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Azure Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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
4.4
Azure Firewall is cost-effective, reducing costs and network attacks, with predictable expenses and significant return on investment for users.
Sentiment score
6.5
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer ROI with dual ISPs, cost savings, enhanced security, reduced downtime, and data protection.
After implementing threat intelligence with Azure Firewall, we were able to reduce attacks by 60 to 70 percent, and our machines were more free to handle the correct user traffic from real people.
Cloud Architect at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
With Azure Firewall on the cloud, you just need to subscribe to the firewall, configure it, and it will help you protect your environment.
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
The solution helped reduce downtime, which is crucial in time-sensitive industries like manufacturing.
Director IT Infrastructure and Operations at a analyst firm with 51-200 employees
I have seen a return on investment as there are definitely clear cost reductions, resource savings, time savings, and improved risk detection.
Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt.Ltd.
Since we moved to Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, we enabled the ECMP, and we were able to move some traffic over the second ISP, with most of the traffic going via the primary ISP.
Network and security lead at Hughes systique pvt ltd
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
3.8
Azure Firewall support is responsive, especially for enterprises, but complex issues may cause delays despite knowledgeable staff.
Sentiment score
6.8
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls' customer service shows mixed reviews, with timely assistance but issues in response delays and regional inconsistencies.
Microsoft provides excellent customer support, especially with premium support plans.
DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nevertheless, the final support from Microsoft remains effective.
Information Technology Architect at GMS INC
With Azure products, customer support is really good.
Senior Manager, Information Security at NetSol Technologies Inc.
Palo Alto's network support is excellent, and I would rate it a ten out of ten.
Founder at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
They offer fast and competent assistance.
IP / Operations Support System Engineer; Pre-Sales Engineer at Avantguard.it
They provide fast response and rapid remediation of problems.
Solution Architect at a retailer with 201-500 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.7
Azure Firewall is praised for automatic scalability, ideal for global deployment and expansion, though some seek alternative solutions.
Sentiment score
6.8
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer mixed scalability reviews, with cloud deployments and model choice impacting cost and performance.
Based on my experience, I would rate it nine out of ten for scalability.
Cybersecurity Engineer at AXSYS
Azure Firewall is highly scalable, and I would give it a scalability rating of nine out of ten.
DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
When we started deploying the solution, it was not a mature product at times.
Senior Manager, Information Security at NetSol Technologies Inc.
It is important to assess the infrastructure size before choosing a model.
IP / Operations Support System Engineer; Pre-Sales Engineer at Avantguard.it
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are scalable and reliable.
Senior Network Engineer L4 at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
They are able to secure data centers consistently across all workplaces, from the smallest office to the largest data centers.
Network Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Users praise Azure Firewall for its high stability and reliability, achieving 99.95% uptime, ensuring consistent performance across environments.
Sentiment score
8.5
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offers reliable performance and stability, outperforming competitors in maintaining network integrity and handling resources.
The stability of Azure Firewall is excellent.
DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
For our use case, Azure Firewall is stable enough.
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
With appropriately configured policies, these firewalls can provide robust network security.
Solution Architect at a retailer with 201-500 employees
After the upgrade, we are experiencing performance issues.
Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I have not experienced any outages or issues.
IP / Operations Support System Engineer; Pre-Sales Engineer at Avantguard.it
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Firewall users seek enhanced security features, better integration, cost efficiency, user-friendly interface, and performance consistency across regions.
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls need improvements in management, pricing, scalability, support, interfaces, integration, VPN, and threat detection.
If Azure Firewall can integrate identity features, it will help deliver additional next-generation capabilities.
Solutions Area Lead at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
If there were dashboards that came automatically set up so we could know how our threat intelligence is working and how much traffic is being blocked, that would help.
Cloud Architect at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Improvement in reporting and better visibility into network traffic would also be beneficial.
Cybersecurity Engineer at AXSYS
When performance degrades due to full packet inspection, the solution should be to increase the computing power within the same firewall, not to recommend upgrading to a larger, more expensive model.
Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Further integration into a unified system could improve usability.
Director IT Infrastructure and Operations at a analyst firm with 51-200 employees
Configurations related to different operating systems can be complex, and we have encountered issues with Linux systems.
Sr. Manager - Systems & Networks at Aspire Systems
 

Setup Cost

Azure Firewall offers integration benefits and flexibility, but its pay-as-you-go model can be costly for data-heavy use.
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are expensive but provide valuable security features that justify their cost for enterprise users.
The standard functionality for API Management is at a zero level, and then the next level is one.
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
Azure Firewall is quite expensive, with a high cost.
DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Azure Firewall is subscription-based, which is advantageous as there is no need for upfront payment.
Information Technology Architect at GMS INC
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are expensive.
Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Colleagues looking for the cheapest and fastest firewall can still use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls because they are affordable.
Director at Zuci Systems
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is the most expensive solution without discussion.
Presales Engineer at Vodafone
 

Valuable Features

Azure Firewall ensures robust security with features like policy control, threat intelligence, scalability, and seamless Azure integration.
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offer robust threat protection, AI integration, and intuitive management, enhancing security and operational efficiency.
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.
Senior Manager, Information Security at NetSol Technologies Inc.
With Azure Firewall on the cloud, you just need to subscribe to the firewall, configure it, and it will help you protect your environment.
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
Azure Firewall helped us secure our environment and reduce manual effort, and it also reduced the risk of vulnerabilities.
Cloud Architect at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
The most valuable features of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are DNS sync calls, enabled security features, and Wildfire.
Technical Engineer Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Threat Vault allows us access to a comprehensive threat database, enabling us to get detailed information on threats and how to mitigate them.
Senior Network Engineer L4 at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is Cortex Data Lake.
Solution Architect at a retailer with 201-500 employees
 

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)
Palo Alto Networks NG Firew...
Ranking in Firewalls
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
200
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is 5.3%, up from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls5.3%
Azure Firewall2.7%
Other92.0%
Firewalls
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Content Manager at PeerSpot
Aug 22, 2021
 

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.
Nitin Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Network & Security Engineer at Arrow PC Network Pvt.Ltd.
Strong threat prevention has reduced phishing and malware while I monitor traffic in depth
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls offers application and user awareness, which allow me to control traffic based on threats. The product includes threat prevention, advanced threat prevention, and deep packet inspection that really helps prevent issues in our network. Deep packet inspection inspects full traffic content, even inside applications and encrypted sessions. Deep packet inspection makes a very practical difference day to day because it lets me see and control what is actually inside the traffic, not just the open port or IP. I have real visibility of which application is running instead of just seeing HTTPS. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls WildFire sandboxing is really good at detecting and blocking zero-day malware automatically, along with its GlobalProtect and DNS security features. Using Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls positively impacts my organization by providing strong security, better visibility, faster response, and simplified operations. After deploying Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls in our network, it blocks malicious traffic and prevents compromises that occurred before Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls. I can now block outside IPs to prevent issues. After Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls installation, I reduced 60 to 70 percent of malware and phishing attacks. Its threat prevention and DNS security features detect these attacks, block malicious domains, and reduce manual efforts for the security team.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

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 Business77
Midsize Enterprise56
Large Enterprise89
 

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...
Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it kind of depends what you value most. PA is good at app control, web filtering a...
Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat signatures and updates. I also appreciate that I can just import addresses and URL...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
The pricing cost for Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls depends on the models and requirements, such as the throughput I want and how many users I can manage via the box. The setup cost is worth it, a...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall vs. Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
921,148 professionals have used our research since 2012.