No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Azure Bastion vs Pandora FMS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 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

Azure Bastion
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
46th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (13th), Microsoft Security Suite (25th)
Pandora FMS
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
76th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (26th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (58th), Log Management (61st), Cloud Monitoring Software (44th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Azure Bastion is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pandora FMS is 0.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Azure Bastion0.3%
Pandora FMS0.6%
Other99.1%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

AP
IT Manager at NTT DATA
Access servers securely over private networks but need better data transfer solutions
Azure Bastion is primarily used to access servers securely without exposing them to the public network. It is configured in a private network to allow accessing an environment without public exposure Azure Bastion eliminates the need for a jump server by providing secure access to servers without…
MM
Independent Consultant at Maack Consulting
The open architecture is easy to extend and enhance
Pandora could deliver better analytics out of the box. You can work around these limitations with the help of other tools like Grafana. The shortcomings are mostly on the graphical side. The built-in report generators are a bit limited in some areas. They could improve their management console's ability to monitor large environments could be improved. For example, SNMP management is only partially integrated into the management console.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Azure Bastion makes it easy to provide quick virtual machine access to our customers."
"The connection to virtual machines is very useful."
"The product's setup is easy."
"Overall, I had a very positive experience."
"The interface is available in the edit portal."
"Azure Bastion eliminates the need for a jump server by providing secure access to servers without hitting the public network."
"As an Azure consultant, for me, it is the best way to give the administrator access as you can manage the permission - including who can access Bastion."
"It is very easy to use as it's in the browser; it is on the menu of the virtual machine, so you just need to type your username and password and you will have a full RDP experience."
"The solution has good dashboards and graphics."
"The most valuable feature is that it is an all-in-one monitoring system."
"Pandora FMS (the Flexible Monitoring System) is an all-in-one package solution, and we can monitor our whole system with Service perspective."
"The solution has good dashboards and graphics."
"What I value most about Pandora FMS is the simplicity of working with it."
"The solution is so lightweight that with only 4GB of ram, it allows keeping track of up to two hundred agents from a single console."
"The network monitoring and configuration within this solution is very good."
"It is easy to create your own custom modules if you just know a little bit of scripting. If you have unique requirements, you can just make your own modules. You can even grab checks from other vendors. There are open-source checks for various things such as SMTP, etc. There is a long list of different ones from Nagios. You can just use them, and within seconds, you get yourself a check that is monitoring whatever you need. It is really flexible. I guess that's why they call it Pandora Flexible Monitoring System (FMS). It is reliable. It does the job, and it alerts. It is also surprisingly feature-rich. Our network guy just recently asked about a particular protocol to monitor the bandwidth on the network, which is not a common protocol. When I looked it up, and I found that they cover it. It is very mature for a not-so-known product."
 

Cons

"When we retrieve that data from the cloud, they require some amount of money. That is the main drawback of this cloud solution. You are charged for retrieving your own data."
"While general support is valuable, having a detailed breakdown of the specific issues would contribute to a more streamlined and efficient resolution process."
"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."
"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 protocol speed could be faster."
"Speaking of AI, having Microsoft Copilot in Azure Bastion would be good."
"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."
"A nice feature in the next release would be an automation module to run workflow actions."
"I sincerely believe that Pandora needs new ideas for functionality closer to advanced device security monitoring."
"Pandora could deliver better analytics out of the box. You can work around these limitations with the help of other tools like Grafana. The shortcomings are mostly on the graphical side. The built-in report generators are a bit limited in some areas."
"We would like to see improvement in the mainframe integration that this solution is capable of."
"I sincerely believe that Pandora needs new ideas for functionality closer to advanced device security monitoring."
"It would be helpful to include the generation of reports for times that the network was out of service."
"We would like the real-time monitoring of an interface to be improved within this solution."
"Pandora FMS is an overall great monitoring solution, but it does not have a community that is as large as Zabbix or Nagios."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 tool is cheaply priced. I would say that the product is free to use."
"It does not save money for us."
"The open-source version offers 100% functionality and the hardware requirements for a solution like this one are very modest."
"In terms of money, the Enterprise version is the cheapest that I have found after a market study."
"You get the license and it includes updates, new versions, and access to the complete library of modules."
"You have to pay for the number of agents and models that you are monitoring. I would rate the cost at three with one being the most expensive and five being the cheapest."
"The Open Source Community Edition is great to just explore the software, or use it on medium-sized infrastructures."
"My rule of thumb would be that if you need more than thirty agents, and you lack an automation tool such as Chef or Puppet, you will save a lot of time and money going to the Enterprise edition."
"Only one payment and it includes support, updates, new versions, and access to the complete library of plugins except for SAP and z/OS."
"They are very competitive on the pricing side. That's one reason why my manager keeps using it."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.
885,376 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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...
What is your primary use case for Azure Bastion?
We use Azure Bastion ( /products/azure-bastion-reviews ) as an administration tool to access Azure ( /products/microsoft-azure-reviews ) Virtual Servers.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Rakuten, Prosegur, Repsol, Teléfonica, Allianz, Ottawa Hospital, Hughes
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Bastion vs. Pandora FMS and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,376 professionals have used our research since 2012.