Azure
vs
Runpod
What's good about each
- Integrates with Entra ID, Microsoft 365, GitHub and Visual Studio
- Azure Arc and Azure Stack for hybrid and multicloud
- OpenAI models served through Azure AI Foundry
- 100+ compliance offerings, regional and industry-specific
- 60+ regions worldwide
- GPUs from RTX 3070 to B300 in one catalog
- Serverless GPU endpoints that scale to zero
- Built-in deployments, autoscaling & monitoring
- No ingress or egress fees
- SOC 2 Type II certified
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | Azure | Runpod | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | $6.77 /mo 2 vCPU, 1 GB RAM (B2ats v2) | $43.20 /mo 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM (Compute-Optimized) | 84% cheaper on Azure |
| Medium VM | $95.76 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (B4als v2) | $86.40 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (Compute-Optimized) | 10% cheaper on Runpod |
| Large VM | $231.84 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (D8als v6) | $172.80 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (Compute-Optimized) | 25% cheaper on Runpod |
| Block storage | $7.92 /mo 100 GB (Premium SSD v2) | $10.00 /mo 100 GB | 21% cheaper on Azure |
| Object storage | $35.25 /mo 1 TB | -- Not listed | |
| PostgreSQL | $54.71 /mo 2 vCPU, 4 GiB RAM, 50 GB storage (Flexible Server B2s) | -- Not listed | |
| Redis | $23.04 /mo 1 GB RAM (Managed Redis Balanced B1) | -- Not listed | |
| Load balancer | $23.00 /mo Standard | -- Not listed | |
| Serverless | $35.00 /mo 25M invocations, 512 MB RAM, 150 ms duration | -- Not listed | |
| Egress allowance | 100 GB / mo | Free and unlimited | |
| Egress | $87.00 /TB $0.087 / GB (Premium network North America) | Free and unlimited |
Heads up: Figures take each provider's closest plan to a common setup, and vary by region and usage. Hover a service for the reference configuration. Verify before provisioning. More on how we price.
GPUs
Azure offers 10 GPU models, while Runpod offers 35. Cheapest listed price per GPU per hour; GPUs both providers sell come first.
| GPU | Azure | Runpod | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
H100
20 configs · 12 configs
|
$6.98 /GPU/hr On-demand | $2.89 /GPU/hr On-demand | 59% cheaper on Runpod |
|
RTX PRO 6000
40 configs · 5 configs
|
$5.50 /GPU/hr On-demand | $1.69 /GPU/hr On-demand | 69% cheaper on Runpod |
|
H200
4 configs · 7 configs
|
$13.78 /GPU/hr On-demand | $4.59 /GPU/hr On-demand | 67% cheaper on Runpod |
|
A100
20 configs · 9 configs
|
$3.40 /GPU/hr On-demand | $1.00 /GPU/hr On-demand | 71% cheaper on Runpod |
MI300X
4 configs · 2 configs
|
$7.86 /GPU/hr On-demand | $2.39 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | 70% cheaper on Runpod |
|
V100
6 configs · 3 configs
|
$1.53 /GPU/hr On-demand | $0.23 /GPU/hr On-demand | 85% cheaper on Runpod |
|
GB200
4 configs
|
$11.90 /GPU/hr Reserved (36 mo) | -- | Azure only |
|
T4
16 configs
|
$0.15 /GPU/hr Spot | -- | Azure only |
|
B300
4 configs
|
-- | $7.89 /GPU/hr On-demand | Runpod only |
|
B200
3 configs
|
-- | $6.79 /GPU/hr On-demand | Runpod only |
Azure bills on-demand, spot and reserved (12 or 36 months); Runpod bills on-demand. The line under each price names the billing type shown.
Services
Managed services each provider offers.
Compliance
Frameworks each provider states on its own site, each linked to its source.
| Framework | Azure | Runpod |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 | Type II | Type II |
| ISO 27001 | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA | Yes | Yes |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
| PCI DSS | Level 1 | -- |
| FedRAMP | High | -- |
Heads up: Each entry links to the provider's own statement. An attestation can cover one tier, one region or the platform alone rather than every service. Verify the scope before you rely on it. A dash means we found nothing to link to, not that the provider lacks it.
Company details
| Fact | Azure | Runpod |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 | 2022 |
| Headquarters | USA | USA |
| Locations | 66 | 33 |
| Example customers | General Motors, NHS, Fujitsu, NBA | Civitai, Cognition, Cursor, Hugging Face, Perplexity, Replit |
| Website | azure.microsoft.com | www.runpod.io |
Alternatives to consider
Compare Azure and Runpod against other cloud providers.
Our data for Azure was last updated on Oct. 1, 2026, and for Runpod on Oct. 2, 2026.