Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Microsoft Azure VS Shadow

Compare Microsoft Azure VS Shadow and see what are their differences

Microsoft Azure logo Microsoft Azure

Windows Azure and SQL Azure enable you to build, host and scale applications in Microsoft datacenters.

Shadow logo Shadow

Transform any device into a supercharged gaming machine.
  • Microsoft Azure Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-10
  • Shadow Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-04

Shadow

Pricing URL
-
Release Date
2015 January
Startup details
Country
France
City
Paris
Founder(s)
Asher Kagan
Employees
100 - 249

Microsoft Azure features and specs

  • Scalability
    Azure offers a highly scalable environment where you can easily adjust compute resources to match your needs.
  • Global Reach
    Azure has multiple data centers around the globe, providing extensive global coverage for applications and services.
  • Integration with Microsoft Products
    Azure integrates seamlessly with existing Microsoft software like Office 365, Active Directory, and Windows Server.
  • Compliance
    Azure adheres to a broad set of international standards and compliance certifications, including GDPR, ISO, and many others.
  • Service Offerings
    Azure provides a wide variety of services, from virtual machines to databases and AI-powered functionalities.
  • Hybrid Solutions
    Azure supports hybrid cloud configurations, allowing businesses to run some resources on-premises and some in the cloud.
  • Security
    Azure employs advanced security protocols and has multiple layers of security, including data encryption and secure access controls.

Possible disadvantages of Microsoft Azure

  • Cost Management
    The pricing structure can be complex and may lead to unexpected costs if not carefully managed.
  • Learning Curve
    New users may find Azure challenging to learn due to its extensive range of services and configurations.
  • Service Limits
    Some Azure services have limitations and quotas, which can hinder performance or scalability if reached.
  • Support Costs
    While Azure offers robust support, advanced support plans can be expensive.
  • Complexity in Hybrid Setup
    Setting up and managing a hybrid environment can be technically challenging and may require specialized skills.
  • Downtime Risks
    Although rare, Azure is not immune to outages and downtime, which can impact service availability.
  • Data Migration
    Migrating data and services into Azure can be complicated and may require significant planning and resources.

Shadow features and specs

  • High-Performance
    Shadow provides a high-performance virtual computer with dedicated resources, ensuring smooth operation for demanding applications and games.
  • Accessibility
    Users can access their Shadow PC from various devices including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, making it versatile and highly accessible.
  • Cost-Effective
    For users who require high-end hardware but cannot afford the upfront cost, Shadow's subscription model provides access to powerful technology for a manageable monthly fee.
  • Security and Updates
    The service includes regular updates and security measures, so users don’t need to worry about maintaining their hardware or software.
  • Storage
    Shadow offers substantial cloud storage, which can be a significant advantage for users needing large amounts of space for their projects and files.

Possible disadvantages of Shadow

  • Internet Dependency
    Shadow requires a stable and fast internet connection to function properly. Poor connectivity can result in lag and reduced performance.
  • Bandwidth Usage
    Streaming a virtual computer can consume a lot of data, which may be an issue for users with limited bandwidth or data caps.
  • Subscription Cost
    Although cost-effective for some, the subscription fee can become expensive over time compared to owning your own hardware outright.
  • Latency
    Despite high performance, users may still experience latency issues, especially in high-speed applications like competitive gaming.
  • Limited Offline Use
    The reliance on cloud means that there is no offline mode, so users can’t access their virtual machine without an internet connection.

Analysis of Microsoft Azure

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Microsoft Azure is a reliable and capable cloud service provider, widely regarded as a good choice, especially for businesses that heavily rely on Microsoft products, or those that require a cloud solution with robust global and hybrid capabilities.

Why this product is good

  • Microsoft Azure is considered a robust cloud computing platform for various reasons: 1. **Scalability and Flexibility**: It offers flexible and scalable cloud services, allowing businesses to scale up their operations without significant upfront capital investment. 2. **Integration with Microsoft Products**: Seamless integration with Microsoft products such as Windows Server, Active Directory, and SQL Server makes it particularly appealing for enterprises already using Microsoft ecosystems. 3. **Global Reach and Compliance**: With data centers worldwide, Azure provides opportunities for global scaling. It also supports a wide range of compliance certifications, vital for businesses in regulated industries. 4. **Comprehensive Services**: A variety of services, including Machine Learning, analytics, IoT, and DevOps, cater to numerous industrial requirements. 5. **Hybrid Capabilities**: Azure’s hybrid capabilities support environments that use on-premises infrastructure in conjunction with cloud solutions.

Recommended for

    Microsoft Azure is recommended for enterprise businesses, established organizations transitioning from on-premise data centers to the cloud, startups looking for professional scale quickly, and sectors requiring high compliance standards like healthcare, finance, and government services.

Microsoft Azure videos

Building your first Azure Blockchain Workbench application

More videos:

  • Review - How does Microsoft Azure work?
  • Review - Introduction to Azure Blockchain Workbench
  • Review - Microsoft Azure Overview
  • Tutorial - What Is Azure? | Microsoft Azure Tutorial For Beginners | Microsoft Azure Training | Simplilearn
  • Review - Bots and Azure Blockchain Workbench

Shadow videos

Shadow - Movie Review

More videos:

  • Review - Shadow Cloud Gaming Review
  • Review - Shadow - Movie Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Microsoft Azure and Shadow)
Cloud Computing
89 89%
11% 11
Games
0 0%
100% 100
Cloud Infrastructure
100 100%
0% 0
Game Streaming
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Microsoft Azure and Shadow. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Microsoft Azure and Shadow

Microsoft Azure Reviews

Top 15 MuleSoft Competitors and Alternatives
The Azure API Management platform has over a million APIs for modernizing legacy apps to adopting API-first strategies from on-premises to multi-cloud. Thousands of the world’s largest enterprises use the solution to build, secure, and scale API initiatives.
20 Best Free Website Hosting (July 2023)
New users can usually receive a free site credit at the largest cloud services like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform to get started. However, when these free credits expire, cloud products can be quite expensive and out of the price range of many projects.
AWS vs Azure Which is best for your career?
This course provides the key knowledge required to prepare for Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure. You will learn how to develop and deploy cloud applications on Azure using various Azure services.
Top 10 Best Container Software in 2022
Tool Cost/Plan Details: There is no upfront cost. Azure does not charge for cluster management. It charges only for what you use. It has Pricing for nodes model. Based on your container needs, you can get the price estimator through Container Services calculator.
Top 50 Cheapest Cloud Services Providers | Affordable Cloud Hosting
With direct competitors like AWS, Microsoft Azure has been one of the most preferred and also cheapest cloud services providers. The plan that Azure submit depends on the services a business seeks to access. Azure cloud platform includes over 200 products and cloud services to assist businesses in bringing new solutions to life—to solve today’s challenges and create the...

Shadow Reviews

11 Best Parsec Alternatives & Similar Apps
Still, it can consume your battery. All in all, Shadow is a worth-trying app for those who love games and want to always connect with their games regardless of the location.
7 Best Cloud Gaming Services for 2020 (No. 3 is My Favorite)
Although games are a popular use of Shadow, and work well on it, Shadow’s core service is more than just games. While that’s a pro for some, it may be extra weight for people who want to keep things simple.
Source: hostingpill.com
Stream games with these Google Stadia alternatives
The Shadow cloud gaming model is about to be updated, and it will make it quite the formidable foe. For the basic monthly investment of £13, you gain access to a timeshare comprised of an Intel Xeon CPU, an Nvidia GTX 1080 equivalent graphics card, 12GB of DDR4, a 256GB SSD, and an internet connection that’ll make you weep in awe. It’s 1Gbps, so you absolutely don’t need to...
15 game streaming services you can try before Google Stadia arrives
You might not have heard of Shadow, but it’s a real cloud game streaming service based in the United States. Like other similar platforms, Shadow works by giving you a virtualized computer with the means to play 3D games. Currently, Shadow is operational in 38 out of the 50 states, with more on the way.
The Best Cloud Gaming Services for Streaming Video Games
Shadow: Cloud gaming at a fixed price. Shadow functions as a subscription service, with a price of $35 a month no matter how much time you spend playing. For those of you that play way more than you should, this service may be for you. It’s also similar to Parsec in that it’s essentially a computer in the cloud, so you can run any app you want in it.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Shadow should be more popular than Microsoft Azure. It has been mentiond 320 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Microsoft Azure mentions (66)

  • How to Develop a Voice Chatbot
    Microsoft Azure offers a Bot Framework with built-in support for voice interactions via the Speech SDK. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Setting Up a Windows 11 Virtual Machine with Azure on a MacOs
    The first step in creating a virtual machine is getting a Microsoft account. Once you have a Microsoft account click this link to create an Azure free trial account. Click on the "Try Azure for free" button. This takes you to the page below. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • How To Create Windows 11 Virtual Machine in Azure
    Before you start, ensure you have an active Azure subscription, if you don't have one, Click here to create a free account. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • The 2024 Web Hosting Report
    A VM is the original “hosting” product of the cloud era. Over the last 20 years, VM providers have come and gone, as have enterprise virtualization solutions such as VMware. Today you can do this somewhere like OVHcloud, Hetzner or DigitalOcean, which took over the “server” market from the early 2000’s. Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft's Azure also offer VMs, at a less... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Deploying flask app to Kubernetes using Minikube
    Before deploying the application with Kubernetes, you need to containerize the application using docker. This article shows how to deploy a Flask application on Ubuntu 22.04 using Minikube; a Kubernetes tool for local deployment for testing and free offering. Alternatively, you can deploy your container apps using Cloud providers such as GCP(Google Cloud), Azure(Microsoft) or AWS(Amazon). - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

Shadow mentions (320)

  • 🚀 Get a 5€ Discount on Your ShadowPC Subscription with Code: 80EDA79
    Upgrade your gaming experience with ShadowPC! Use my referral code "80EDA79" at checkout to snag a cool 5€ off your first subscription. Game on! 🚀. Source: over 1 year ago
  • PCVR on Mac?
    I had Shadow. There quite affordable when I registered and the hardware was top line. I was using it as my gaming PC for a long time (mainly for PCVR). I live in Spain and these days there wasn't dedicated servers here so I connected through Paris nodes (and that increased a bit the latency) but I play HL Alyx and a lot of games that way with good graphics (in that moment Shadow has a GTX1080 GPU) and great... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Journeyperson save on a potato? Or stuck to one large nation/several small ones?
    Https://shadow.tech/ It’s a cloud PC. I used to use it until I got my current laptop. Not cheap but very good. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Apple's game porting toolkit is fantastic. Cyperbunk 2077 at Ultra on an M1 MBP
    > But then Apple doesn't ship devices with actually powerful GPUs, so it can never compete with the gaming PCs which are far less expensive and far more powerfull graphics-wise. It is still expensive to have to use Windows just so you can game. Or put all the effort into dual booting Linux. Most people just use a Macbook and then get an Xbox/Ps5/Switch/Quest2. For games I can't use on those you can get Shadow PC... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Stream pirated Games
    There is shadow.tech, which just gives you a full Windows Desktop with a little persistent disk. This should in theory work the way you want to. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Microsoft Azure and Shadow, you can also consider the following products

Amazon AWS - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.

Parsec - Streams games locally or over the internet

DigitalOcean - Simplifying cloud hosting. Deploy an SSD cloud server in 55 seconds.

Geforce Now - Underpowered PC can now pack the punch of high-performance GeForce GTX GPUs with GeForce NOW.

Linode - We make it simple to develop, deploy, and scale cloud infrastructure at the best price-to-performance ratio in the market.

Moonlight-Stream.org - Moonlight allows you to stream your collection of games from your GameStream-compatible PC to any...