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AWS Direct Connect vs Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AWS Direct Connect
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
12th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway
Ranking in Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Enterprise Infrastructure VPN category, the mindshare of AWS Direct Connect is 2.1%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway is 6.5%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Infrastructure VPN
 

Featured Reviews

Flavio Gomes Figueira Camacho Junior - PeerSpot reviewer
Establish secure and private connections between on-premise infrastructure and cloud environments
AWS Direct Connect allows me to connect our on-premise infrastructure directly with AWS infrastructure. This is particularly beneficial because it helps me use our infrastructure for databases and testing while leveraging AWS's computing power for production purposes. I also do not need to expose management of our machines to the public internet, enhancing security by using a private connection.
MatsHagberg Olsson2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Designs subnets with high security while navigating evolving integration processes
The primary function of Azure VPN Gateway allows for designing subnets from existing networks, whether they are physical or virtual networks within Azure or other cloud instances. You can configure these networks using IP numbers and connect them using certificates or SaaS strings. It also requires Entra ID for privileged access groups, resulting in high security.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"AWS Direct Connect is highly secure and much faster compared to normal network infrastructure."
"It is a stable solution."
"AWS Direct Connect provides a secure and encrypted connection over the internet."
"Overall, I rate the solution ten out of ten."
"Direct Connect provides an improved connection quality and a diversified link, which contributes to high availability and failover capabilities."
"It is a highly scalable solution."
"The platform's most valuable feature for us is its robust network performance."
"The most valuable feature of Direct Connect is its low latency to the users."
"The side-to-side connections are valuable."
"It is a stable solution in our company, and we monitor critical health and performance parameters daily and weekly."
"The interoperability with various firewall and access gateway vendors is one of this solution's most valuable features"
"I like the stability, HA, and performance of the product."
"It is scalable and depends on your chosen network bandwidth."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway is its performance. It is very fast."
"One of the most valuable features is its support for various protocols, including BGP, which helps in making more secure connections."
"The solution is very quick to connect."
 

Cons

"Having more locations could improve the convenience of using the service."
"I would like to see better traffic visibility and higher throughput security, especially for organizations that require more than what the current limit allows."
"It can be difficult to configure compared to cloud-based GUIs."
"It is complicated to do additional BGP configuration for the product."
"Its terminologies are challenging to interpret."
"AWS Direct Connect should support cross-cloud connections, such as migrations between Azure and AWS, for disaster recovery purposes on different cloud platforms."
"AWS Direct Connect is straightforward and performs well for me."
"It would be good if we could connect AWS Direct Connect from different networks."
"Connectivity could be improved in Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway because it's not as stable, particularly when connecting a device tunnel."
"Considering my past interactions with Microsoft's support team, it is difficult to get the right support unless you find the right person to speak with from the customer support team."
"Microsoft could work on having micro VPNs to integrate with mobile devices."
"The instructions should have been more accessible and less time-consuming to find the best solution tailored for the customer."
"The monitoring part needs to be improved."
"Microsoft's support is rated at four due to issues such as speed of response and coordination difficulties."
"Make it completely routable, for example, if I have a gateway, I should be able to connect to whatever network I want on either side of the gateway, and the gateway should figure out which packet goes where."
"The solution must provide metrics to monitor the inbound and outbound traffic easily."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive solution."
"It has reasonable pricing in terms of the features offered."
"The solution is subscription-based and very cheap."
"The cost could be lower."
"I pay the licensing charges associated with the tool on an hourly basis. The tool is affordable."
"Its price is reasonable for new technology."
"There is a monthly license and the price depends on how many users are using Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway. The price could be less expensive."
"Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway is the cheapest way for us to connect to our cloud infrastructure. Other solutions, such as ExpressRoute are very expensive."
"Payment for licensing the solution is part of the operating model. So, one needs to keep on paying while consuming the solution. In short, the payment is based on the solution's capacity."
"It's saved us money compared to getting a third-party appliance."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Direct Connect?
AWS Direct Connect provides a secure and encrypted connection over the internet.
What needs improvement with AWS Direct Connect?
AWS Direct Connect should support cross-cloud connections, such as migrations between Azure ( /products/microsoft-azure-reviews ) and AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ), for disaster recovery pur...
What is your primary use case for AWS Direct Connect?
I have used AWS Direct Connect ( /products/aws-direct-connect-reviews ) in projects to directly connect artifacts and for setting up a call center service in a customer service project. It is used ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway?
The instructions on how to integrate P2N and P2S type networks into Azure VPN Gateway could be improved, though it is a constantly evolving process. The instructions should have been more accessibl...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway?
I would advise comparing Azure VPN Gateway with other market leaders in this segment and referencing sources like Forrester and Gartner. It's crucial to look at which competitors in this spectrum h...
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Azure VPN Gateway
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Direct Connect vs. Microsoft Azure VPN Gateway and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
863,776 professionals have used our research since 2012.