Amazon Lightsail vs Microsoft Azure comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the PaaS Clouds category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.8, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.4. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 2.0% mindshare in PSP, compared to Microsoft’s 18.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon Lightsail

Read 12 Amazon Lightsail reviews

1,052 Views
1,052 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure

Read 316 Microsoft Azure reviews

20,523 Views
12,314 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Amazon Lightsail

Microsoft Azure

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

Microsoft Azure and Amazon Lightsail operate in the cloud computing and hosting domain. Azure holds a competitive edge due to its extensive range of features, integration capabilities, and scalability that cater to both large enterprises and smaller projects.

Features: Microsoft Azure offers significant benefits like compatibility with Azure Databricks for data processing, robust infrastructure for security with Azure Application Gateway and WAF, and diverse integration options including Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. Azure's presence across numerous geographical zones further bolsters its reliability. Amazon Lightsail stands out with its simplicity and cost-effectiveness, particularly targeting small-scale projects or WordPress hosting with clear pricing and ease of management.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Azure can enhance user navigation, license model clarity, and consistent technical support. It also faces challenges in cost transparency and needs improved data analysis and streaming support. Amazon Lightsail would benefit from better scalability and more flexible configuration options, along with expanding its network features and improving documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Azure facilitates flexible deployment across on-premises, public, hybrid, and private clouds, with varying technical support depending on user tier. Azure partners contribute to a generally responsive customer service. Amazon Lightsail is praised for straightforward deployment on public cloud infrastructure, offering a streamlined process at reduced costs but should enhance its support response times.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Azure's complex pricing model can be higher than competitors, impacting predictability but its scalable resources deliver a good ROI, especially for enterprises integrated into Microsoft environments. Amazon Lightsail provides predictable, flat-rate low-cost services attractive to small businesses, allowing significant savings with a seamless transition to broader AWS services if needed. Pricing for Lightsail packages starts at $5 per month.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Lightsail vs. Microsoft Azure Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Lightsail vs. Microsoft Azure

July 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

Amazon Lightsail

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

10th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Azure

Ranking in PaaS Clouds

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

316

Ranking in other categories

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the PaaS Clouds category, the mindshare of Amazon Lightsail is 2.0%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure is 18.8%, down from 19.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

PaaS Clouds

Featured Reviews

Atul Chauhan

DevOps engineer at Tech Mahindra Limited

Auto-manage features optimize server management and reduce costs

In terms of features, Amazon Lightsail can auto-manage the server with capabilities such as Auto Scaling and Placement Groups. They can auto-manage, and the billing cost is reduced because they have limited technology, which helps to optimize our cost billing for AWS. The benefit of using Amazon Lightsail over the AWS console management is that it is a small platform that is easy to understand, as it has only the instance, DNS, Route 53, snapshots, backups, and load balancing network. Amazon Lightsail has five technologies, and because it's easy to use and everyone can understand it, anyone can manage the server or add anything to that server, making it easy to understand. The initial setup is easy to do.

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Nicolas Chabrier

Cloud Strategy B2B leader at Sunrise UPC

Promotes clear, logical structures preventing impractical configurations and offers seamless integration

The only thing is regarding the management of multi-cloud environments. That's not really possible. So basically, it's wonderful if you manage Microsoft clearly and if you manage Microsoft Azure, but if you need to consume external services and have a global overview of all your consumption, it's not the case. Google, for instance, has tools that help you manage multiple environments, which makes sense because Google is really the cloud provider. So that's why they need to be compliant with the others. But for sure, Microsoft's approach is different, and it's wonderful when you're one hundred percent on Azure. But if you'd like to have something more of a multi-cloud strategy, that's a bit of a gap where they could improve.

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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

"One of the product's most valuable features is its fixed pricing, which makes it ideal for small projects and websites that do not require scaling."

"We use Amazon Lightsail for hosting security components in-house and AI modules."

"Amazon Lightsail is a virtual instance that is a service of Amazon AWS, designed to store data securely and provide applications through the cloud at an affordable cost to the SME sector."

"Amazon Lightsail is easy to use and very cost-effective compared to other services such as Azure and Google."

"The benefit of using Amazon Lightsail over the AWS console management is that it is a small platform that is easy to understand, as it has only the instance, DNS, Route 53, snapshots, backups, and load balancing network."

"The instances optimized for WordPress are very lightweight and straightforward in configuration."

"Implementations are completed with a few clicks, allowing efficient transitions to other development stages, and setup is easy whether for online support or basic business requirements."

"The initial setup is pretty easy."

More Amazon Lightsail pros

"The solution does a lot of coding and customization, and can go live quickly."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the integration between all of the components in Azure."

"Azure services like EDM and Batch are all famous, but one of the most popular services for development is Azure Functions, especially the PaaS option. Depending on a customer's environment, they can go for the PaaS."

"The product makes it easy to spin up new environments and develop new technologies."

"We use the cognitive service, virtual machines, and customer DB. Microsoft Azure is also scalable and easy to install."

"It is a stable solution because it depends on the workload you expect. Based on that data, you can configure how many users it can handle."

"I have not had a problem with the stability. It is reliable."

"The solution is very simple to set up."

More Microsoft Azure pros

Cons

"The solution could be smoother than it is."

"I don't see this solution as enterprise-ready, for bigger companies like banks."

"When you need to add some custom rules to Amazon Lightsail, the auto scaling feature is a bit difficult."

"Currently, there is limited support available while installing or configuring it, and resources are primarily available through community-contributed articles."

"Backward compatibility and the flexibility to choose software versions while installing would be improvements."

"The product's network features need enhancement."

"The main area for improvement in Lightsail is the difficulty in scaling down resources."

"The disadvantage I see is data storage; if any data crash occurs in the cloud server, that will lead to significant losses for the customer."

More Amazon Lightsail cons

"Their backup strategy is a little complex which racks up the VM to other sole storage areas. This should be improved."

"Technical support needs to be better."

"I think it would be good to keep making progress on giving users the ability to do action calls on Data Factory. Right now, it's mostly local. Perhaps Microsoft could add the ability to put some calls in the workflow."

"The scalability could improve."

"It would be ideal if they could reduce costs a bit. Right now, we find the product to be expensive."

"The permissions and controls in the product are not easy to use."

"There should be be better support for microservices and containers."

"Navigating the frequent changes in the interface has been a challenge, requiring effort to keep up with updates. Options or features that were once located in one window may unexpectedly move to another, making it hard to stay current with the changes."

More Microsoft Azure cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Lightsail is available at an affordable cost starting from five dollars per month."

"Amazon Lightsail is a bit cheaper than Amazon EC2."

"The services that it provides are good for the price."

"The affordability of starting at five dollars makes it an attractive option for startups and medium-sized companies, aligning with budget considerations while offering essential cloud services."

"The prices are better than EC2 machines, for instance, because they are simplified management, but it works well, and I am able to run everything that I need on it."

"A few months ago, Lightsail's pricing increased, likely due to the addition of the new VPC feature."

"It's very cheap."

"Price-wise, it is comparable to other solutions for the features that we are using."

"We are on a monthly subscription for Microsoft Azure and the cost is more expensive than some of the competitors, such as Amazon AWS. They should be more competitive with other solutions."

"Azure's pricing could be more competitive. Some clients mentioned that they are considering switching to AWS because of the price."

"The product is expensive."

"The pricing is better than AWS."

"I rate the product price a seven or eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price."

"As of now, there are no monthly or yearly subscription fees."

"Price could always be cheaper. Its licensing and usage aren't always cheap. We pay monthly."

More Microsoft Azure pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user8586

Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Aug 14, 2013

Amazon vs Rackspace vs Microsoft vs Google: Cloud Hosting Services Comparison

Amazon Web Services, Rackspace OpenStack, Microsoft Windows Azure and Google are the major cloud hosting and storage service providers. Athough Amazon is top of them and is oldest in cloud market, Rackspace, Microsoft and Google are giving tough competition to each other and to Amazon also for…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

11%

University

10%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Lightsail?

In Lightsail, they simplified to do it in as few clicks as possible. So, around ten clicks, I have a virtual machine deployed.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Lightsail?

Lightsail is available at an affordable cost starting from five dollars per month. This cost may increase with additional features like a static IP.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon Lightsail?

Amazon Lightsail needs more security in the networking because hackers can attack in application layers three and four. The networking layer is basically the hacker's target to break the network, s...

See all answers

Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?

IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity ...

See all answers

Which is better - SAP Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?

One of the best features of SAP Cloud Platform is that it is web-based and you can log in from anywhere in the world. SAP Cloud Platform is suitable for companies of any size; it works well with bo...

See all answers

How does Microsoft Azure compare to Google Firebase?

I would recommend Google Firebase instead of Microsoft Azure, simply for the array of features that it has to offer. In particular, the Firebase library grants you access to a shared data structure...

See all answers

Comparisons

Google Cloud vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 32% of the time

Heroku vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 8% of the time

AWS Elastic Beanstalk vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 6% of the time

Google App Engine vs Amazon Lightsail

Compared 6% of the time

More Amazon Lightsail Competitors

Alibaba Cloud vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 12% of the time

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon AWS vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 9% of the time

SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

PaaS Clouds

July 2025

Download Amazon Lightsail product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure

August 2025

Download Microsoft Azure product report

Also Known As

No data available

Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure

Overview

Lightsail is ideal for simpler workloads, quick deployments, and getting started on AWS. It’s designed to help you start small, and then scale as you grow.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Microsoft Azure integrates services and offers flexibility, ensuring compatibility with diverse environments. Its scalability, security, and cost-efficient features enhance deployment and management, making it ideal for infrastructure services and application hosting.

Azure provides a comprehensive suite of tools for application deployment, virtual machine management, and data analytics. It allows seamless integration with Power BI and offers a user-friendly interface supported by detailed documentation and technical support. Though users appreciate its capabilities, they sometimes face challenges with costs, setup, and interface complexity, alongside integration and performance issues. Frequent updates and a learning curve are also noted, though Azure's cloud-based security and scalability remain critical for disaster recovery and business continuity.

What are Azure's key features?

Integrated Services: Ensures compatibility with Microsoft and non-Microsoft environments.
Scalability: Supports growing business demands with flexible computing power.
Security: Offers robust cloud-based security features for data protection.
Cost Efficiency: Provides options that optimize costs for diverse requirements.
Application Deployment: Facilitates quick rollout of apps and services.

What benefits should users expect from Azure?

Operational Optimization: Allows companies to streamline processes effectively.
Innovative Efficiency: Empowers businesses to innovate with powerful tools.
Reliable Support: Backed by strong technical support and comprehensive documentation.
Flexible Cloud Solutions: Offers a range of options for cloud migrations and infrastructure management.

Microsoft Azure is widely implemented in industries like financial services, healthcare, and logistics for hosting enterprise applications and vital services. Companies utilize its capabilities for IoT applications, DevOps, and Kubernetes clusters, benefiting from its cloud migrations, data analytics, and active directory support.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Lightsail vs. Microsoft Azure

July 2025

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