Windows Azure Web Sites Azure App Service
Legacy names Windows Azure Web Sites, Azure Websites
Fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for hosting web applications, REST APIs, and custom containers on Windows and Linux with built-in autoscaling and CI/CD.
Naming timeline
- Windows Azure Web Sites
Introduced in preview on June 7, 2012 and reached general availability in June 2013 as a managed PaaS web hosting platform.
- Azure Websites
Adopted the shorter Azure Websites name following the platform-wide transition from Windows Azure to Microsoft Azure in April 2014.
- Azure App ServiceCurrent name
Unified Azure Websites into Azure App Service (Web Apps, Mobile Apps, API Apps, and Logic Apps) on March 24, 2015 with zero changes required for existing web apps.
What is Windows Azure Web Sites called now?
Windows Azure Web Sites is now called Azure App Service, with the latest change on 24 March 2015 (Unified PaaS Launch). Earlier names covered by this entry also include Azure Websites. Fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for hosting web applications, REST APIs, and custom containers on Windows and Linux with built-in autoscaling and CI/CD. Only the customer-facing name changed; the underlying technical identifiers remain backward compatible.
Also known as
- Azure Web Apps
- App Service Web Apps
Technical identifiers
Technical identifiers unchanged. Only the customer-facing product name changed; the APIs, CLI commands, IAM roles and Terraform resources below keep their legacy identifiers for backward compatibility.
| ARM Resource Providers (Microsoft.*) | Microsoft.Web/sites Microsoft.Web/serverfarms Microsoft.Web/hostingEnvironments |
|---|---|
| Azure CLI (az) / PowerShell | az webapp az appservice |
| Entra ID / Azure RBAC Roles | Website Contributor Web Plan Contributor |
| Terraform Resources (azurerm_*) | azurerm_service_plan azurerm_linux_web_app azurerm_windows_web_app |
ARM templates and Bicep still provision App Service apps as Microsoft.Web/sites and App Service plans as Microsoft.Web/serverfarms, and RBAC roles remain Website Contributor and Web Plan Contributor.
Notes & disambiguation
- Introduced in preview in June 2012 as Windows Azure Web Sites (reaching general availability in June 2013) and shortened to Azure Websites in 2014, the service was unified with Azure Mobile Services and BizTalk API capabilities under Azure App Service on March 24, 2015.
- Within Azure App Service, the original Azure Websites capability became the Web Apps workload alongside Mobile Apps, API Apps, and Logic Apps (with Azure Logic Apps and Azure Functions also sharing the underlying App Service runtime).
- Crucially, the ARM Resource Provider retains the original `Microsoft.Web/sites` (for Web Apps, Function Apps, and Logic Apps Standard) and `Microsoft.Web/serverfarms` (for App Service Plans) resource types, and built-in RBAC roles retain `Website Contributor` and `Web Plan Contributor`.
Sources & official documentation
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