Amazon CloudFront vs Microsoft Azure Comparison
Compare Amazon CloudFront vs Microsoft Azure features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Amazon CloudFront
7.9/10
Amazon CloudFront is the AWS content delivery network. It caches and serves websites, APIs and media from more than 750 edge locations, and includes DDoS protection, WAF and edge compute.
Microsoft Azure
7.1/10
Microsoft's public cloud platform offering virtual machines, containers, serverless, databases, storage and AI services on pay-as-you-go pricing for businesses of all sizes.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | A Amazon CloudFront | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.9/10 | 7.1/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Cost | 6/10 | 4/10 |
| Customization | 9/10 | 9/10 |
| Ease of Use | 5/10 | 4/10 |
| Integration | 9/10 | 9/10 |
| Reliability | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Scalability | 10/10 | 9/10 |
| Security | 9/10 | 9/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $15/mo Pro (flat-rate) | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Free (flat-rate) | Free Azure free account |
| Features | ||
| Shared Hosting | ||
| Content Delivery Network | ||
| Free SSL Certificates | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Serverless Functions | ||
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
Amazon CloudFront vs Microsoft Azure cost by team size
Amazon CloudFront and Microsoft Azure cost the same at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Amazon CloudFront | Microsoft Azure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeAzure free account |
| 5 users | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeAzure free account |
| 10 users | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeAzure free account |
| 25 users | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeAzure free account |
| 50 users | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeAzure free account |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
AWhy choose Amazon CloudFront
- Higher Cost score (6/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (5/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for developers (9/10 vs 7/10)
Why choose Microsoft Azure
- Higher Analytics score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Includes Shared Hosting, which Amazon CloudFront lacks
Pros & Cons
AAmazon CloudFront
Pros
- The network is very large, with more than 750 PoPs plus over 1,140 PoPs embedded inside ISP networks.
- Data transfer from AWS origins such as S3 and EC2 to CloudFront costs nothing, which lowers costs for workloads hosted on AWS.
- Flat-rate plans start at $15 a month with no overage charges, which makes bills predictable.
- It has strong compliance coverage, including PCI-DSS Level 1, HIPAA, SOC, ISO and FedRAMP Moderate.
- Two tiers of edge compute are available: CloudFront Functions at $0.10 per million invocations and Lambda@Edge for heavier code.
Cons
- G2 and Capterra reviewers report complex configuration and a steep learning curve for people new to AWS.
- Capterra-network reviewers rate customer support poorly, around 3.4 out of 5.
- Flat-rate plans lack some features, such as real-time logs, dedicated IP SSL and continuous deployment, and going over the allowance reduces performance.
- Dedicated IP SSL at $600 a month and Anycast Static IPs at $3,000 a month are expensive extras.
- Users on AWS re:Post and GitHub report cache invalidations that occasionally hang for hours or time out during deploys.
Microsoft Azure
Pros
- Free account includes a 200 USD credit plus always-free allowances such as 1 million Functions requests and Azure DevOps for 5 users.
- Close integration with Microsoft products such as Entra ID and Power BI is repeatedly praised by reviewers.
- Very broad catalogue covering compute, Kubernetes, serverless, databases, storage and AI services.
- Global footprint of over 400 datacenters across 70 regions as of fiscal 2025.
- Reviewers credit built-in identity management and security.
Cons
- Reviewers on Capterra and TrustRadius say monthly bills are hard to understand and predict.
- Steep learning curve, with many services carrying similar names.
- Some PeerSpot reviewers report support tickets taking weeks or months to resolve.
- Paid support is extra, from 29 to 1,000 USD per month beyond the free Basic plan.
- Integration with non-Microsoft platforms and documentation for new releases draw criticism.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon CloudFront scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7.9/10 against 7.1/10 for Microsoft Azure. The largest gap is in Cost: 6/10 for Amazon CloudFront and 4/10 for Microsoft Azure.
Both are free for 10 users.
Yes, both Amazon CloudFront and Microsoft Azure have a free plan.
Amazon CloudFront is the better fit for developers: we rate it 9/10 for them, against 7/10 for Microsoft Azure.
Microsoft Azure has Shared Hosting, which Amazon CloudFront lacks.
