# IBM Cloud vs Microsoft Azure

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** IBM Cloud

| Attribute | IBM Cloud | Microsoft Azure |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 76.7 (71% (medium)) | 58.5 (48% (low)) |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A cloud infrastructure and services platform designed for building and managing applications across on-premises data centers and multiple cloud providers, with built-in security and compliance capabilities for regulated industries. It is indexed under Cloud Infrastructure.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"What is IBM Cloud?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"IBM Cloud offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans are also available: Lite, Pay-as-you-go, Subscription and Enterprise Savings Plan. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"Is IBM Cloud free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to IBM Cloud. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"What platforms does IBM Cloud support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. IBM Cloud can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and on-premise, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"Can IBM Cloud be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 34 integrations for IBM Cloud, including Anaplan, Apache, Elasticsearch, IBM Analytics Engine, IBM Blockchain Platform, IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation, IBM Cloud Pak for Data and IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, plus 26 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/cloud","question":"What does IBM Cloud integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR for IBM Cloud. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as IBM Cloud not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/compliance","question":"What security certifications does IBM Cloud have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"IBM Cloud is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","question":"Where is IBM Cloud available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"answer":"A comprehensive cloud computing platform offering virtual machines, containerized applications, API management, serverless functions, and hybrid cloud capabilities with enterprise-grade security. It is indexed under Cloud Infrastructure.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/linux/","question":"What is Microsoft Azure?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Microsoft Azure offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com","question":"Is Microsoft Azure free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Microsoft Azure. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/linux/","question":"What platforms does Microsoft Azure support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Not fully, on what we have confirmed. Microsoft Azure is offered as cloud / SaaS and hybrid, and a hybrid deployment usually means some components can run on your own infrastructure while the rest stays vendor-hosted. We have not confirmed a completely self-hosted option, so check with the vendor if that is a requirement.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/linux/","question":"Can Microsoft Azure be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 3 integrations for Microsoft Azure, including GitHub, Visual Studio Code and Power Apps. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/acom/etc.clientlibs/onecloud/components/content/reimagine/atomic/carousel/v1/carousel/clientlibs/pricing-styles.ACSHASHbcdafd3e07059ae596973551430292fc.min.css","question":"What does Microsoft Azure integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed GDPR for Microsoft Azure. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Microsoft Azure not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/security","question":"What security certifications does Microsoft Azure have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true}` |
| description.long | A cloud infrastructure and services platform designed for building and managing applications across on-premises data centers and multiple cloud providers, with built-in security and compliance capabilities for regulated industries. | Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service offering infrastructure, platform, and application services designed for enterprises, governments, and startups, with integrated AI capabilities, multi-layered security, and extensive compliance support. |
| features.capabilities | `{"tier":"hyperscaler","bare_metal":true,"block_storage":true,"gpu_instances":true,"regions_count":"Multiple regions","object_storage":true,"serverless_faas":true,"managed_databases":true,"managed_kubernetes":true,"private_networking":true}` | `{"tier":"hyperscaler","free_egress":false,"marketplace":true,"block_storage":true,"gpu_instances":true,"object_storage":true,"spot_instances":true,"serverless_faas":true,"managed_databases":true,"managed_kubernetes":true,"private_networking":true}` |
| integrations.count | 887 | 4 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Anaplan"},{"name":"Apache"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"IBM Analytics Engine"},{"name":"IBM Blockchain Platform"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for Data"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for Integration"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for Network Automation"},{"name":"IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps"},{"name":"IBM Db2 Warehouse"},{"name":"IBM InfoSphere Information Server"},{"name":"IBM Master Data Management"},{"name":"IBM Turbonomic"},{"name":"IBM Watson Assistant"},{"name":"IBM Watson Discovery"},{"name":"IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog"},{"name":"IBM Watson Knowledge Studio"},{"name":"IBM Watson Language Translator"},{"name":"IBM Watson Natural Language Classifier"},{"name":"IBM Watson Natural Language Understanding"},{"name":"IBM Watson Speech to Text"},{"name":"IBM Watson Studio"},{"name":"IBM Watson Text to Speech"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Linux"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"NVIDIA"},{"name":"Oracle"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"Red Hat"},{"name":"Red Hat OpenShift"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"SAP"},{"name":"SPSS Statistics"}]` | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Visual Studio Code"},{"name":"Visual Studio"},{"name":"Power Apps"}]` |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"web":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Lite","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Pay-as-you-go","commitment":"monthly","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Subscription","commitment":"annual","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise Savings Plan","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Reserved Capacity","commitment":"annual","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Free Lite tier available. Pay-as-you-go, subscription, and committed spending plans.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.ibm.com/products/cloud/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-09-04T13:32:58.578Z","freeTrialDays":30,"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"hybrid","summary":"Usage-based pay-as-you-go pricing with commitment-based savings plans (up to 3 years). Free tier available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-23T14:43:09.252Z","billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.trust_center | - | https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/explore/trusted-cloud/ |

## Capabilities (Cloud Infrastructure)

| Capability | IBM Cloud | Microsoft Azure |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Provider tier | Hyperscaler | Hyperscaler |
| **Reach** |  |  |
| Regions / global footprint | Multiple regions | - |
| **Compute** |  |  |
| Bare-metal servers | ✓ | - |
| GPU / accelerated compute | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spot / preemptible pricing | - | ✓ |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Object storage | ✓ | ✓ |
| Block storage | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Managed** |  |  |
| Managed Kubernetes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Managed databases | ✓ | ✓ |
| Serverless / FaaS | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Network** |  |  |
| VPC / private networking | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Pricing** |  |  |
| Free / low egress | - | ✗ |
| **Compliance** |  |  |
| Data-residency / sovereign options | - | - |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| Partner marketplace | - | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:18:01.116Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*