The cost difference between Windows Azure Tables and DynamoDB really depends upon the size of the entities being operated over and the amount of data stored. If an application can benefit from batch transactions or query operations, the savings can be a lot per entity using Windows Azure Tables.
For the cost of storage. The base price for Windows Azure Tables is $0.14/GB/month, and the base price for DynamoDB is $1.00/GB/month.
For transactions, there is the following tradeoff
• DynamoDB is cheaper if the application performs operations mainly on small items (couple KBs in size), and the application can’t benefit from batch or query operations that Windows Azure Tables provide
• Windows Azure Tables is cheaper for larger sized entities, when batch transactions are used, or when range queries are used
The following shows the cost of writing or reading 1 million entities per hour (277.78 per second) for different sized entities (1KB vs 64KB). It also includes the cost difference between strong and eventually consistent reads for DynamoDB. Note, Windows Azure Tables allows batch operations and queries for many entities at once, at a discounted price. The cost shown below is the cost per hour for writing or reading 1,000,000 entities per hour (277.78 per second).
• 1KB single entity writes -- Azure=$1 and DynamoDB=$0.28
• 64KB single entity writes -- Azure=$1 and DynamoDB=$17.78
• 1KB batch writes (with batch size of 100 entities) -- Azure=$0.01 and DynamoDB=$0.28
• 64KB batch writes (with batch size of 100 entities) -- Azure=$0.01 and DynamoDB=$17.78
• 1KB strong consistency reads -- Azure=$1 and DynamoDB=$0.05
• 64KB strong consistency reads -- Azure=$1 and DynamoDB=$3.54
• 1KB strong consistency reads via query/scan (assuming 50 entities returned on each request) – Azure=$0.02, DynamoDB=$0.05
• 64KB strong consistency reads via query/scan (assuming 50 entities returned on each request) – Azure=$0.02, DynamoDB=$3.54
For the cost of storage. The base price for Windows Azure Tables is $0.14/GB/month, and the base price for DynamoDB is $1.00/GB/month.
For transactions, there is the following tradeoff
• DynamoDB is cheaper if the application performs operations mainly on small items (couple KBs in size), and the application can’t benefit from batch or query operations that Windows Azure Tables provide
• Windows Azure Tables is cheaper for larger sized entities, when batch transactions are used, or when range queries are used
The following shows the cost of writing or reading 1 million entities per hour (277.78 per second) for different sized entities (1KB vs 64KB). It also includes the cost difference between strong and eventually consistent reads for DynamoDB. Note, Windows Azure Tables allows batch operations and queries for many entities at once, at a discounted price. The cost shown below is the cost per hour for writing or reading 1,000,000 entities per hour (277.78 per second).
• 1KB single entity writes -- Azure=$1 and DynamoDB=$0.28
• 64KB single entity writes -- Azure=$1 and DynamoDB=$17.78
• 1KB batch writes (with batch size of 100 entities) -- Azure=$0.01 and DynamoDB=$0.28
• 64KB batch writes (with batch size of 100 entities) -- Azure=$0.01 and DynamoDB=$17.78
• 1KB strong consistency reads -- Azure=$1 and DynamoDB=$0.05
• 64KB strong consistency reads -- Azure=$1 and DynamoDB=$3.54
• 1KB strong consistency reads via query/scan (assuming 50 entities returned on each request) – Azure=$0.02, DynamoDB=$0.05
• 64KB strong consistency reads via query/scan (assuming 50 entities returned on each request) – Azure=$0.02, DynamoDB=$3.54
• 1KB eventual consistency reads – DynamoDB=$0.028
• 64KB eventual consistency reads – DynamoDB=$1.77