Amazon S3 vs Azure Blob: the differences between both solutions

Companies, regardless of their size, usually handle large amounts of data, whether it is information from customers, their collaborators, or internal processes, and among the most recommended by experts and software agencies are Amazon S3 and Azure Blob.

Before, we will define each of the technologies. Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is an object storage service that offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance.

For its part, Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft's object storage solution for the cloud. Blob storage is optimized for storing large amounts of unstructured data.

Amazon S3 or Azure Blob: which is better for the company

AWS S3 Infrequent Access (S3-IA) and Azure Cool Blob Storage (CBS) cloud storage tiers are designed for infrequently accessed workloads. Let's take a look at the functions of each one so you can know which one is best suited to your project or your company's storage needs.

Storage tier

Regarding configuration at the storage level, "In AWS, an individual object can be configured to use S3 Standard or S3-IA. In Azure, the entire storage account must be configured to use Cool Blobs or Hot Blobs. That means that all objects ("blobs") within a storage account must be set to cool.

Security

Another of the main aspects that a company looks for when hiring the service of a specific technology is security. The biggest difference between AWS and Azure security is that Azure does not currently offer server-side encryption for blob storage.

Both technologies offer client-side encryption protection, in addition to offering TLS, which is a standard cryptographic protocol that ensures privacy and data integrity between clients and services over the Internet.

On the key management side, AWS S3 has a customer-provided or key management system, while Azure Blob uses customer-provided or Key Vault as well.

Availability

Where can you use these technologies? While Amazon S3 is available in all regions where AWS is available, Azure Blob is available in the Central, Eastern, North Central, and South Central United States, Northern Europe, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, East Japan, Western Japan, Central India, South India, and Western India.

Price

Essential for the company, especially for small companies and startups, the price is very important. For data stored, AWS S3 charges $0.0125 per GB per month, while Azure Blob is priced pretty much the same at $0.01 per GB per month.

By data structure, AWS S3 is free, a great advantage, and very attractive for any company that decides to hire a storage solution, while Azure Blob costs $0.0025 per GB.

Other aspects

Both technologies, both AWS S3 and Azure Blob, have a fully encrypted system, have version control and access controls or permissions, storage management, file transfer, and effective data migration.

In conclusion, AWS S3 and Azure Blob have several features in common with few differences. It stands out that Azure Blob is a little more suitable due to its easy access for all types of organizations, with outstanding features that have put it in the sights of experts and software agencies.

Azure Blob is easy to use, scalable, fast, performs accurate analytics through on-premises or Azure-hosted services, and has more data centers globally compared to Amazon S3.

On the other hand, not everything is negative for AWS S3 as it provides services to around 190 countries with a scalable, reliable and cost-effective cloud storage infrastructure.

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