In 2025, more and more businesses are beginning to move their services over to AWS from Azure. Both companies are major players in the cloud space, but despite the popularity of Azure, there are many reasons businesses are choosing AWS. Learn everything you need to know about the top five business drivers behind this decision to determine whether AWS or Azure is right for you. By doing so, you can then take steps to learn how to successfully migrate to AWS if it’s the right choice for your business.
Cost Optimization and Pricing Flexibility
The first reason many businesses are making the switch is one you may already be guessing: money. AWS has a very granular pricing model built on pay-as-you-go, reserved instances, and spot instances. Azure, on the other hand, has many pricing complexities with differences in regional pricing and resource bundling.
Companies often recognize that they can have a lower total cost of ownership after switching, as AWS enables more precise cost control and budgeting. Azure tends to be the starting point for smaller businesses as, at the lower end, pricing is more competitive. However, when more services are needed, AWS competes heavily while offering more at the same time.
Greater Service Breadth and Maturity
Another reason many people choose to switch over to AWS from Azure is due to the service variety offered. AWS offers a broader range of services than Azure, including features like compute, storage, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, as well as general IoT services. On top of this, the AWS system has been around longer, meaning they have a greater ecosystem maturity that comes with more robust features and a larger talent pool.
Given that AWS can often support more diverse workloads and innovation initiatives, lean companies with employees wearing many hats often choose AWS. Conversely, companies with defined roles and limited verticals favor Azure for the exact opposite reason.
Global Infrastructure and Availability
Another common driver behind why companies switch over to AWS from Azure is the global infrastructure and availability that the former provides. AWS has a more extensive global footprint in addition to better performance for globally distributed applications. This additional availability also means that AWS also tends to meet more data sovereignty requirements than Azure.
Therefore, global businesses often find better performance through AWS and an easier time meeting compliance concerns. While this isn’t always the case, as Azure is certainly secure and offers services that can be utilized around the globe, AWS is viewed to be more efficient in the space by most businesses.
Vendor Independence and Lock-In Concerns
Azure has a tough integration with Microsoft products, which, for some companies, can be a benefit. However, this same benefit can also hurt Azure for companies that desire neutral platforms or those trying to move away from Microsoft. Enterprises that are migrating ERPs or CRMs that aren’t Microsoft-based, for instance, may quickly run into issues.
Given that AWS offers a more agnostic cloud experience for non-Microsoft environments, it may be the right choice for businesses without any prior loyalty. Whether it’s due to security risks with Microsoft, incompatibility issues, or some other related concern, migrating towards AWS to avoid the link to Microsoft is another driver that is commonly seen.
Advanced Tools for Scalability and DevOps
AWS comes with many AWS-native DevOps tools, including CloudFormation, CodePipeline, and CodeDeploy. On top of this, AWS’s Lambda, ECS, and EKS all have a stronger market presence than Azure services. This means that the developed experience through AWS often includes richer documentation, community support, and even automation features.
Due to this, AWS is often favored by DevOps teams and companies that place a priority on rapid innovation. Given that many companies in 2025, specifically in the tech space, place innovation ahead of everything else, it’s easy to see why many use this as a reason to switch from Azure to AWS.
Choose the right platform for your business
Making the choice between AWS and Azure will not be easy, but it’s pertinent to your business success. Migration won’t be a one-size-fits-all process, though AWS’s leadership in flexibility, innovation, and global reach makes it an attractive offer for many companies. Evaluate the specific goals of your organization to assess whether AWS or Azure lines up better with your growth strategy. Above all else, consider the budget your organization has available as well as the migration-specific budget in place. It will not be cheap to migrate from Azure to AWS, so you need to get certain the rewards outweigh the costs.
