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Azure Firewall vs Azure Web Application Firewall 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
Azure Firewall's OPEX model is cost-effective, benefiting smaller organizations with clear uses and offering significant security and cost savings.
Sentiment score
4.4
Azure Web Application Firewall offers cost-effective security, outperforming alternatives in threat management and boosting application development and returns.
Recently, they have been under serious attack with major exploits, such as Log4j, affecting Fortinet and Palo Alto, and even Cisco and VMware.
AI-based recommendations save on time and money.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.4
Azure Firewall support is generally responsive, with multilingual availability, but some experience delays and varying effectiveness due to outsourcing.
Sentiment score
7.1
Azure Web Application Firewall support varies by service level, with mixed reviews on responsiveness, effectiveness, and necessity of premium plans.
Microsoft provides excellent customer support, especially with premium support plans.
Nevertheless, the final support from Microsoft remains effective.
With Azure products, customer support is really good.
I hardly use Microsoft's paid subscription or maintenance services, however, whenever I send them a note, they have been responsive.
I reached out to their support, and they helped me resolve the issue effectively.
I am very satisfied with the response from Microsoft dedicated architects if it happens that I have to call for their support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Azure Firewall's autoscale feature allows effortless scalability, though some prefer alternatives for large enterprises needing higher performance.
Sentiment score
6.6
Azure Web Application Firewall offers flexible, highly-rated scalability, adapting regionally to traffic, benefiting users with varying and demanding workloads.
Based on my experience, I would rate it nine out of ten for scalability.
Azure Firewall is highly scalable, and I would give it a scalability rating of nine out of ten.
When we started deploying the solution, it was not a mature product at times.
Beyond a certain SKU, I can install and use these services.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.6
Azure Firewall is highly reliable, with users praising its stability, efficiency, and robustness, even resolving rare issues promptly.
Sentiment score
7.1
Azure Web Application Firewall is stable and reliable, with infrequent latency issues typically resolved by restarting the system.
The stability of Azure Firewall is excellent.
Very rarely do I see any latency issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Firewall falls short in advanced features, usability, pricing, support, scalability, and connectivity compared to competitors.
Azure Web Application Firewall needs improved management, integration, performance, support, and more affordable pricing for enhanced user experience.
Improvement in reporting and better visibility into network traffic would also be beneficial.
It lacks some functionalities when compared to competitors like Check Point and Fortinet, such as WAF or load balancing.
Azure Firewall could improve its reporting capabilities.
Upgrading the platform regularly is necessary for security, however, frequent updates every six months or year from Azure can be a maintenance overhead.
 

Setup Cost

Azure Firewall offers a flexible pay-as-you-go model, though premium functions can be costly compared to competitors.
Azure Web Application Firewall offers competitive and cost-effective pricing, especially favored for enterprise agreements and its simplicity.
Azure Firewall is quite expensive, with a high cost.
Azure Firewall is subscription-based, which is advantageous as there is no need for upfront payment.
I would rate the pricing of Azure Firewall around a seven, with one being high and ten being low.
It is even a lower cost compared to AWS and GCP.
Sometimes, when opting for a higher SKU, it's not the WAF itself that's costly but the additional requirements.
 

Valuable Features

Azure Firewall provides scalable security features, easy Azure service integration, and automation, ensuring excellent connectivity and protection.
Azure Web Application Firewall offers strong security, customizable rules, seamless Azure integration, efficient setup, flexible pricing, and effective monitoring.
We have to combine multiple features and multiple products, and then we can say that this is more cost-effective and works properly to ensure the security posture of our cloud deployments.
The premium version includes all traditional firewall features, reducing the need for separate compute resources.
We created rules in the firewall to ensure that the traffic would be diverted to the right endpoint and made sure only specific application VMs could reach the database server.
With Microsoft, everything is within a single suite, making it easier to configure and plan.
It is almost impossible to access these assets from outside, requiring a very skilled attacker to obtain asset tokens of a customer using Azure.
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Firewall
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
11th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (12th)
Azure Web Application Firewall
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
22nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Firewall is 3.7%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Web Application Firewall is 2.0%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

AnvarSadique - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy setup and effective traffic routing enhance security
In terms of improvements, I think the price could be a concern as Azure ( /products/microsoft-azure-reviews ) services are often more expensive compared to other firewalls. However, the functional aspects of Azure Firewall met our needs. While I found the interface not particularly user-friendly, this is a common issue across vendors.
Mano Senaratne - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive suite simplifies configuration while frequent updates require management
Mainly, it comes with the complete suite of Microsoft services. I can use it in conjunction with the best options and other features that come with it. Configuration is much easier than using different platforms. For example, if I have hosted the application in AWS and am using the Application Firewall from Azure, there are certain additional steps to follow when configuring them. With Microsoft, everything is within a single suite, making it easier to configure and plan. Azure continually upgrades platforms and sends us messages to upgrade to the next version, simplifying the process. Later, it's much easier if I want to upgrade the software platform, scale it, or move it to a different application host as the whole suite comes together. The return on investment is good. If I am doing applications for clients, I can invoice them for better costs. Most applications that I run and use have a better return on investment.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Web Application Firewall?
The pricing is okay at the moment. Sometimes, when opting for a higher SKU, it's not the WAF itself that's costly but the additional requirements. A higher SKU application hosting platform adds to ...
What needs improvement with Azure Web Application Firewall?
While using it, I identified certain areas where it would have been good to have additional features. Right now, I can't recall any specific instances. Seamless integration is good, yet having mult...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall vs. Azure Web Application Firewall and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,825 professionals have used our research since 2012.