AWS vs Azure for Medical Clinics – Full Comparison
The emergence of telehealth and the digitization of patient records have led to the shift of medical practices to the cloud. To the clinic IT directors and practice administrators, the question does not revolve around whether they should migrate but rather which platform they would place their patient-sensitive information on.
Cloud migration for medical practices is a complex task. It demands the need to balance out performance, cost, and above all, security that is not compromised at all.
Both Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are the two dominant players that also have a solid healthcare solution. However, which one of them is really better when dealing with a busy outpatient clinic?
This guide will give you a complete AWS vs Azure healthcare comparison, which will be divided into compliance, services, pricing, and use cases in real practice to inform your clinic.
AWS vs Azure Healthcare Comparison
| Feature | AWS (Amazon Web Services) | Microsoft Azure |
| Market Maturity | The longest-running, most established cloud platform. | Strong, rapid growth, deeply embedded in enterprise IT. |
| Primary Healthcare Offering | Amazon HealthLake | Azure Health Data Services |
| Data Interoperability | Strong focus on FHIR standards and AI/ML integration. | Excellent FHIR support, superior integration with Microsoft 365/Teams. |
| Compliance Focus | Shared Responsibility Model; extensive HIPAA-eligible services. | Comprehensive compliance portfolio with built-in governance tools. |
| Best For | Clinics need highly customized, scalable infrastructure and advanced analytics. | Clinics are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem (Office 365, Teams) |
The Critical Factor: HIPAA Compliance and Security
HIPAA-compliant cloud hosting is a must-have in any clinic that is based in the US. Neither AWS nor Azure can and will make you compliant with HIPAA; however, both of them can fully accommodate it. They are based on a Shared Responsibility Model.
AWS Security
AWS has many years of experience working in highly regulated sectors. They also have a BAA, which includes a very broad range of services that are considered to be HIPAA-eligible. AWS offers finer-grained control of the security settings, which is capable but yet skilful to set properly.
Azure Security
Azure is a system that tends to favor healthcare IT teams since its security interfaces can be easily recognised by Windows administrators.
Azure is extremely aggressive in their compliance position and claims the widest possible range of compliance certifications. Their in-built security center gives you great access to the security conditions of your clinic.
They both offer the required tools, but your clinic’s capabilities to do so are more important.
Healthcare-Specific Services Explained
Both platforms have moved beyond just hosting servers to providing dedicated healthcare data platforms.
AWS Healthcare Services Explained
Amazon HealthLake is the centerpiece. It enables clinics to ingest, store, and analyze healthcare data (structured and unstructured) at scale with the FHIR standard.
AWS is the best choice when you require the implementation of advanced machine learning models on patient data to forecast outcomes or streamline clinic operations.
Azure Health Data Services to Clinics
Azure pays much attention to the connection and interoperability. Azure Health Data Services is a PaaS cloud platform that is customized to PHI.
The best part of it is the transparent connection with Microsoft Teams and Office 365, which enables clinicians to retrieve patient data safely in tools they currently use daily.
Related: Why Clinics Should Move Away From Local Servers in 2026
EHR Systems Performance and Scalability
Latency is critical when evaluating AWS vs Azure scalability when using EHR systems. When a doctor is in a consultation, they cannot wait until patient charts get loaded.
Both sites have hyper-scale capabilities. In case your clinic expands to 50 doctors, both will be able to manage the load immediately. Comparing general AWS to Azure performance with healthcare workloads:
AWS typically provides finer control of the types of virtual machines (EC2 instances) to be controlled, which can be tuned to exact EHR database needs.
Azure offers good performance to EHR applications on Windows, as well as good hybrid capabilities in case you want to store a part of the data on-premises.
Use-Case Matrix for Outpatient Clinics
| Clinic Use Case | AWS Solution | Azure Solution | Advantage |
| EHR Hosting (General) | Amazon EC2 (Compute) + Amazon RDS (Database) | Azure Virtual Machines + Azure SQL Database | Tie. Both are excellent hosts for major EHRs. |
| Telehealth Platform | Amazon Chime SDK | Azure Communication Services + Microsoft Teams integration | Azure, due to seamless Teams integration for clinicians. |
| Healthcare Analytics & Population Health | Amazon HealthLake + AWS Glue + Amazon QuickSight | Azure Synapse Analytics + Power BI | AWS currently has a slight edge in raw analytics tool depth. |
| Secure Backups & Archiving | Amazon S3 (with Object Lock for compliance) | Azure Blob Storage (Immutable storage) | Tie. Both offer incredibly durable, cheaper storage tiers. |
Azure vs AWS Pricing Clinics – A Comparison
The choice is normally determined by cost. Comparing precisely between the costs of clouds is notoriously hard without a definite architectural map, but the following is a representative instance.
The Scenario: A mid-sized clinic is required to host a SQL-based EHR application and 5TB of medical imaging data, as well as nightly backup.
AWS Estimated Monthly Cost: ~$1,200 – $1,800
Powered by EC2 instances optimized to run the EHR and S3 commodity storage prices.
Azure Estimated Monthly Price: $1,100 -1,700.
Powered by Azure VM licensing (which can be cheaper when compared to Windows Server licenses) and Blob storage.
The Implication: Azure vs AWS pricing of clinics is usually even-handed for simple computers. Azure is able to provide substantial discounts under the condition that your clinic already has licenses to Microsoft software under the Azure Hybrid Benefit. AWS commonly has victories on ultra-low prices of long-term archival storage (Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive).
AWS for Clinics
| Pros | Cons |
| Depth of Services: Unmatched variety of tools for niche technical needs. | Complexity: The sheer number of options can be overwhelming for small IT teams. |
| Maturity & Reliability: The longest track record of uptime in the industry. | Pricing Structure: Billing can be notoriously difficult to decipher and predict. |
| Advanced Analytics: Superior tools for clinics looking into AI/ML applications. | Less “Out-of-the-Box”: Often requires more configuration to get started. |
Azure for Clinics
| Pros | Cons |
| Microsoft Ecosystem: Seamless integration with Office 365, Teams, and Active Directory. | Windows-Centric: While Linux support is good, it is clearly optimized for Windows shops. |
| Hybrid Capabilities: Excellent tools for bridging on-premise servers with the cloud. | Niche Services: Slightly fewer specialized tools compared to the vast AWS catalog. |
| Licensing Advantages: Potential cost savings for existing Microsoft license holders. | Support Costs: Enterprise-grade support can get expensive quickly. |
CapMinds Cloud & Health IT Consultation Services for Modern Clinics
Choosing between AWS and Azure is just the first step; what truly determines success is how well your clinic designs, secures, and optimizes its cloud environment.
At CapMinds, we assist outpatient clinics, multi-specialty groups, and healthcare organizations in embracing cloud platforms with full confidence, compliance, and scalability in the long term.
Our team ensures your cloud environment is HIPAA-ready, high-performing, and fully aligned with your EHR, telehealth, and analytics needs, without adding complexity to your IT team.
With CapMinds, you get end-to-end healthcare cloud expertise, including:
Health IT Consultation Services for AWS/Azure strategy, migration planning, and infrastructure design.
- Cloud Services for Healthcare, including EHR hosting, VM setup, database optimization, and backup automation.
- Health Cloud Security Services covering HIPAA compliance, identity management, encryption policies, and 24/7 monitoring.
- Interoperability Support using FHIR/HL7 standards across AWS HealthLake & Azure Health Data Services.
- Cost Optimization & Governance to prevent billing surprises and improve cloud ROI.
Ready to migrate with zero guesswork? Book your cloud strategy session with CapMinds today.
