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Azure Firewall vs Azure Front Door comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Azure Firewall
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
10th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (16th)
Azure Front Door
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
12th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
CDN (2nd), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Firewall is 4.6%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Front Door is 2.8%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

Charan Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use and configure but could be more robust
The cost of the solution has increased. The robustness of the software could be better. It should be able to cover host-to-host traffic or HTTP traffic. Configurations can be better. The workloads need to still have free access. The encryption and decryption process is not that seamless. It's a little heavy compared to a FortiGate or other firewalls.
Thomas Zebar - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides great security with a good application firewall
The initial setup is straightforward. If you want to use the portal, CLI, or PowerShare, or you want to use automation data for one month, it's straightforward. Even when it comes to operational maintenance, it's pretty easy and straightforward. Microsoft has done a great job on that front. Maintenance generally requires someone who is a cloud administrator or similar to maintain services in general, with Front Door a small piece of a larger maintenance requirement. There's not a lot to manage, the configuration is simple. I encourage people to document the configuration and infrastructure as well as disaster recovery in case anything happens.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's value to my company stems from its ability to secure my organization."
"I find the solution to be very stable, and would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of stability."
"The solution has many useful features. For example, the solution allows users to create virtual IP addresses."
"The firewall policy control, URL content control, and antivirus are all the most valuable aspects. Threat prevention is as well quite good."
"Azure's cost-effectiveness is its major advantage."
"All its features are good. That's why we recommend it."
"Azure Firewall is a cloud-native solution that removes the pain of load balancers."
"I like that you can deploy the policies separately from the firewall."
"The tool is easy to use for beginners."
"Azure Front Door provides DDoS protection and features related to WAF."
"The solution is good."
"The price is one of the most important aspects of the product. It's quite affordable."
"The web application firewall is a great feature."
"You can assign as many web application firewall policies as you want to the same instance of Front Door."
"I particularly appreciate its load-balancing capabilities as it allows us to manage multiple instances and support a global presence effectively."
"The most valuable feature is that I can have CDN and load-balancing capabilities in a single service instead of managing two separate tools."
 

Cons

"This solution is not mature when it comes to handling perimeter traffic like internet browsing."
"It would be much easier if the on-premises, firewall rules, had some kind of export-import possibility in place, which is not the case right now."
"An Azure firewall is not a real firewall."
"Azure Firewall definitely needs a broader feature base. It should be able to go all the way up to layer 7 when looking at applications and things like that."
"I would appreciate it if Azure Firewall included built-in VPN capabilities."
"The threat intelligence part could be better. I don't see why our customers have to get an additional solution with Azure Firewall. It would be great if they made it on par with Palo Alto."
"It's a little heavy compared to a FortiGate or other firewalls."
"Maybe one of the things in the tool where improvements are needed as there are some shortcomings consist of Azure Firewall Manager."
"The product's features are limited compared to Cloudflare. The tool also doesn't work well in a hybrid environment. I would like to see a way to add personalized APIs in the system."
"There could be improvements regarding its pricing for large-scale projects."
"The tool should improve its cost."
"I'm responsible for the governance and cost control of Azure. I'm not a specialist in any products and therefore I couldn't really speak effectively to features that are lacking or missing."
"In the tool, there needs to be a good amount of monitoring in the area of health probes to capture in front of what is happening."
"There's a limitation on the amount of global rules we can add."
"The user interface needs improvement as it is difficult to create the mapping to link the problem with your private address sources."
"My suggestion for improvement would be to enhance the Data Export feature to include specific tables, particularly the Azure Diagnostics table."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Firewall is quite an expensive product."
"Azure Firewall is more expensive. If Microsoft can make Azure Firewall cheaper, I can see that all clients will think of using it. One client used FortiGate because it is much cheaper. Some clients ask me for Cisco, but in the cloud estimate, I found its cost is the same as Azure Firewall."
"Azure Firewalls operate on a pay-as-you-go model, similar to cloud services."
"I rate the product pricing a five out of ten."
"The total cost of ownership is much less than Palo Alto, Cisco, or any other brand."
"Before choosing this solution, we evaluated others, and we found this to be the most cost-effective."
"Azure Firewall is expensive."
"It is pay-as-you-go. So, you pay based on the usage. If I remember it well, there is a basic fee, and there is a traffic fee. It is not per month. It is per hour or something like that. It is not so expensive."
"It is on a pay-as-you-go basis."
"The pricing of the solution is good."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"Considering the standard licensing of the tool, even though we have not checked the billing as of now, it might not be very costly."
"The transition to the premium tier has led to increased costs, making it more expensive than the classic tier."
"The product is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include int...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the overall cost is reasonable. Azure Firewall offers a solid threat awareness, can...
Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?
Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigate VM integrates well and has excellent centralized reporting. It is very easy to...
What's the difference between Azure Front Door and Application Gateway?
We found Azure Front Door to be easily scaled and very stable. The implementation is very fast and Microsoft provides excellent support. Azure Front Door can quickly detect abnormalities before the...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Front Door?
It's a matter of value versus price. If we add more features and raise the price, it must remain justifiable. If we maintain the current set of reasonable features and keep the pricing competitive,...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure Front-Door
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall vs. Azure Front Door and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
839,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.