Azure Firewall Manager vs Microsoft Defender for IoT comparison

Azure Firewall Manager and Microsoft Defender for IoT are both solutions in the Microsoft Security Suite category. Azure Firewall Manager is ranked #26 with an average rating of 9.3, while Microsoft Defender for IoT is ranked #24 with an average rating of 7.4. Azure Firewall Manager holds a 0.8% mindshare in Microsoft Security Suite, compared to Microsoft Defender for IoT’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Azure Firewall Manager users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Microsoft Defender for IoT users who would recommend it.

Azure Firewall Manager

Read 9 Azure Firewall Manager reviews

852 Views
349 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for IoT

Read 5 Microsoft Defender for IoT reviews

1,589 Views
254 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Azure Firewall Manager

Microsoft Defender for IoT

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Azure Firewall Manager and Microsoft Defender for IoT 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 IoT Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager vs. Microsoft Defender for IoT

December 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 Firewall Manager

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

26th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

4.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Firewall Security Management (10th)

Microsoft Defender for IoT

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

24th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IoT Security (5th), Operational Technology (OT) Security (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Firewall Manager is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for IoT is 1.0%, up from 0.2% 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 IoT	1.0%
Azure Firewall Manager	0.8%
Other	98.2%

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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Amr Alaa

Principale Systems Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Effective network monitoring with identified documentation improvements needed

The documentation for Microsoft Defender for IoT is lacking. There are no clear steps or guidance, and updates are frequent, which adds to the confusion. More detailed documentation with video instructions for tasks would be helpful. The system capabilities are not well-documented either. Importing device names and maintaining a list can be cumbersome, as it requires manual input for a large number of devices. The backup and restore process is limited to GUI for backup but lacks a GUI for restore, though future updates might address this. Sentinel documentation is also poor, with limited guidance available.

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 solution has improved our organization with its firewall."

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

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

"The solution is very easy to set up."

"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."

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

"The tool's support is good."

More Azure Firewall Manager pros

"I believe it is best suited for cloud services and is unmatched by other cloud security solutions."

"It is manageable and integrates with other Microsoft products, which is crucial for me."

"Mainly, it is manageable and integrates with other Microsoft products, which is crucial for me."

"The graphics and analysis in Microsoft Defender for IoT are very representative."

"I find Microsoft Defender very effective in vulnerability management and it provides good attack reduction, making it a next-generation protection solution."

"As a cybersecurity consultant, the best part of Microsoft Defender for IoT is the capability to integrate with other tools such as Microsoft Sentinel and receive real-time alerts from the product."

"Some advantages of Microsoft Defender for IoT are that it's easy to install on any OS, and you can create any custom use cases easily."

Cons

"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."

"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."

"The configuration and settings require substantial time for learning, particularly for new users. Improvements in ease of configuration would benefit users significantly."

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

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

More Azure Firewall Manager cons

"The only improvement I see is that some detection explanations are vaguely provided by Microsoft, resulting in generic IoT detections that alert me to an issue yet don't specify what's wrong."

"The documentation for Microsoft Defender for IoT is lacking. There are no clear steps or guidance, and updates are frequent, which adds to the confusion."

"There are a few limitations with Microsoft Defender for IoT. We raised concerns with the product team because they don't capture all the information regarding command execution or processes executed on certain endpoints."

"Customer service and support from Microsoft are costly. The execution by engineers is expensive, and the service is neither free nor toll-free, making it less accessible for customers."

"The primary area that needs improvement is compatibility with the latest IoT technologies."

"The only improvement I see is that some detection explanations are vaguely provided by Microsoft, resulting in generic IoT detections that alert me to an issue yet don't specify what's wrong."

"Microsoft Defender for IoT is not scalable. If you want to monitor another industrial network, you need an additional server, making it less scalable."

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."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

18%

Educational Organization

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

15%

Computer Software Company

14%

Energy/Utilities Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

No data available

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 is expensive. In our project, we have used both Palo Alto Firewall and Azure Firewall. Azure charges for many aspects including scaling, automated scaling dep...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Firewall Manager?

See all answers

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

I find that Microsoft Defender for IoT itself is affordable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for IoT?

I don't think I have any recommendation on improvements for Microsoft Defender for IoT because we don't use it too extensively. There are a few limitations with Microsoft Defender for IoT. We raise...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for IoT?

Clients mainly use Microsoft Defender for IoT for unfamiliar sign-in attempts and Microsoft Defender EDRs. We are using use cases for unfamiliar sign-in and malicious activity, such as user sign-in...

See all answers

Comparisons

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

Compared 22% of the time

Azure Firewall vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 16% of the time

AlgoSec vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 14% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Panorama vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 11% of the time

FireMon Security Manager vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 9% of the time

More Azure Firewall Manager Competitors

Nozomi Networks vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 23% of the time

Claroty Platform vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 15% of the time

Azure Sphere vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 9% of the time

Palo Alto Networks IoT Security vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 7% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for IoT Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager

January 2026

Download Azure Firewall Manager product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for IoT

January 2026

Download Microsoft Defender for IoT product report

Also Known As

No data available

Azure Defender for IoT

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 IoT offers advanced security designed to protect IoT environments from sophisticated threats. Its deep integration with Azure reinforces security across devices and networks.

Microsoft Defender for IoT provides scalable threat detection and security intelligence tailored for IoT devices. Leveraging cloud-powered analytics, it ensures protection against emerging threats while supporting diverse device landscapes. The platform's compatibility with Azure Sentinel offers robust security operations and management capabilities.

What are the core features of Microsoft Defender for IoT?

Threat Intelligence: Provides real-time insights and threat detection using cloud-powered analytics.
Device Management: Simplifies the monitoring and management of IoT devices across networks.
Integrated Security: Seamlessly integrates with Azure Sentinel for comprehensive security operations.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Improved Security Posture: Strengthens the protection of IoT ecosystems against cyber threats.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces the complexities and costs associated with managing IoT security.
Scalability: Supports growth and adaptation to expanding IoT networks.

In manufacturing, Microsoft Defender for IoT aids in maintaining operational efficiency by preventing unauthorized access to industrial control systems. Healthcare providers utilize it to protect sensitive patient data transmitted through connected devices. Retailers benefit from secure management of inventory systems and customer data across smart devices.

Microsoft

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager vs. Microsoft Defender for IoT

December 2025

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

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

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