Azure Front Door vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management comparison

Azure Front Door and Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management are both solutions in the Microsoft Security Suite category. Azure Front Door is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.8, while Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is ranked #34 with an average rating of 7.5. Azure Front Door holds a 2.6% mindshare in Microsoft Security Suite, compared to Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Azure Front Door users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management users who would recommend it.

Azure Front Door

Read 15 Azure Front Door reviews

1,544 Views
1,350 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender External...

Read 2 Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management reviews

101 Views
68 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Azure Front Door

Microsoft Defender External...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Azure Front Door and Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management 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 Front Door vs. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Front Door vs. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

April 2025

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Helped 850,236 peers since 2012

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 Front Door

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

12th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CDN (2nd), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (8th)

Microsoft Defender External...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

34th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Attack Surface Management (ASM) (12th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Front Door is 2.6%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

Thomas Zebar

Azure Principal Architect at Cloud Computech Consultancy

Provides great security with a good application firewall

The initial setup is straightforward. If you want to use the portal, CLI, or PowerShare, or you want to use automation data for one month, it's straightforward. Even when it comes to operational maintenance, it's pretty easy and straightforward. Microsoft has done a great job on that front. Maintenance generally requires someone who is a cloud administrator or similar to maintain services in general, with Front Door a small piece of a larger maintenance requirement. There's not a lot to manage, the configuration is simple. I encourage people to document the configuration and infrastructure as well as disaster recovery in case anything happens.

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AndyChan3

General manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Enhanced visibility and exposes vulnerabilities but needs more integration

I am currently in the pilot stage of implementing Microsoft External Attack Surface Management (EASM). My organization is transitioning to a comprehensive track of Microsoft solutions, and we will move to full-scale production in another year, maybe Microsoft External Attack Surface Management…

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

"You can assign as many web application firewall policies as you want to the same instance of Front Door."

"I particularly appreciate its load-balancing capabilities as it allows us to manage multiple instances and support a global presence effectively."

"Azure Front Door provides DDoS protection and features related to WAF."

"I am impressed with the tool's integrations."

"The solution is good."

"It inspects the traffic at the network level before it comes into Azure. We can do SSL offloading, and it can detect abnormalities before the traffic comes into the application. It can be used globally and is easy to set up. It is also quite stable and scalable."

"The price is one of the most important aspects of the product. It's quite affordable."

"Has a great application firewall and we like the security."

More Azure Front Door pros

"It seems to be better at protecting from cyberattacks."

"Microsoft External Attack Surface Management helps improve the visibility of my exposed vulnerabilities and provides an overview of my security posture across the globe."

Cons

"I dislike the URL set parameters."

"It lacks sufficient functionality."

"This is a relatively expensive solution."

"The tool should improve its cost."

"I'm responsible for the governance and cost control of Azure. I'm not a specialist in any products and therefore I couldn't really speak effectively to features that are lacking or missing."

"There could be improvements regarding its pricing for large-scale projects."

"We should be able to use Front Door defenders with multiple cloud vendors. Currently, they can be used only with the Azure cloud. Azure Front Door should also be able to do global load balancing and provide internal front door services. Microsoft should clearly define what Traffic Manager, Application Gateway, and Azure Front Door products do. These are similar products, and people get confused between these products."

"There's a limitation on the amount of global rules we can add."

More Azure Front Door cons

"The integration is not as seamless compared to competitors like Palo Alto."

"Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement."

"With Microsoft, support is always crazy, it's not easy to get support."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The transition to the premium tier has led to increased costs, making it more expensive than the classic tier."

"The solution is a bit expensive."

"It is on a pay-as-you-go basis."

"The product is expensive."

"The pricing of the solution is good."

"Considering the standard licensing of the tool, even though we have not checked the billing as of now, it might not be very costly."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between Azure Front Door and Application Gateway?

We found Azure Front Door to be easily scaled and very stable. The implementation is very fast and Microsoft provides excellent support. Azure Front Door can quickly detect abnormalities before the...

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What do you like most about Azure Front Door?

Rules Engine is a valuable feature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Front Door?

I am not sure about the pricing but believe Azure Front Door might require a higher cost due to its entry point nature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

I rate the pricing of the solution as eight out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement. Introduction of more AI automation into the products would also be beneficial. The integration is not as seamless co...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

See all answers

Comparisons

Cloudflare vs Azure Front Door

Compared 18% of the time

Amazon CloudFront vs Azure Front Door

Compared 17% of the time

Akamai vs Azure Front Door

Compared 13% of the time

AWS Global Accelerator vs Azure Front Door

Compared 11% of the time

Imperva Web Application Firewall vs Azure Front Door

Compared 4% of the time

More Azure Front Door Competitors

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Compared 22% of the time

Tenable Attack Surface Management vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Compared 16% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Compared 14% of the time

Bitsight vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Compared 12% of the time

Mandiant Advantage vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Compared 11% of the time

More Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Front Door

May 2025

Download Azure Front Door product report

Buyer's Guide

Attack Surface Management (ASM)

April 2025

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management report

Download Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management product report

Also Known As

Azure Front-Door

No data available

Overview

Azure Front Door is employed for securing external traffic, global load balancing, integrating web application firewalls, enabling disaster recovery, and enhancing application accessibility.

Organizations leverage Azure Front Door to support data publishing, act as a CDN, and ensure low latency for global users. Clients use it to protect numerous internet-accessible applications, integrate with DNS, and implement custom routes. Favored for caching web content and securely, efficiently distributing traffic to backend services, Azure Front Door offers SSL offloading, traffic inspection, and global scalability. Users value its affordability, ease of implementation, and web application firewall. Azure Front Door provides rich security features, traffic management, and URL rewriting. Load-balancing capabilities enhance performance with additional content security policies and bot protection. Integrations, including with GitOps, along with combined CDN and load-balancing, are also highlighted.

What are the most important features?

SSL Offloading: Reduces the burden on backend services
Traffic Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting incoming traffic
Global Scalability: Ensures performance for users worldwide
Web Application Firewall: Provides in-depth security features
Load Balancing: Distributes traffic to improve performance
URL Rewriting: Customizes URL paths for better navigation
Bot Protection: Shields applications from automated threats
Integrations: Supports technologies like GitOps
Combined CDN and Load-Balancing: Streamlines content delivery and traffic management

What are the benefits or ROI of using this service?

Affordability: Provides cost-effective solutions for web traffic management
Ease of Implementation: Streamlines setup processes for quick deployment
Enhanced Security: Offers robust protection for web applications
Improved Performance: Optimizes traffic distribution and latency
Scalability: Supports growing application demands with global reach

Azure Front Door finds usage across multiple industries due to its versatile applications. E-commerce companies benefit from improved global accessibility and speed, while financial institutions leverage its security features for protecting sensitive data. Media and entertainment sectors use its CDN capabilities for seamless content delivery, and healthcare providers rely on its compliance and protection standards for patient data security.

Microsoft

In this era of hybrid work, shadow IT creates an increasingly serious security risk. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management helps cloud security teams see unknown and unmanaged resources outside the firewall.

Microsoft

Buyer's Guide

Azure Front Door vs. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

April 2025

Free Report: Azure Front Door vs. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Front Door vs. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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