Feature Comparison between Azure Development Storage (based on July CTP) and Azure Cloud Storage
| Feature | Development Storage | Azure Storage | |
| Connect to Accounts at a time | Single Fixed Account. | Multiple Accounts. | |
| Protocol | Supports only Http. | Supports Http and Https. | |
| URI | Hierarchical path part of the URI. | Domain name. | |
| Table | Requires configuration of fixed schema table prior to use. | Does not require configuring the schema (Tables are schema less). | |
| Dynamic Table | Does not support dynamic creation and deletion tables. | Supports dynamic creation and deletion tables. | |
| Table Service | Shared Key Lite Authentication is supported. | Shared Key Authentication is supported. | |
| Container/Blob Service | Shared Key Authentication is supported. | Shared Key Authentication is supported. | |
| Error Information | Not fully supported the extended error information returned by the cloud storage service. | Supported. | |
| IIS | Run IIS 7.0 in integrated mode. | Run IIS 7.0 in integrated mode. | |
| Administrative Privileges | Must need Administrative Privileges. | No need of Administrative Privileges (runs with Standard Windows User). | |
| Table and Entities | |||
| Entity group transaction for table storage | Not Supported | Supported | |
| Creating Entities | Supported | Supported | |
| Adding New Attributes in Entity | Not Supported | Supported | |
| Type of Attribute | Attribute type of a Attribute (Siring, Int32, etc) can’t be different within the same table. | An Attribute type of a Attribute (String, Int32, etc) can be different within the same table. | |
| String Property | String Properties are limited to 1,000 characters. | All the properties are limited to 255 characters. | |
| Date Property | Date range is January 1, 1753 to December 31, 9999. | Date range is January 1, 1601 to December 31, 9999. | |
| Query on Tables | Supported | Supported | |
| Delete Entity | Supported | Supported | |
| Delete Table | Supported | Supported | |
| Containers and Blobs | |||
| Creating Containers | Supported | Supported | |
| Upload Blobs | Supported | Supported | |
| Download Blobs | Supported | Supported | |
| Delete Blobs | Supported | Supported | |
| Blob Size | Up to 2 GB. | Up to 50 GB. | |
| Container Metadata | Supported | Supported | |
| Blob Metadata | Supported | Supported | |
| Delete Container | Supported | Supported | |
| Container Access Policy | Not Supported | Supported | |
| Shared authentication signatures for blob | Not Supported | Supported | |
| Root blob container | Not Supported | Supported | |
| Update blob with PutBlockList | Not Supported | Supported | |
| Copy blob | Not Supported | Supported | |
| GetBlockList | Not Supported | Supported | |
| URL of the Blob | Can be access if container is marked public. | Can be access if container is marked public. | |
| Queue and Messages | |||
| Create Queues | Supported | Supported | |
| Queue Metadata | Supported | Supported | |
| Create Messages | Supported | Supported | |
| Clear Messages | Supported | Supported | |
| Delete Queue | Supported | Supported | |
Note – To use Azure Development Storage you need to install Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and Windows Vista SP1/Windows7. This is not required for Azure Cloud Storage.