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Microsoft Azure App Service vs Xamarin Platform 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

Microsoft Azure App Service
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Rapid Application Development Software (7th)
Xamarin Platform
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure App Service is 4.7%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Xamarin Platform is 7.3%, down from 7.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Azure App Service4.7%
Xamarin Platform7.3%
Other88.0%
Mobile Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

AntonioNascimento - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless integration and application hosting enabled through versatile service
When using a Linux App Service or containerized App Services, the logging is not as good as when using the Windows version. The Linux App Service should be more user-friendly, focusing on logging, troubleshooting, and similar features. With Microsoft Azure App Service, it is more difficult with Linux or other container solutions because there are many options. When creating an App Service, you can create it as Linux or Windows. After that, you can choose some stack or use Docker to container. When using Linux with container, the logging functionality is not as robust.
Prince Tiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates UI development with XAML, enabling shared UI code across platforms and reducing platform-specific work
I like its simplicity. As someone who didn't start my career as a dedicated developer, I was used to building websites or Windows applications. Transitioning to mobile app development meant learning new languages like Swift or Java. With C# and Xamarin, though, I could leverage my existing skillset. Xamarin, and specifically Xamarin.Forms, let me write my code once and deploy it natively to both Android and iOS. Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform. The advantage is that roughly 90% of my UI code can be shared. This significantly reduces the amount of platform-specific UI work compared to having to write separate UIs for each platform. For the most part, Xamarin's integration with Visual Studio improved the workflow, whether I'm on Windows or Mac. Since I'm familiar with Visual Studio, it provides a comfortable development environment. Additionally, features like Hot Reload and the integration of tools like Copilot help streamline the development process. Overall, it offers a positive development experience.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup of Microsoft Azure App Service is straightforward, and for two or three clients, we have configured more complex setups."
"The stability of Microsoft Azure App Service is good."
"App Service's best features are that it can be scaled easily and it includes Kudu."
"Microsoft Azure App Service is an easy way to host applications and web applications, and it is very straightforward to automate the deploying and configure, making it very easy and useful."
"Scalability is straightforward, and you can quickly adjust the resources to meet demand."
"Enroll in some kind of formal training, not from Microsoft, but from a partner, and keep up with the change because the Azure platform changes a lot."
"What I found most valuable in Microsoft Azure App Service is that it's a PaaS. I also like that it supports Docker and multiple frameworks so that you can work on Java, Ruby on Rails, PHP, and Python."
"I like that it's a ready-to-use, out-of-the-box solution that provides all of the necessary functions for customers, such as codes that can be quickly switched from the production version, or from test and DEV versions to production."
"Test Cloud, Calabash, SpecFlow, and Xamarin.UITest are the features which can’t be ignored because just writing code doesn’t mean your app will run flawlessly. You need to test your app on each possible device and configuration, which you can do easily."
"The most valuable features of the Xamarin Platform are that it has cross-platform development, one code base serves a purpose on both, and the grid layout is a lifesaver."
"This solution is a cross-form technology, meaning that we don't have to create separate code to deploy apps across different platforms."
"Plugins like MvvmCross make a developer’s life easy."
"A single line of code works with android and iOS."
"For me, developing apps for iOS and Android is a dream came true, without migrating to Objective-C or Java. Xamarin enables me to do so."
"The initial setup is very simple."
"The most valuable feature of the Xamarin Platform is the deployment."
 

Cons

"The logging and monitoring could improve in Microsoft Azure App Service."
"I am new to the intervention and I find it difficult to find my way around the user interface. I have my own learning tool. However, it could be simpler for new users."
"There is always room for improvement price-wise."
"The main area that requires improvement is the function apps and logic apps, specifically from a VNet integration standpoint."
"I thought it would be better to have a template to publish directly to Microsoft Azure App Service using GitHub because there were some documents related to Azure DevOps."
"Initially, there were some rare instances when the server went down because it was deployed on Linux."
"The solution is quite expensive. If you need more features, you need to pay for them."
"The cost management of this solution could be better. We only receive estimations."
"Regarding improvements, there are still some limitations with Xamarin, particularly regarding access to core functionality in Android and iOS."
"The architecture in the Xamarin Platform has to improve, there are some features missing."
"We'd like to have some chat support functionality."
"Xamarin's profiling tools are only available for the highest tier of MSDN subscription and compatibility with platform-native profiling tools is rather lacking. This causes friction when working on performance-related issues."
"The major I see with Xamarin right now is that there is no visual editor"
"The solution struggles a little bit with binding libraries."
"The debugging functionality could be improved in Xamarin Platform because sometimes it takes very long to move through the stages of setting up the application build to the final deployment on a mobile app that resides in a physical device."
"There is room for increasing the scale a little bit further with the designer in the Visual Studio, more specifically, Xamarin.Android Designer in Visual Studio."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of the solution is based on usage. It is less expensive than other solutions."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price and ten is a high price, I rate the pricing a five. The product is affordable."
"The pricing and cost of this solution depends on the use and needs of a business."
"The product is not expensive. The tool's price is okay for all of the benefits you get from the solution."
"The pricing model of Microsoft Azure App Service could be made more clear. There is a scale and range and it can be complicated and convoluted. Some simplification is needed."
"Where there are different customer sizes, some customers consume $5,000 US dollars per month. I have some customers who pay and consume more than $20,000 US dollars per month, for example. It is determined by customer sizes and requirements, which vary from month to month."
"The price of the solution is high overall."
"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."
"There's no licensing cost for Xamarin."
"Xamarin Platform is a free open-source solution."
"It saved a lot of time and resources needed to develop a cross platform mobile app."
"For personal use, the Community Edition is free."
"In most cases, it is sufficient to have free/community license. But if you plan to seriously develop production-level, highly polished apps, you need to use Xamarin.Profiler and the professional or enterprise license."
"There is no license fee because the solution is open-source."
"Xamarin is free, or comes with Visual Studio. Therefore, it is very profitable."
"Xamarin Platform is open-source, but there are fees for deployment, the API Store and Play Store, and using third-party libraries."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
28%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise33
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about Xamarin Platform?
Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Xamarin Platform?
Xamarin Platform is free, and we use an Azure subscription at a relatively low cost for our builds. It offers a good value for money, although it requires time to make it work effectively.
What needs improvement with Xamarin Platform?
The primary area for improvement is the support for third-party libraries, especially for major providers like Microsoft and Google. The lack of robust documentation and support for third-party bin...
 

Also Known As

Azure App Service, MS Azure App Service
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Real Madrid, Absolut, AccuWeather, Heineken, NBC News, Paramount
Cinemark, MixRadio, Sqor Sports, Storyo, JetBlue, The World Bank, Cr_dito Agrcola, Applied Research Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure App Service vs. Xamarin Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.