My Essential Azure Toolkit – Tools and Websites I Keep Coming Back To

Working with Azure every day, I’ve collected a handful of tools and websites that I keep returning to. Some help me test performance, others help me visualize or validate templates, and a few just make Azure’s massive catalog of services a bit easier to navigate.

These tools have saved me time, solved real problems, and made working with Azure a lot more enjoyable. If you spend any amount of time in the Azure ecosystem, I think you’ll find them helpful too.

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🌐 AzureSpeed

http://azurespeed.com
Whenever I need to figure out which Azure region has the lowest latency for a specific location, I head to AzureSpeed. It runs real-time latency tests to all Azure regions directly from your browser. It also has tests for storage performance and CDN speed.

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📊 Azure Charts

https://azurecharts.com
Azure Charts gives you a visual overview of Azure’s global infrastructure. It’s especially useful when I need to compare region capabilities or check if a certain service is available somewhere.

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🧱 AzAdvertizer

https://www.azadvertizer.net
AzAdvertizer is my go-to tool for exploring Azure Policies and RBAC roles. When I need to find the right built-in policy or check what permissions are included in a role, this site makes it easy.

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🛠️ ARMViz

http://armviz.io
ARM templates can be hard to read, especially if they’re big or complex. ARMViz takes a template and turns it into a diagram so you can quickly understand what it’s deploying.

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🧪 Azure Periodic Table

https://www.azureperiodictable.com
This site shows all Azure services in a periodic table-style layout. Each service is grouped by category, and clicking on one gives you quick access to documentation and learning resources.

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📁 Azure Storage Explorer

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/storage-explorer
This desktop app is a must-have if you work with blob, queue, or table storage. It gives you a clean UI for browsing and managing storage accounts without having to go through the Azure portal. I use it often when I need to inspect data or transfer large amounts of files.

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🧪 Azure Developer CLI (azd)

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/developer/azure-developer-cli
The Azure Developer CLI simplifies the process of creating, deploying, and managing full-stack apps on Azure. It’s great for getting apps up and running quickly, and the built-in templates are super helpful for bootstrapping projects.

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🧰 Azure DevOps CLI & Extensions

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/cli/?view=azure-devops
If you use Azure DevOps, the CLI is a game changer. It lets you manage repos, pipelines, artifacts, and boards straight from your terminal. I often use it to automate builds and releases or to quickly check on work item status without opening the web UI.

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🏗️ Terraform & Ansible for Azure

These aren’t Azure-native tools, but they’ve become essential for infrastructure automation. I use Terraform when I want full control over infrastructure as code across multiple environments. Ansible is great for configuration management and automating post-deployment tasks. Both work really well with Azure, and there’s solid support and documentation for each.

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📊 Azure Data Studio

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/azure-data-studio
If you work with SQL Server, Azure SQL, or even PostgreSQL, Azure Data Studio is a fantastic cross-platform tool for managing and querying your databases. It’s like VS Code for data work, lightweight, customizable, and packed with features like notebooks, dashboards, and extensions.

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🧩 Azure Diagrams

https://azurediagrams.com This site is a goldmine if you ever need to create clean, professional-looking Azure architecture diagrams. I’ve used it for both internal documentation and client presentations.

📛 Azure Naming Tool

https://github.com/mspnp/AzureNamingTool The Azure Naming Tool was created to help administrators define and manage their naming conventions, while providing a simple interface for users to generate a compliant name. The tool was developed using a naming pattern based on Microsoft's best practices.

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Why I Use These

Azure is constantly growing and changing. These tools help me keep up, work faster, and stay organized. I don’t use all of them every single day, but they’ve each been incredibly useful at one point or another.

If you’re working with Azure regularly, I highly recommend checking them out.

This list will be updated in the future as I discover more helpful tools or services. If you’ve got a favorite that I haven’t mentioned, let me know. I’d love to try it out and maybe include it in the next version.