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Azure Government vs Very Good Security

Azure Government logo

Azure Government

Government

Trusted Cloud for Government

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Azure Government restricted to US government entities, their solution providers and contractors handling government data, with Microsoft validating eligibility first; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: Azure Government covers FedRAMP High Authorized, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Azure Government and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Azure Government and Very Good Security differ
AttributeAzure GovernmentVery Good Security
Starting priceOn request$1000/month
Pricing modelusage-basedPer month
PlatformsWeb, Cli, SdkWeb, API
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity
Founded1975Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Azure Government

  • FedRAMP High Authorized
  • DOD IL5 Approved
  • Isolated Datacenters
  • Hybrid Cloud
  • AI & ML Services
  • Microsoft 365
  • Dynamics 365
  • Power Platform

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Azure Government

  • Hosting US government workloads in dedicated domestic datacentresnot Very Good Security
  • Systems needing FedRAMP High, DoD IL2 to IL5, CJIS or ITAR authorisationnot Very Good Security
  • State, local and tribal government cloud servicesnot Very Good Security
  • Contractors processing controlled government datanot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot Azure Government
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Azure Government
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Azure Government
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Azure Government

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Azure Government

  • Restricted to US government entities, their solution providers and contractors handling government data, with Microsoft validating eligibility first
  • A narrower service catalogue than commercial Azure
  • New features arrive later than in the commercial regions
  • Pricing is not published and runs through federal contract vehicles such as JWCC, GSA and NASA SEWP

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

Azure Government

On request
  • Pay-as-you-goFree
    • Virtual Machines
    • Azure SQL
    • Storage

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose Azure Government if

  • You need fedramp high authorized.
  • You work on Web, Cli, Sdk.
  • You also want dod il5 approved.
Azure Government review

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.
Very Good Security review

Questions people ask

Is Azure Government or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Azure Government starts at On request and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Azure Government or Very Good Security?
Azure Government starts at On request and Very Good Security at $1000/month.
Does Azure Government or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
Azure Government runs on Web, Cli, Sdk. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
What is Azure Government best used for?
Azure Government is most often used for hosting us government workloads in dedicated domestic datacentres, systems needing fedramp high, dod il2 to il5, cjis or itar authorisation, state, local and tribal government cloud services, contractors processing controlled government data. Of those, hosting us government workloads in dedicated domestic datacentres and systems needing fedramp high, dod il2 to il5, cjis or itar authorisation are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can Azure Government do that Very Good Security cannot?
Azure Government covers FedRAMP High Authorized, DOD IL5 Approved, Isolated Datacenters, Hybrid Cloud. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Azure Government: How is Azure Government pricing determined?

Azure pricing follows a pay-as-you-go model where you only pay for services you use. Prices vary by product, region, and usage patterns. Committed use discounts and reserved instances can save up to 65% for compute services.

Source
Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

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