IBM Public Cloud vs Microsoft Azure comparison

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11,736 views|9,281 comparisons
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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on May 29, 2022

We performed a comparison between IBM Public Cloud and Microsoft Azure based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Most IBM Public Cloud reviewers agree that the installation is a straightforward process. Some Microsoft Azure users say the setup is straightforward, while others say it can be complex depending on the scope of the deployment.

  • Features: Users of both products are happy with their stability and scalability. IBM Public Cloud users say it performs well, is straightforward to integrate, and creates serverless functions easily, but they also say it could be more secure. Microsoft Azure users like its UI and say it is flexible, secure, and powerful.
  • Pricing: Most IBM Public Cloud users say it is reasonably priced. In contrast, most Microsoft Azure feel that it is an expensive solution.
  • ROI: IBM Public Cloud users do not mention ROI. Microsoft Azure users report a significant ROI.

  • Service and Support: Reviewers of both solutions give mixed reviews regarding the level of support they receive. Some users are satisfied, but others say that the support could be improved.

Comparison Results: Microsoft Azure is the winner in this comparison. It is a robust and reliable solution with a good user interface and a proven ROI. Microsoft Azure does come out on top in the ease-of-deployment and pricing categories, however.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Public Cloud vs. Microsoft Azure Report (Updated: May 2023).
708,830 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I've found the stability to be excellent. The performance is good.""It's straightforward, has a good environment and is cost-effective.""An advantage of IBM Public Cloud is the bare metal server. We can take the bare metal server. It's not shared with anyone. We can deploy our applications without sharing them with anyone. That is an advantage of IBM Public Cloud.""What I like most in IBM Public Cloud is how easy it is to create serverless functions. They are called IBM functions, but in AWS, they are called Lambda functions. Those are pretty standard, and another thing I like the most is that you have fewer restrictions on the amount of data you can transfer across those functions. IBM Public Cloud is way more flexible than AWS. I also like that IBM Public Cloud is pretty straightforward to integrate. As long as you have all the tools IBM provides you, getting everything up and running is straightforward.""It is a scalable product. You can scale it up and down."

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"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure is it has everything together in one place. It is one large tool with lots of small tools that are updated often.""I use a virtual machine for remote desktop and Microsoft Azure is user-friendly.""The most valuable features of the solution are for management, such as dashboards.""The technical support has been excellent.""The management part of it is good. Its UI is simple to use. The cost management and billing part is also good. These are the top things that I like in Azure.""The product brings a lot of value to our business and customers.""Technical support has been good over the years.""In terms of managing and configuring infrastructures, Azure is fairly good."

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Cons
"The product should offer more computing, similar to Amazon.""While they have about 99% of what we need, the only exception, perhaps, was the push notification feature that was discontinued. They delayed the replacement product.""Normally, for any cloud, we get a lot of information on the web, but that is missing in the case of IBM Public Cloud. We need some technical support documents. That is the only thing missing in IBM Public Cloud.""It will be challenging to implement if you do not have any experience.""An area for improvement in IBM Public Cloud is getting up-to-date information on how to set up everything. It's hard to find new documentation."

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"Microsoft Azure could improve by being more secure.""I have found Microsoft Azure has many components to use and it's very difficult to understand every component.""Pricing is one area where Azure has room for improvement. There should be some due consideration. Azure has solved some issues with pricing from the development team's standpoint, but it is still quite costly. They should also offer a trial period for the individual platform solutions. I think that would be pretty handy for the developers.""The scalability could improve.""When we work with Microsoft Azure we deploy it in a hybrid system. We do many operations with the open stack and I used it for APIs connected to Microsoft Azure. The reduction is because those APIs and our tools that are required to connect are not for the Microsft Azure solution. It has a bit of complexity, nothing to do with Microsoft Azure as a CSP.""I think it would be good to keep making progress on giving users the ability to do action calls on Data Factory. Right now, it's mostly local. Perhaps Microsoft could add the ability to put some calls in the workflow.""The documentation can be outdated and is not as clear in Microsoft Azure as it is in AWS or Google.""We use Microsoft Server 2019 and 2016. And I didn't like the 2019 client, so we had to downgrade back to 2016. The main issue there was its monitoring system. Our client needed an alternative, and if they were using more Windows products, they also needed to make that downgrade."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "IBM Public Cloud is pretty cheap. They have an ongoing free tier that basically won't expire, so as long as your solution is small enough, you can have a test set that you can use for demos, which will cost you almost nothing."
  • "It pretty much has a standard price. There is no hidden price with IBM Public Cloud."
  • More IBM Public Cloud Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I am currently on a pay-as-you-go subscription and my customers are going to be on a three-year contract. For what is offered in the three-year package it is quite reasonably priced."
  • "We pay for the license on a monthly basis."
  • "We have a subscription and the price is reasonable."
  • "The license is on a monthly basis."
  • "It is paid on a per-use basis."
  • "With adequate knowledge, I think you can come up with a good model where the pricing won't be a constraint."
  • "It's a pay-as-you-go subscription."
  • "The price of the solution can be expensive."
  • More Microsoft Azure Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity… more »
    Top Answer:An advantage of IBM Public Cloud is the bare metal server. We can take the bare metal server. It's not shared with anyone. We can deploy our applications without sharing them with anyone. That is an… more »
    Top Answer:It pretty much has a standard price. There is no hidden price with IBM Public Cloud.
    Top Answer:One of the best features of SAP Cloud Platform is that it is web-based and you can log in from anywhere in the world. SAP Cloud Platform is suitable for companies of any size; it works well with both… more »
    Top Answer:I would recommend Google Firebase instead of Microsoft Azure, simply for the array of features that it has to offer. In particular, the Firebase library grants you access to a shared data structure… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform is not easy or intuitive to deploy. The difficulty will be impacted by the type of application that you are trying to use the platform to build. Organizations that… more »
    Ranking
    8th
    out of 32 in PaaS Clouds
    Views
    11,736
    Comparisons
    9,281
    Reviews
    5
    Average Words per Review
    751
    Rating
    8.8
    1st
    out of 32 in PaaS Clouds
    Views
    59,161
    Comparisons
    49,995
    Reviews
    109
    Average Words per Review
    434
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    IBM Bluemix
    Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure
    Learn More
    Overview

    IBM Cloud is a full-stack cloud platform that spans public, private and hybrid environments. Build with a robust suite of advanced data and AI tools, and draw on deep industry expertise to help you on your journey to the cloud.

    Windows Azure is Microsoft's cloud platform, where developers can create, deploy, and maintain their apps. This cloud application platform allows developers to concentrate on the actual applications, while it takes care of all the elements behind the apps.

    Windows Azure works across multiple frameworks and languages. It is fully scalable, localized in that it is hosted globally in many datacenters, and has widespread capabilities with elements of application development, deployment, and management.

    Azure is comprised of several different service modules, including Infrastructure; Web; Mobile; Dev & Test; Big Data; Media;Storage, Backup & Recovery; and Identity & Access Management.

    Microsoft Azure works as a:

    1. Platform as a service (PaaS)
    2. Software as a service (SaaS)
    3. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

    Microsoft Azure is available:

    • On-premises
    • Hybrid
    • Multi-cloud
    • At the edge

    Compared to its competitors, Microsoft Azure:

    • Has more affordable features
    • Has easier migration for organizations already using other Microsoft tools
    • Has several educational resources available
    • Provides robust support
    • Is ideal for small and large businesses

    Microsoft Azure Features:

    • Scalability
    • Stability
    • Flexibility
    • Azure Site Recovery
    • Active Directory
    • Monitoring features
    • Cloud-based
    • Automated tasks
    • Change capability cadence
    • Showback capabilities
    • Information protection
    • Azure Data Lake
    • Excellent portal
    • Intuitive user interface
    • Remote desktop
    • Fast provisioning
    • Data security
    • Data resiliency
    • Speed of service
    • Integrated delivery pipeline
    • Disaster recovery
    • Robust templates
    • Flexible coding languages
    • Virtual systems testing

    Benefits of Microsoft Azure:

    • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Because Microsoft Azure is an IaaS, organizations can deploy as well as manage applications easily and quickly. Azure also provides you with the ability to customize the cloud software to meet your specific business needs.
    • Seamless integration: Microsoft Azure is built to seamlessly integrate with existing IT departments via hybrid databases, secure private connections, and storage solutions.
    • Cost-effective: Because Azure can harmoniously exist in your business environment with your data center, it is a very cost-effective solution.
    • Analytics support: Azure is designed with built-in support that is used to analyze data and provide key insights. Azure offers Cortana Analytics, Stream Analytics, Machine Learning, and SQL services.
    • Unique storage system: Compared to other cloud services, Microsoft Azure has more data centers and delivery points, which helps create an optimal user experience and also helps deliver content faster. In addition, Microsoft Azure makes it possible for organizations to exchange content across several virtual machines.
    • Enhanced flexibility: Azure provides extreme flexibility by allowing you to choose any level of functionality you require. It also supports many of the same technologies IT teams and developers usually depend on, making it easier for them to manage.
    • Easy implementation: Microsoft Azure is easy and quick to deploy. If necessary, you can change web apps to Azure with almost zero downtime.

    Reviews from Real Users:

    "It is a flexible solution that is straightforward to use," says the principal consultant at a computer software company.

    OmarJ., future datacenter consultant: Microsoft Azure Cloud at a tech company, adds that "The user interface is very nice and makes everything easy to use."

    You can build an environment in minutes. It's very good in terms of being an infrastructure as a service, and I found that really fascinating,” says an information technology consultant at a computer software company.

    "I think Azure's level of automation to achieve efficiency or agility is valuable. I also like the change capability cadence, the showback capabilities, and understanding what our costs are," says an enterprise architect at an energy/utilities company.

    Marco C., Ing. at Wolters Kluwer, says "The valuable features of Microsoft Azure are that it is cloud-based and has good storage. The storage is completely managed by Azure. We do not need to do any patching of security because it is handled by Azure which is a benefit. The solution is fully compatible with the Microsoft technology stack and is very scalable."

    "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure is it has everything together in one place. It is one large tool with lots of small tools that are updated often," says the owner of a media company.



    Offer
    Learn more about IBM Public Cloud
    Learn more about Microsoft Azure
    Sample Customers
    Uvionics Tech, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Alpha Modus, Inventive, Web Business Consulting, FindBrok, SilverHook Powerboats, United Way of Allegheny County
    BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Program Development Consultancy13%
    Political Organization13%
    Computer Software Company13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    University10%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company25%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization18%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business57%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise29%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise63%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business39%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise44%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise59%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM Public Cloud vs. Microsoft Azure
    May 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Public Cloud vs. Microsoft Azure and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.
    708,830 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM Public Cloud is ranked 8th in PaaS Clouds with 5 reviews while Microsoft Azure is ranked 1st in PaaS Clouds with 110 reviews. IBM Public Cloud is rated 8.8, while Microsoft Azure is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of IBM Public Cloud writes "Reliable, easy to set up, and has helpful support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Azure writes "Optimized cloud solution with reliable recovery and fail services". IBM Public Cloud is most compared with Amazon AWS, Oracle Cloud Platform, Google Cloud, OpenShift and Heroku, whereas Microsoft Azure is most compared with Oracle Cloud Platform, Google Firebase, Amazon AWS, SAP Cloud Platform and SAP S4HANA on AWS. See our IBM Public Cloud vs. Microsoft Azure report.

    See our list of best PaaS Clouds vendors.

    We monitor all PaaS Clouds reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.