App Service Plan Vs App Service Environment

·

2 min read

App Service Plan- ASP

An App Service Plan represents a set of compute resources (virtual machines) that host your web apps, mobile apps, or API apps. It defines –

  • Region

  • pricing tier (which determines the VM size and resources)

  • number of VM instances

Multiple apps can run on the same App Service Plan, sharing the compute resources.

Features:

  • Multi-tenant, meaning the VMs are shared across multiple customers

  • Provides less control over network configuration and isolation

  • Suitable for most general-purpose web apps

App Service Environment-ASE

An App Service Environment is an isolated and dedicated environment to run your App Service Plans. It is essentially a deployment of the Azure App Service into your own Azure Virtual Network.

Features:

  • Provides network isolation by deploying into your own VNet

  • Allows granular control over inbound and outbound network traffic

  • Enables secure, high-speed connections over VPNs to on-premises resources

  • Suitable for applications requiring very high scale, isolation, or high memory utilization

  • Available in two SKUs: ASEv2 (automated infrastructure scaling) and ASEv1 (manual infrastructure scaling)

  • Incurs additional costs beyond an App Service Plan for the dedicated environment

In summary, an App Service Plan runs on a multi-tenant infrastructure, while an App Service Environment provides a dedicated and isolated runtime environment within your own VNet for enhanced security, control, and scale.

It is safe to say that ASE is premium/isolated pricing plan of App service plan

How to choose-

ASP

ASE

You don't require network isolation or secure VPN connectivity to on-premises resources

You require network isolation by deploying your apps into your own Azure Virtual Network

Your application doesn't have very high scale or high memory utilization requirements

You need secure, high-speed VPN connectivity to on-premises corporate resources

You don't need granular control over inbound and outbound network traffic

Your application requires very high scale, with ability to scale out to a large number of instances

Cost is a major concern, as App Service Plans are more cost-effective for general workloads

Your application has high memory utilization requirements

 

You need granular control over inbound and outbound network traffic to/from your apps

 

You're willing to pay a premium for the dedicated, isolated runtime environment

Use an App Service Environment when you require enhanced security, isolation, control, and scalability, and are willing to pay more for a dedicated environment within your VNET