Comparing Azure vs AWS pricing has always been difficult due to the frequency with which prices change. However, it doesn’t have to be an “all or nothing” choice between the two cloud service providers. You can pick which services you use from each, provided you maintain control of your multicloud environment. There's a school of thought that Azure vs AWS pricing comparisons are only valuable in the short term due to the frequency with which prices change. It is also the case that variables such as regions, the type of operating system used, and committed use discounts also influence the price you pay. Consequently, it is impossible to compile an Azure vs AWS pricing comparison with every variable taken into account. However, even though a comparison of Azure vs AWS pricing may only have a short-term value in terms what you will pay today for cloud services, comparisons can reveal price differences you may not have previously identified. If these differences in Azure vs AWS pricing are maintained following future price changes, comparisons can have a long-term value—which then makes compiling them worthwhile. On Demand Azure vs AWS pricing comparisons are the simplest types of comparison to make. In the following tables, we have taken the most popular sizes of AWS instances and Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) and compared their prices for both Linux OS and Windows OS with standard SQL. Prices are per hour for AWS instances and Azure VMs deployed in US East region.