Amazon Bedrock vs Azure OpenAI: Choosing the Right Platform for Your Generative AI Needs

In this article, we examine the features, benefits, and differences of both AI platforms to provide a clear picture of what would work best for your requirements.

Are you trying to build a compelling generative AI application for your organization needs? Then you need the right platform and tools to put into effect.

In the world of cloud computing, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure stand out, displaying impressive Generative AI platforms! Each provides a comprehensive suite of features that empower developers to carve out fresh avenues in Generative AI application development.

Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) AI platforms namely Azure OpenAI and Amazon Bedrock are the two top contenders that you should bet on.

In this article, we examine the features, benefits, and differences of both AI platforms to provide a clear picture of what would work best for your requirements. Make your choice in the end, continue reading...

What is Azure OpenAI?

Azure OpenAI offers REST API access to OpenAI’s powerful language models such as GPT-4, GPT-35-Turbo, and Embeddings model series. These models can be easily used by developers for tasks like content generation, summarization, semantic search, and natural language-to-code translation. Users can access the service via REST APIs, Python SDK, or the web-based interface in Azure OpenAI Studio.

What is Amazon Bedrock?

Amazon Bedrock's foundational models and tools let the developers tailor them to suit particular use cases. Therefore, it is a piece of cake for the developers to create and deploy it hassle-free. To provide large language models (LLMs) for developers to build on - Amazon Bedrock partners with Anthropic, Stability AI, AI21 Labs, and Hugging Face. Using custom data - developers can train these models further and deploy them using AWS’s cloud infrastructure.

Azure OpenAI Vs. Amazon Bedrock - Key Features Comparison

Feature	Azure OpenAI	Amazon Bedrock
Access to OpenAI models	Yes, including GPT-4	Yes, including GPT-3.5, Bloom, and Jurassic-1 Jumbo
Fine-tuning of OpenAI models	Yes	Yes
Integration with other Azure services	Yes, including Azure Cognitive Search, Azure Machine Learning, and GitHub Copilot	Yes, including Amazon SageMaker, Amazon Rekognition, and Amazon Translate
Enterprise security features	Yes, including virtual network support, private link support, and managed identity	Yes, including AWS PrivateLink, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), and AWS CloudTrail
Pricing	Pay-as-you-go	Pay-as-you-go
Availability	Generally available	Generally available

Azure OpenAI Vs. Amazon Bedrock - Key Benefits Comparison

Feature	Azure OpenAI	Amazon Bedrock
AI Model Access	Latest OpenAI models, including GPT-4	Variety of powerful AI models, including GPT-3.5, Bloom, and Jurassic-1 Jumbo
Integration	Seamlessly integrates with other Azure services	Leveraging Amazon's cloud infrastructure and integrates with Amazon SageMaker, Amazon Rekognition, and Amazon Translate
Security	Comprehensive security features, including virtual network support, private link support, and managed identity	YRobust security measures, including AWS PrivateLink, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), and AWS CloudTrail
Enterprise security features	Yes, including virtual network support, private link support, and managed identity	Yes, including AWS PrivateLink, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), and AWS CloudTrail
Pricing	Flexible and scalable pricing models	Cost-effective scaling with pay-as-you-go pricing
Support	Extensive documentation, tutorials, and community resources	Detailed documentation, hands-on tutorials, and active community forums

Azure OpenAI Vs. Amazon Bedrock – Other Key Differences That You Need to Be Aware of...

Feature	Azure OpenAI	Amazon Bedrock
Gen AI Category	Generative AI focused on natural language processing, code generation, and creative text formats	Generative AI with a broader range of capabilities, including natural language processing, image generation, and code generation
Fine-tuning	Enables fine-tuning of OpenAI models to tailor them to specific tasks or datasets	Facilitates customization of foundation models through training on custom data or integrating with other AI tools
Low-code, No-code Development	Currently offers Power Apps for low-code development	No-code development options are not yet available
Code Completion	Integrates with GitHub Copilot for code suggestions and autocompletion	Provides Amazon Code Whisperer for code suggestions and autocompletion
Vector Database	Supports Azure Cosmoz DB and Azure Cache for real-time data storage and retrieval	Primarily relies on Amazon RDS for relational database storage
Model Catalog	Offers both commercial and open-source models through Azure ML and Hugging Face	Provides commercial models through Amazon SageMaker and JumpStart, as well as open-source models through Amazon SageMaker and Hugging Face
Foundation Models Runtime	Leverages Azure AI for running and deploying foundation models	Utilizes Amazon Bedrock for running and deploying foundation models
Foundation Models Text/Chat	Supports GPT-3 and GPT-4 models for text generation and chat	Provides access to Bloom, Jurassic-1 Jumbo, and other models for text generation and chat
Foundation Models Code	Offers GPT-3 and GPT-4 models for code generation	Supports Bloom, Jurassic-1 Jumbo, and other models for code generation
Foundation Models Image Generation	Integrates with DALL-E for image generation	Provides access to DALL-E 2 and other models for image generation
Foundation Models Translation	Currently does not offer foundation models for translation	Supports translation models through Amazon SageMaker and JumpStart

Azure OpenAI Vs. Amazon Bedrock – How we see it?

Customization & Model Access: Both Azure OpenAI and Amazon Bedrock use powerful LLMs. While Azure presents OpenAI’s GPT series Amazon Bedrock is one step ahead by partnering with a wider range of models. Developers can equally work as per their specific requirements on both models. It is easy to customize and fine-tune on both models.

Development Environment: Azure OpenAI effortlessly lets integration with Azure services and external applications through its extensive API ecosystem. Amazon Bedrock on the other hand, easily integrates with other AWS services. This supports the developers in a big way by simplifying the entire development process.

Scalability and Performance: Azure OpenAI and Amazon Bedrock offer reliable performance and high scalability by leveraging cloud infrastructures respectively. Based on the requirements, they offer automatic scaling features.

Cost and Pricing: Both Amazon Bedrock and Azure OpenAI follow a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which provides developers with flexibility and control over costs. Although Amazon Bedrock's customized chips may result in cost savings in certain situations, both platforms offer cost optimization tools to help manage expenses effectively.

Concluding Thoughts

All the essential details of Microsoft Azure OpenAI and Amazon Bedrock have been covered in this blog. Based on these insights and evaluation of AI requirements, infrastructure integration, scalability, and costs - you can pick the right AI platform for your organization.

For expert guidance in developing the AI platform or for more information on how to go about it, feel free to talk to our Gen AI experts today!