Microsoft Azure vs Shakti Cloud: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Microsoft Azure and Shakti Cloud to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Microsoft Azure
6.9/10
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.
Shakti Cloud
5.8/10
Shakti Cloud is Yotta Data Services' sovereign GPU cloud in India. It offers H100, L40S and B200 virtual machines, bare metal, clusters and serverless inference for AI teams.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.9/10 | 5.8/10 |
| Integration | 9/10 | 6/10 |
| Analytics | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Customization | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 4/10 | 5/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 4/10 | 5/10 |
| Scalability | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | ₹197,000/mo AI Lab (1x H100 80GB workstation) |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Azure free account | ₹197,000/mo AI Lab (1x H100 80GB workstation) |
| Features | ||
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Serverless Functions | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| Shared Hosting | Not listed | |
| Free SSL Certificates | Not listed | |
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
Microsoft Azure vs Shakti Cloud cost by team size
| Team size | Microsoft Azure | Shakti Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeAzure free account | ₹197,000/moAI Lab (1x H100 80GB workstation) |
| 5 users | FreeAzure free account | ₹197,000/moAI Lab (1x H100 80GB workstation) |
| 10 users | FreeAzure free account | ₹197,000/moAI Lab (1x H100 80GB workstation) |
| 25 users | FreeAzure free account | ₹197,000/moAI Lab (1x H100 80GB workstation) |
| 50 users | FreeAzure free account | ₹197,000/moAI Lab (1x H100 80GB workstation) |
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?
Why choose Microsoft Azure
- Has a free plan (Shakti Cloud does not)
- Higher Analytics score (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Integration score (9/10 vs 6/10)
Why choose Shakti Cloud
- Higher Ease of Use score (5/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Cost score (5/10 vs 4/10)
Pros & Cons
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.
Shakti Cloud
Pros
- It publishes INR prices for VMs, bare metal and clusters, so Indian buyers avoid exchange-rate risk and can estimate costs without a sales call.
- Data centres in Navi Mumbai and Greater Noida keep data in India for DPDP Act compliance.
- It covers the full range from hourly single-GPU VMs to 256-plus-GPU H100 clusters over InfiniBand, as one of NVIDIA's Cloud Partners.
- Unlimited ingress and egress are included on VMs, and data transfer is included on bare metal and clusters.
- It bundles NVIDIA AI Enterprise and NIM, plus OpenAI-compatible serverless endpoints for hosted open models.
Cons
- The on-demand H100 VM, at 356 rupees per hour, costs more than Cyfuture AI (329) and JarvisLabs (about 330), according to a comparison article.
- It is limited to GPU and AI workloads. It has no general web hosting, managed databases, object storage pricing or CDN.
- InfiniBand and the Kubernetes control plane cost extra, and term discounts are not published.
- Independent user reviews are scarce, and sources disagree on whether access is self-serve or quote-based.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Microsoft Azure scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 6.9/10 against 5.8/10 for Shakti Cloud. The largest gap is in Analytics: 8/10 for Microsoft Azure and 4/10 for Shakti Cloud.
Microsoft Azure has a free plan; Shakti Cloud does not list one.
