AWS vs Azure for UK Software Development — Honest Comparison (2025)
AWS is the right default for most UK software projects: larger UK developer community, more mature managed services, and the most options for UK GDPR data residency. Azure is better for NHS applications (NHS Landing Zone, Microsoft 365/Teams integration, Azure AD), Microsoft-heavy enterprises, and where existing Microsoft licensing creates commercial advantage. Most large UK organisations use both. AWS vs Azure is the UK's most common cloud architecture decision. Here is an honest comparison that covers UK GDPR data residency, NHS DSP Toolkit compliance, FCA operational resilience, and Cyber Essentials patching — the UK-specific factors most comparisons miss.
| Factor | AWS (eu-west-2 London) | Azure (UK South London) |
|---|---|---|
| UK GDPR data residency | ✅ eu-west-2 London | ✅ UK South London |
| NHS DSP Toolkit | ✅ NHS-compliant configuration | ✅ NHS Landing Zone (easier setup) |
| NHS Teams/O365 integration | Complex — Lambda + Graph API | ✅ Native — Azure AD + Teams |
| FCA PS21/3 resilience | ✅ Multi-AZ eu-west-2 + eu-west-1 DR | ✅ UK South + UK West DR |
| Cyber Essentials (managed services) | ✅ Lambda/Fargate — no OS patching | ✅ App Service/Functions — no OS patching |
| UK developer community | ✅ Larger — more UK AWS engineers | Smaller but growing |
| Managed Kubernetes | EKS — mature, widely used | AKS — strong, good Azure integration |
| Serverless | Lambda — most mature | Azure Functions — good |
| G-Cloud listing | AWS G-Cloud presence | Azure G-Cloud presence |
| ClickMasters default | ✅ Consumer/SaaS/FinTech | NHS / Microsoft-heavy enterprise |
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