Cloud Provider Comparison¶

Detailed comparison of AWS vs Azure deployment options

Feature Comparison¶

Compute¶

Winner: Azure for ease of use, AWS for advanced control

Database¶

Winner: Tie (very similar offerings)

Vector Store (Qdrant)¶

Winner: AWS (significantly cheaper with Spot instances)

Storage¶

Winner: AWS (overall cheaper despite higher storage cost)

Caching¶

Winner: AWS (cheaper for low traffic)

Performance Comparison¶

Latency (Sydney → Australia East/ap-southeast-2)¶

Winner: Azure (slightly better Australian presence)

Throughput¶

Winner: Azure (Container Apps handles concurrency better)

Ease of Use¶

Deployment Complexity¶

Winner: Azure (slightly easier for beginners)

Developer Experience¶

Winner: Azure (better integrated tooling)

Security Comparison¶

Winner: Tie (both enterprise-grade)

Reliability¶

Winner: AWS (slightly better SLAs)

Ecosystem¶

Winner: AWS (larger ecosystem)

Decision Matrix¶

Choose AWS if:¶

• Cost is primary concern (especially at scale)
• Using Spot instances for Qdrant (70% cost savings)
• Need maximum flexibility and control
• Already familiar with AWS ecosystem
• Prefer DynamoDB over Cosmos DB
• Need multiple Australian regions
• Running other services on AWS

Choose Azure if:¶

• Using Azure OpenAI (keeps everything in Azure)
• Prefer simpler developer experience
• Want scale-to-zero for backend (Container Apps)
• Better KEDA-based auto-scaling
• Integrated Application Insights monitoring
• Already using Microsoft 365/Azure AD
• Easier blue-green deployments

Choose Local Docker if:¶

• Development and testing only
• Proof-of-concept
• No budget for cloud services
• Learning the system
• Offline development required

Hybrid Approach¶

Best of both worlds:

• AWS: S3 (storage), DynamoDB (cache), EC2 Spot (Qdrant)
• Azure: Container Apps (backend), PostgreSQL, Application Insights
• Multi-cloud: Primary on AWS, DR on Azure

Challenges:

• Increased complexity
• Cross-cloud data transfer costs
• Harder to manage
• Not recommended unless specific requirements

Migration Path¶

AWS → Azure¶

1. Export RDS database → Import to Azure PostgreSQL
2. Export Qdrant snapshot → Import to Azure Container Instance
3. Deploy backend to Azure Container Apps
4. Update DNS to point to Azure Front Door
5. Migrate S3 to Blob Storage using AzCopy

Downtime: ~2-4 hours

Azure → AWS¶

1. Export Azure PostgreSQL → Import to RDS
2. Export Qdrant snapshot → Import to EC2 instance
3. Deploy backend to ECS Fargate
4. Update DNS to point to CloudFront
5. Migrate Blob Storage to S3 using aws s3 sync

Downtime: ~2-4 hours

Recommendations¶

For GreenGovRAG Specifically¶

Recommended: AWS for:

• Cost: 19% cheaper at scale
• Spot instances: 70% savings on Qdrant
• DynamoDB: Better caching performance/cost
• Ecosystem: Larger marketplace

Consider Azure if:

• Using Azure OpenAI (no cross-cloud API calls)
• Enterprise already on Azure
• Prefer Application Insights monitoring

General Guidelines¶

Cost Calculator¶

Use these tools to estimate your specific costs:

• AWS: AWS Pricing Calculator
• Azure: Azure Pricing Calculator

Conclusion¶

Overall Winner: AWS (by narrow margin)

Breakdown:

• Cost: AWS wins (especially at scale)
• Performance: Azure slightly better in Australia
• Ease of Use: Azure wins (simpler DX)
• Ecosystem: AWS wins (larger)
• Reliability: AWS wins (better SLAs)

Final Recommendation:

• Use AWS for production (cost-optimized)
• Use Azure if already invested in Microsoft ecosystem
• Use Local Docker for development

Last Updated: 2025-11-22