AWS Elastic Beanstalk vs Azure App Service for .NET

Both AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Azure App Service are managed PaaS platforms that take a .NET application and run it without you managing servers. But they have very different approaches to configuration, pricing, and the deployment experience. Here's a head-to-head comparison.

Setup Complexity

Azure App Service

Three commands to a running app:

az group create --name myapp-rg --location eastus
az appservice plan create --name myapp-plan --resource-group myapp-rg --sku B1 --is-linux
az webapp create --name myapp-12345 --resource-group myapp-rg --plan myapp-plan --runtime "DOTNETCORE:8.0"

Deploy:

dotnet publish -c Release -o ./publish
az webapp deploy --resource-group myapp-rg --name myapp-12345 --src-path ./publish --type zip

Total time to running app: ~5 minutes.

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

More involved — EB manages EC2 instances, load balancers, and autoscaling groups:

# Install EB CLI
pip install awsebcli
 
# Initialize project
eb init myapp \
  --platform "dotnet-core-on-al2023" \
  --region us-east-1
 
# Create environment (provisions EC2, LB, security groups)
eb create myapp-prod \
  --instance-type t3.small \
  --single  # Skip load balancer for dev/small apps

Deploy:

dotnet publish -c Release -o ./publish
cd ./publish
eb deploy

Total time to running app: ~10-15 minutes (EC2 provisioning takes longer).

Verdict: Azure App Service wins on setup simplicity. EB has more moving parts.

Pricing

Azure App Service

Predictable flat rate — you pay for the tier regardless of actual usage.

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

EB itself is free; you pay for underlying resources:

A production EB environment (t3.small + ALB): ~$36/month.

Comparable Azure App Service S1: ~$69/month but includes more features.

Verdict: AWS wins on raw price for equivalent compute, but Azure includes more in the base price (deployment slots, better DX tools).

.NET Runtime Support

Azure App Service

• First-party .NET support — Microsoft maintains the runtimes
• New .NET versions available day one of release on Linux/Windows
• Side-by-side runtime versions per app
• Native support for .NET Framework (Windows plan) and .NET Core/8+ (Linux or Windows)

# List available runtimes
az webapp list-runtimes --os linux | grep DOTNET

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

• .NET support via AL2023 (Amazon Linux 2023) platform
• New .NET versions available weeks to months after release (waiting for EB platform update)
• Windows Server option available for .NET Framework
• EB platform versions: check EB platform history

# .elasticbeanstalk/env.yaml — specify runtime
AWSEBDockerrunVersion: 1
option_settings:
  aws:elasticbeanstalk:container:dotnet:apppool:
    Target Runtime: 8.0

Verdict: Azure wins on .NET runtime support. Day-one .NET releases and deeper Microsoft integration.

Scaling

Azure App Service

# Manual scale-out (Basic tier)
az appservice plan update --name myapp-plan --resource-group myapp-rg --number-of-workers 3
 
# Autoscale (Standard+)
az monitor autoscale create \
  --resource-group myapp-rg \
  --resource myapp-plan \
  --resource-type Microsoft.Web/serverFarms \
  --name myapp-autoscale \
  --min-count 1 --max-count 5 --count 1
 
# Scale rule — add instance when CPU > 70%
az monitor autoscale rule create \
  --resource-group myapp-rg \
  --autoscale-name myapp-autoscale \
  --condition "CpuPercentage > 70 avg 5m" \
  --scale out 1

• Scale out time: 3–5 minutes
• Max instances: up to 30 (Standard), 100+ (Premium)
• HTTP-based autoscaling available (scale on request queue depth)

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

// .elasticbeanstalk/env.yaml
option_settings:
  aws:autoscaling:asg:
    MinSize: 1
    MaxSize: 10
  aws:autoscaling:trigger:
    MeasureName: CPUUtilization
    Unit: Percent
    UpperThreshold: 70
    LowerThreshold: 30
    UpperBreachScaleIncrement: 1
    LowerBreachScaleIncrement: -1
    BreachDuration: 5
  aws:elasticbeanstalk:environment:
    EnvironmentType: LoadBalanced  # Required for autoscaling

• Scale out time: 3–7 minutes (EC2 provisioning)
• More scaling options via CloudWatch metrics
• Predictive scaling available with additional configuration

Verdict: Azure wins on scaling DX. Azure's scaling rules are simpler to configure. EB has more flexibility but more complexity.

CI/CD Integration

Azure App Service

GitHub Actions: First-class integration with the azure/webapps-deploy action:

- name: Deploy to Azure App Service
  uses: azure/webapps-deploy@v3
  with:
    app-name: myapp-12345
    publish-profile: ${{ secrets.AZURE_PUBLISH_PROFILE }}
    package: ./publish

Azure DevOps: Native integration, one-click pipeline setup from the portal.

Deployment slots: Blue/green deploys built in — deploy to staging, swap to production:

az webapp deployment slot swap --name myapp-12345 --resource-group myapp-rg --slot staging

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

GitHub Actions:

- name: Deploy to EB
  uses: einaregilsson/beanstalk-deploy@v21
  with:
    aws_access_key: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
    aws_secret_key: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
    application_name: myapp
    environment_name: myapp-prod
    version_label: ${{ github.sha }}
    region: us-east-1
    deployment_package: deploy.zip

CodePipeline: AWS-native CI/CD, more powerful but more configuration.

Blue/green: More complex on EB — requires creating a new environment, swapping CNAMEs, then terminating old environment.

Verdict: Azure wins on CI/CD. Deployment slots make zero-downtime deploys trivial. EB blue/green is achievable but requires more effort.

Monitoring

Azure App Service

• Application Insights: One-click integration from the portal. Full distributed tracing, performance monitoring, exceptions, and custom metrics.
• Log stream: az webapp log tail for real-time logs
• Diagnostic tools: Built-in profiler, memory dumps, CPU profiling via Portal
• Alerts: Native Azure Monitor integration

// Program.cs — enable Application Insights
builder.Services.AddApplicationInsightsTelemetry();

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

• CloudWatch: Metrics and logs, requires configuration
• X-Ray: Distributed tracing (requires SDK integration and IAM setup)
• EB Health Dashboard: Instance health, deployment history
• Log streaming: Requires enabling CloudWatch Logs integration

// Add AWS X-Ray for distributed tracing
dotnet add package AWSXRayRecorder.Handlers.AspNetCore
 
// Startup configuration
app.UseXRay("MyApp");

Verdict: Azure wins on monitoring DX. Application Insights is significantly easier to set up and more developer-friendly than the CloudWatch/X-Ray combination.

Environment Configuration

Azure App Service

# App settings (environment variables)
az webapp config appsettings set \
  --resource-group myapp-rg \
  --name myapp-12345 \
  --settings KEY=value
 
# Reference Key Vault secrets
az webapp config appsettings set \
  --resource-group myapp-rg \
  --name myapp-12345 \
  --settings "Secret=@Microsoft.KeyVault(VaultName=myvault;SecretName=MySecret)"

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

# .ebextensions/env-vars.config
option_settings:
  aws:elasticbeanstalk:application:environment:
    ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT: Production
    ConnectionString: "Server=..."
 
# Or via EB CLI
eb setenv KEY=value ANOTHER_KEY=value2

For secrets, use AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store or Secrets Manager:

// Read from SSM Parameter Store
var config = new AmazonSimpleSystemsManagementClient();
var param = await config.GetParameterAsync(new GetParameterRequest
{
    Name = "/myapp/prod/database-password",
    WithDecryption = true
});
var password = param.Parameter.Value;

Side-by-Side Summary

Verdict

Choose Azure App Service if:

• Your team is primarily .NET/Microsoft-focused
• You want the best day-one .NET runtime support
• You need simple zero-downtime deploys (slots)
• You want Application Insights integration
• Monitoring and DX matter more than raw cost

Choose AWS Elastic Beanstalk if:

• Your organization is deep in AWS
• You need tighter integration with AWS services (RDS, ElastiCache, SQS)
• You want more control over the underlying EC2 configuration
• Cost optimization is critical and you're willing to spend time on configuration

For most greenfield .NET projects in 2025, Azure App Service offers a better developer experience at comparable or slightly higher cost. Elastic Beanstalk makes sense when AWS is already your primary cloud provider.