Is AWS EC2 or Azure Virtual Machines cheaper in 2026?

It depends on volume — AWS EC2 wins 2 of the 3 modelled workloads and Azure Virtual Machines wins 1. The scenario table above shows where the crossover falls.

What is the difference in egress cost between AWS EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines?

Azure Virtual Machines charges $0.087 per GB against AWS EC2's $0.090, roughly 1× cheaper. Egress usually dominates the bill once traffic is measured in terabytes.

What do these estimates not include?

Committed-use and reserved discounts, regional price variation, per-request API charges, support plans, and minimum retention periods. All of those move real invoices, sometimes by a lot. These figures compare published list prices for the same workload, which is the comparison the rate cards alone cannot give you.

AWS EC2 vs Azure Virtual Machines

Neither wins outright: AWS EC2 is cheaper for 2 of 3 workloads and Azure Virtual Machines for the rest.

List prices checked May 2026

Rate cards side by side

Only the axes at least one of them bills on. A dash means that provider does not charge for it.

Billing axis	AWS EC2	Azure Virtual Machines	Difference
Compute	$0.042/vCPU-hr	$0.052/vCPU-hr	1.3× AWS EC2
Data transfer out	$0.090/GB	$0.087/GB	1× Azure Virtual Machines
Free tier	Yes	Yes	—

Source: Amazon Web Services pricing (May 2026) · Microsoft pricing (May 2026). Published list prices only — committed-use discounts, regional variation, and per-request charges are not included. Not yet independently re-checked against the vendor’s page.

Monthly cost for three real workloads

The rate cards applied to identical usage. This is where the winner changes.

Workload	AWS EC2	Azure Virtual Machines	Cheaper
Side projectA personal site or small app with modest traffic, a few gigabytes of assets, and one small always-on process.	$39	$47	AWS EC2saves $7.29/mo (16%)
Growing SaaSA funded product serving a few thousand daily users, with an image-heavy frontend and two application servers.	$151	$163	AWS EC2saves $12/mo (7%)
Media-heavy siteA publisher or video product where delivery dominates the bill and compute is almost an afterthought.	$930	$908	Azure Virtual Machinessaves $22/mo (2%)

Workload definitions are identical on every comparison page, so figures here can be read against any other pair in the same category.

What each one is for

AWS EC2

by Amazon Web Services

On-demand instances across every region and instance family. List rates are the highest in this category on both compute and egress; reserved instances and savings plans are how the price actually comes down.

Free tier: 750 hours per month of a t-class micro instance for 12 months

Azure Virtual Machines

by Microsoft

Microsoft's on-demand compute, where existing enterprise agreements and hybrid-benefit licensing usually move the final bill more than the published rate does.

Free tier: 750 hours per month of a B1s instance for 12 months

Common questions

Is AWS EC2 or Azure Virtual Machines cheaper in 2026?: It depends on volume — AWS EC2 wins 2 of the 3 modelled workloads and Azure Virtual Machines wins 1. The scenario table above shows where the crossover falls.
What is the difference in egress cost between AWS EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines?: Azure Virtual Machines charges $0.087 per GB against AWS EC2's $0.090, roughly 1× cheaper. Egress usually dominates the bill once traffic is measured in terabytes.
Which has the better free tier, AWS EC2 or Azure Virtual Machines?: Both publish one. AWS EC2: 750 hours per month of a t-class micro instance for 12 months. Azure Virtual Machines: 750 hours per month of a B1s instance for 12 months.
What do these estimates not include?: Committed-use and reserved discounts, regional price variation, per-request API charges, support plans, and minimum retention periods. All of those move real invoices, sometimes by a lot. These figures compare published list prices for the same workload, which is the comparison the rate cards alone cannot give you.