Fastly vs Windows Azure CDN comparison

Fastly and Microsoft are both solutions in the CDN category. Fastly is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.3, while Microsoft is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4. Fastly holds a 4.2% mindshare in CDN, compared to Microsoft’s 3.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Fastly users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Fastly

Read 7 Fastly reviews

1,141 Views
579 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Windows Azure CDN

Read 12 Windows Azure CDN reviews

914 Views
549 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Fastly

Windows Azure CDN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Windows Azure CDN and Fastly are competing products in the content delivery network space. Based on data comparisons, Fastly often holds the upper hand due to its advanced features and performance despite Azure CDN's competitive pricing and reliable support.

Features: Windows Azure CDN's valuable features include scalability, global reach, and integration with Microsoft services. Fastly offers real-time analytics, instant configuration updates, and edge computing capabilities, appealing to tech buyers seeking high performance and dynamic capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Windows Azure CDN could improve its flexibility for users needing more tailored options, enhance its real-time analytics capabilities, and refine its interaction features to compete with advanced competitors. Fastly could enhance its user documentation for better onboarding, improve integration with non-technical environments, and potentially offer more competitive pricing models for wider accessibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Windows Azure CDN benefits from smooth integration with Microsoft environments, providing a straightforward deployment experience. It offers reliable support channels but may lack flexibility for some users. Fastly's developer-friendly approach enables rapid deployment with robust API support and personalized technical assistance, noted for its adaptability and responsive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Windows Azure CDN is known for its competitive pricing structure and predictable costs, providing a strong ROI for organizations heavily invested in Microsoft ecosystems. Fastly, while potentially more expensive, offers compelling ROI for businesses demanding high-speed performance and customization due to its billing model based on performance and features.

To learn more, read our detailed Fastly vs. Windows Azure CDN Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fastly vs. Windows Azure CDN

June 2025

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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

Fastly

Ranking in CDN

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Web Application Firewall (WAF) (18th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (12th)

Windows Azure CDN

Ranking in CDN

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the CDN category, the mindshare of Fastly is 4.2%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Azure CDN is 3.0%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CDN

Featured Reviews

Nick Wilsdon

CEO at Torque

An easily scalable and stable product that provides exceptional support

The product should provide improved bot detection and management. The product should also provide support for code management. Everybody working in CDN is currently looking for ways to better manage code deployment with various authorization levels and synchronization with our lower environments. Matching up what's happening in CDN with what's happening on the origin regarding testing would always be useful.

Read full review

Muhammad ZaheerNazir

Team Lead and Solutions Architect at Systems Arabia

Helps to handle edge cases and has purge features

I believe Windows Azure CDN can improve monitoring and measuring overall end-user performance. Providing monitoring tools or agents that can be integrated into our pages would be highly beneficial. Setting up a custom domain with Windows Azure CDN involves proving domain ownership, which can take some time. The process is relatively straightforward if your DNS or domain registrar is already integrated with Microsoft. However, the verification process may be more time-consuming if you use a different service provider.

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

"Support is good; the product works as advertised. We have a Slack connection with them. So we can basically ask for help, live, engage, and ring when they respond. Very quickly."

"Rate limiting is a good feature that protects from volumetric attacks."

"The product's initial setup phase is straightforward."

"Fastly uses configuration versioning, where you can deploy a new version in less than one minute."

"Its initial setup process is straightforward."

"Compute@Edge features are valuable to me."

"The product helps our organization to access sites located in different regions quickly."

"I like that CDN offers a routing feature."

"I enjoy engaging in discussions with colleagues possessing unique expertise. I leverage the three platforms—Azure, Google, and AWS extensively. This allows me to offer diverse solutions to customers, commonly referred to as a multi-cloud approach."

"The UI is very intuitive."

"The fact that it just delivers what it is supposed to do is its most valuable feature...The initial setup is very straightforward."

"One of the tool's best features is its ability to handle edge cases. For instance, we encountered a situation where we needed to remove certain files from public access. The solution offered a purge feature that allowed us to remove these files. This feature ensured that the files were deleted from all edge servers. Subsequently, we were able to upload new versions of the files."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that one can access Windows Azure CDN from anywhere."

"We use the product for faster content delivery with low latency."

"One of the most valuable aspects is the capability to store extensive datasets and objects in the cloud, enabling their download through shared access signatures."

More Windows Azure CDN pros

Cons

"The product should provide improved bot detection and management."

"Fastly's customer service area needs improvement."

"Stronger analytics would be helpful, like showing configurations that haven't served a certain amount of traffic in a while. With many properties, things can get lost track of - duplicates or unused configurations not properly decommissioned."

"It is missing a "staging" platform to deploy a test configuration with all of the real settings, which would allow us to properly test before putting it into production."

"The solution's pricing could be better."

"What I don't like about Fastly is that they charge a heavy price."

"Support is not that great."

"They should include configuration for cache rules."

"The high price of Windows Azure CDN is an area of concern where improvements can be made."

"We have experienced issues with switch connectivity."

"I aim to enhance the reporting."

"Windows Azure CDN should lower its prices."

"The solution’s pricing could be improved."

"Exploring shared access solutions with cloud accounts would be a beneficial choice."

"I believe Windows Azure CDN can improve monitoring and measuring overall end-user performance. Providing monitoring tools or agents that can be integrated into our pages would be highly beneficial. Setting up a custom domain with Windows Azure CDN involves proving domain ownership, which can take some time. The process is relatively straightforward if your DNS or domain registrar is already integrated with Microsoft. However, the verification process may be more time-consuming if you use a different service provider."

More Windows Azure CDN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fastly is less expensive than one of its competitors."

"I've generally found Fastly to be very competitive in pricing, especially around Compute@Edge."

"You need to pay a premium price for the tool."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The pricing has been very competitive."

"The solution is cheaper than other products in the market."

"In my opinion, Fastly is priced competitively."

"The tool's pricing is cheap."

"The solution's price depends on how much traffic you have. So, it was okay for us. Payments are to be made on a monthly basis since one has to pay for what they used."

"The pricing of the solution depends on usage and varies based on the company's needs. If you want additional features like advanced logging, it will be pricier. However, it could be cheaper if you don't need those features. It all depends on the resources and requirements."

"The pricing is extremely high, almost 9 out of 10."

"It comes at a relatively affordable cost."

"I rate the price of Windows Azure CDN a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is high."

"The tool's pricing is cheap."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."

More Windows Azure CDN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

24%

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fastly?

Support is good; the product works as advertised. We have a Slack connection with them. So we can basically ask for help, live, engage, and ring when they respond. Very quickly.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fastly?

You need to pay a premium price for the tool.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fastly?

What I don't like about Fastly is that they charge a heavy price. The pricing is different per region. If you have a customer who is international and has deployments in different regions, it is ve...

See all answers

What do you like most about Windows Azure CDN?

One of the tool's best features is its ability to handle edge cases. For instance, we encountered a situation where we needed to remove certain files from public access. The solution offered a purg...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Windows Azure CDN?

The pricing of the solution depends on usage and varies based on the company's needs. If you want additional features like advanced logging, it will be pricier. However, it could be cheaper if you ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Windows Azure CDN?

Windows Azure CDN should lower its prices.

See all answers

Comparisons

Akamai vs Fastly

Compared 22% of the time

Cloudflare vs Fastly

Compared 19% of the time

F5 Advanced WAF vs Fastly

Compared 8% of the time

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs Fastly

Compared 6% of the time

Imperva DDoS vs Fastly

Compared 3% of the time

More Fastly Competitors

Akamai vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 28% of the time

Cloudflare vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 25% of the time

Uplynk vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 20% of the time

Amazon CloudFront vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 12% of the time

Azure Front Door vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 4% of the time

More Windows Azure CDN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fastly

June 2025

Download Fastly product report

Buyer's Guide

CDN

May 2025

Download Windows Azure CDN product report

Overview

Fastly helps the world’s most popular digital businesses keep pace with their customer expectations by delivering fast, secure, and scalable online experiences. Businesses trust Fastly’s edge cloud platform to accelerate the pace of technical innovation, mitigate evolving threats, and scale on demand.

Fastly

Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) caches static web content at strategically placed locations to provide maximum throughput for delivering content to users. The CDN offers developers a global solution for delivering high-bandwidth content by caching the content at physical nodes across the world.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Twitter, Airbnb, Alaska Airlines, Pinterest, Vimeo, The Guardian, The New York Times, Ticketmaster, The Drupal Association, Opera, about.com, imgur, Etsy, Foursquare, GitHub, New Relic, shopify, Shazam, Firebase

NORAD, Agreeya Mobility

Buyer's Guide

Fastly vs. Windows Azure CDN

June 2025

Free Report: Fastly vs. Windows Azure CDN

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