Difference between Microsoft Bot Framework and Azure Bot Service?

Question

I want to create a bot, but I am confused what is exactly Bot Framework and Azure Bot service? Can anyone explain in detail?

Answer 1

The best way to understand the difference is going through the docs. The Azure Bot Service documentation is available here.

In a nutshell, Azure Bot Service provides a set of templates to get started with the creation of Bots and accelerate the development since it provides an integrated environment. Of course, the templates that it creates are based on the BotFramework. With Azure Bot Service, you can even code your bot directly from the Azure Portal Editor, from the comfort of your browser.

If you don't want to start with Azure right way, and want to develop your Bot locally first, etc, you might want to use the BotFramework builder bits; but as I said; once you se Azure Bot Service, you are able to download the generated bot and continue the development from your machine if you want.