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Azure Firewall vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365 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 offers cost-effective security, appealing to smaller businesses; larger enterprises might prefer alternatives like Fortinet or Palo Alto.
Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enhances email protection, reduces costs, and increases productivity, offering invaluable data security.
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
Overall, cost of owning and operating our system goes down.
It's hard to quantify the return on investment we've seen from Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.4
Azure Firewall support receives mixed reviews, with praise for expertise but criticism for inconsistent response times and delays.
Sentiment score
5.9
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers reliable support, praised for responsiveness, despite some challenges with clarity and third-party resolutions.
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.
Over the past two years, there have been no critical problems.
we opened tickets, and they typically resolve them quickly.
Customer service and support have been fantastic.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Azure Firewall offers strong scalability with automatic scaling, but some users note limitations in handling high bandwidth demands.
Sentiment score
8.2
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales seamlessly across configurations, supporting thousands of users with effortless integration and optimal performance.
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.
We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales transparently for us, as we grew from 1,000 users to 3,000 users, and we didn't notice much difference.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.6
Azure Firewall is praised for its reliability and stability, generally receiving high ratings despite minor past incidents.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is highly reliable, offering stable performance, quick issue resolution, and high user satisfaction ratings.
The stability of Azure Firewall is excellent.
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
I would assess the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as very stable, with barely any issues.
Overall, the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 are good.
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Firewall needs enhanced security, usability, flexibility, better pricing, support, threat intelligence, documentation, and improved Azure integration.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 needs enhanced virus protection, compatibility, UI, integration, reporting, and cost transparency to improve user experience.
Improvement in reporting and better visibility into network traffic would also be beneficial.
Azure Firewall could improve its reporting capabilities.
It lacks some functionalities when compared to competitors like Check Point and Fortinet, such as WAF or load balancing.
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published.
There is a different console for different things; I just want one consolidated console.
 

Setup Cost

Azure Firewall offers flexible pricing appealing to enterprises, balancing cost-efficiency with seamless Azure ecosystem integration despite potential premium costs.
Enterprise users find Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing complex but valuable due to integration with Office 365 features.
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.
Prices have increased recently
We've likely saved 30% of costs.
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
 

Valuable Features

Azure Firewall provides scalable security with IPS, threat intelligence, malware protection, automation, and integrates with Azure Monitor for management.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers comprehensive security with real-time updates and automated threat response, enhancing multi-platform enterprise safety.
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.
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection.
The value of the DLP feature is significant to us because we have internal data, sometimes sensitive, and the users may not always be aware of security and privacy, which might lead them to send out information mistakenly to external parties.
 

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)
Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
 

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 Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 2.8%, up from 2.5% 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.
Tolu Omolaja - PeerSpot reviewer
Great URL scanning and attachment scanning, but I would like more proactive threat analysis
The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning. URL scanning involves an automatic scan of links and emails. When a user clicks on a link within an email, the system promptly checks the link's safety. If the link is deemed safe, access is granted automatically. However, if it is flagged as unsafe, we receive feedback and notification to caution us about the potentially harmful link. At this point, we are presented with the option to proceed or return. I have personally witnessed the system identify a few unsafe links, making this the primary advantage of using the solution. The second crucial aspect is the scanning of attachments. When an email containing an attachment arrives, we receive a notification of the new email, along with information that the attachment is being scanned for threats. This additional layer of security provides peace of mind for our organization. While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers numerous features, these two stand out as particularly impressive and valuable to us.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
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 do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the indi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published. It's essential to enhan...
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Defender for Office 365
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
863,641 professionals have used our research since 2012.