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Choose the right integration and automation services in Azure

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This article compares the following Microsoft cloud services:

All of these services can solve integration problems and automate business processes. They can all define input, actions, conditions, and output. You can run each of them on a schedule or trigger. Each service has unique advantages, and this article explains the differences.

Note

If you're looking for a more general comparison between Azure Functions and other Azure compute options, see the following articles:

For a summary and comparison of automation service options in Azure, see Choose the Automation services in Azure.

Compare Azure Logic Apps and Microsoft Power Automate

These services are both designer-first integration platforms where you can build and run automated workflows. Both platforms integrate with various Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and enterprise applications. Both provide similar workflow designers, and while their connectors share some overlap, each platform also offers their own unique connectors.

Power Automate empowers business users, office workers, and citizen developers to build simple integrations without having to work with IT or developers or to write code. One example might be an approval workflow for a SharePoint document library. Azure Logic Apps supports integrations ranging from little-to-no-code scenarios to more advanced, codeful, and complex workflows. Examples include B2B processes or scenarios that require enterprise-level interactions with Azure DevOps. A business workflow can also grow from simple to complete over time.

To help you determine whether you want to use Azure Logic Apps or Power Automate for a specific integration, see the Capability comparison table.

Compare Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps

These Azure services enable you to build and run serverless workloads. Azure Functions is a serverless compute service, while Azure Logic Apps is a serverless workflow integration platform. Both can create complex orchestrations. An orchestration is a collection of functions, which are called actions in Azure Logic Apps, that you can run to complete a complex task. For example, to process a batch of orders, you might execute many instances of a function in parallel, wait for all instances to finish, and then execute a function that computes a result on the aggregate.

For Azure Functions, you develop orchestrations by writing code and using the Durable Functions extension. For Azure Logic Apps, you create orchestrations by using a visual designer or by editing Azure Resource Manager templates.

You can mix and match services when you build an orchestration. For example, you can call functions from logic app workflows and call logic app workflows from functions. Choose how to build each orchestration based on the services' capabilities or your personal preference. The following table lists some key differences between these services:

Durable Functions Azure Logic Apps
Development Code-first (imperative) Designer-first (declarative)
Connectivity - A dozen built-in binding types
- Write code for custom bindings		 - 1,400+ prebuilt connectors with triggers and actions
- Enterprise Integration Pack for B2B scenarios
- Custom connectors
Actions Each activity is an Azure function; write code for activity functions 1,400+ prebuilt connectors with triggers and actions
Monitoring Azure Application Insights - Azure portal
- Azure Monitor Logs
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Azure Application Insights for Standard workflows
- Health Check for Standard workflows

For more information, see Monitor workflows in Azure Logic Apps.
Management - REST API
- Visual Studio		 - Azure portal
- Visual Studio Code
- REST API
- PowerShell
- Azure CLI (Standard workflows)
- Azure CLI (Consumption workflows)
Execution context Can run locally or in the cloud Can run in Azure, locally in Visual Studio Code, or in partially connected environments. For more information, see What is Azure Logic Apps?

Compare Functions and WebJobs

Like Azure Functions, Azure App Service WebJobs with the WebJobs SDK is a code-first integration service that is designed for developers. Both are built on Azure App Service and support features such as source control integration, authentication, and monitoring with Application Insights integration.

WebJobs and the WebJobs SDK

You can use the WebJobs feature of App Service to run a script or code in the context of an App Service web app. The WebJobs SDK is a framework designed for WebJobs that simplifies the code you write to respond to events in Azure services. For example, you might respond to the creation of an image blob in Azure Storage by creating a thumbnail image. The WebJobs SDK runs as a .NET console application, which you can deploy to a WebJob.

WebJobs and the WebJobs SDK work best together, but you can use WebJobs without the WebJobs SDK and vice versa. A WebJob can run any program or script that runs in the App Service sandbox. A WebJobs SDK console application can run anywhere console applications run, such as on-premises servers.

Comparison table

Azure Functions is built on the WebJobs SDK, so it shares many of the same event triggers and connections to other Azure services. Here are some factors to consider when you're choosing between Azure Functions and WebJobs with the WebJobs SDK:

Functions WebJobs with WebJobs SDK
Serverless app model with automatic scaling ✔
Develop and test in browser ✔
Pay-per-use pricing ✔
Integration with Logic Apps ✔
Trigger events Timer
Azure Storage queues and blobs
Azure Service Bus queues and topics
Azure Cosmos DB
Azure Event Hubs
HTTP/WebHook (GitHub, Slack)
Azure Event Grid		 Timer
Azure Storage queues and blobs
Azure Service Bus queues and topics
Azure Cosmos DB
Azure Event Hubs
File system
Supported languages C#
F#
JavaScript
Java
Python
PowerShell		 C#1
Package managers npm and NuGet NuGet2

1 WebJobs (without the WebJobs SDK) supports languages such as C#, Java, JavaScript, Bash, .cmd, .bat, PowerShell, PHP, TypeScript, Python, and more. A WebJob can run any program or script that can run in the App Service sandbox.

2 WebJobs (without the WebJobs SDK) supports npm and NuGet.

Summary

Azure Functions offers more developer productivity than Azure App Service WebJobs does. It also offers more options for programming languages, development environments, Azure service integration, and pricing. For most scenarios, it's the best choice.

Here are two scenarios for which WebJobs might be the best choice:

  • You need more control over the code that listens for events, the JobHost object. Functions offers a limited number of ways to customize JobHost behavior in the host.json file. Sometimes you need to do things that you can't specify by using a string in a JSON file. For example, only the WebJobs SDK lets you configure a custom retry policy for Azure Storage.
  • You have an App Service app for which you want to run code snippets, and you want to manage them together in the same Azure DevOps environment.

For other scenarios where you want to run code snippets for integrating Azure or external services, choose Azure Functions over WebJobs with the WebJobs SDK.

Power Automate, Logic Apps, Functions, and WebJobs together

You don't have to choose just one of these services. They integrate with each other and with external services.

A Power Automate flow can call an Azure Logic Apps workflow. An Azure Logic Apps workflow can call a function in Azure Functions, and vice versa. For example, see Create a function that integrates with Azure Logic Apps.

Between Power Automate, Azure Logic Apps, and Functions, the integration experience between these services continues to improve over time. You can build a component in one service and use that component in the other services.

For more information about integration services, see the following articles:

Next steps

Get started by creating your first flow, logic app workflow, or function app. Select any of the following links: