Which is cheaper, Amazon OpenSearch or Azure AI Search?

AWS is cheaper in 3 of 4 comparable categories, with an average price difference of 39.9%.

How do Amazon OpenSearch and Azure AI Search compare for general purpose workloads?

Both providers offer competitive pricing for general purpose workloads.

Updated Apr 20, 2026AWSAzure

Overall Winner

AWS

AWS Wins

Azure Wins

Ties

AWS wins 3 of 4 price comparisons, averaging 39.9% lower prices in categories where it leads.

Prices range from $0.1500/hr to $16.12/hr across comparable tiers.

●AWS leads in Amazon OpenSearch Service Instance (3/4 tiers, avg 40% difference)

Choose AWS

Best for Amazon OpenSearch Service Instance workloads

Comparing Amazon OpenSearch and Azure AI Search across 4 equivalent tiers. On-demand hourly rates are shown in USD for the default region.

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Category	AWS Amazon OpenSearch	Azure Azure AI Search	Diff	Cheapest
Amazon OpenSearch Service Instance - m8g.large.search	$0.1500/hr m8g.large.search ($109.50/mo)	$0.3360/hr Standard S1 - Standard S1 Unit ($245.28/mo)	+55.4%	AWS
Amazon OpenSearch Service Instance - c5.4xlarge.search	$1.0030/hr c5.4xlarge.search ($732.19/mo)	$1.3440/hr Standard S2 - Standard S2 Unit ($981.12/mo)	+25.4%	AWS
Amazon OpenSearch Service Instance - r4.8xlarge.search	$3.1390/hr r4.8xlarge.search ($2,291.47/mo)	$2.9568/hr Standard S3 CC - Standard S3 CC Unit ($2,158.46/mo)	+5.8%	Azure
Amazon OpenSearch Service Instance - im4gn.8xlarge.search	$4.3660/hr im4gn.8xlarge.search ($3,187.18/mo)	$16.1200/hr Semantic Ranker - Semantic Ranker Unit ($11,767.60/mo)	+72.9%	AWS

✓Amazon OpenSearch Service Instance - m8g.large.search - saves $135.78/mo (55.4% cheaper)
✓Amazon OpenSearch Service Instance - c5.4xlarge.search - saves $248.93/mo (25.4% cheaper)
✓Amazon OpenSearch Service Instance - im4gn.8xlarge.search - saves $8,580.42/mo (72.9% cheaper)