Microsoft Azure vs Rackspace Cloud [EOL] comparison

Microsoft and Rackspace Technology are both solutions in the PaaS Clouds category. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Rackspace Technology users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Azure

Read 323 Microsoft Azure reviews

22,433 Views
12,562 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Rackspace Cloud [EOL]

Read 11 Rackspace Cloud [EOL] reviews

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure

Rackspace Cloud [EOL]

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Azure and Rackspace Cloud [EOL] based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Red Hat and others in PaaS Clouds.

To learn more, read our detailed PaaS Clouds Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

PaaS Clouds

March 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 886,576 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Azure

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

323

Ranking in other categories

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (1st), PaaS Clouds (1st)

Rackspace Cloud [EOL]

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Q&A Highlights

Avigail Sugarman

Community Manager at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)

Aug 21, 2014

Rackspace, Dimension Data, and others that were in last year's Challenger quadrant became Niche Players: Agree/ Disagree

Agree. All those are not true cloud player but somewhere in between hosted cloud and true cloud computing.

See all answers

Featured Reviews

Syed Abid

Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra

Versatile integrations and reliable customer satisfaction elevate cloud service experience

For Microsoft Azure improvement, they need to enhance their support system. The first level of support should be improved in terms of quality and response time. They need more technical support at the first level, as there are currently only one or two technical people among five to ten staff members at this level. They should ensure that the first level support is more technical because we normally provide services to technical users ourselves. When an issue arises, it usually escalates to the second or third level. When facing first level support, they may have limited knowledge and only collect screenshots to forward to their seniors. They should ensure that the first level support is aligned with L2 and L3 to better assist us, especially since we mention in the ticket that our issues are related to specific problems and require that sort of support.

Read full review

Rajbir Singh

Director - DevOps and Infrastructure at INTIGRAL

There is easy integration with multiple providers and third-party services

It is very stable. It works 99.9 percent of the time. We are quite happy with it. This product is used to help broadcast football games' live streams, video matches and fantasy games, and it is used extensively. We have almost two million plus downloads, and during peak seasons, we could have 100,000 concurrent users watching 11 different matches.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Azure has improved my organization because it is a new technology and so the customers who don't have enough knowledge about the cloud delegate the administration of their cloud infrastructure to us."

"The solution is very simple to set up."

"Our data is kept in a secure, reliable, scalable platform."

"I get all the features under one roof."

"Microsoft Azure assists in lowering the cost of on-premises infrastructure as well as improving performance."

"It is stable and collaborative."

"Provides a high level of availability and 99% uptime."

"It has good support for various platforms like Java, Ruby, and PHP for websites."

More Microsoft Azure pros

"There is easy integration with multiple providers and third-party services."

"The tourism business is seasonally based, therefore our infrastructure needs are variable, and this service works perfectly for us."

"Image backup is a valuable feature. Even though this is a common feature, it is very helpful for us."

"The new generation of Rackspace Cloud servers are a strong improvement over the first generation."

"The most valuable feature for us is the support, which is really efficient."

"Image backup is a valuable feature, and even though this is a common feature, it is very helpful for us."

"It is very stable; it works 99.9 percent of the time, and we are quite happy with it."

"Ability to quickly create reliable virtual servers."

Cons

"It should have cost optimization tools."

"The support team is not responding to my emails."

"The solution could be easier to use. However, when comparing it to AWS it is a bit easier."

"Integrate as a service. A lot of Microsoft software licensing options aren’t yet in Azure. Also, the ability to integrate with other technologies, such as other options on the market based on RISC Technologies."

"The Azure Billing API could be so much better."

"Azure's security and compliance tools are not enough."

"When we are doing transfers of records in large amounts, for example, petabytes of data or few long datasets, the performance should not degrade as it does."

"You eventually end up with a large collection of 'bits' all working together, I find it hard to be able to create a logical 'box' and put all the 'bits' that need to be in that box / application into the one place."

More Microsoft Azure cons

"Vertical scalability is very limited compared with Amazon EC2, which offers many sorts of instances."

"Comparatively, this solution is a bit expensive."

"I had a few instances where techs on off hours made extremely bad decisions, resulting in extended site outages lasting hours."

"It doesn't offer Elastic IP like AWS. And also we can't configure our server based on region."

"It would be nice to have more built-in suites compared to others. It would enable easier integration."

"It's often difficult to get timely support with a ticket, they seem to live by phone calls there."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not an expensive product and is adaptable to various requirements. It offers a free tier for small-scale usage and the ability to scale up as needed when requirements grow."

"The cost is more or less the same across all cloud service providers."

"Make use of Azure pricing calculator and you will find out that Azure Is still more reasonable that the competition and do your research, when unclear speak with your MS support."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"It is affordable, but its subscription price could be cheaper."

"The solution does not offer very many free services which can become expensive. We are on an annual license."

"The price of the solution could be reduced. There should be a loyalty cost reduction model. If customers have been using the service year after year they should receive a discount."

"One piece of feedback from other users I have heard from is that Azure is somewhat expensive, so I would advise anyone thinking about this solution to be aware of the cost. You need to take into account the configuration you are going with or it could turn out to be a more expensive solution than you anticipated."

More Microsoft Azure pricing and cost advice

"Comparatively, this solution is a bit expensive."

"The service includes licenses (for operating systems, databases, etc.). Asset management is easier with services like that."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which PaaS Clouds solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

886,576 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Comparison Review

it_user8586

Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Aug 14, 2013

Amazon vs Rackspace vs Microsoft vs Google: Cloud Hosting Services Comparison

Amazon Web Services, Rackspace OpenStack, Microsoft Windows Azure and Google are the major cloud hosting and storage service providers. Athough Amazon is top of them and is oldest in cloud market, Rackspace, Microsoft and Google are giving tough competition to each other and to Amazon also for…

Read full review

Answers from the Community

Avigail Sugarman

Community Manager at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)

Aug 21, 2014

Rackspace, Dimension Data, and others that were in last year's Challenger quadrant became Niche Players: Agree/ Disagree

Agree. All those are not true cloud player but somewhere in between hosted cloud and true cloud computing.

2 out of 4 answers

it_user105252

CTO at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees

Aug 20, 2014

I completely agree. Cloud Computing vending is a scale business. And unless you have the $$ Billions to invest in DCs, interconnects, CDN capacity, as well as in continually investing in the OS and Management software infrastructure, you cannot be anything but a vendor that caters to a particular narrow segment. Its a bit like telephony. You aren't going to do very well going up against GE/Sprint, ATT or Southwest Telecom. BUT if you are an EarthLink, you can play in then niche space of those who want a "socially responsible" Telco. About a year ago, both Rackspace and Centurylink were looking for "capital partners" for future growth investment precisely because of these issues. I don't think they ever raised enough $$. I have been saying for about 5 years now that there is room for 4-5 major cloud vendors and they were going to be: Amazon, Google, Microsoft. and then fighting for the last 1-2 slots were IBM, salesFORCE.com, EMC and perhaps Oracle. Oracle seems to have opted not to keep fighting, and EMC is now more focused on delivering services. So you basically have IBM leveraging its corporate DC and mainframe hardware consolidation capabilities and Salesforce is leverging its lead in CRM to get apps built on Force.com But pretty much everyone else is a niche player. The Future is Platform As A Service. NOT "vms" and Rackspace and Dimension Data all were hoping to move from VMs to PaaS but that's a hard move to make.

Read full answer

it_user8685

Infrastructure Expert at Cloud Counselage Inc. (www.cloudcounselage.com)

Aug 20, 2014

DISAGREE. VMware is the present and the Future. Be it VMware vCloud and vSphere suites, tough competition for Amazon etc. or be it vCHS. Also, VMware's very own Public IaaS Cloud; vCHS (VMware vCloud Hybrid Service) which will change everything in days to come vis-a-vis Rackspace, IBM's Softlayer etc. Microsoft is not in a competition at all, because it lacks quality compared to the names mentioned above. __Tushar Topale

Read full answer

See all 4 answers

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

University

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	141
Midsize Enterprise	54
Large Enterprise	149

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?

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 ...

See all answers

Which is better - SAP Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?

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 bo...

See all answers

How does Microsoft Azure compare to Google Firebase?

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...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparisons

Amazon AWS vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 8% of the time

Google Firebase vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 8% of the time

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 7% of the time

Alibaba Cloud vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 7% of the time

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 6% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Competitors

Xigo Dimension Data vs Rackspace Cloud [EOL]

Compared 28% of the time

Amazon AWS vs Rackspace Cloud [EOL]

Compared 21% of the time

Google Firebase vs Rackspace Cloud [EOL]

Compared 21% of the time

More Rackspace Cloud [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure

March 2026

Download Microsoft Azure product report

Buyer's Guide

Rackspace Cloud [EOL]

March 2026

Download Rackspace Cloud [EOL] product report

Also Known As

Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Azure integrates services and offers flexibility, ensuring compatibility with diverse environments. Its scalability, security, and cost-efficient features enhance deployment and management, making it ideal for infrastructure services and application hosting.

Azure provides a comprehensive suite of tools for application deployment, virtual machine management, and data analytics. It allows seamless integration with Power BI and offers a user-friendly interface supported by detailed documentation and technical support. Though users appreciate its capabilities, they sometimes face challenges with costs, setup, and interface complexity, alongside integration and performance issues. Frequent updates and a learning curve are also noted, though Azure's cloud-based security and scalability remain critical for disaster recovery and business continuity.

What are Azure's key features?

Integrated Services: Ensures compatibility with Microsoft and non-Microsoft environments.
Scalability: Supports growing business demands with flexible computing power.
Security: Offers robust cloud-based security features for data protection.
Cost Efficiency: Provides options that optimize costs for diverse requirements.
Application Deployment: Facilitates quick rollout of apps and services.

What benefits should users expect from Azure?

Operational Optimization: Allows companies to streamline processes effectively.
Innovative Efficiency: Empowers businesses to innovate with powerful tools.
Reliable Support: Backed by strong technical support and comprehensive documentation.
Flexible Cloud Solutions: Offers a range of options for cloud migrations and infrastructure management.

Microsoft Azure is widely implemented in industries like financial services, healthcare, and logistics for hosting enterprise applications and vital services. Companies utilize its capabilities for IoT applications, DevOps, and Kubernetes clusters, benefiting from its cloud migrations, data analytics, and active directory support.

Microsoft

Rackspace is a listed company that specializes in hybrid cloud environments to support your applications and sites. The environments are based on its open-source operating system OpenStack.Rackspace Cloud caters for the private cloud, public cloud, dedicated servers, or a hybrid of platforms.

Your Rackspace Cloud environment is customizable according to your cloud requirements, and all products work together seamlessly from one portal.

Rackspace Technology

Sample Customers

BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.

3D Capacity, Acquity Group, Axios Systems, Behance, Blastro, Dominos Pizza, and Sage.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Red Hat and others in PaaS Clouds. Updated: March 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

886,576 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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.