The Cloud Choice Every Startup Faces
When you're building a .NET product, the cloud decision shapes everything: your deployment story, DevOps tooling, cost structure, and long-term scaling options.
We defaulted to Azure. Here's why.
Azure + .NET: First-Class Citizenship
Microsoft builds both Azure and .NET. The integration depth shows:
- Azure App Service deploys .NET apps in minutes with zero config
- Azure Functions has the richest .NET trigger ecosystem
- Azure DevOps / GitHub Actions + .NET = seamless CI/CD
- Application Insights integrates natively with
ILogger<T>
This first-class support shaves weeks off initial setup.
Cost at Startup Scale
We run PlaayUp's backend on:
| Service | Plan | Monthly Cost | |---------|------|-------------| | App Service | B1 | ~$13 | | Firebase (Blaze) | Pay-as-you-go | ~$5–20 | | Azure SQL (Basic) | 5 DTU | ~$5 | | Total | | ~$23–38 |
For a startup, this is extremely manageable.
Deployment Pipeline
Our CI/CD uses GitHub Actions → Azure App Service:
- name: Deploy to Azure Web App
uses: azure/webapps-deploy@v3
with:
app-name: ${{ env.AZURE_WEBAPP_NAME }}
publish-profile: ${{ secrets.AZURE_WEBAPP_PUBLISH_PROFILE }}
package: ./publish
Zero-downtime deployments out of the box.
When We'd Choose AWS Instead
Azure isn't always the answer:
- Python-heavy ML pipelines → AWS SageMaker is more mature
- Lambda-heavy event architectures → AWS Lambda ecosystem
- Existing AWS team → don't switch for no reason
Verdict
For .NET startups: Azure is the pragmatic choice. The DX, tooling, and integration depth with the Microsoft ecosystem creates a productivity advantage that compounds over time.
— BitPropel Engineering