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

Azure Firewall vs Hillstone E-Series comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 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 Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
16th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (16th)
Hillstone E-Series
Ranking in Firewalls
40th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
SSL VPN (10th), Enterprise Infrastructure VPN (24th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Azure Firewall is 2.7%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Azure Firewall2.7%
Hillstone E-Series0.9%
Other96.4%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

HG
Cloud Architect at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Intelligent threat detection has protected our workloads and now automatically blocks malicious traffic
Azure Firewall has many features such as FQDN filtering, threat intelligence, and IDPS that comes with the premium usage. The threat intelligence feature is what I favor the most because it uses AI to help identify threats and take proactive measures. When we had a product launch that was globally used with certain workloads running on Azure, we used the threat intelligence feature to automatically recognize malicious IP addresses and potential loopholes that could compromise my application. The threat intelligence feature automatically allowed and denied malicious traffic and generated logs through which we had alerts already set up to notify the respective owners about malicious IPs attempting to gain access. Threat intelligence does not work as an antivirus but allows us to define and know what malicious IP addresses and domains are, and prevent communications with them. Azure Firewall really helped us to protect our environment, and with features such as threat intelligence, it helped us implement an automation where malicious IP addresses or domains are automatically identified and blocked. Azure Firewall helped us secure our environment and suspend suspicious IP addresses or suspicious traffic attempting to gain access. Through its logs features, we were able to write queries to identify which applications are being attacked most and implement more security features on top of that. Azure Firewall helped us secure our environment and reduce manual effort, and it also reduced the risk of vulnerabilities.
TahirMahmood - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at Zubair Feeds
Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users
We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.

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 for me to protect certain ports or even the IP addresses, as well as do whitelisting, blacklisting, and the FQDN when we want virtual machines connected and to protect certain websites."
"Azure Firewall is a cloud-native solution that removes the pain of load balancers."
"It's auto-scalable, which is a great feature."
"I can easily configure it."
"I like its order management feature. It doesn't have the kind of threat intelligence that Palo Alto has, but the order management makes it much simpler to know the difference."
"I find the solution to be very stable, and would rate it a ten out of ten in terms of stability."
"The Layer four features are okay and meet my business needs."
"The most valuable features of the product are its great security and connectivity."
"With Hillstone, TCO and ROI are very good, it's an easy sale."
"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."
"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."
"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients secure connectivity from a remote location to their offices or their servers."
"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."
"If an organization is not looking for a web proxy, it's a very, very good product."
 

Cons

"I would appreciate it if Azure Firewall included built-in VPN capabilities."
"There should be better monitoring and logging. Currently, it is put in Sentinel. It should be more seamless and from the interface."
"Currently there is no automatic monitoring for Azure Firewall."
"You have to have a defined IP range within your network to associate it with your network. The problem is you have to plan ahead of time if you expect to use the firewall in the future so that you don't have to reconfigure your subnets or that specific IP range. Other than that, I don't any issues. I use it for basic configuration for a single application, so I really don't try to leverage it for multiple applications where I might find some complexity or challenges."
"There are a number of things that need to be simplified, but it's mostly costs. It needs to be simplified because it's pretty expensive."
"The interface could be improved, it's not very user friendly."
"An Azure firewall is not a real firewall."
"Compared to FortiGate and Palo Alto, Azure Firewall is not very flexible."
"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."
"The room for improvement would be the SSL VPN license cost."
"The tool needs to improve its price."
"The current usage reporting is very basic. I would like to be able to access more granular data."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."
"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."
"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is pay-as-you-go. So, you pay based on the usage. If I remember it well, there is a basic fee, and there is a traffic fee. It is not per month. It is per hour or something like that. It is not so expensive."
"I rate the product pricing a five out of ten."
"The pricing of Azure Firewall is pay-as-you-go. Fortinet also has a pay-as-you-go model, but Azure's pricing is higher and, with FortiGate, you also have the license."
"Azure Firewall is quite an expensive product."
"Azure Firewall comes with Azure native services. We did not buy any kind of license for it. Whether you have a free subscription or a pay-as-you-go model, you can deploy the Azure Firewall service... The amount that you use will determine how much you pay."
"Before choosing this solution, we evaluated others, and we found this to be the most cost-effective."
"The licensing module is good."
"The total cost of ownership is much less than Palo Alto, Cisco, or any other brand."
"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."
"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."
"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
921,523 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise22
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
 

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...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall vs. Hillstone E-Series and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
921,523 professionals have used our research since 2012.