AWS Outposts vs Azure Stack comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #5 with an average rating of 9.3, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.8. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 14.8% mindshare in HCCP, compared to Microsoft’s 30.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

AWS Outposts

Read 8 AWS Outposts reviews

2,659 Views
1,743 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Azure Stack

Read 64 Azure Stack reviews

4,100 Views
2,911 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

AWS Outposts

Azure Stack

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Azure Stack and AWS Outposts both compete in the hybrid cloud solutions category, bringing cloud computing capabilities to on-premises setups. Azure Stack seems to have an edge in integration with Microsoft products, which benefits users familiar with their ecosystem, while AWS Outposts offers strong AWS service integration, which is valuable for AWS-centric environments.

Features: Azure Stack supports PaaS, IaaS, and hybrid cloud capabilities, allowing for a mix of public and private cloud strategies. It integrates effortlessly with Microsoft tools, offering a seamless experience for users familiar with these products. It also provides good flexibility for developers to create and manage applications. AWS Outposts brings native AWS services to local data centers, offering easy deployment with its rack form factor and a comprehensive integration of AWS services. It includes foundational management features like EC2 for computing, EBS for storage needs, and supports Kubernetes management with EKS.

Room for Improvement: Azure Stack could expand its features to level with public Azure and improve multi-scale support, alongside better integration with third-party tools. Technical support can be slow, and pricing is a concern for smaller businesses. AWS Outposts' users highlight its high costs and limited container service integrations as primary areas for enhancement. Both would benefit from more flexible pricing and advanced cost management solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Azure Stack provides robust deployment options for on-premises and hybrid clouds, fitting well for organizations utilizing Microsoft's ecosystem. Customer support experiences vary, with differences tied to subscription layers. AWS Outposts offers straightforward deployment due to its alignment with AWS infrastructure, but the high initial costs can be challenging. Both services provide substantial value, but Azure Stack's support variability and AWS Outposts' pricing create notable impacts on user experience.

Pricing and ROI: Azure Stack can be pricey, factoring in licensing and support costs, yet provides value through Microsoft integration and flexibility. Users report a mix of experiences regarding ROI, with benefits often materializing over time. AWS Outposts is considered cost-effective for large enterprises thanks to its full AWS service integration, although its substantial costs can be prohibitive for smaller companies. Azure Stack offers pay-as-you-go options for added flexibility. ROI depends on usage and organization size, with larger companies likely seeing more advantages from AWS Outposts due to economy of scale.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Outposts vs. Azure Stack Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Outposts vs. Azure Stack

January 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

AWS Outposts

Ranking in Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Azure Stack

Ranking in Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms category, the mindshare of AWS Outposts is 14.8%, down from 22.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Stack is 30.3%, down from 32.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms

Featured Reviews

PraveenS

Design Engineer at Cyient Limited

Has the ability to provide interfaces for events and allows you to work both offline and online

Providing online support has proven to be quite valuable. However, it's important to note that this isn't so much an improvement, but rather a standard practice for solutions like Azure Stack or AWS Outpost. Typically, the respective companies send their engineers for installation at the customer's premises, ensuring on-site support. I recall a similar instance when we requested on-site support for one of our locations in Hyderabad, and Amazon agreed to send their engineers to set up the solution in our office environment. That said, in terms of potential improvements, it would be beneficial to have the option for capacity expansion. When customers opt for a solution like Outpost, they receive a fixed set of capacities in terms of storage, network, and hardware. As design engineers, it's crucial to consider use cases and plan for scalability and sustainability. Having the flexibility to extend these capacities could be valuable. Some engineers may not be aware of future needs, and if there's an opportunity to expand capacity without the need for additional functionality, it would be a helpful feature. This way, we can cater to various needs and ensure the solution remains adaptable in the long run.

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PuneetKaura

Vice President of Sales and Operations at Aquila Clouds

Offers seamless transition, integration capabilities of Azure Stack works well and scales easily

For hybrid cloud operations, the seamless transition it enables is key. Most enterprises have a lot of workloads on-premises, and they want a smooth way to move into the cloud. Some things are on-prem, and some things are on the cloud. Azure Stack bridges that gap with solutions that work well for their existing on-premises infrastructure.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable aspect is that it comes in a rack form factor which makes it incredibly easy to use and deploy various AWS services."

"Outposts allows you to isolate your private environment from the public cloud provider while enabling almost all the features that are available on public cloud services. That is the beauty of this service. It's an infrastructure that you can put in your data center and seamlessly connect to the public cloud."

"AWS Outposts brings native AWS services, infrastructure, and API to our on-premises data center or co-location facilities."

"I think the keys to success for the solution is the easy-to-use user interface and the fact that the development team really likes the platform."

"If you compare with the full bundle of these services, you can see the difference. This is enough for these locations in private data centers. Because the main reasons why the customers want to have it on their side are for the low latency and the security of their critical data."

"AWS can manage services when deployed on customer sites due to Outposts' capability of being installed in on-premises environments."

"With AWS, we've had seamless integration and support for many of our applications."

"The most valuable aspect is its ability to provide interfaces for events."

"The whole package works very well together for identity management, defending endpoints or servers, and the CM."

"The most valuable features are the control and flexibility that we have, where we can build our own solutions from scratch."

"You can scale the solution if you need to."

"It's not as complex compared to Amazon or AWS products. Azure Stack is easier to use within the cloud."

"We use Azure Stack for migration, application modernization, and cloud-native modernization."

"Azure Stack is like a hybrid model with a CI/CD pipeline. The IaaS and PaaS model works well with a hybrid type of connectivity."

"The solution is easy to use, especially for individuals who are not familiar with coding and has security built-in."

"Azure Stack integrates well with Microsoft. It's also good for transitioning from an on-premise or hybrid setup to the cloud. It's seamless."

More Azure Stack pros

Cons

"The platform needs to spend more time investing in strengthening its governance and information tools and consider the real needs of its customers."

"Also, it would be beneficial if AWS allowed for more granular and customizable pricing options."

"The pricing model needs improvement because right now it's very expensive. All of these solutions are very expensive and it prevents other customers or owners of data centers from buying it."

"Depending on the installation process, we have found some bugs and issues with the solution when the same platform is not used."

"It would be beneficial to have the option for capacity expansion."

"The product is heavy to ship and can be difficult to handle logistically."

"It would be great if it could support Glue services."

"Outposts supports elastic coordinator services, but not elastic container services, which is the native service for containers in AWS. That is something missing in this product."

"The way this solution gives you steps to follow to remediate vulnerability is not very well done."

"I believe the only room for improvement is that I am based in Nairobi, if it has even a local node for Azure, I believe most customers will prefer that to reduce latencies and everything else when using the Azure Stack."

"In the future, I would like to see more machine learning features."

"The setup for Azure becomes more complex when you have multiple users and multiple organizations using the same solution, but this is to be expected."

"PaaS is not ready because they are only offering MS SQL as a service, web applications as a service, and containers as a service."

"The licensing model of Azure Stack is complicated."

"Azure Messaging services are in need of improvement."

"Having more options and customization would be an improvement."

More Azure Stack cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AWS Outposts is a cheap solution."

"While the longer-term pricing is suitable for enterprise contracts, it can be on the higher side, especially when organizations don't utilize all the services included in the bundles."

"The pricing of Outposts needs to be evaluated from the standpoint of what's cost-effective at your company: How are you going to use it? How much money will it save for your products or applications? Is it worth it? I would say it's probably too expensive for small or medium-sized companies. However, big companies might find it to be highly cost-effective depending on their respective cloud strategies."

"Customers should consider the high cost, which can range from $10,000 to hundreds of thousands depending on the components."

"The people who manage the budgets are satisfied with the solution’s medium pricing, which is neither very expensive nor very cheap."

"The solution is expensive."

"The solution saves us money but is more costly than other products such as AWS."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The premium version is too costly."

"I don't have a specific feature, my customers use all of the features that are available and the entire stack."

"Azure Stack is cheaper than AWS."

"The cost of Azure Stack is much cheaper than VCE."

More Azure Stack pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Outposts?

With AWS, we've had seamless integration and support for many of our applications.

See all answers

What needs improvement with AWS Outposts?

Outposts is not a simple solution to implement as it needs to be shipped from the US and involves high delivery costs and running costs. The product is heavy to ship and can be difficult to handle ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering AWS Outposts?

I rate AWS Outposts a nine out of ten, indicating room for some improvement.

See all answers

What do you like most about Azure Stack?

For hybrid cloud operations, the seamless transition it enables is key. Most enterprises have a lot of workloads on-premises, and they want a smooth way to move into the cloud. Some things are on...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Stack?

Azure Stack is a very expensive solution. The costs are very opaque and coming out of control quite quickly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Stack?

The solution's transparency over cost management could be much easier because it's very difficult to manage costs.

See all answers

Comparisons

Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) vs AWS Outposts

Compared 18% of the time

VMware Cloud Foundation vs AWS Outposts

Compared 18% of the time

Google Anthos vs AWS Outposts

Compared 5% of the time

High Performance Computing (HPC) vs AWS Outposts

Compared 2% of the time

More AWS Outposts Competitors

VMware Cloud Foundation vs Azure Stack

Compared 51% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) vs Azure Stack

Compared 13% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Azure Stack

Compared 5% of the time

VMware Software Defined Data Center vs Azure Stack

Compared 2% of the time

Google Anthos vs Azure Stack

Compared 2% of the time

More Azure Stack Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS Outposts

January 2025

Download AWS Outposts product report

Buyer's Guide

Azure Stack

January 2025

Download Azure Stack product report

Learn More

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Microsoft

Overview

AWS Outposts bring native AWS services, infrastructure, and operating models to virtually any data center, co-location space, or on-premises facility. You can use the same APIs, the same tools, the same hardware, and the same functionality across on-premises and the cloud to deliver a truly consistent hybrid experience. Outposts can be used to support workloads that need to remain on-premises due to low latency or local data processing needs.

Information not available

Sample Customers

Philips, Morningstar

Weblink, Fathym, Sage, CFD Support Ltd, The UberCloud Inc.

Buyer's Guide

AWS Outposts vs. Azure Stack

January 2025

Free Report: AWS Outposts vs. Azure Stack

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