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IBM MobileFirst vs Microsoft Azure App Service comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

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

IBM MobileFirst
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
13th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Mobile App Platforms (8th)
Microsoft Azure App Service
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Rapid Application Development Software (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of IBM MobileFirst is 2.2%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure App Service is 4.6%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

MT
Streamlines development of hybrid applications, and has ability to integrate device-native code
It was a cakewalk for us to develop mobile apps for three different platforms using IBM MobileFirst. Since it was a consumer application built for large-scale events, it was very crucial for us to manage application compatibility with all sort of devices. With MobielFirst, we could actually achieve this with very little trouble. With help of this product, we have been able to develop mobile applications without having complete knowledge of each mobile OS's native programming. App development, delivery, and code management have been very efficient using this product.
Ajit Chandra - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlined development and robust SDK integration with auto and vertical scaling
The main area that requires improvement is the function apps and logic apps, specifically from a VNet integration standpoint. When running in private network configurations, Logic Apps do not fulfill most of the requirements. Deploying Logic Apps in a private network environment becomes complicated due to the extensive white testing and configurations needed at the networking layer.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM MobileFirst has one of the most feature-rich admin panels."
"With help of this product, we have been able to develop mobile applications without having complete knowledge of each mobile OS's native programming technology. App development, delivery, and code management have been very efficient using this product."
"I like Its capability for developing hybrid applications, with an ability to integrate device-native code as well"
"The technical support from Microsoft Azure App Service is good."
"Debugging using Application Insights is a valuable feature."
"Overall, I would rate Microsoft Azure App Service as nine out of ten."
"The Logic Apps and Azure functions are very robust."
"It's a platform as a service, so we don't have to manage the infrastructure to hold the websites."
"The feature I find most valuable is the 'Diagnose and Solve problem' function. This not only allows us to fix a problem, but also to generate analytics on why the issue occurred."
"The best feature is scalability, which allows you to target potential clients worldwide by connecting the application to a local server. This makes the application readily accessible, and the response time will be much better."
"It's very easy to use. That's one of the advantages for the business, that you don't need to struggle to configure your website and your app service. Microsoft made sure to make it stable and very easy to configure."
 

Cons

"I would like to see improved support for native device functions."
"There are issues with push notifications, especially for Windows mobile apps. JSONStore also crashes abruptly at times."
"Documentation is not well-organized, making it difficult to find current and relevant information."
"I do not have notes for improvements."
"The configuration is slow without understanding the systematic process."
"If you're on the cloud, you just get a web interface without much detail for additional configuration or the authority to configure the root or system-level configuration."
"The logging and monitoring could improve in Microsoft Azure App Service."
"The solution is quite expensive. If you need more features, you need to pay for them."
"The setup is complex if you have no experience."
"Can be improved by increasing the number of data centres worldwide."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cost depends upon various factors. Size of the overall application and product usage matter a lot. For an enterprise-grade application, this certainly comes out as an economical solution. However, for small-scale applications, it can turn out to be on the higher side."
"Azure doesn't cost as much as other services."
"The price of the solution is high overall."
"The price of the support could improve. It is expensive."
"The pricing for Microsoft Azure App Service is per hour, and you're billed per hour, and it depends on the plan you're using. Each plan can host up to a minimum of four to eight applications at a time, so the pricing is quite okay with how I use Microsoft Azure App Service currently, but with the little testing I've done, I saw that some other regions tend to be costlier than others. If the same SLE is delivered for all services, there should be a way to make the prices parallel across regions. Having more transparent pricing for Microsoft Azure App Service would give customers more comfort."
"Microsoft Azure App Service is an expensive platform, but it depends on the data ingestion. There's a pay-as-you-go plan and a savings plan for compute, but total costs depend on data ingestion and disk space. For high performance, security, and isolation, Microsoft offers a disk space of 1 TB, with a pay-as-you-go price of $40 per hour, if I'm not mistaken."
"The pricing and cost of this solution depends on the use and needs of a business."
"The pricing for this solution is set in tiers, with the overall cost depending on the features that are required. I would advise organizations to have a detailed look at the functions they need, to ensure that they are in the correct pricing tier."
"The cost of the solution is based on usage. It is less expensive than other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
18%
Non Profit
10%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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Would you choose Microsoft Azure App Service or PowerApps?
Microsoft Azure App Service is helpful if you need to set up temporary servers for customers to run their programs in locations that other cloud providers do not cater to. When servers are closer t...
Do you recommend Microsoft Azure App Service?
I highly recommend Microsoft Azure. We have been using it for nearly four years. We mostly use it for creating and maintaining websites, such as content management systems like WordPress sites, whi...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure App Service?
One valuable feature of Azure App Service for us is its integration with Azure DevOps, which we heavily rely on in our development process.
 

Also Known As

MobileFirst, Worklight
Azure App Service, MS Azure App Service
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

UniCredit Business Integrated Solutions, Gruppo Unipol, Raymond James Financial, Toshiba GCS, CST, ABK-Systeme GmbH, BNP Paribas
Real Madrid, Absolut, AccuWeather, Heineken, NBC News, Paramount
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM MobileFirst vs. Microsoft Azure App Service and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.