Azure Storage vs Rackspace Cloud Files: What are the differences?

What is Azure Storage? Reliable, economical cloud storage for data big and small. Azure Storage provides the flexibility to store and retrieve large amounts of unstructured data, such as documents and media files with Azure Blobs; structured nosql based data with Azure Tables; reliable messages with Azure Queues, and use SMB based Azure Files for migrating on-premises applications to the cloud.

What is Rackspace Cloud Files? Store it on Cloud Files, serve it fast on Akamai's CDN. Cloud Files, powered by OpenStack®, provides an easy to use online storage for files and media which can be delivered globally at blazing speeds over Akamai's content delivery network (CDN).

Azure Storage and Rackspace Cloud Files can be primarily classified as "Cloud Storage" tools.

Some of the features offered by Azure Storage are:

• Blobs, Tables, Queues, and Files
• Highly scalable
• Durable & highly available

On the other hand, Rackspace Cloud Files provides the following key features:

• Pay as you grow pricing starting at 10¢/GB/Mo.
• Akamai CDN delivery of your content starting at 12¢/GB
• Use as much or as little storage as you want

"All-in-one storage solution" is the primary reason why developers consider Azure Storage over the competitors, whereas "Akamai CDN" was stated as the key factor in picking Rackspace Cloud Files.

Microsoft, Starbucks, and Yammer are some of the popular companies that use Azure Storage, whereas Rackspace Cloud Files is used by Accenture, Utrip, and RecordSetter. Azure Storage has a broader approval, being mentioned in 84 company stacks & 44 developers stacks; compared to Rackspace Cloud Files, which is listed in 11 company stacks and 10 developer stacks.