Azure Firewall Manager vs Microsoft Defender for Business comparison

Azure Firewall Manager and Microsoft Defender for Business are both solutions in the Microsoft Security Suite category. Azure Firewall Manager is ranked #28 with an average rating of 9.3, while Microsoft Defender for Business is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.6. Azure Firewall Manager holds a 0.6% mindshare in Microsoft Security Suite, compared to Microsoft Defender for Business’s 3.5% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Azure Firewall Manager users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of Microsoft Defender for Business users who would recommend it.

Azure Firewall Manager

Read 9 Azure Firewall Manager reviews

788 Views
307 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Busi...

Read 19 Microsoft Defender for Business reviews

4,566 Views
1,324 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Azure Firewall Manager

Microsoft Defender for Busi...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Azure Firewall Manager and Microsoft Defender for Business 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 Firewall Manager vs. Microsoft Defender for Business Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager vs. Microsoft Defender for Business

September 2025

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Helped 869,513 peers since 2012

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 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)

Microsoft Defender for Busi...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

15th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (18th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Firewall Manager is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Business is 3.5%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Business	3.5%
Azure Firewall Manager	0.6%
Other	95.9%

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

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.

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Takayuki-Umehara

Public Cloud Engineer at Prudential

Product deployment protects assets but needs improvement in system support

I am doing maintenance for Microsoft Defender for Business, and I'm currently working with it. We don't need to use the latest version of Microsoft Defender for Business. We still use the latest virus definition file that Microsoft Defender for Business has automatically updated. We implement a basic update mechanism. Our compliance division manages how many servers and PCs we have and whether those servers have antivirus solutions. I am not certain about how Microsoft Defender for Business helps with AI-driven security strategies. I just use it normally and don't know if it uses AI technology. I rate Microsoft Defender for Business a six out of ten.

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

"It is easy to install and does not require any plugins for your browser."

"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."

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

"The solution has improved our organization with its firewall."

"The tool's support is good."

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

More Azure Firewall Manager pros

"The solution includes attack-savvy service and risk protection, part of data center management, and offers an effective single-dashboard view with Microsoft 365."

"Microsoft Defender for Business stands out due to its ease of use, particularly due to the fact that many of my customers already use Microsoft and Azure."

"The interface is quite user-friendly."

"Defender's main strength is its integration with Microsoft Sentinel, offering valuable insights."

"The most effective features of Microsoft Defender for Business include its threat detection and response capabilities in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks."

"Microsoft Defender for Business is good for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers solid security flexibility and integration with tools like Microsoft Lighthouse and some other software. It takes some of the features of Defender for Endpoint EDR and provides those services for small and medium-sized business environments."

"Using Microsoft Defender for Business is beneficial for my company."

"It is scalable."

More Microsoft Defender for Business pros

Cons

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

"For Azure Firewall Manager, the learning curve for new people is a bit challenging, but the integration should be more straightforward for configuring a centralized system."

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

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

"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."

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

"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. Improvements in ease of configuration would benefit users significantly."

More Azure Firewall Manager cons

"The user interface has a lot of features which can make it complex and hard to adapt to for some users."

"I am not satisfied with Microsoft's technical support. There are challenges with the knowledge and experience of the support staff, frequent redirection between departments, and slow response times."

"We face a licensing issue with Windows 11 Enterprise not reflecting in our portal, which affects activation. Microsoft's support did not resolve this issue, even after sharing remote desktop and screen details."

"The pricing of Microsoft Defender for Business has a long way to go since people are still preferring solutions such as CrowdStrike and Palo Alto."

"The user interface has a lot of features which can make it complex and hard to adapt to for some users."

"Threat protection could be improved even though it is already a built-in feature."

"Technical support could be faster to respond."

"The biggest one is that Defender needs to be more proactive to the emerging threats. There can be tighter integration with email, especially how it integrates with our email system, which is the Microsoft Outlook suite. There should be the ability to react a lot quicker to emerging threats because sometimes, it takes a few days before some of these new threats are fully identified, and we need that to be a few hours."

More Microsoft Defender for Business cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The tool is cheap, while some other solutions are more expensive. I remember the tool cost about five euros for a workstation or for a user on a monthly basis."

"It has to get more competitive because we are starting to see some of the competitors providing better pricing, and some of it, of course, is to gain market share. The Defender product pricing is probably a little higher than the competitors."

"Defender for Business is included by default with an Office 365 premium subscription."

"The tool's cost has been a little high, but I do not think it was terrible."

"Since we're a nonprofit, we get pretty good discounts on the tool."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

19%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

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

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Business?

A few things are valuable. One is the alerting we see when any kind of intrusion is happening, any kind of malware is being deployed across the endpoints, or any kind of suspicious activity is goin...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Business?

Our thoughts on the pricing for Microsoft Defender for Business are that we wish it could be better. If the pricing was a little better, we would definitely increase what we currently have.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Business?

Microsoft Defender for Business could improve by offering more of their offerings available in the basic tenants since not everyone has a budget for higher-level licenses, but everyone needs securi...

See all answers

Comparisons

Azure Firewall vs Azure Firewall Manager

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

More Azure Firewall Manager Competitors

HP Wolf Security vs Microsoft Defender for Business

Compared 19% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Microsoft Defender for Business

Compared 15% of the time

Trend Micro Worry-Free Services Suites vs Microsoft Defender for Business

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Business

Compared 6% of the time

Norton Small Business vs Microsoft Defender for Business

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Business Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager

October 2025

Download Azure Firewall Manager product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Business

September 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Business product report

Overview

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

Microsoft Defender for Business is a new endpoint security solution that was designed especially for the small and medium-sized business (up to 300 employees). With this endpoint security solution, your company's devices are better protected from ransomware, malware, phishing, and other threats.

Microsoft

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager vs. Microsoft Defender for Business

September 2025

Free Report: Azure Firewall Manager vs. Microsoft Defender for Business

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

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