Amazon Elastic Container Registry vs Azure Container Registry

Amazon Elastic Container Registry8.8Visit Azure Container Registry8.6Visit

Higher score Amazon Elastic Container Registry #7 in Container Registries 8.8/10 Paid ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Amazon ECR

vs

Azure Container Registry #9 in Container Registries 8.6/10 Paid ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Azure ACR

• Amazon Elastic Container Registry fits best

  AWS-native container workloads

• Azure Container Registry fits best

  Azure-native development teams

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Side by side

Feature	Amazon Elastic Container Registry 8.8/10 Visit ↗	Azure Container Registry 8.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.8	8.6
Ranking	#7 in Container Registries	#9 in Container Registries
Best for	AWS-native container workloads	Azure-native development teams
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	$0.10/GB/mo	—
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Docs	Tickets, Community, Docs
Integrations	7 integrations	6 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Amazon Elastic Container Registry 4/4 · Azure Container Registry 4/4
Image scanning	✓	✓
OCI artifacts	✓	✓
Immutable tags	✓	✓
Retention policies	✓	✓
Specs
Replication scope	Multi-region	Global
Included storage	Not checked yet	10 GB
Maximum image size	Not checked yet	195 GB
Our review
Pros	Deep integration with ECS, EKS, Fargate, Lambda, and Elastic Beanstalk Scanning, immutable tags, lifecycle policies, signing, and encrypted storage Cross-Region and cross-account replication with pull-through caching	ACR Tasks provides cloud-based container image builds. Supports signing, verification, scanning, locking, and retention policies. Integrates with AKS, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, and Key Vault.
Cons	Usage-based pricing requires cost planning rather than fixed subscription budgeting Its strongest fit is within the AWS ecosystem The 52,000 MiB layer limit may matter for unusually large layers	There is no free plan. Geo-replication and Private Link support require Premium. Scanning uses a separately licensed Microsoft Defender for Cloud integration.
Our verdict	Amazon Elastic Container Registry (Amazon ECR) is a fully managed registry for Docker and Open Container Initiative images and artifacts. It supports private and public repositories, with access through the web, APIs, Docker-compatible… Read the review →	Azure Container Registry is a managed private registry for Docker container images and other OCI artifacts. It suits development teams and organizations deploying workloads on Azure, particularly those connecting container storage to Azure… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Amazon Elastic Container Registry — where it wins

  • Deep integration with ECS, EKS, Fargate, Lambda, and Elastic Beanstalk
  • Scanning, immutable tags, lifecycle policies, signing, and encrypted storage
  • Cross-Region and cross-account replication with pull-through caching

  Where it doesn't

  • Usage-based pricing requires cost planning rather than fixed subscription budgeting
  • Its strongest fit is within the AWS ecosystem
  • The 52,000 MiB layer limit may matter for unusually large layers

• Azure Container Registry — where it wins

  • ACR Tasks provides cloud-based container image builds.
  • Supports signing, verification, scanning, locking, and retention policies.
  • Integrates with AKS, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, and Key Vault.

  Where it doesn't

  • There is no free plan.
  • Geo-replication and Private Link support require Premium.
  • Scanning uses a separately licensed Microsoft Defender for Cloud integration.

• Amazon Elastic Container Registry8.8/10 · Paid

  A capable AWS-native registry with strong controls, scanning, and multi-Region support.

  Visit Amazon ECRFull verdict →
• Azure Container Registry8.6/10 · Paid

  A capable Azure-focused registry with builds, security controls, and Premium geo-replication.

  Visit Azure ACRFull verdict →