I use a virtual machine for remote desktop and Microsoft Azure is user-friendly.
IT Director at IT-Flow ltd
User-friendly, scalable, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "I use a virtual machine for remote desktop and Microsoft Azure is user-friendly."
- "Microsoft Azure could improve by having more virtual machine operating systems available."
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Azure could improve by having more virtual machine operating systems available.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have found Microsoft Azure to be stable.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Microsoft Azure is very good.
We have approximately 25 companies that are using the solution. I do not know how many users are using the solution, but it would be a high number.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Azure overall is an expensive solution.
In general, if you compare Amazon AWS with the price of Microsoft Azure host cloud service, Microsoft Azure is more expensive than Amazon AWS. I didn't see any hidden costs.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to first-time users of Microsoft Azure would be for them to go through certification training. This way they would be able to understand what they are doing. Without certification, it would be difficult to understand how the system is working.
I rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: reseller
CTO at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Cloud-based, stable, simple to install, and with good advanced-level support
Pros and Cons
- "It is easy to install."
- "A good strategy would be to include a feature for integrating with external ecosystems."
What is our primary use case?
We are resellers. We use Microsoft to provide a service to our customers.
We offer SaaS software for the marketplace.
We offer SaaS software for the B2B marketplace and provide solutions to our customers through public cloud infrastructure.
What is most valuable?
We have yet to explore this solution and what it has to offer because we are still in the transformation phase from Amazon to Azure.
What needs improvement?
It could be more open to external solutions.
Integration with other ecosystems would be beneficial. During this transitional period, this is our primary concern. For example, when we offer solutions to our customers, we must connect to their IT ecosystem, which we are unable to do in some cases.
A good strategy would be to include a feature for integrating with external ecosystems.
We would also like to improve the security.
For how long have I used the solution?
We switched from Amazon to Azure six months ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In the short time that we have been using this solution, it appears to be stable enough for our needs.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We work with 50 companies that use this solution on a daily basis.
How are customer service and support?
We have no issues with the technical support. It's fine.
We needed to find someone who could help us. It depends on the support contract you have with Microsoft.
The standard level of support was obviously insufficient for us, and we had to resort to a more advanced level of support for partners who had complex technical questions. This meant that there would be some additional support costs, but everything would be fine once you made that decision.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use Auth0, which is an IAM-based solution.
We are using an identification solution provided by a cloud provider. We are based on Azure. We work with a Microsoft Azure infrastructure, and we use the solution provided by Microsoft to authenticate the users.
How was the initial setup?
It is easy to install.
It took us a few months to deploy. I did not take a lot of time to move to Azure but moving to another infrastructure using microservice takes longer.
We are coming from a moderate approach to installation and going for a modular one that is based on microservices.
To be able to manage the microservices, we made some modifications.
The length of time it took to complete the implementation was primarily due to changes we made to the infrastructure that was required for our customers.
What about the implementation team?
We have a dedicated team of ten people who will deploy and manage the infrastructure.
We have a separate Dev team for the application itself.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Customers pay for our software and use our solution as a service through monthly payments. They don't pay the licensing fee directly to Microsoft.
We provide a solution as a service to our customers. They pay us for our services, which are based on Microsoft.
What other advice do I have?
We would recommend this solution to others who are considering using it.
I would rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Head Of Information Technology at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
A cloud computing service that makes remote working a seamless experience
Pros and Cons
- "I like a lot of features. For example, the Windows virtual solution has helped in such a way that our client-based application was converted into a web-based version through the use of the Windows Virtual Desktop."
- "With Microsoft, our only concern is exchange rates because we're paying in dollars. It's very expensive for us because of the exchange rates. It would help if they partnered with someone locally so we can pay in our local currency."
What is our primary use case?
We have some services that are customer-facing that was put on a public cloud. We also have some of the applications that we use in-house, and we put that in our private environment.
Currently, because we have migrated our infrastructure to the cloud, we boosted some of our core applications in the Windows virtual environment. We also make use of it for our call center solution.
What is most valuable?
I like a lot of features. For example, the Windows virtual solution has helped in such a way that our client-based application was converted into a web-based version through the use of the Windows Virtual Desktop. It makes life very easy for our users when working remotely from anywhere. Because of Azure, the work from home policy makes our work feel seamless. We make use of SharePoint, and collaboration has been very smooth and wonderful. We also make use of Microsoft Teams. It's been wonderful. It's been very awesome.
What needs improvement?
With Microsoft, our only concern is exchange rates because we're paying in dollars. It's very expensive for us because of the exchange rates. It would help if they partnered with someone locally so we can pay in our local currency. That's the only major area that we wanted them to look into. At least for exchange rate purposes, they should try to do something.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have just migrated our infrastructure. I have been using Microsoft Azure for a couple of months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I can guarantee that it's 100% reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's very easy, and we don't regret this step at all. It's very scalable, and sometimes if we don't need the VM that we set up, we can quickly decommission it. Then if you wanted it back up again, we could bring it up quickly. It's very scalable. We have an average of 50 users at the moment.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is very good. I like that they have local partners and local support in our own country and not someone in another geographical region. When we wanted to do the setup with the Microsoft partner, we had some issues, and we reported it to them. They were very responsive.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was straightforward because Microsoft had some partners here. To be a good Microsoft partner, you would have done a lot of training with all this stuff, making our deployment and migrations very seamless.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We're paying in dollars, and it's very expensive for us because of the exchange rates. We have all kinds of agreements with the partner, and we'll be paying quarterly. But it depends on how you want to pay. It depends on the option that's flexible for you.
What other advice do I have?
We would recommend this solution to potential users. I would advise them to analyze the infrastructure and what they want to achieve. After that, they should be able to get across to a good partner.
That will help them a lot because they would need a good supportive partner. Migration can be very miserable, so they should consider a good partner. They should also have their own internal strategy on what they want to achieve. This will help the partners help them.
We wanted to do a whole lot of things that cost us even more. But because we were able to get a reliable partner, they were able to guide us very well, and we were able to get some significant cost savings.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Microsoft Azure a ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Founder & Chief Technology Officer at Lavelle Networks
Responsive technical support, scales easily, and is the most economical of the main cloud providers
Pros and Cons
- "Azure is a good networking solution from a WAN perspective."
- "I would like to see all of the cloud providers be more compatible with each other."
What is our primary use case?
We are an SD-WAN vendor and we deal with a lot of networks. Microsoft Azure is one that I use regularly.
It's application migration. We run a network as a service from Azure. People are migrating to Azure, either it's MS SQL, SAP on Azure deployments or just running on Azure that we connect.
The primary use case is to provide the SD-WAN to connect their remote offices and users to Azure and the data center.
How has it helped my organization?
Azure is pretty good and in fact, we have about 100 customers who are using Azure on our technology. These are some of the largest manufacturing companies in this region.
What is most valuable?
Azure is a good networking solution from a WAN perspective.
Features and functionality from a scale perspective, at least in the top three, are very compatible. These are AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see all of the cloud providers be more compatible with each other. All of the big organizations, such as large manufacturing and banking and financials, use Azure, while other places will use Google Cloud to AWS. Compatability between these is important.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been associated with Microsoft Azure for the last three and a half years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure scales like any other cloud.
How are customer service and technical support?
As a partner, the technical support is pretty responsive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also use Digital Ocean, Google Cloud, AWS, and we are set up with multi-cloud.
I think Azure and AWS are similar in terms of pricing. Google Cloud is cheaper compared to either of these two. Google Cloud on the same sales chart. It is 30% to 40% cheaper than AWS or Azure. The Azure additional option is even cheaper than Google Cloud.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is comparable but from a cost perspective, this solution is the cheapest.
What other advice do I have?
We use both Private Cloud and Public Cloud. For Banks it's generally through Private Cloud, otherwise, it's on a Public Cloud, as we deliver services as well on Azure.
This is a product that I can recommend to others.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
A customizable solution with a good interface and helpful support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are the interface and customizability."
- "Dashboards and reporting could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We are a solution provider and Microsoft Azure is one of the technologies that we help our clients to implement. For example, when one of our customers wants to migrate from on-premises to the cloud, we assist them with the process. Once they decide on technology, we build the solution.
Our clients implement Azure to use as Infrastructure as a Service.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the interface and customizability.
The approach used for cloud migration is something that I like.
Documentation and community support are good.
What needs improvement?
Dashboards and reporting could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Azure for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure is a stable system.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There are no issues with scalability. We have a range of customers that vary in size from small to medium-sized businesses, as well as enterprise-level organizations.
How are customer service and technical support?
I am happy with the good support that we are getting. I have not been in contact with them directly but some of my colleagues have dealt with them.
How was the initial setup?
The installation and initial setup are easy. We implemented over the course of a few days.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Reducing the price would be of benefit to our customers.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is to do a proof of concept first. This is what I suggest to all of our customers, especially before migrating to the cloud. It will ensure that it meets the requirements.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Software Architect at a security firm with 51-200 employees
Much easier than AWS to set up, change, and configure VMs.
Pros and Cons
- "Much more intuitive and more visual than AWS. More obvious where things are and how to change their configurations, etc."
- "Being able to set up, change and configure VMs is easy - a lot easier than in AWS."
- "Feedback and error messages make much more sense in Azure than in AWS."
- "There are a number of services offered by AWS that are not yet available on Azure."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
I compare it to AWS that I used prior to this. I find it much more intuitive, more visual, more obvious where things are and how to change their configurations, etc.
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
I get the impression there are a number of services offered by AWS that are not yet available on Azure, but it seems to be catching up pretty fast.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It seems to me that Azure is a little less stable than AWS but not so that it makes a difference, given how much time you save doing other stuff like configuring, etc.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Very easy to scale in and out but has unpredictable costing as a result. However, AWS is the same.
How are customer service and technical support?
I do not use tech support. I use online forums, etc.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
AWS. I started a new job.
How was the initial setup?
No, it is simpler in Azure than in AWS.
What about the implementation team?
In-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is the worst aspect of both AWS and Azure. It is very difficult to predict costs in my experience. There is often a base price (for running a VM for example), but then you have to pay for data storage costs plus data transmission costs, etc. I would prefer to have a predictable monthly cost for unlimited storage within a bandwidth for example, but there isn't an easy way to predict costs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated Google Cloud too and compared AWS with Azure. Azure is definitely the best for me; I am more productive because I understand the tech architecture better.
What other advice do I have?
If you are a C#, .NET or SQL server person, do not even think about using AWS, use Azure instead. If you are more of a Linux/PHP/Java type of person, you may consider AWS as it works much better from the command line and much more like a Linux or Java environment.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Principle consultant at Active Data Consulting Services Pty Ltd
We have the ability to quickly create and manage resources is critical to getting things done, Azure just makes getting things done a lot simpler.
Pros and Cons
- "The ability to quickly create and manage resources is critical to getting things done, Azure just makes getting things done a lot simpler."
- "You eventually end up with a large collection of 'bits' all working together, I find it hard to be able to create a logical 'box' and put all the 'bits' that need to be in that box / application into the one place."
What is our primary use case?
Building development and production environments to support business acrivity.
How has it helped my organization?
Getting resources up and running quickly and providing secure access to those resources makes life easier. Also, Microsoft Azure really does offer a great deal which allows one to completely think about software development in new ways. I love the WebApps feature and am currently learning everything I can about Logic apps.
I am really into the Everything as a Service model that Azure seems to be heading towards. Less fussing over VM's and Operating Systems.
What is most valuable?
The ability to quickly create and manage resources is critical to getting things done, Azure just makes getting things done a lot simpler.
What needs improvement?
You eventually end up with a large collection of 'bits' all working together, I find it hard to be able to create a logical 'box' and put all the 'bits' that need to be in that box / application into the one place.
We're still learning though, so odds are there's something that will help us with this already in Azure.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No, so far we've had no problems with anything we've deployed onto Microsoft Azure, rock solid.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
At our early stage we've not encountered any scalability issues at all, and we're not likely to either, Azure will easily handle whatever workload we plan to throw at it.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Excellent! I raised a support ticket on a question I had and got a prompt, clearly articulated and knowledgeable reply from the Microsoft Technical support person which addressed our question in a very short time-frame.
Technical Support:
Excellent! Was very impressed with the person I liaised with.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I was using an on-premises solution with servers running a HyperVisor, we were due to replace old hardware and needed to make resources available everywhere the team is, Microsoft Azure 'just made sense'.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up was quite simple, before jumping in though make sure you watch some of the video's on the MVA site about virtual networking and so forth, the Azure user interface makes deploying these resources relatively straight-forward.
What about the implementation team?
We went in-house, learning as we go. We're still very new to Azure and learning all the time, we'd be beginner to intermediate at most. We're not deploying to production for some time and will work with a Certified Microsoft Partner when we get to that stage.
What was our ROI?
Several thousand dollars and counting, we haven't needed to upgrade on premises hardware (In fact we eliminated all of the old on-premises hardware and run 100% on Azure) or pay for it's maintenance, power etc.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Understand and use the pricing calculator!
Learn PowerShell, a quick tip is that you can shut down and de-allocate your VM's when you are not using them, this way the VM's are not incurring charges. We absolutely love this feature, as it means that when the environment is not in use, it isn't costing much (if anything), so it lends itself to making the I.T environment more efficient.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at AWS, but we chose Azure because we use a lot of Microsoft Products and it just felt more integrated.
What other advice do I have?
Start with the simple things first, design your environment before deploying anything, even a simple development environment. Understand the charging model used and get to grips with the basics of PowerShell, as nice as the web based front end is, PowerShell is very handy.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior DevSecOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Comes with account management feature but interface needs to be made similar to AWS
Pros and Cons
- "The tool's most valuable aspect is the account management side. This involves tasks such as assigning credentials to different individuals, managing user accounts, and implementing Privileged Access Management."
- "The tool should add an interface that is similar to AWS."
What is our primary use case?
In my department, we primarily use AWS. However, for single sign-on, we use Azure Directory. It helps with integration when logging into various systems. The IT operations team utilizes Microsoft Defender for tasks such as tracking various endpoints and conducting business reviews.
What is most valuable?
The tool's most valuable aspect is the account management side. This involves tasks such as assigning credentials to different individuals, managing user accounts, and implementing Privileged Access Management.
What needs improvement?
The tool should add an interface that is similar to AWS.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My company has around five to ten users for Microsoft Azure. It is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The tool's deployment is easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Azure is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
The tool is a great product to use, and very intuitive. It is beneficial for users and enterprises. I rate it an eight out of ten. The product is easy to learn, but it may become difficult depending on your technical ability.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
Popular Comparisons
Amazon AWS
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode)
Google Cloud
Alibaba Cloud
Google Firebase
SAP S4HANA on AWS
VMware Cloud Foundation
Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2)
DigitalOcean
SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud
Equinix Metal
Google Compute Engine
NTT Cloud
Skytap Cloud
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- Gartner's Magic Quadrant for IaaS maintains Amazon Web Service at the top of the Leaders quadrant. Do you agree?
- PaaS solutions: Areas for improvement?
- Rackspace, Dimension Data, and others that were in last year's Challenger quadrant became Niche Players: Agree/ Disagree
- What Is The Biggest Difference Between Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Platform?
- Which backup and recovery solution can backup Azure machines to its own (dedicated) cloud?
- Which is better - SAP Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?
- Which solution do you prefer: Alibaba Cloud or Microsoft Azure?
- How does Microsoft MDS (vs Informatica MDM) fit with Azure architecture?
- SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC): how to migrate to Microsoft Azure?
- Does F5 Advanced WAF work with Azure App Service?
Azure is a great choice for a medium-large application that requires faster deployment, it is very scalable, but the minor thing about Azure is that they are costly, so you must estimate your cost using its pricing calculator first before deciding to go with them. Honestly, if you don't have large traffic, an ASPHostPortal shared hosting plan is a great choice since they are affordable and reliable.