Azure Front Door vs Microsoft Defender for Business comparison

Azure Front Door vs. Microsoft Defender for Business

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Helped 859,545 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

7.6

Azure Front Door offers cost savings and efficient management, yielding a clear return on investment despite initial transition uncertainties.

Sentiment score

7.5

Microsoft Defender boosts productivity and security, integrating seamlessly with Office tools for significant budget savings despite ROI challenges.

Azure Front Door offers a quick return on investment once it is set up.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Front Door report

Co-Founder at arpa

Using Microsoft Defender for Business results in cost reductions as it consolidates various features under one product, saving around 20% to 30% of the budget.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Business report

Consultant at Dell Technologies

It is pretty good because it offers various features such as Exchange, OfficeSuite, OneDrive, and SharePoint.

Vincent Gagnon

Directeur Département Microsoft 365 at BGM Informatique

The value I see in Microsoft Defender for Business is in its ability to track and respond to application usage and security threats through its CASB and automation features, which are cost-beneficial.

Amit-Granot

Works

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.2

Azure Front Door receives high marks for customer service, with users praising knowledgeable support staff and clear documentation.

Sentiment score

5.2

Users have mixed reviews of Microsoft Defender's support, noting contact difficulties and inconsistent technical assistance despite good onboarding.

I am able to set up a critical call with Microsoft, and they respond quickly to tickets with the highest severity.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Front Door report

Co-Founder at arpa

It is rated ten out of ten for its quality and assistance.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Business report

Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies

The onboarding support is exceptional, ensuring seamless integration and implementation.

Anat Garty

Chief Cybersecurity Architect at cytek-security

Faster support is needed for endpoint security solutions.

Amit-Granot

Works

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.6

Azure Front Door offers scalable, reliable solutions for enterprises, enhancing performance and managing applications efficiently despite higher costs.

Sentiment score

8.2

Microsoft Defender for Business is scalable and effective across diverse environments, though special configurations might impact growth speed.

I find that Front Door can become expensive for large-scale projects with more transactions and users.

Azure Consultant at cloudshift

I consider the scalability of Azure Front Door to be strong.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Front Door report

Co-Founder at arpa

The cloud-based nature of the solution ensures high scalability.

Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies

The scalability of Microsoft Defender for Business is rated as ten, indicating it is very scalable.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Business report

Consultant at Dell Technologies

In terms of scalability, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Business a ten.

Takayuki-Umehara

Public Cloud Engineer at Prudential

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.5

Azure Front Door is praised for high stability and reliability, though some DNS management issues are occasionally noted.

Sentiment score

7.3

Microsoft Defender for Business is stable and reliable, with minimal crashes, but some report occasional bugs impacting stability.

I rate Azure Front Door's stability a nine because it is easy to make updates through Azure Portal.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Front Door report

Co-Founder at arpa

No customer complaints about its functionality or reliability.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Business report

Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies

Although it generally works, there are occasional issues and errors that sometimes require a complete system format to rectify.

Amit-Granot

Works

I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Business with a three out of ten, where one is very bad.

Takayuki-Umehara

Public Cloud Engineer at Prudential

Room For Improvement

Azure Front Door requires enhancements in multi-cloud support, load balancing, IP support, latency, UI, pricing, rules, monitoring, and APIs.

Microsoft Defender for Business needs better reporting, integration, simplified interface, and enhanced features to address various limitations and concerns.

If I could use Azure Front Door with private IP addresses, it would be more beneficial.

Azure Consultant at cloudshift

The only significant adjustment required is with URL set parameters that need to be passed for an existing domain.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Front Door report

Co-Founder at arpa

Microsoft should provide batch management solutions with the application, integrating pass management with roles.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Business report

Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies

Features related to Advanced Persistent Threat detection vectors and cyber kill chain integrations are not available out-of-the-box.

KiranKumar17

CISO at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees

There can be improvements in the user interface to make it more intuitive.

Wondimu Almu

Information Technology Security Consultant at Navaio IT Security

Setup Cost

Azure Front Door's pay-as-you-go pricing offers flexibility, with costs and value balancing for various project needs.

Microsoft Defender for Business offers competitive pricing with enterprise value, though some users find costs high compared to competitors.

Azure Front Door is cheaper for small projects, companies, or applications compared to using separate tools.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Front Door report

Azure Consultant at cloudshift

Single-year pricing remains good.

Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies

The pricing is quite affordable at the enterprise level with no extra expenses noted.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Business report

Consultant at Dell Technologies

The package with Business Premium is good for what you get for the price.

Vincent Gagnon

Directeur Département Microsoft 365 at BGM Informatique

Valuable Features

Azure Front Door provides scalable, secure, and affordable solutions with advanced features like SSL offloading, load balancing, and DDoS protection.

Microsoft Defender for Business integrates seamlessly with Microsoft products, offering comprehensive security, scalability, and user-friendly features for effective threat management.

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

Azure Consultant at cloudshift

Azure Front Door includes a built-in web application firewall, which performs signature-based checks of the request payload, offering protection against common attacks or malicious requests.

For more quotes and insights, download the Azure Front Door report

Co-Founder at arpa

The threat detection capabilities are robust, with a dedicated research team and a continuously updated threat feed.

Wondimu Almu

Information Technology Security Consultant at Navaio IT Security

Its vulnerability management is regarded as one of the best in the industry.

Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies

The most effective features of Microsoft Defender for Business include its threat detection and response capabilities in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Business report

Consultant at Dell Technologies

Categories and Ranking

Azure Front Door

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

18th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CDN (2nd), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (13th)

Microsoft Defender for Busi...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (23rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Front Door is 2.6%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Business is 3.0%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

SayedAbdelrhman

Cloud Solution Architect at MentorMate

Provide bot protection and has proficient documentation

During our discussion with the internal Microsoft team about assessing our environment, they confirmed that we have sufficient security measures, especially regarding edge protection. Internally, we believe we are now certified. In the future, we could consider adding layer four protection from the firewall. Front Door combines CDN and WAF protection, so further enhancing its features could benefit both the customer and us. We monitor the number of users attempting to access our IP or DNS servers. When designing the system, we initially needed to ensure our environment was protected with a WAF. However, WAF is currently too costly for us, so we created private links and connected them to Front Door. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Read full review

Takayuki-Umehara

Public Cloud Engineer at Prudential

Product deployment protects assets but needs improvement in system support

I am doing maintenance for Microsoft Defender for Business, and I'm currently working with it. We don't need to use the latest version of Microsoft Defender for Business. We still use the latest virus definition file that Microsoft Defender for Business has automatically updated. We implement a basic update mechanism. Our compliance division manages how many servers and PCs we have and whether those servers have antivirus solutions. I am not certain about how Microsoft Defender for Business helps with AI-driven security strategies. I just use it normally and don't know if it uses AI technology. I rate Microsoft Defender for Business a six out of ten.

Read full review

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Microsoft Security Suite solutions are best for your needs.

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859,545 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

19%

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

What do you like most about Azure Front Door?

Rules Engine is a valuable feature.

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.

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Business?

A few things are valuable. One is the alerting we see when any kind of intrusion is happening, any kind of malware is being deployed across the endpoints, or any kind of suspicious activity is goin...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Business?

Microsoft Defender for Business offers the best pricing option in the market and is very cost-effective.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Business?

The areas where Microsoft Defender for Business could improve include the support, installation process, and wiki. I should be able to find solutions to issues quickly without having to delve too d...

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Product Reports

Azure Front Door

Download Azure Front Door product report

Microsoft Defender for Business

Download Microsoft Defender for Business 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

Microsoft Defender for Business is a new endpoint security solution that was designed especially for the small and medium-sized business (up to 300 employees). With this endpoint security solution, your company's devices are better protected from ransomware, malware, phishing, and other threats.

Microsoft

Azure Front Door vs. Microsoft Defender for Business