Raff is an Azure Virtual Machines alternative when a workload fits us-east and the priorities are lower published VM pricing, included NVMe capacity, unmetered bandwidth, and a smaller operating surface. Azure Virtual Machines is stronger when the architecture needs more than 70 regions, availability zones, Microsoft identity and licensing integrations, GPUs, confidential computing, scale sets, hybrid connectivity, or Azure-native managed services. At the 4 vCPU / 8 GB shared-class comparison point, Raff General Purpose is $30.99/month with 160 GB NVMe and unmetered bandwidth, while Azure B4ls v2 in East US is about $107.31/month for Linux compute only before managed disk, outbound transfer, snapshots, and support. Raff has not completed a controlled Azure benchmark within the last 90 days, so this page compares current pricing, CPU behavior, included resources, and platform fit without declaring a performance winner.
For buyers searching for an Azure VM alternative, Azure VPS, Azure Virtual Machines pricing, or a cheaper Azure alternative, the practical decision is whether Microsoft's global platform breadth matters more than simpler us-east VM economics.
For the broader location decision, review how to choose a U.S. cloud server for latency and compliance.
Azure Virtual Machines vs Raff: which is right for you?
The choice is between Azure's globally distributed enterprise platform and Raff's simpler infrastructure package.
| Decision factor | Choose Raff | Choose Azure Virtual Machines |
|---|
| Geography | Your users and compliance requirements fit one region named us-east | You need more than 70 regions, availability zones, or specific data-residency options |
| VM economics | You want listed NVMe capacity and unmetered transfer in the published VM price | You can model compute, disk, transfer, snapshots, licenses, and network services separately |
| CPU behavior | You want shared-vCPU General Purpose or a dedicated-vCPU product family | You want burstable B-series, fixed-performance families, Spot VMs, confidential VMs, GPUs, or specialized sizes |
| Windows | You need a straightforward hosted Windows VM workflow | You need Azure Hybrid Benefit, Microsoft Entra integration, Azure Virtual Desktop, or enterprise Microsoft agreements |
| Application platform | You need VMs, Kubernetes, managed databases, Apps, Functions, and storage in a compact platform | You need AKS, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Functions, App Service, Fabric, AI services, or deep Microsoft integration |
| Networking | Public egress is large or unpredictable | You need ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN, global load balancing, Front Door, or complex hybrid networks |
Raff is not a replacement for every Azure service. It is most relevant as an Azure VM alternative for conventional Linux and Windows servers where predictable infrastructure cost matters more than hyperscaler breadth.
Azure Virtual Machines overview
Azure Virtual Machines is Microsoft's infrastructure-as-a-service compute product for Linux and Windows workloads. Azure currently provides more than 70 regions globally, with availability-zone support in many regions and a large portfolio of networking, security, backup, monitoring, identity, and hybrid services.
Azure offers many VM families: burstable B-series, general-purpose D-series, memory-optimized E-series, compute-optimized F-series, storage-optimized L-series, GPU families, confidential VMs, and specialized high-performance computing options. That breadth is a major advantage, but it also means that Azure VM pricing depends on family, region, OS, purchase model, disk, IP, transfer, and support.
This comparison uses the current Bsv2 low-memory Linux family in East US because it provides clean 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 4 vCPU / 8 GB, and 8 vCPU / 16 GB sizes. B2ls v2, B4ls v2, and B8ls v2 each have a 30% base CPU performance level and use CPU credits to burst toward full vCPU performance. They have no local temporary storage and rely on Azure Managed Disks.
Azure supports pay-as-you-go, Spot VMs, savings plans, and one-year or three-year reservations. Discounts can materially reduce compute cost, but they do not eliminate every surrounding storage, transfer, backup, support, or software charge.
Raff overview
Raff serves customers from one public region named us-east. Its current platform includes:
- General Purpose shared-vCPU VMs
- CPU-Optimized dedicated-vCPU VMs
- Linux and Windows operating systems
- Managed Kubernetes
- Managed PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, ClickHouse, and Kafka
- Raff Apps
- Raff Functions
- S3-compatible Object Storage
- Block Storage Volumes at $0.08/GB-month
- Snapshots at $0.06/GB-month
- Private networking, firewall controls, DDoS protection, IPv4, and IPv6
- API, CLI, Terraform, web console, VNC, resize, and custom OS workflows
Current General Purpose plans include:
- 2 vCPU / 2 GB / 40 GB NVMe — $8.49/month
- 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB NVMe — $13.99/month
- 4 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB NVMe — $16.99/month
- 2 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB NVMe — $27.99/month
- 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB NVMe — $30.99/month
- 8 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB NVMe — $37.99/month
- 8 vCPU / 16 GB / 320 GB NVMe — $59.99/month
Raff also offers CPU-Optimized plans for workloads that require dedicated-vCPU allocation. This refresh does not publish CPU-Optimized prices because the buyer-facing comparison is anchored to the current General Purpose catalog.
VM bandwidth is unmetered on a standard 3 Gbps public port. Raff's current data-protection model uses a free backup-and-snapshot storage pool rather than the older three-slot model; additional protection storage is billed when the included pool is exceeded.
Raff reports 3,000+ customers and 15,000+ VMs, publishes a 99.9% uptime SLA, and currently shows 4.5/5 on Trustpilot and 4.6/5 on G2.
Azure Virtual Machines pricing vs Raff pricing
The table below compares Raff General Purpose shared-vCPU plans with Azure Bsv2 low-memory Linux pay-as-you-go compute in East US. Azure figures are monthly equivalents at 730 hours and exclude managed disk, outbound transfer, snapshots, premium software, support, and other network services.
| Matched resource class | Raff General Purpose | Azure Bsv2 Linux, East US | Difference before Azure add-ons |
|---|
| 2 vCPU / 4 GB | $13.99 with 80 GB NVMe | B2ls v2 about $30.37 compute only | Raff about 54% lower |
| 4 vCPU / 8 GB | $30.99 with 160 GB NVMe | B4ls v2 about $107.31 compute only | Raff about 71% lower |
| 8 vCPU / 16 GB | $59.99 with 320 GB NVMe | B8ls v2 about $215.35 compute only | Raff about 72% lower |
This is a resource-and-price comparison, not a performance-equivalent match. Raff General Purpose uses shared vCPU, while Azure Bsv2 uses a CPU-credit burst model with a 30% baseline on the selected sizes. For sustained CPU demand, Azure buyers should compare a non-burstable family, and Raff buyers should evaluate the dedicated-vCPU CPU-Optimized family.
What Azure's compute price does not include
The Azure Bsv2 compute figure does not include:
- An OS managed disk
- Additional data disks
- Standard SSD transaction charges where applicable
- Snapshot storage
- Internet data transfer beyond the free allowance
- Load Balancer, Application Gateway, Front Door, NAT Gateway, VPN, or ExpressRoute where used
- Azure Backup or Site Recovery resources
- Paid support
- Windows Server or SQL Server software charges where applicable
Azure Managed Disks are billed by disk type, capacity or performance tier, redundancy, and—in some cases—transactions. Azure snapshots are billed separately from the VM compute charge.
Raff includes the listed NVMe capacity and unmetered VM transfer. Its current protection model uses a free backup-and-snapshot storage pool, with additional protection storage billed when the included pool is exceeded.
Windows Server pricing and licensing
Azure Windows VM pricing includes a Windows Server software component in the pay-as-you-go rate. Qualified customers can reduce eligible Windows Server licensing costs with Azure Hybrid Benefit when the applicable Microsoft licensing requirements are met.
Raff provides hosted Windows VMs through its Windows VM product. Azure is stronger when an organization already operates Microsoft licensing agreements, Entra ID, Azure Virtual Desktop, or hybrid Microsoft infrastructure. Raff is simpler when the requirement is a conventional hosted Windows server without the surrounding Azure governance stack.
Bandwidth and transfer policy
Raff VM plans include unmetered bandwidth on a standard 3 Gbps public port. There is no per-GB public internet egress line item on normal VM plans.
Azure internet ingress is free. For internet egress routed through Microsoft's Premium Global Network from North America or Europe, Azure currently includes the first 100 GB per month, then charges $0.087/GB for the next 10 TB, $0.083/GB for the next 40 TB, and lower tiered rates at larger volumes. Microsoft defines 1 TB as 1,000 GB on the pricing page.
| Monthly outbound transfer | Raff | Azure Premium Network from North America |
|---|
| 1 TB | Included | About $78.30 |
| 5 TB | Included | About $426.30 |
| 10 TB | Included | About $861.30 |
| 20 TB | Included | About $1,691.70 |
| 50 TB | Included | About $4,181.70 |
Azure can lower some transfer costs through CDN, Front Door, routing preference, private connectivity, or architectures that keep traffic inside eligible boundaries. Inter-region transfer, cross-zone patterns, NAT, load balancing, and hybrid services can have separate pricing rules.
Raff is easier to budget for public APIs, SaaS traffic, downloads, media, remote desktops, backup replication, and unexpected traffic spikes. Azure is stronger when global routing, private backbone paths, hybrid connectivity, and Microsoft network services are deliberately designed into the architecture.
Feature comparison: Azure Virtual Machines vs Raff
Compute
| Feature | Raff | Azure Virtual Machines |
|---|
| Shared or burstable compute | General Purpose shared vCPU | B-series CPU-credit burstable VMs |
| Dedicated compute | CPU-Optimized family available | Multiple fixed-performance and specialized families |
| Current 4 vCPU / 8 GB anchor | $30.99 with 160 GB NVMe | B4ls v2 about $107.31 compute only |
| Bsv2 CPU baseline | Not applicable | 30% on B2ls/B4ls/B8ls v2 |
| Autoscaling | Application/platform dependent | Virtual Machine Scale Sets |
| Spot VMs | Not in current public VM catalog | Available with eviction risk |
| GPUs and confidential VMs | Not in current public VM catalog | Available |
| Linux and Windows | Available | Available; licensing affects price |
Azure wins on VM-family breadth, accelerators, autoscaling, Spot capacity, confidential computing, and specialized infrastructure. Raff offers a shorter decision path for ordinary application infrastructure.
Networking
| Feature | Raff | Azure Virtual Machines |
|---|
| Public internet transfer | Unmetered at 3 Gbps | Tiered egress after 100 GB/month |
| Private networking | Available | Virtual Network, peering, Private Link, Virtual WAN |
| Firewall | Included platform controls | Network Security Groups, Azure Firewall, policy tooling |
| IPv4 and IPv6 | Available | Available; SKU and architecture details vary |
| Load balancing | Not used as a Raff advantage in this comparison | Load Balancer, Application Gateway, Front Door available |
| Hybrid connectivity | Standard VPN integration patterns | VPN Gateway and ExpressRoute |
| Geography | One us-east region | More than 70 regions |
Azure is the stronger global and hybrid network platform. Raff is the simpler option for a us-east application stack with predictable public transfer.
Storage & Backups
| Feature | Raff | Azure Virtual Machines |
|---|
| Base VM storage | Included NVMe capacity | Managed disk billed separately |
| Additional block storage | Volumes at $0.08/GB-month | Standard HDD, Standard SSD, Premium SSD, Premium SSD v2, Ultra Disk |
| Snapshots | $0.06/GB-month | Full and incremental snapshot products |
| Protection baseline | Free backup-and-snapshot storage pool | Azure Backup or snapshot schedules configured separately |
| Disaster recovery | Backup, snapshots, and application design | Azure Site Recovery and broader enterprise DR tooling |
| Object storage | S3-compatible Object Storage | Azure Blob Storage |
Azure offers more storage tiers, performance controls, redundancy options, and enterprise recovery products. Raff provides a simpler VM-storage and protection workflow.
| Feature | Raff | Azure |
|---|
| Managed Kubernetes | Available | Azure Kubernetes Service |
| Managed databases | PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, ClickHouse, Kafka | Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Cosmos DB, and more |
| Functions | Raff Functions | Azure Functions |
| Application platform | Raff Apps | App Service, Container Apps, AKS, Functions |
| Identity | Focused platform access controls | Microsoft Entra ID and enterprise IAM ecosystem |
| Analytics and AI | Focused infrastructure platform | Fabric, Azure AI, and broad data services |
| API, CLI, Terraform | Available | Extensive ARM APIs, Azure CLI, Bicep, Terraform ecosystem |
Azure clearly wins on specialized services and Microsoft enterprise integration. Raff covers a compact application stack for teams that do not need the wider Azure portfolio.
Pricing & Billing
| Feature | Raff | Azure Virtual Machines |
|---|
| Billing choices | Subscription terms plus hourly PAYG options | Pay-as-you-go, reservations, savings plans, Spot |
| Disk in advertised VM price | Included | Usually separate |
| Internet transfer | Unmetered | Tiered after free allowance |
| Protection baseline | Free backup-and-snapshot storage pool | Separately configured and billed |
| Windows licensing | Hosted Windows VM product | License-included PAYG or eligible Azure Hybrid Benefit |
| Cost optimization | Published plan choices and longer terms | Reservations, savings plans, Spot, Hybrid Benefit, Advisor |
Azure provides more optimization levers. Raff requires less optimization work to understand the ordinary monthly VM bill.
Trust & Operations
| Feature | Raff | Azure |
|---|
| Scale signal | 3,000+ customers; 15,000+ VMs | Global hyperscale cloud |
| Public rating | Trustpilot 4.5/5; G2 4.6/5 | Broad enterprise review and partner ecosystem |
| SLA | 99.9% | SLA depends on VM and availability architecture |
| Support | Direct 24/7 support | Documentation, community, partners, and paid support plans |
| Compliance scope | Focused provider program | Extensive global and industry certifications |
Azure wins on enterprise history, compliance breadth, global partner coverage, and architecture options. Raff offers a more direct support and product relationship.
Infrastructure
| Feature | Raff | Azure |
|---|
| Public region model | One region named us-east | More than 70 regions |
| Availability zones | Raff region model | Available across many Azure regions |
| Global private backbone | Focused provider network | Microsoft global network |
| Hybrid cloud | Standard integration patterns | Azure Arc, ExpressRoute, VPN, Azure Local, enterprise tooling |
| Best fit | Predictable us-east VM and managed application workloads | Global, regulated, Microsoft-centric, hybrid, AI, and enterprise systems |
Raff has not completed a controlled, matched Azure Virtual Machines benchmark within the last 90 days. This page therefore does not claim that Raff or Azure is faster.
A valid benchmark would need to match:
- Region and network test endpoints
- Linux distribution and kernel
- vCPU and RAM
- Shared, burstable, or dedicated CPU behavior
- Azure CPU-credit balance and baseline utilization
- Disk type, capacity, caching, IOPS, throughput, and transaction settings
- Raff General Purpose or CPU-Optimized class
- At least three passes per test
- CPU, memory, fio, database, HTTP, and network workloads
- Full monthly price including Azure disk and transfer assumptions
The Bsv2 family is especially unsuitable for a casual one-pass comparison because CPU credits affect sustained performance. B2ls v2, B4ls v2, and B8ls v2 have a 30% baseline and can burst when credits are available. Raff General Purpose uses shared vCPU, while CPU-Optimized uses dedicated vCPU; selecting the wrong Raff class would also distort the result.
Until a controlled test is completed, use this page for pricing and architectural fit rather than performance claims.
When you should choose Azure Virtual Machines over Raff
Choose Azure when:
- You need more than 70 regions, availability zones, or country-specific deployment options.
- Your company standardizes on Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Policy, Defender for Cloud, Azure Monitor, or Microsoft enterprise agreements.
- You need Azure Hybrid Benefit for eligible Windows Server licenses.
- The workload requires Azure Virtual Desktop, AKS, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, App Service, Functions, Fabric, or Azure AI services.
- You need Virtual Machine Scale Sets, Spot VMs, confidential computing, GPUs, or HPC.
- ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN, Private Link, Front Door, or advanced hybrid networking is central to the design.
- Azure Backup, Site Recovery, enterprise governance, or extensive compliance certifications are mandatory.
- The workload must operate across multiple regions or zones.
When you should choose Raff over Azure Virtual Machines
Choose Raff when:
- You want 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB NVMe for $13.99/month.
- You want 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB NVMe for $30.99/month.
- You want unmetered VM bandwidth rather than tiered public egress.
- The current free backup-and-snapshot storage pool fits ordinary protection requirements.
- Your application uses conventional VMs, managed databases, Kubernetes, Apps, Functions, and object storage rather than deep Azure-native dependencies.
- Your users and compliance requirements fit
us-east.
- You prefer direct support and fewer billing dimensions.
Compare nearby decisions with Raff versus Google Cloud, Raff versus Oracle Cloud, and Raff versus AWS Lightsail.
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Migrating from Azure Virtual Machines to Raff
- Inventory the Azure estate. Record VMs, size families, managed disks, disk caching, snapshots, public IPs, Virtual Networks, NSGs, load balancers, NAT, DNS, Entra ID dependencies, extensions, backup vaults, and managed-service connections.
- Classify portable and Azure-native components. Standard Linux or Windows servers, application files, containers, and common databases are usually portable. AKS, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Managed Identity, Key Vault, Private Link, Azure Files, Service Bus, and Azure Virtual Desktop need replacement or hybrid planning.
- Choose the Raff compute class. Use General Purpose for shared-vCPU workloads or CPU-Optimized where dedicated-vCPU allocation is required. Match RAM, usable storage, IP requirements, private networking, firewall exposure, and protection requirements.
- Move applications and data. Redeploy from source control, transfer files with rsync or secure copy, migrate databases with native dump/restore or replication, and move compatible object data through S3 tools. Windows applications may require service, registry, scheduled-task, and license validation.
- Rebuild identity and secrets. Replace Managed Identity, Key Vault references, domain assumptions, Azure extensions, metadata-service calls, and Entra-dependent authentication where they are not portable.
- Validate before cutover. Test TLS, application health, RDP or SSH access, database consistency, storage mounts, scheduled jobs, outbound email, backups, restore procedures, monitoring, and third-party allowlists through a temporary hostname.
- Cut over and remove residual charges. Lower DNS TTL, perform the final sync, update A and AAAA records, monitor production, retain Azure for rollback, then delete unused VMs, disks, snapshots, public IPs, load balancers, NAT resources, backup vault data, and monitoring resources.
Operational gotchas:
- Azure public IP addresses cannot move to Raff. Update DNS, security allowlists, payment providers, SMTP relays, VPN peers, and vendor integrations.
- Azure managed-disk snapshots are not directly attachable to Raff. Use file-, image-, application-, or database-level migration.
- Windows Server activation, RDS access, SQL Server licensing, and third-party application licenses must be checked separately.
- Managed Identity, Key Vault, Azure VM extensions, and Instance Metadata Service calls can fail after migration.
About Azure Virtual Machines
Azure Virtual Machines is Microsoft's IaaS compute service for Linux and Windows. It operates within Azure's global network of more than 70 regions and connects to Microsoft's networking, identity, storage, database, analytics, AI, hybrid, security, and management services.
Conclusion: Azure Virtual Machines or Raff?
Raff is more suitable for ordinary production servers when the workload fits us-east and predictable infrastructure economics matter more than global enterprise breadth. Azure is more suitable when global placement, Microsoft integration, specialized VM families, or hybrid architecture are central requirements.
- Linux VM pricing: Raff 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB is $30.99; Azure
B4ls v2 is about $107.31 for compute alone before disk and transfer.
- Bandwidth: Raff is unmetered on a standard 3 Gbps port; Azure includes 100 GB and then uses tiered internet-egress pricing.
- Protection: Raff uses a free backup-and-snapshot storage pool; Azure Backup and snapshots are separately configured and billed.
- CPU model: Raff General Purpose is shared-vCPU; Azure Bsv2 is CPU-credit burstable with a 30% baseline on the selected sizes.
- Platform: Azure wins on more than 70 regions, Microsoft integration, hybrid networking, scale sets, accelerators, enterprise governance, and specialized services.
- Performance evidence: no matched benchmark is available, so neither provider is declared faster.
Choose Azure for global, regulated, hybrid, Microsoft-centric, AI, or deeply Azure-native systems. Choose Raff for us-east Linux and Windows servers that benefit from included NVMe capacity, unmetered bandwidth, managed databases, Kubernetes, Apps, Functions, and direct support.
Continue with the U.S. cloud server decision guide or review Raff Windows VM and Raff VM.
