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106 changes: 56 additions & 50 deletions content/nginxaas-azure/overview/feature-comparison.md
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- concept
---

NGINXaaS for Azure delivers the core capabilities of NGINX as a managed service, integrated with Microsoft Azure. It provides most of the features of NGINX Open Source and many from NGINX Plus, but some capabilities are not included.
NGINXaaS for Azure delivers the core capabilities of NGINX as a managed service, integrated with Microsoft Azure. It provides most of the features of NGINX Open Source and many from NGINX Plus, but some capabilities are not included.

Below is a feature breakdown with notes on support and limitations.
Below is a feature breakdown with notes on support and limitations.


## Load balancing

- [HTTP and TCP/UDP load balancing](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/load-balancer/http-load-balancer/)
- [Layer 7 request routing](https://www.nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#location)
- [Session persistence](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/load-balancer/http-load-balancer/#enabling-session-persistence)
- [Active health checks](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/load-balancer/http-health-check/) (not in OSS, available in Plus)
- [DNS-based service discovery](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_upstream_module.html#service)
- [HTTP and TCP/UDP load balancing](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/load-balancer/http-load-balancer/)
- [Layer 7 request routing](https://www.nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#location)
- [Session persistence](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/load-balancer/http-load-balancer/#enabling-session-persistence)
- [Active health checks](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/load-balancer/http-health-check/)
- [DNS-based service discovery](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_upstream_module.html#service)

---

## Content caching

- [Static and dynamic content caching](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/content-cache/content-caching/)
- MQTT protocol support for IoT devices
- [Static and dynamic content caching](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/content-cache/content-caching/)
- MQTT protocol support for IoT devices

**Limitation:** [Cache purging API](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/content-cache/content-caching/#purging-content-from-the-cache) (Plus feature) is not available.
**Limitation:**

- [Cache purging API](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/content-cache/content-caching/#purging-content-from-the-cache) is not available

---

## Web server and reverse proxy

- Origin server for static content
- Reverse proxy for [HTTP](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_proxy_module.html), [FastCGI](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_fastcgi_module.html), [memcached](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_memcached_module.html), [SCGI](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_scgi_module.html), and [uwsgi](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_uwsgi_module.html)
- [HTTP/2 gateway](https://www.nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_v2_module.html)
- [gRPC proxy](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_grpc_module.html)
- [HTTP/2 server push](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_v2_module.html#http2_push)
- [HTTP/3 over QUIC](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_v3_module.html)
- Reverse proxy for [HTTP](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_proxy_module.html), [FastCGI](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_fastcgi_module.html), [memcached](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_memcached_module.html), [SCGI](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_scgi_module.html), and [uwsgi](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_uwsgi_module.html)
- [HTTP/2 gateway](https://www.nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_v2_module.html)
- [gRPC proxy](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_grpc_module.html)
- [HTTP/2 server push](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_v2_module.html#http2_push)
- [HTTP/3 over QUIC](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_v3_module.html)

---

## Security

- [HTTP basic authentication](https://www.nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_auth_basic_module.html)
- [Authentication subrequests](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_auth_request_module.html) (for external auth)
- [IP-based access controls](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_access_module.html)
- [Rate limiting](https://blog.nginx.org/blog/rate-limiting-nginx)
- Dual-stack RSA/ECC SSL/TLS offload
- TLS 1.3 support
- [JWT authentication](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_auth_jwt_module.html) (Plus feature)
- OpenID Connect SSO (Plus feature)
- NGINX as a SAML Service Provider (Plus feature)
- [NGINX App Protect WAF](https://www.f5.com/products/nginx/nginx-app-protect) (extra cost)
- [HTTP basic authentication](https://www.nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_auth_basic_module.html)
- [Authentication subrequests](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_auth_request_module.html) (For external authentication systems)
- [IP-based access controls](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_access_module.html)
- [Rate limiting](https://blog.nginx.org/blog/rate-limiting-nginx)
- Dual-stack RSA/ECC SSL/TLS offload
- TLS 1.3 support
- [JWT authentication](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_auth_jwt_module.html)
- OpenID Connect SSO
- NGINX as a SAML Service Provider
- [NGINX App Protect WAF](https://www.f5.com/products/nginx/nginx-app-protect) (Available at an extra cost)

**Limitations:**
**Limitations:**

- Internal redirect and App Protect DoS (Plus features) are not available.
- Internal redirect and App Protect DoS are not available

---

## Monitoring

- Export metrics directly into [Azure Monitor](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/overview)
- Dashboards in [Azure Monitor](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/overview) and [Azure Portal](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/get-started/azure-portal)
- [Extended status with 100+ metrics](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/monitoring/live-activity-monitoring/)
- Export metrics directly into [Azure Monitor](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/overview)
- Dashboards in [Azure Monitor](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/overview) and [Azure Portal](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/get-started/azure-portal)
- [Extended status with 100+ metrics](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/monitoring/live-activity-monitoring/)

**Limitations:**

- No built-in live dashboard like NGINX Plus; visibility is provided through Azure Monitor instead.
- Native OpenTelemetry tracing is not available.
- No built-in live dashboard like NGINX Plus; visibility is provided through Azure Monitor instead
- Native OpenTelemetry tracing is not available

---

## High availability (HA)

- [Active-active HA](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/high-availability/)
- [Configuration synchronization across the cluster](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/high-availability/configuration-sharing/)
- [State sharing](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/high-availability/zone_sync/) for session persistence, rate limiting, and key-value store
- [Active-active HA](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/high-availability/)
- [Configuration synchronization across the cluster](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/high-availability/configuration-sharing/)
- [State sharing](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/high-availability/zone_sync/) for session persistence, rate limiting, and key-value store

**Limitation:** [Active-passive HA](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/high-availability/) is not applicable in the managed service model.
**Limitation:**

- [Active-passive HA](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/high-availability/) is not applicable in the managed service model

---

## Programmability

- [NGINX JavaScript (njs) module](https://www.f5.com/company/blog/nginx/harnessing-power-convenience-of-javascript-for-each-request-with-nginx-javascript-module)
- [Key-value store](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_keyval_module.html)
- [NGINX JavaScript (njs) module](https://www.f5.com/company/blog/nginx/harnessing-power-convenience-of-javascript-for-each-request-with-nginx-javascript-module)
- [Key-value store](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_keyval_module.html)

**Limitations:**

- [NGINX Plus API for dynamic reconfiguration](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/load-balancer/dynamic-configuration-api/) (Plus feature) is not available.
- [NGINX Plus API for dynamic reconfiguration](https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/load-balancer/dynamic-configuration-api/) is not available

---

## Streaming media

- Live streaming: RTMP, HLS, DASH
- VOD: Flash (FLV), MP4
- Live streaming: RTMP, HLS, DASH
- VOD: Flash (FLV), MP4

**Limitations:**

**Limitation:** Adaptive bitrate streaming (HLS/HDS) and [MP4 bandwidth controls](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_mp4_module.html) (Plus features) are not available.
- Adaptive bitrate streaming (HLS/HDS) and [MP4 bandwidth controls](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_mp4_module.html) are not available

---

## Ecosystem and extensibility

- Dynamic module support for:
- [Image-Filter](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_image_filter_module.html)
- [njs](https://nginx.org/en/docs/njs/)
- [OpenTelemetry](https://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_otel_module.html)
- [XSLT](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_xslt_module.html)
- Delivered as a managed service in Microsoft Azure
- [Commercial support](https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000140156/) from F5
- [Image-Filter](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_image_filter_module.html)
- [njs](https://nginx.org/en/docs/njs/)
- [OpenTelemetry](https://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_otel_module.html)
- [XSLT](https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_xslt_module.html)
- Delivered as a managed service in Microsoft Azure
- [Commercial support](https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000140156/) from F5

**Limitations:**

- [Ingress Controller](https://www.f5.com/products/nginx/nginx-ingress-controller) and OpenShift Router are not included.
- Dynamic module repository is limited compared to NGINX Plus.
- [Ingress Controller](https://www.f5.com/products/nginx/nginx-ingress-controller) and OpenShift Router are not included
- Dynamic module repository is limited compared to NGINX Plus

---

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