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Fortinet FortiADC vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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
6.6
Fortinet FortiADC is chosen for reliable load management, security, and support, offering moderate ROI and essential performance.
Sentiment score
6.0
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway enhances cost-control and efficiency, offering 30-40% savings and reducing staffing needs, despite cost assessment challenges.
The alert system is efficient, sending alerts within a fraction of a second if any power issues arise.
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway significantly impacts our cost savings while maintaining higher performance.
We have seen a return on investment in terms of time-saving and cost-saving by not creating our own infrastructure.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
Fortinet FortiADC customer service is praised for effective support but varies in response time and relies on ticket prioritization.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway's customer service is praised for responsiveness but criticized for delays and varying technical expertise.
The support team is knowledgeable and efficiently assists with automation and configuration problems.
The service is helpful yet not excellent.
There is room for improvement, specifically in paid support, by providing more direct contact.
I would rate Microsoft support as good because they have a very skilled technical support team in the background
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Fortinet FortiADC provides scalable solutions with virtual and cloud options, though performance varies by model and infrastructure needs.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is praised for scalability and features, despite some challenges and integration flexibility with cloud platforms.
It is scalable for some versions, however, as components reach their end of support, upgrades are necessary to maintain scalability.
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is a very scalable product.
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is a scalable solution.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Fortinet FortiADC is praised for stability, reliable operation, effective support, and minor issues resolved through firmware updates.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is seen as stable and reliable, with most users rating it highly despite some configuration challenges.
The support system is reliable when issues like automation or configuration arise.
The stability is good, and except for a few instances, I don't see the non-availability of Azure Cloud services.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiADC needs advancements in algorithms, UI, support, documentation, scalability, features, pricing, licensing, performance, cloud, and AI integration.
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway struggles with high costs, complexity, poor integration, limited features, and insufficient support and documentation.
The limitation of managing all components and the differing versions pose challenges.
If I need design help, they do not assist; they say it is a design issue they cannot support, and I must approach the system integrator.
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway has room for improvement because it offers many features, but its configuration is a bit difficult, at least from the developer point of view.
There is room for improvement in terms of support, such as assigning agents directly for more straightforward engagement.
In future releases of Microsoft Azure Application Gateway, I would like to see more AI functionalities and a better dashboard as well as some customizations.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiADC is affordable compared to competitors, with flexible licensing, varying costs, and potential discounts based on configurations.
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway's pricing is seen as both expensive and competitive, depending on features and integration benefits.
This solution is quite expensive compared to Kemp.
Azure solutions are quite expensive.
When it comes to pricing for Microsoft Azure Application Gateway, I would rate it a seven out of ten.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiADC excels in load balancing, security, and ease of integration, offering scalable, reliable, and comprehensive traffic management solutions.
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway enhances traffic control and security with features like URL routing, autoscaling, and customizable policies.
I use server load balancing and employ layer seven features, which provide more granular traffic shaping and detailed logs.
FortiADC provides load-balancing capabilities needed for integration with other Fortinet platforms.
The Web Application Firewall (WAF) in Microsoft Azure Application Gateway has been very effective in protecting applications from security threats.
We are using it for some of the security features for our applications, particularly for securing traffic in transit with SSL.
To address user load increases during peak times or special events, you can automatically identify these peak scenarios and configure either scaling up or down automatically based on certain parameters.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure Application...
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
4th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiADC is 9.4%, up from 8.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is 7.4%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway7.4%
Fortinet FortiADC9.4%
Other83.2%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

OusaidAbaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates load balancing efficiently within existing technology environments
FortiADC provides load-balancing capabilities needed for integration with other Fortinet platforms. It allows for the creation of virtual IPs and applying various algorithms for traffic management. Although it offers fewer algorithms than competing platforms like F5, its capability to manage load balancing makes it valuable. The security features depend on the environment, relying on firewalls like FortiGate.
DevenderVannela - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures efficient traffic management and robust security while simplifying complex configurations
The best features for Microsoft Azure Application Gateway basically protect your application and provide security-related features and also divert the traffic to different instances of your application. I have used URL-based routing, which helps manage traffic efficiency. It is a bit hard to manage in the long run, but it does provide value. I have used the gateway's Web Application Firewall feature, which enhances security as it is the first entry point to your network from the outside world. It helps protect against unwanted requests and other threats that can be configured. Regarding the integration with Azure Active Directory, it helps with authentication processes to configure all the users or the groups. The monitoring capabilities on Azure provide insight into application performance and potential threats because monitoring comes with many products. On Azure, you have Azure Monitor itself to help you monitor the application by collecting data. You have Application Insights and the logging workspace on Azure. By combining these three, you can implement monitoring solutions on Azure applications. Auto-scaling is important because it helps in resource management for customers. Scaling is one of the key features of moving to cloud for any customer. During peak times or special events, such as retail site promotions, user load increases significantly. To address this, based on the number of incoming requests or server capacities such as CPU and memory, you can automatically identify these peak scenarios and configure either scaling up or down automatically based on certain parameters.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business22
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

Is Citrix ADC (formerly Netscaler) the best ADC to use and if not why?
For ADC, any ADC can do a good job. But in case if you want to add WAF functionality to the same ADC hardware you have to look for other ADC's like F5, Imperva, Radware, Fortinet, etc.
Do you recommend Fortinet FortiADC?
I recommend Fortinet FortiADC. My experience with Fortinet has been very positive. Our company has been using it for around five years. We mainly use FortiADC for the load balancing of application ...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiADC?
The user interface is very easy and integrates with Sandbox easily.
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...
How does AWS WAF compare to Microsoft Azure Application Gateway?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether Amazon’s Web Service Web Application Firewall or Microsoft Azure Application Gateway web application firewall software was the better fit ...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Application Gateway?
Application Gateway automatically redirects unwanted users and takes care of the security aspect. It also handles the performance side of things, which is why we use it.
 

Also Known As

FortiADC Application Delivery Controller, FortiADC
Azure Application Gateway, MS Azure Application Gateway
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Lilly, AccuWeather, AIRFRANCE, Honeywell
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiADC vs. Microsoft Azure Application Gateway and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.