Microsoft Azure → Amazon Web Services
AWS equivalent of Azure Virtual Network
The closest AWS equivalents of Azure Virtual Network are Amazon VPC and VPC subnets.
About Azure Virtual Network
| Provider | Microsoft Azure |
|---|---|
| Status | Generally available |
| What it is | Isolated private network in a region, with your own IPv4 and IPv6 address space, subnets, routing, and security. Subnets are regional and span availability zones. |
| Documentation | learn.microsoft.com |
| Pricing | Official pricing page |
AWS mappings (2)
| Capability | AWS equivalent | Match |
|---|---|---|
| Private virtual network | Amazon VPC | Direct match |
| Subnets and availability zone placement | VPC subnets | Partial match |
Virtual networks, subnets & IP addressing(2)
Private virtual network Direct match
Amazon VPC maps to Azure Virtual Network (VNet). Both are regional, isolated networks with your own IPv4 and IPv6 address space, divided into subnets with routing and security controls.
- Subnets and zones. An AWS subnet sits in one Availability Zone, so you create one subnet per AZ. An Azure subnet is regional and spans all zones, so one subnet can hold zone-redundant resources.
- Internet access. A VPC reaches the internet only through gateways you attach (internet gateway, NAT gateway). Azure has no internet gateway object. Outbound access comes from NAT Gateway, load balancer outbound rules, public IPs, or a firewall, and new VNets now default to private subnets.
- Reserved addresses. Both clouds reserve five IP addresses in each subnet.
Subnets and availability zone placement Partial match
VPC subnets map to Azure virtual network subnets, but placement differs. AWS subnets belong to one Availability Zone, while Azure subnets are regional and you pick the zone per resource.
- High availability. On AWS, a three-AZ tier needs three subnets. On Azure, one subnet can serve all zones. If you move a resource to another zone, whether it keeps its private IP depends on the resource type.
- Public and private. AWS calls a subnet public if its route table points to an internet gateway. On Azure, private subnets turn off default outbound access, and new VNets created with API versions released after March 31, 2026 default to private.
- Delegation. Some Azure PaaS services need a dedicated, delegated subnet. AWS services usually just place network interfaces in your subnets.