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Azure Virtual Machines vs. IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Azure Virtual Machines

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AVirtual Machines (VMs) are available on Microsoft Azure, providing what is built as a low-cost, per-second compute service, available via Windows or Linux.

    $0

    Per Hour

    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC

    Score7.9 out of 10
    N/AIBM Cloud Virtual Servers are customizable, public or private, cloud-based servers available from IBM. User can launch applications and software across blended, hybrid environments as the servers integrate with all cloud models.

    $0.01

    per hour

    Pricing
    Azure Virtual MachinesIBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Editions & Modules
    3 Year Reserved - Burstable VMs - B1S
    $0.0038
    Per Hour
    Spot - General Purpose - Av2
    $0.005
    Per Hour
    1 Year Reserved - Burstable VMs - B1S
    $0.0059
    Per Hour
    Pay as You Go - Burstable VMs - B1S
    $0.0075
    Per Hour
    Spot - Compute Optimized - Fsv2
    $0.0104
    Per Hour
    Spot - General Purpose - Dv3
    $0.0125
    Per Hour
    Spot - Memory Optimized - Ev3
    $0.016
    Per Hour
    3 Year Reserved - Compute Optimized - Fsv2
    $0.0307
    Per Hour
    3 Year Reserved - General Purpose - Dv3
    $0.0369
    Per Hour
    3 Year Reserved - Memory Optimized - Ev3
    $0.0481
    Per Hour
    1 Year Reserved - Compute Optimized - Fsv2
    $0.05
    Per Hour
    1 Year Reserved - General Purpose - Dv3
    $0.0548
    Per Hour
    1 Year Reserved - Memory Optimized - Ev3
    $0.0753
    Per Hour
    Pay as You Go - Compute Optimized - Fsv2
    $0.0846
    Per Hour
    Pay as You Go - General Purpose - Dv3
    $0.096
    Per Hour
    Pay as You Go - Memory Optimized - Ev3
    $0.126
    Per Hour
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (dedicated host)
    starting at $0.22
    per hour
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (dedicated host)
    starting at $149.00
    per month
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (multi-tenant)
    starting at $0.038
    per hour
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (multi-tenant)
    starting at $25.21
    per month
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (reserved)
    starting at $0.02
    per hour
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (reserved)
    starting at $13.27
    per month
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers (transient)
    starting at $0.01
    per hour
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Azure Virtual MachinesIBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional DetailsIBM Cloud virtual servers include 250 GB of outbound public bandwidth, unmetered inbound public bandwidth, and unmetered private and management network bandwidth.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Azure Virtual MachinesIBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    IBM
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers had a slightly lower cost (possibly due to reseller discount) compared to both Azure Virtual Machines and AWS Cloud9, although not significantly lower. IBM has better support for Linux compared to Azure but that gap is narrowing recently as Microsoft …
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Have used it because of previous IBM partership, and also because of the need to test Linux on Z series.
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    The selection of Virtual servers is easy and deployments and upgrades are easy to handle compared to the IBM cloud. Firstly UI is very easy and helps us to choose and customize fast without delay in critical times.AWS has a lot of varieties in instances we can choose based on …
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    We used to have our virtual machines at a contender, however, IBMs item range is substantially more practical which expanded our ROI. When I started using IBM for all my hosting solutions, I became a really big fan. They have well-built security and other features.
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    We used to have our virtual machines at a contender however IBM's item range is substantially more practical which expanded our ROI. Likewise having a cooperate with IBM opens up entryways that would've recently been closed.
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    I am open to the cloud and new technology. I always try to check what every cloud can provide and I try to have the experience on each Cloud service. IBM has also proved it's capability to provide the same value of service under lower prices. I am happy to have my applications …
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Azure management can be flaky to say the least. At one point one of our VMs just disappeared.
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Fixed configuration with fixed price
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    AWS e Azure
    Incentivized
    Chose IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    It was more flexible, but more expensive.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    23 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    91%
    Delivers good value for the price
    20 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    23 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    23 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Azure Virtual MachinesIBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Azure Virtual Machines and IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Feature
    Azure Virtual Machines
    8.8
    23 Ratings
    8% above category average
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    -
    Ratings
    Virtual machine automated provisioning9.323 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management console8.021 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup9.319 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration8.716 Ratings00 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security8.616 Ratings00 Ratings
    Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
    Comparison of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) features of Azure Virtual Machines and IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Feature
    Azure Virtual Machines
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    8.7
    88 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime00 Ratings9.081 Ratings
    Dynamic scaling00 Ratings8.676 Ratings
    Elastic load balancing00 Ratings8.664 Ratings
    Pre-configured templates00 Ratings8.573 Ratings
    Monitoring tools00 Ratings8.284 Ratings
    Pre-defined machine images00 Ratings9.078 Ratings
    Operating system support00 Ratings8.884 Ratings
    Security controls00 Ratings9.178 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Azure Virtual MachinesIBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Small Businesses
    Proxmox VE
    Score9 out of 10
    DigitalOcean Droplets
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    IBM Cloud Bare Metal Servers
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    VMware Workstation Pro
    Score8.2 out of 10
    SAP on IBM Cloud
    Score9.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Azure Virtual MachinesIBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.1
    (23 ratings)
    8.2
    (89 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.1
    (5 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Azure Virtual MachinesIBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    If you want to host a dedicated Windows server on the cloud, and especially if you want to integrate it with your on premises Active Directory, Azure Virtual Machines should be your first choice. Obviously running Linux on Azure works very well too, but given Azure's pricing is not the cheapest, there are other providers out there that have a better cost-benefit ratio for Linux. That said, hosting Windows on Azure can be affordable (especially when compared to other providers) if you plan your licensing, topology, and application architecture correctly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    One scenario that immediately came to my mind was large-scale data processing, IBM Cloud Virtual Servers is well-suited for organizations that require high-performance computing capabilities, particularly when processing large amounts of data. It can also be useful for companies or organizations that wish to migrate their workplace to the cloud and it may suite companies that have strict compliance requirements since the servers have robust security features.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Microsoft
    • When demand is high, we scale the service out, eg During a Football Match.
    • When a football match is over and the throughput of data from OPTA drops we save by the service scaling back in.
    • Our App Service Plans along with the Clean C# code are lightening fast giving a good customer experience.
    • When producing the TV Guide information and a program overruns its scheduled time, a client can instantly be updated to the new programming schedule as our change is instant and its in the right place for all the clients to download and adjust their television guides appropriately to send out to the public giving a 24x7 uptime service that is precise and accurate and resilient to outages due to failover zones around the world.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • Scalability: IBM Cloud Virtual Servers enable businesses to simply and quickly scale up or down the resources they require in response to changing business demands. This enables firms to respond to traffic spikes, requests for new services, or changes in business size without the need for additional hardware purchases or maintenance.
    • Cost savings: By employing virtual servers in the cloud, enterprises can decrease capital expenditures for hardware and infrastructure while also lowering ongoing operational expenses by removing server maintenance and management costs. This can result in significant cost savings for enterprises, particularly those that need to raise or decrease their computer capacity fast and easily.
    • High availability: IBM Cloud Virtual Servers is built with high availability in mind, giving enterprises the certainty that their applications and data will be available and accessible even if hardware fails or other disruptions occur. This assists enterprises in maintaining business continuity and lowering the chance of downtime, which is crucial for firms that rely on 24/7 access to their systems. Furthermore, IBM's comprehensive network and security features aid in the prevention of data breaches and other security risks, assuring the availability and reliability of their applications and data.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Microsoft
    • Pricing can be a concern if you are truly agnostic to which cloud you are building your particular solution in.
    • The UI, as is the case with any cloud provider, is crowded.
    • As with any cloud provider, it can be difficult to tune in exactly the right amount of servers for your needs...you might find yourself under/overprovisioning.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • It would also be nice if there were more templates to choose from when creating a server. Right now there are only a few options, and we'd like to see more variety.
    • We'd like to see the ability to create server groups. This would make it easier to manage a large number of servers since we could do all of the updates and management tasks for them at once.
    • There doesn't seem to be a way to automatically install updates on all of the virtual servers. We have to go in and manually update each one, which can be time-consuming. It would be really nice if automatic updates can be done.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    It has a flexible and affordable pricing, easy to configure and manage. It is easy to spawn one or multiple instances and have them up and running in no time
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Microsoft
    They are very easy and intuitive, very easy to deploy
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    Always available when you need an instance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    Most of the instances work on hypervisors with good processors, but not all of them.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    I give the overall support for Azure Virtual Machines a 7 because I think while the overall support do a great job there are still areas that it could improve on such as efficiency and speed. So while I only give it a 7 and it has some issues it is still better than the overall support at Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    It is adequate, but you need to be ready to argue your point - which is fair enough, I suppose, but being given the opposite of the benefit of the doubt every time does not necessarily result in an enjoyable user experience.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    We did not use IBM professional services to implement IBM Cloud Virtual Servers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    Azure Virtual Machines offer unparalleled flexibility in provisioning, managing and upgrading the VM instances, both manually and programmatically. AVM offer very granular billing options and enables high costs optimisations (while still being costly). The other competitors I mentioned are very good at offering dead-cheap VMs. But if you need anything beyond that, especially for big computing, you need Azure Virtual Machines.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    IBM Cloud Virtual Servers offer more customization options than Amazon EC2, with the ability to select from a range of operating systems, storage types, and network configurations. IBM also provides a wide range of tools and services to help manage and optimize your virtual servers, including a web-based console, CLI, and API.

    AWS EC2 is a more managed platform, with a focus on providing a simple and easy-to-use interface. Amazon provides a range of predefined instance types, each with different specs and pricing, to make it easy to find the right option for your needs. AWS also offers a number of management and monitoring tools, but these are often more basic than what is available from IBM.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    It worked well for us in the beginning, it works well for us when we have more instances.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • It's so easy to spin up new instances, that it becomes also to easy to have to many of them to manage. Many teams end up with a couple of hundreds of VMs after a short while, making the whole thing very hard to maneuver
    • Azure VMs are the next step for us to rely on Onprem servers, and leaving the management of the infrastructure to the professionals
    • The ease of use, is also important when our main focus is to deliver new applications and integrations fast, and not having to worry about infrastructure. We sell bottles, not CPUs
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • Supports businesses who want compute power on demand (instances are ready within minutes).
    • It can give you access to a 32-core CPU at $0.29 for short running or interruptible processes - enabling cost-efficient number crunching.
    • Given me a taste of the powers of remote compute power for compilation and development.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots