Last Updated on May 4, 2025 by Arnav Sharma
Letโs face it โ cloud networking isnโt the most exciting thing to talk about. But itโs one of those foundational pieces that quietly holds everything together. Whether you’re building the next big SaaS product, migrating enterprise workloads, or trying to survive a hybrid infrastructure setup, your cloud networking decisions can make or break performance, security, and even your sanity.
When it comes to networking, AWS and Azure both bring a lot to the table โ but in very different ways. One leans into flexibility and control, the other into integration and simplicity. In this blog, Iโll break down how their networking stacks compare with examples that actually make sense.
1. Virtual Networks: AWS VPC vs Azure VNet
Both AWS and Azure give you isolated virtual networks โ kind of like your own private data center in the cloud.
In AWS, itโs called a VPC (Virtual Private Cloud). Each subnet you create is tied to a specific Availability Zone, which means more control over fault domains โ but also more planning. So if you want high availability, youโll need to manually spread your resources across different AZs.
Azure uses VNets, and hereโs where itโs different: subnets can stretch across AZs. That makes things a bit easier โ especially for zonally redundant services โ but you give up some control over where things land physically.
Example: A 3-tier web app in AWS might have separate public and private subnets in AZ-a and AZ-b. In Azure, you might get away with a single subnet for each tier and let Azure figure out the rest.
2. Public IPs and Addressing
Need your app or VM to be accessible over the internet? Both clouds let you assign public IPs, but how they handle it is different.
AWS gives you Elastic IPs (EIPs) โ think of them like IPs you can own and reassign as needed. Handy for failovers. If an instance crashes, just remap the EIP to a backup and move on.
Azure uses Public IP Address resources. You can choose between โBasicโ and โStandardโ SKUs โ oneโs good for testing, the otherโs meant for production and high availability. Azureโs approach is more structured, but sometimes you feel like you’re filling out a form just to get an IP.
Example: In Azure, a Standard SKU IP on an Application Gateway gives you zone redundancy out of the box. In AWS, youโd use a combo of ALB and Global Accelerator to get similar resilience.
3. Peering and Transit
Need to connect multiple networks together? Peering is how you make that happen.
Azureโs VNet Peering is super flexible. You can even route traffic through a central firewall (called an NVA) or use one shared gateway for internet or on-prem access (called Gateway Transit).
AWSโs VPC Peering works too, but itโs a bit stricter. No automatic transitive peering โ meaning if A is peered with B and B is peered with C, A canโt talk to C unless you create that third connection yourself. For bigger networks, youโll likely need AWS Transit Gateway (TGW).
Example: If youโre building a hub-and-spoke network across regions, Azureโs Virtual WAN makes that easy. In AWS, TGW does the job but takes a bit more wiring.
4. Security and Traffic Rules
Hereโs where it gets spicy โ cloud firewalls, access rules, and that one port you forgot to close (oops).
Azure uses Network Security Groups (NSGs), which you attach to subnets or NICs. Theyโre stateful and let you define allow/deny rules. For larger apps, Application Security Groups (ASGs) let you group VMs logically, so you can write cleaner rules like โWebServerGroup can talk to DBGroup.โ
AWS uses Security Groups (SGs) attached to instances, and Network ACLs (NACLs) for subnets. SGs are stateful and only allow โallowโ rules. NACLs are stateless and need rules for both directions.
Example: Want to block RDP (port 3389) to your subnet? Azure โ block it in the NSG. AWS โ create matching deny rules inbound and outbound in the NACL.
5. Load Balancing and Delivery
Both platforms have options for balancing traffic, scaling apps, and making your frontend feel snappy.
AWS has NLB (Layer 4), ALB (Layer 7), and even a Gateway Load Balancer to transparently insert firewalls. You also get Global Accelerator for anycast-style routing with static IPs.
Azure counters with its own Load Balancer, Application Gateway for L7 (with built-in WAF), and Front Door โ a global L7 load balancer + CDN hybrid.
Example: Want global performance and TLS offload? Use Azure Front Door or AWS CloudFront + ALB. Need to balance TCP traffic across backend VMs? Go with Azure Load Balancer Standard or AWS NLB.
6. Monitoring and Troubleshooting
Debugging network issues is never fun โ but both clouds have solid tools for it.
Azure gives you Network Watcher โ a centralized toolbox with flow logs, packet capture, connection monitors, and topology maps.
AWS splits things up: VPC Flow Logs, Reachability Analyzer (great for checking SG/NACL conflicts), and Traffic Mirroring for deep dives.
Example: Need to figure out why a VM canโt reach the internet? Use IP Flow Verify in Azure. In AWS, Reachability Analyzer shows if somethingโs blocked and where.
7. Hybrid Connectivity
If youโve still got on-prem stuff (we all do), hybrid networking matters.
Azure offers ExpressRoute โ a private connection to Microsoftโs backbone. It comes with built-in dual redundancy and works well with their Virtual WAN setup.
AWS gives you Direct Connect. Itโs also private, but you have to design the redundancy yourself using multiple links and VIFs (Virtual Interfaces).
Example: Connecting your data center in Melbourne to Azure with ExpressRoute? Redundancy is part of the package. Doing the same with AWS? Make sure youโve got a second DX link ready โ just in case.
8. Infrastructure as Code
You can automate all of this (thankfully). Both clouds support modern Infrastructure as Code tools.
Azure has ARM templates and the newer Bicep language โ which is much cleaner to read. Terraform works great too.
AWS gives you CloudFormation, CDK (if you love TypeScript/Python), plus Terraform and Pulumi.
Example: Need to spin up a secure network with custom routes and a firewall? Bicep in Azure or CDK in AWS can handle it. Just remember to version-control everything.
9. DNS and Name Resolution
Azure offers Azure DNS for public domains and Azure Private DNS for internal names. You can link it to multiple VNets, and VMs can auto-register themselves.
AWS offers Route 53 for public and private zones, plus Route 53 Resolver for hybrid DNS (with inbound/outbound endpoints for on-prem lookups).
Example: Need your on-prem systems to resolve cloud hostnames? Azure uses DNS Private Resolver. AWS does the same with Route 53 Resolver endpoints.
10. NAT and Outbound Traffic
For outbound-only internet access, both clouds offer NAT Gateways โ but they behave differently.
Azureโs NAT Gateway supports multiple public IPs or IP prefixes and is zone-resilient.
AWSโs NAT Gateway uses a single Elastic IP and is tied to one AZ โ so youโll need one per AZ for redundancy.
Example: Running API-heavy workloads that need outbound access? Azureโs NAT Gateway spreads traffic over multiple IPs for better scaling. AWS? Use multiple NAT GWs or centralize egress via a TGW.
11. Private Connectivity (Private Link)
Azure Private Link lets you expose services privately inside your VNet, with strong integration across PaaS offerings.
AWS PrivateLink allows private access to services in other VPCs/accounts using endpoint services, often fronted by NLBs.
Example: Want your dev team to call an internal billing API securely? Use Private Link in Azure or PrivateLink with NLB in AWS โ both keep traffic off the public internet.
12. Monitoring Costs (a.k.a. Hidden Bills)
Observability is important โ but it can cost you.
Azure sends logs to Log Analytics where you pay per GB ingested. AWS logs can go to CloudWatch Logs (pay per event) or S3 (cheaper for long-term), with querying via Athena.
Example: If youโre logging everything at scale, AWS + S3 + Athena can be a budget-friendly combo. In Azure, use retention policies and sampling to avoid surprises.
13. Access Control for Networking
Azure uses role-based access control (RBAC), so you can assign permissions to manage things like NSGs or VNets easily.
AWS uses IAM policies โ more powerful, but also more complex to get right.
Example: Want to let a junior admin view but not change NSGs? Assign them โReaderโ in Azure. In AWS, youโd need to craft a custom IAM policy โ a bit more work, but super flexible.
Final Thoughts
Both AWS and Azure offer powerful networking options โ just with different options.
Azure leans into simplicity, integration, and consistency across services. Itโs great if youโre all-in on Microsoft or prefer a cleaner UI-driven experience.
AWS is the cloud experts’ playground โ flexible, granular, and highly customisable. But with great power comesโฆ more things to configure.