.

⚖️ Service Equivalency Mapping
EC2 ↔ Azure Virtual Machines
S3 ↔ Azure Blob Storage
EBS ↔ Managed Disks

📌 GitHub Repository
Full project and all estimates:
https://github.com/JoySmarty/3mtt-azure-vs-aws-cost-comparison.git

🚀 Conclusion
Cloud cost is not fixed - it changes based on:
region
traffic
compute type
provider pricing model

AWS becomes significantly more expensive at scale, especially in high-cost regions like Asia.
Azure provides more stable pricing, making it more predictable for small-to-medium workloads.

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