App Service

Runs your website or web API without your team looking after servers. Microsoft maintains the hosting platform, while your team supplies the application and its settings.

Which one? App Service suits websites and APIs that run all the time. Functions suits short pieces of code that run when something happens. Container Apps suits applications already packaged as containers.

Azure Functions

Runs small pieces of code automatically when something happens, such as a file arriving, a message landing or a set time. Your team writes the code; Azure starts it when needed.

Which one? Functions suits short tasks started by an event or a schedule. App Service suits a website or API that is always running. Logic Apps suits workflows built from ready-made connectors with little code.

Azure Container Apps

Runs applications that have been packaged as containers, without your team managing servers or a Kubernetes cluster. It suits websites, background jobs and services that react to events.

Which one? Container Apps suits most containerised applications without the overhead of running Kubernetes. AKS suits teams that need full Kubernetes control. Container Instances suits a single container for a short job.

Azure Static Web Apps

Publishes a website straight from your code repository each time an approved change is merged. It can also include small back-end functions and sign-in for the site.

Which one? Static Web Apps suits sites made mostly of web pages and scripts that are built from a repository. App Service suits applications that need a full server-side runtime.

Virtual Machines

Also called: VM

A computer you rent in Azure, with your choice of operating system and size. It gives the most control, but your team looks after the operating system and software on it.

Which one? Choose a virtual machine when software needs full control of the computer, such as an older application. For new websites and APIs, a managed service such as App Service usually needs less upkeep.

Virtual Machine Scale Sets

Also called: VMSS

Runs a group of identical virtual machines whose number can grow or shrink automatically with demand or on a schedule.

Which one? Use a scale set when several identical machines share the same job. Use a single virtual machine for one-off servers.

Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Also called: AKS

Runs containerised applications on Kubernetes, a widely used system for running many cooperating services. Azure manages the core of Kubernetes; how much else it manages depends on the chosen mode.

Which one? AKS suits large or complex container estates and teams with Kubernetes skills. Container Apps is simpler for most containerised applications.

Azure Container Instances

Also called: ACI

Starts a single container quickly in Azure, without setting up a server or a container platform. It suits short or simple jobs.

Which one? Container Instances suits one-off or simple containers. Container Apps and AKS suit applications that need scaling, networking between services and ongoing operation.

Azure Container Registry

Also called: ACR

A private store for your team's packaged applications (container images). Hosting services fetch approved versions from here when they run them.

Azure Batch

Splits very large computing jobs into many tasks and runs them in parallel on a pool of machines, such as rendering thousands of images or running complex calculations.

Azure Service Fabric

A platform for running large applications made of many small cooperating services, including services that keep their own data as they run.

Which one? Service Fabric suits applications built for it. Container Apps and AKS are other options for running containerised services.

Azure SQL Database

A database for business records such as customers, orders and invoices, organised into tables. Microsoft runs the database service, including updates and automatic backups.

Which one? SQL Database suits new applications. SQL Managed Instance suits existing SQL Server applications that need near-full compatibility. Cosmos DB suits fast, flexible records for users spread around the world.

Azure SQL Managed Instance

A managed home for existing SQL Server databases that need almost everything the familiar SQL Server product offers, so they can move to Azure with fewer changes.

Which one? Managed Instance suits moving existing SQL Server applications. SQL Database suits new applications and single databases.

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

A managed PostgreSQL database, a popular open-source database. Microsoft runs the servers; your team chooses size, availability and recovery settings.

Which one? Choose PostgreSQL or MySQL when an application is built for that database. Otherwise the choice usually follows your team's skills and existing systems.

Azure Database for MySQL

A managed MySQL database, a popular open-source database. Microsoft runs the servers; your team chooses size, availability and recovery settings.

Which one? Choose MySQL or PostgreSQL when an application is built for that database. Otherwise the choice usually follows your team's skills and existing systems.

Azure Cosmos DB

A database for applications that must respond quickly to many users, possibly around the world. It stores flexible records rather than fixed rows and columns, and can keep copies in several regions.

Which one? Cosmos DB suits fast, flexible records at large or global scale. SQL Database suits structured business records with relationships between tables.

Azure Managed Redis

Keeps frequently used data in fast memory so applications can respond more quickly, instead of fetching the same information from a slower database every time.

Storage account

Where Azure keeps your files and data, such as uploaded documents, images, backups and exports. One account can hold several kinds of storage, each suited to a different job.

Azure Blob Storage

Stores large numbers of files of any kind, such as documents, images, videos, logs and exports. Applications save and fetch each file by name.

Which one? Blob Storage suits files that applications save and fetch. Azure Files suits a shared drive people or servers open like a network folder. Managed Disks are the hard drives of virtual machines.

Azure Files

A shared network drive in the cloud. People and servers can open its folders the same way they use a familiar office file server.

Which one? Azure Files suits shared folders. NetApp Files suits demanding, high-performance file workloads. Blob Storage suits files handled by applications rather than people browsing folders.

Azure Data Lake Storage

Also called: ADLS · ADLS Gen2

A large store for raw data collected from many business systems, organised in folders so analytics teams can work with it and control who sees each part.

Azure Managed Disks

The hard drives used by Azure virtual machines. Teams choose each disk's type, size and speed.

Which one? Managed Disks are for a single virtual machine's drives. Elastic SAN provides a shared pool of drives for many machines.

Azure NetApp Files

High-performance shared file storage for demanding business systems, such as large databases or engineering workloads.

Which one? NetApp Files suits workloads that need very high file performance. Azure Files suits everyday shared folders.

Azure Table Storage

Stores large numbers of simple records that are looked up by key, such as settings or device details. It is cheap and quick but does not link records across tables.

Which one? Table Storage suits simple, low-cost key lookups. Cosmos DB suits richer queries and global scale. SQL Database suits related business records.

Azure Elastic SAN

A shared pool of storage drives in Azure that can be divided up and attached to many machines, similar to the central disk systems used in company data centres.

Which one? Elastic SAN suits sharing a large, centrally managed pool of drives across many machines. Managed Disks suit drives for individual virtual machines.

Data Factory

Also called: ADF

Moves and prepares data between systems on a schedule, such as copying yesterday's orders into a reporting database each night.

Which one? Data Factory suits moving and scheduling data. Databricks suits heavy data processing and analysis. Logic Apps suits business workflows between applications.

Azure Databricks

Also called: ADB · DBX

A shared platform where data teams clean, combine and analyse large amounts of data, and build machine learning models. It works with data kept in cloud storage.

Which one? Databricks suits large-scale data engineering, analytics and AI work. Synapse brings SQL warehousing and data integration together. Data Factory focuses on moving and scheduling data.

Azure Synapse Analytics

An analytics service that brings data loading, a data warehouse and big-data processing together in one workspace, for reporting across the business.

Which one? Synapse suits combining warehousing and data integration in one place. Databricks suits teams focused on large-scale data engineering and AI.

Azure Data Explorer

Quickly searches and analyses huge volumes of time-stamped data, such as application logs, device readings and website activity, soon after it arrives.

Which one? Data Explorer suits fast analysis of large log and event data. Stream Analytics suits processing events continuously as they arrive.

Azure Stream Analytics

Analyses data while it is still arriving, such as spotting unusual sensor readings or counting website visits minute by minute, and sends the results onwards.

Which one? Stream Analytics suits results that must update continuously. Data Explorer suits searching and analysing data once it has been collected.

Azure HDInsight

Runs well-known open-source big-data tools, such as Spark, Hadoop and Kafka, on clusters that Microsoft manages.

Which one? HDInsight suits workloads built on these specific open-source tools. Databricks and Synapse are other analytics options with their own management models.

Azure Synapse SQL

Also called: Synapse SQL

The SQL part of Azure Synapse, used to ask questions of large business datasets. Teams can reserve fixed capacity for a warehouse, or pay per query to search files in a data lake.

Azure OpenAI

Gives your applications access to OpenAI's AI models through Azure, for tasks such as drafting text, summarising documents or answering questions.

Which one? Azure OpenAI provides the models. Foundry is the wider platform for building, testing and governing AI applications. Agent Service builds assistants that use models and tools to carry out tasks.

Microsoft Foundry

Also called: AI Foundry · Azure AI Foundry · Azure AI Studio

Microsoft's platform for building AI applications. Teams choose models, build assistants and agents, test their quality and manage them in one place.

Which one? Foundry is the overall AI workshop. Azure OpenAI is one family of models inside it. Machine Learning suits building and training your own predictive models.

Microsoft Foundry Agent Service

Builds and runs AI assistants that can follow instructions and use approved tools, such as looking up information or updating a system, to complete tasks.

Azure AI Search

Builds a searchable index of your organisation's content, so a website, an app or an AI assistant can find the most relevant passages quickly.

Azure Machine Learning

A workspace for data scientists to build, train and run their own prediction models, such as forecasting demand, and to keep them accurate over time.

Which one? Machine Learning suits training your own models. Azure OpenAI and Foundry suit using ready-made generative models.

Azure Document Intelligence

Reads documents such as invoices, receipts and forms, and pulls out the text and key details automatically so people do not retype them.

Which one? Document Intelligence suits pulling details out of business documents. Vision suits describing what is in photos and images.

Azure Speech

Turns speech into text, text into natural-sounding speech, and translates spoken language, so applications can listen and talk.

Azure Language

Analyses written text to pick out things like names, places, personal information, key topics and sentiment, and can summarise it.

Azure Translator

Translates text and whole documents between many languages automatically.

Azure Vision

Looks at images and describes what is in them, such as objects, scenes or printed text.

Which one? Vision suits understanding photos. Document Intelligence suits reading business documents and forms.

Azure AI Content Safety

Checks text and images for harmful content, such as hate or violence, so an application can block or review it before people see it.

Azure Virtual Network

Also called: VNet

Your own private network inside Azure. It lets your cloud resources talk to each other securely and, if you set it up, to your offices or the internet.

Azure Load Balancer

Spreads incoming network traffic across several servers so that no single server is overloaded and the service keeps running if one fails.

Which one? Load Balancer spreads any network traffic across servers. Application Gateway routes web visitors within one region by the address they ask for. Front Door is a worldwide entrance for web applications. Traffic Manager points users to a location using DNS.

Azure Application Gateway

Directs web visitors to the right part of your application within one Azure region, based on the address they ask for, such as /shop or /api.

Which one? Front Door suits users spread across countries or an app running in several regions. Application Gateway handles web routing inside one region. Some setups use both.

Azure Front Door

A worldwide entrance to your website or app. Visitors connect to Microsoft's network near where they are, and Front Door passes them to your application by a fast route.

Which one? Front Door suits users spread across countries or an app running in several regions. Application Gateway handles web routing inside one region. Some setups use both.

Azure Traffic Manager

Sends users to the best available location of your application, such as the nearest or the one that is working, by answering the lookup their device makes before connecting.

Which one? Traffic Manager only points users to a location. Front Door also carries and speeds up web traffic, and adds caching and security options.

Azure DNS

Also called: DNS

The internet's address book for your domain names. It turns names people type, such as www.example.com, into the addresses computers use to find your services.

Azure Private Link

Lets your applications reach Azure services, such as a database or storage, over your private network instead of the public internet.

Azure VPN Gateway

Also called: VPN

Creates an encrypted connection between your offices or remote staff and your Azure network, usually over the public internet.

Which one? VPN Gateway suits encrypted links over the internet and is quicker to set up. ExpressRoute suits a dedicated private line from a provider, with more predictable performance.

Azure ExpressRoute

A private, dedicated connection from your data centre or offices to Microsoft's cloud, arranged through a telecoms provider rather than the public internet.

Which one? ExpressRoute suits a dedicated private line with more predictable performance. VPN Gateway suits encrypted links over the internet and is quicker to set up.

Azure Virtual WAN

Connects many offices, remote workers and Azure networks through central hubs, so a large organisation can manage its connections in one place.

Azure NAT Gateway

Lets private servers reach the internet for things like updates or partner services, using fixed public addresses, without letting the internet reach in.

Azure Bastion

A secure way for administrators to log in to virtual machines without exposing those machines to the internet.

Azure Firewall

A security checkpoint for network traffic. It checks what goes in and out of your Azure networks against rules your team sets.

Azure DDoS Protection

Helps keep public services online during deliberate floods of fake traffic designed to overwhelm them.

Azure Network Watcher

Tools for finding out why network connections in Azure are failing or slow, such as tracing a route or recording traffic.

Azure Logic Apps

Automates business processes between systems using ready-made connectors, such as saving email attachments to storage and notifying a team, often with little or no code.

Which one? Logic Apps suits workflows built from connectors. Functions suits custom code. Data Factory suits moving large amounts of data.

Azure API Management

Also called: APIM

A single front door for your organisation's APIs. It controls who can use them, limits how much they are used, and gives developers a portal to find them.

Azure Service Bus

Passes tasks between applications reliably. Each message waits until the receiving application is ready, so one side can keep working when the other is busy or offline.

Which one? Service Bus is for business tasks that must be handled. Event Grid is for “something happened” alerts. Event Hubs is for high-volume data streams. Queue Storage is a simpler, low-cost queue.

Azure Event Grid

Tells other applications when something has happened, such as a new file arriving, so they can react straight away instead of checking repeatedly.

Which one? Event Grid is for “something happened” alerts. Service Bus is for business tasks that must be handled. Event Hubs is for high-volume data streams.

Azure Event Hubs

Takes in very large, continuous streams of data, such as readings from thousands of devices or website clicks, so analytics tools can process them.

Which one? Event Hubs is for high-volume data streams. Service Bus is for business tasks that must be handled. Event Grid is for “something happened” alerts.

Azure Queue Storage

A simple, low-cost to-do list for applications. One part adds tasks, and another part picks them up and processes them later.

Which one? Queue Storage suits simple, high-volume task lists. Service Bus suits business messages that need ordering, transactions or advanced delivery options.

Azure SignalR Service

Pushes live updates to people's screens, such as chat messages or dashboard changes, without them refreshing the page. It is built for applications that use Microsoft's SignalR library.

Which one? SignalR Service suits applications built with the SignalR library, common in .NET. Web PubSub suits other applications that use standard WebSocket connections.

Azure Web PubSub

Pushes live messages to connected browsers and apps, such as notifications or collaboration updates, without your team running the connection servers.

Which one? Web PubSub suits applications using standard WebSocket connections. SignalR Service suits applications built with the SignalR library.

Azure Communication Services

Adds voice and video calls, chat, text messages and email to your own applications, such as a customer portal or support app.

Key Vault

Also called: AKV · KV

A secure safe for passwords, keys and certificates that applications need, so they are not written into code or settings files.

Which one? Key Vault stores secrets. A managed identity lets an application prove who it is so it can fetch them without a password of its own.

Managed identities

Gives an Azure application its own identity, so it can prove who it is to other services without anyone storing a password in its code.

Which one? A managed identity lets an application prove who it is. Key Vault stores the secrets, keys and certificates it may need.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Checks your cloud setup for security weaknesses, tells you what to fix first, and can watch selected workloads for attacks.

Which one? Defender for Cloud finds weaknesses and protects workloads. Sentinel is where the security team investigates and responds to threats across many sources.

Microsoft Sentinel

A security control room. It gathers security alerts and records from many systems so a security team can spot, investigate and respond to threats.

Which one? Sentinel is for investigating and responding to threats. Defender for Cloud finds weaknesses and protects workloads. Azure Monitor watches application health.

Microsoft Purview

Helps an organisation know what data it has, where it lives and how sensitive it is, and apply rules to protect it.

Azure Monitor

Collects measurements and records from your applications and Azure services, shows how they are performing, and alerts people when something looks wrong.

Which one? Azure Monitor watches your own applications. Service Health tells you about problems on Azure's side. Log Analytics is where teams search the collected records.

Azure App Configuration

One central place to keep application settings and on/off switches for features, so teams can change them without editing every server.

Azure Backup

Takes regular copies of servers, databases and files, so you can restore something that was deleted, damaged or encrypted by an attack.

Which one? Backup restores earlier copies after data loss. Site Recovery keeps systems running from another location during a major outage. Most organisations need both.

Azure Site Recovery

Keeps a standby copy of your servers in another location, so the business can switch over and keep running if the main site has a serious outage.

Which one? Site Recovery keeps systems running from another location during a major outage. Backup restores earlier copies after data loss. Most organisations need both.

Azure Automation

Runs routine IT tasks automatically, such as switching off test machines at night, so they happen the same way every time.

Azure Arc

Lets you manage servers and systems outside Azure, in your own data centres or other clouds, using the same Azure tools and rules.

Which one? Arc brings existing outside servers under Azure management. Azure Local is Azure-managed infrastructure that runs on your own site.

Azure Local

Runs Azure-style infrastructure on hardware at your own sites, such as factories or branches, for applications that must stay local, while managing it from Azure.

Which one? Azure Local is infrastructure that runs on your own site. Arc brings existing outside servers under Azure management.

Azure Migrate

Helps plan and carry out a move to Azure. It finds your existing servers, checks whether they are ready and estimates what they will cost to run in Azure.

Azure Advisor

Reviews how your Azure resources are set up and used, and suggests ways to save money and improve security, reliability and performance.

Azure Service Health

Tells you when an Azure outage or planned maintenance could affect the services your organisation uses.

Which one? Service Health reports problems on Azure's side. Azure Monitor shows how your own applications are behaving.

Azure Load Testing

Simulates large numbers of users to check how an application copes with heavy traffic before real customers arrive.

Which one? Load Testing checks behaviour under heavy demand. Chaos Studio checks behaviour when parts of the system fail.

Azure Chaos Studio

Deliberately causes controlled failures, such as switching off a server, to check that systems and teams recover as planned.

Which one? Chaos Studio checks behaviour when parts of the system fail. Load Testing checks behaviour under heavy demand.

Azure Managed Grafana

Builds shared dashboards that show charts and gauges from monitoring and other data sources, in a Grafana service that Microsoft manages.

Log Analytics

The tool teams use to search and analyse the records collected by Azure Monitor, for example to investigate errors or unusual activity.

Azure IoT Hub

Connects your devices in the field, such as sensors or machines, to the cloud, so they can send readings and receive instructions securely.

Which one? IoT Hub connects devices to the cloud. The Device Provisioning Service registers new devices automatically. IoT Operations processes equipment data on site.

IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service

Registers new devices automatically when they are first switched on, and connects each one to the right IoT hub, so thousands of devices can be set up without manual work.

Azure Digital Twins

Builds a live digital model of a real place, such as a building or factory, showing how rooms, equipment and systems connect.

Azure IoT Operations

Collects and processes data from industrial equipment on site, close to the machines, and sends what is needed to the cloud.

Which one? IoT Operations processes equipment data on site. IoT Hub connects devices directly to the cloud.

Azure DevOps

Also called: ADO

Tools for software teams to plan work, store and review code, test changes and release updates automatically.