Azure Bastion vs Azure Firewall Manager comparison

Azure Bastion and Azure Firewall Manager are both solutions in the Microsoft Security Suite category. Azure Bastion is ranked #19 with an average rating of 9.0, while Azure Firewall Manager is ranked #28 with an average rating of 9.3. Azure Bastion holds a 1.3% mindshare in Microsoft Security Suite, compared to Azure Firewall Manager’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Azure Bastion users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Azure Firewall Manager users who would recommend it.

Azure Bastion

Read 12 Azure Bastion reviews

1,579 Views
979 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Azure Firewall Manager

Read 9 Azure Firewall Manager reviews

788 Views
307 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Azure Bastion

Azure Firewall Manager

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Azure Bastion and Azure Firewall Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Microsoft Security Suite solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Bastion vs. Azure Firewall Manager Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Bastion vs. Azure Firewall Manager

September 2025

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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 Bastion

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

19th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (23rd), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (6th)

Azure Firewall Manager

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

28th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

4.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Firewall Security Management (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Bastion is 1.3%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Firewall Manager is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Azure Bastion	1.3%
Azure Firewall Manager	0.6%
Other	98.1%

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

Aladin Steiner

Head of Value Stream Azure at SmartIT Services AG

Has good scalability and provides secure access to the virtual machines

The product improved the security posture of our organization. We don’t have open ports and connect them to servers using it. We can carry out two-factor authentication to protect the devices with conditional access features. It would be nice to have a feature to copy and paste the files into servers. I rate the product a nine out of ten.

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Sikkander Batcha

DevOps Engineer at CloudIQ

Has managed traffic effectively but lacks visibility and advanced control features

Azure Firewall is typically behind other vendor firewalls because we don't see what kind of traffic is traveling through it. That is one drawback. The main drawback is that we need log support from Azure Firewall, which can be quite costly. There is no login feature in Azure Firewall because only the IAM feature is available in the Azure site; we manage it only through the Azure portal, not through any other portal. Other vendors, such as Palo Alto, provide GUI or CLI interfaces to manage their firewalls, whereas we only manage Azure Firewall through the Azure portal. In the future, I would like to see additional features in Azure Firewall Manager to make it more competitive, such as technologies like App-ID and User-ID that Palo Alto has. Azure Firewall currently only allows traffic based on layer four and sometimes layer seven, so they need to improve in those areas compared to other vendors.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ability to operate the product with scripting is excellent."

"The connection to virtual machines is very useful."

"Overall, I had a very positive experience."

"The product's setup is easy."

"Azure Bastion eliminates the need for a jump server by providing secure access to servers without hitting the public network."

"Azure Bastion is preferable because you just switch it on and off you go."

"It provides all the security to us. Without getting on the internet, we can access our servers. We can access our desktop through our web browser. We don't need to run the mstsc command and login to the VM. All those things are not required."

"The solution's most valuable feature is that it is easy to use...It is modernized, so I can create complex infrastructures."

More Azure Bastion pros

"From a traffic management perspective, it's a good firewall because it's automatically scalable based on the traffic availability."

"Azure Firewall Manager centralizes network security management with a hub and spoke architecture."

"We are utilizing Azure Entra ID for group labeling, so Active Directory, or now it is Entra ID, securing our application for everyone who accesses it, and Azure Firewall Manager is definitely securing our projects and all its features are fine."

"The solution is very easy to set up."

"From a traffic management perspective, it's a good firewall because it's automatically scalable based on the traffic availability."

"The most valuable feature of Azure Firewall Manager is the testing and configuration."

"The best feature of Azure Firewall Manager is that it is easy to maintain and configure."

"The tool's support is good."

More Azure Firewall Manager pros

Cons

"We are not able to copy and paste files directly into the server over the patch host. We have to transfer files over to Azure Storage."

"The solution breaks down sometimes."

"While general support is valuable, having a detailed breakdown of the specific issues would contribute to a more streamlined and efficient resolution process."

"There are some challenges because Bastion is more compatible with Edge but not with the other browsers. As an organization, it doesn't make sense that we have to use only Edge. We should be able to access Bastion over Chrome, Mozilla, or Opera. It should be our choice."

"You are charged for retrieving your own data."

"The protocol speed could be faster."

"Currently, Azure Bastion does not allow for direct data transfer between desktops. A storage solution must be created to transfer data, and this requires additional permissions like ACL or NFS."

"There is room for improvement with AI features. I would like to see integrated AI features with Azure Bastion, especially for connectivity issues."

More Azure Bastion cons

"The solution can improve the integration with open-source tools."

"We could do only one-way NAT-ing, where the traffic comes from outside to internal, to Azure, which is fine. However, when we actually do NAT-ed traffic to hit the firewall, that way is not working."

"Azure charges for many aspects including scaling, automated scaling deployment, and traffic management, which leads to higher costs."

"The tool's security features need to improve. It needs also to include a monitoring system for logs. It is also complicated to find a query on the Azure firewall."

"The price is okay. This said, the solution is certainly expensive in comparison with other cloud services."

"There should be a simple one-click deployment for a firewall, rather than a set of setup instructions that include steps such as the DNS configuration, et cetera."

"The configuration and settings require substantial time for learning, particularly for new users."

"The cost is a significant concern because we are in a region where the dollar is not our default currency, and converting to dollars makes it very expensive."

More Azure Firewall Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is cheaply priced. I would say that the product is free to use."

"It does not save money for us."

"The pricing is a lower decision point than high-quality security for our organization. Better security comes at a cost, but it's worth it, and that's what we tell our customers."

"Azure Bastion's pricing is good."

"The solution is certainly expensive in comparison with other cloud services."

"The price of the solution is reasonable but it is reasonable for the features."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Azure Bastion?

Azure Bastion makes it easy to provide quick virtual machine access to our customers.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Bastion?

Microsoft's pricing is on the higher side and could be more competitive. Startups and small organizations often prefer AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ) or GCP due to their lower costs, while la...

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What needs improvement with Azure Bastion?

Azure Bastion does its job. However, it would be nice to have the capability to cut and paste across desktops, similar to old-fashioned Remote ( /products/remote-reviews ) Desktop emulation. I am u...

See all answers

What do you like most about Azure Firewall Manager?

The most valuable feature of Azure Firewall Manager is the testing and configuration.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Firewall Manager?

The pricing for Azure Firewall Manager seems okay compared to its good features. Although extra expenses are incurred for additional services, these are not directly related to the firewall, and th...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Firewall Manager?

Azure Firewall Manager is good most of the time, but it could be improved regarding cost. The cost is a significant concern because we are in a region where the dollar is not our default currency, ...

See all answers

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Compared 22% of the time

TeamViewer Remote Management vs Azure Bastion

Compared 17% of the time

Zabbix vs Azure Bastion

Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 29% of the time

FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall (FortiGate CNF) vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 27% of the time

AlgoSec vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 14% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Panorama vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 13% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 9% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Bastion

October 2025

Download Azure Bastion product report

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager

October 2025

Download Azure Firewall Manager product report

Overview

Azure Bastion is a service you deploy that lets you connect to a virtual machine using your browser and the Azure portal. The Azure Bastion service is a fully platform-managed PaaS service that you provision inside your virtual network. It provides secure and seamless RDP/SSH connectivity to your virtual machines directly from the Azure portal over TLS. When you connect via Azure Bastion, your virtual machines do not need a public IP address, agent, or special client software.

Microsoft

Azure Firewall Manager is a security management service that provides central security policy and route management for cloud-based security perimeters.

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

Buyer's Guide

Azure Bastion vs. Azure Firewall Manager

September 2025

Free Report: Azure Bastion vs. Azure Firewall Manager

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Bastion vs. Azure Firewall Manager and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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