If you've ever spent hours debugging an app that only seems to break outside your development environment, you're not alone. Containerization with Docker helps developers avoid these issues by packaging applications into portable, consistent environments. This approach has been widely adopted to reduce deployment friction, improve scalability, and standardize configurations.
In this blog, we’ll explain how using Docker with Blazor and deploying to Microsoft Azure can dramatically simplify your cloud deployment workflow. Whether you're migrating legacy applications or building new ones with .NET 9, this guide will help you understand the fastest way to get Blazor apps running in the cloud.
What is Docker? Docker is a lightweight platform that packages your application along with its dependencies into a container. This makes it easy to run your app on any environment that supports Docker, from your local machine to cloud services like Azure.
What is Azure? Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform. It allows you to run, scale, and manage containerized applications with high availability, built-in security, and flexible pricing.
By using containers, you can reduce infrastructure costs and simplify operations. Multi-tenant hosting with shared base images helps minimize memory usage and resource overhead across applications.
Blazor supports both server-side and WebAssembly (WASM) hosting models. Both models benefit from Docker because they require consistent runtimes and predictable deployment configurations.
Enterprise teams migrating from traditional ASP.NET or Windows Forms often struggle with long deployment cycles and complex patching processes. By containerizing Blazor apps, teams can:
At Growth Acceleration Partners, we offer a migration tool that automates the conversion of legacy C# applications into modern Blazor frontends with Docker support included.
Best for: production web apps with moderate to high traffic
Pros: built-in CI/CD, auto-scaling, SSL support
Cons: slightly higher per-instance cost, single-container focus
Best for: internal tools, prototypes, test environments
Pros: serverless pricing, fast provisioning, minimal setup
Cons: limited networking control, potential cold starts
Best for: large-scale enterprise apps and microservices
Pros: blue-green deployments, horizontal scaling, custom ingress
Cons: requires advanced DevOps skills, higher management overhead
| Feature | Docker on Azure App Service | Azure Container Instances | Azure Kubernetes Service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Web apps with stable traffic | Dev/test, bursty workloads | Enterprise-grade scaling |
| Cost | Medium | Low | Variable |
| Deployment complexity | Low | Very low | High |
| Scalability | Moderate | Limited | Very high |
Rule of thumb:
Use Docker on App Service for most production web apps.
Use ACI for internal tools or proof-of-concept apps.
Use AKS when you need advanced orchestration and have a DevOps team.
To optimize performance and cost, monitor key container metrics:
docker statsMonitoring helps you adjust container sizes, plan scaling strategies, and detect performance issues early.
Docker-izing Blazor apps for deployment to Azure provides a modern, efficient, and cost-effective path for .NET app modernization. Whether you’re migrating a legacy app or building something new, this approach simplifies deployment and improves scalability.
Try our Blazor migration tool to generate Docker-ready output and accelerate your transition to the cloud.