Managed hosting for web apps, mobile back ends, REST APIs, and automated business processes.
Choose App Service to host a web app, REST API, or mobile back end without managing servers. It handles patching, load balancing, TLS, deployment slots, and autoscaling, so developers focus on code. It's the lowest-friction option for standard web workloads in .NET, Java, Node.js, Python, or PHP.
Avoid App Service when you need OS-level control, GPU support, or full container orchestration. For complex microservices on Kubernetes choose AKS or Container Apps; for event-driven code that scales to zero choose Functions; for custom runtimes choose Virtual Machines.
| Hosting model | PaaS |
|---|---|
| Container support | Container-compatible |
| Minimum nodes | 1 |
| State management | Stateless |
| Web hosting | Built-in |
| Autoscaling | Built-in service |
| Load balancer | Integrated |
| Scale limit | 30 instances (Premium); 200 (App Service Environment); 100 (Isolated ASE) |
| Multiregion | Single region only — external router plus multiple App Service plan instances |
| Virtual network integration | Supported (Basic tier or higher, or App Service Environment) |
| Hybrid connectivity | Supported (App Service Hybrid Connections) |
| GPU support | Not supported |
| TLS | Supported |
| Architecture styles | Web-queue-worker |
| Required skills | Web development, application deployment |
| Operational overhead | Low — the platform handles infrastructure |
| Best for teams | Application developers focused on code |
Yes. App Service can run a single custom Linux or Windows container from a registry, but it doesn't orchestrate multiple containers — for that, use Container Apps or AKS.
Yes. The Standard tier and above provide deployment slots for staging, testing, and zero-downtime swaps into production.
A plan runs in a single region. For multiregion you deploy plans in each region and place a global router such as Azure Front Door or Traffic Manager in front.
This is one candidate from the Azure compute decision guide. The right choice depends on your full requirements — evaluate scaling, cost, and operational fit before committing.
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