HAProxy vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway comparison

HAProxy and Microsoft are both solutions in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category. HAProxy is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.9, while Microsoft is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.7. HAProxy holds a 8.2% mindshare in ADC, compared to Microsoft’s 4.9% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of HAProxy users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

HAProxy

Read 48 HAProxy reviews

7,737 Views
5,106 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure Application...

Read 50 Microsoft Azure Application Gateway reviews

7,755 Views
2,869 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

HAProxy

Microsoft Azure Application...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

HAProxy and Microsoft Azure Application Gateway compete in the load balancing category. HAProxy is favored for its cost-effectiveness and flexibility, while Azure Application Gateway is highlighted for its comprehensive cloud integration and advanced features.

Features: HAProxy is recognized for its robust performance, protocol support across TCP and HTTP/HTTPS, and cost efficiency. Its open-source nature allows for flexible customization without significant financial outlay. Azure Application Gateway is noted for its strong cloud integration, security features like the Web Application Firewall (WAF), and seamless autoscaling capabilities.

Room for Improvement: HAProxy users seek a more user-friendly GUI, enhanced dynamic configuration, and improved documentation for beginners. Improvements in advanced logging and monitoring are also desired. Azure Application Gateway could benefit from increased configuration flexibility, better support for non-HTTP protocols, and more comprehensive documentation for easier understanding.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Deploying HAProxy is straightforward, supported by a robust community, although enterprise users might miss direct technical support. Azure Application Gateway is considered user-friendly, especially in cloud settings, with reliable support from Microsoft that users find beneficial despite occasional deployment challenges.

Pricing and ROI: HAProxy is praised for its economic advantages, being largely open-source with minimal licensing costs, delivering substantial ROI through operational efficiency. Azure Application Gateway, while more expensive, is viewed as competitively priced given its advanced capabilities and seamless integration within the Azure ecosystem, justifying the investment in large-scale deployments.

To learn more, read our detailed HAProxy vs. Microsoft Azure Application Gateway Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

HAProxy vs. Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

August 2026

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

7.2

HAProxy boosts efficiency by reducing costs and staff needs, offering speed, reliability, and enhanced scalability for traffic management.

Sentiment score

6.1

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway enhances ROI by reducing infrastructure costs, simplifying setup, and using cost management tools for accurate assessments.

Operational efficiency has improved; we no longer have staff consistently monitoring backend servers during deployment or scaling events, as HAProxy's health checks and hitless reloads allow us to push changes with minimal manual intervention.

Muhammad Choirul

Junior System Administrator & DevOps at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

This resulted in a drastic decrease in costs and, at the same time, the accuracy of the hits coming on HAProxy was almost around 100% or 99.99%.

Shrinivas Devarkonda

Head of DevOps at TripFactory

I estimate seeing a return on investment with HAProxy, as it significantly reduced staff requirements and enhanced scaling capabilities, particularly when transitioning from NGINX, which faced issues.

reviewer2775702

Principal Engineer Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HAProxy report

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway significantly impacts our cost savings while maintaining higher performance.

Bonieber Orofeo

IT Manager at Chong Hua Hospital

If we can use a shared resource, then the return on investment is really nice.

reviewer5599486

Cloud Specialist at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

We have seen a return on investment in terms of time-saving and cost-saving by not creating our own infrastructure.

Shehzad Ali

Information Security and Compliance Officer at Carnation

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure Application Gateway report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.3

HAProxy's support is praised for responsiveness and skill, though some suggest improved documentation and communication for better efficiency.

Sentiment score

6.4

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway support experiences vary; some praise expertise, while others criticize delays and inconsistent quality.

Since we are utilizing the open-source edition, community forums, mailing lists, and GitHub have been invaluable, with typically someone having encountered the same problems we faced.

Muhammad Choirul

Junior System Administrator & DevOps at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

My interactions with HAProxy's customer support were limited, but the feedback from my team indicated satisfactory service.

reviewer2775702

Principal Engineer Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HAProxy report

I would say they provide the best support for Application Gateway because they own the product, so their support is top-notch.

reviewer5599486

Cloud Specialist at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

There is room for improvement, specifically in paid support, by providing more direct contact.

Shehzad Ali

Information Security and Compliance Officer at Carnation

I would rate Microsoft support as good because they have a very skilled technical support team in the background

DevenderVannela

Cloud Head at White-Spunner & Associates

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure Application Gateway report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.7

HAProxy is highly scalable, adaptable for small to medium businesses, efficiently handling substantial connections and diverse user volumes.

Sentiment score

7.4

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway provides scalable solutions but has mixed reviews regarding cost and ease of scaling and upgrades.

We manage an automatic load balancing feature where we add HAProxy servers dynamically behind the application load balancer to handle more traffic.

Shrinivas Devarkonda

Head of DevOps at TripFactory

HAProxy's scalability is excellent; as our traffic expands, it handles load increases effortlessly.

Muhammad Choirul

Junior System Administrator & DevOps at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For scalability, HAProxy meets my needs, supporting our initial horizontal scaling and then adapting to vertical scaling in a VMware environment.

reviewer2775702

Principal Engineer Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HAProxy report

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is a very scalable product.

Bonieber Orofeo

IT Manager at Chong Hua Hospital

It has the autoscaling feature, so there is not much concern around performance; it can scale significantly.

reviewer5599486

Cloud Specialist at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is a scalable solution.

DevenderVannela

Cloud Head at White-Spunner & Associates

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure Application Gateway report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.1

HAProxy offers high stability and reliable performance, enhancing system uptime with minimal downtime and frequent functionality updates.

Sentiment score

7.6

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is stable and reliable, with high ratings, despite occasional issues due to misconfiguration.

This reliability serves as a key reason for our choice, providing us with confidence even when faced with heavy traffic.

Muhammad Choirul

Junior System Administrator & DevOps at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

The hot reload feature of HAProxy also really helped us so that we never had to shut it down to reload it.

Sanooj Mananot

CEo at CloudPositive

We have reduced a lot of servers, replacing them with one or two HAProxy servers which deliver better performance, accuracy, and an almost 100% success rate with requests.

Shrinivas Devarkonda

Head of DevOps at TripFactory

For more quotes and insights, download the HAProxy report

We have been using it for the past two to three years, and there have been good results with no problems so far.

reviewer5599486

Cloud Specialist at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

The stability is good, and except for a few instances, I don't see the non-availability of Azure Cloud services.

DevenderVannela

Cloud Head at White-Spunner & Associates

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure Application Gateway report

Room For Improvement

Users recommend improved HAProxy documentation, management tools, dynamic configuration, cloud integration, APIs, and enhanced load-balancing and clustering capabilities.

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is criticized for high costs, complexity, lacking documentation, and needing improvements in security, scalability, and support.

The configuration syntax is powerful yet can become overwhelming for newcomers; a more beginner-friendly interface or a native GUI without relying on third-party tools would ease the onboarding process.

Muhammad Choirul

Junior System Administrator & DevOps at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

An easier desktop interface to connect to a remote server and make changes on my PC would be beneficial.

reviewer2774310

DevOps engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

The reloading functionality is effective as it allows soft reloads without interrupting traffic patterns.

reviewer2775702

Principal Engineer Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HAProxy report

One feature I mentioned is the support for non-HTTPS protocols such as TCP, which could allow one endpoint for all kinds of protocols.

reviewer5599486

Cloud Specialist at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

There is room for improvement in terms of support, such as assigning agents directly for more straightforward engagement.

Shehzad Ali

Information Security and Compliance Officer at Carnation

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.

Bonieber Orofeo

IT Manager at Chong Hua Hospital

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure Application Gateway report

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers find HAProxy cost-effective, with free open-source options and a pricier Enterprise Edition offering enhanced features.

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway's cost is debated; appreciated for scalability but potentially expensive with additional fees compared to AWS.

Since we use the open-source edition, there are no licensing fees, with the main cost being the infrastructure running on EC2 instances in AWS, which helps maintain low expenses.

Muhammad Choirul

Junior System Administrator & DevOps at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Setting up HAProxy didn't cost anything for me.

reviewer2774310

DevOps engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

The pricing remains competitive compared to other vendors.

reviewer2775702

Principal Engineer Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HAProxy report

We would prefer to have it cheaper, but it is still expensive.

reviewer5599486

Cloud Specialist at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Azure solutions are quite expensive.

Shehzad Ali

Information Security and Compliance Officer at Carnation

When it comes to pricing for Microsoft Azure Application Gateway, I would rate it a seven out of ten.

Bonieber Orofeo

IT Manager at Chong Hua Hospital

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure Application Gateway report

Valuable Features

HAProxy offers high performance load balancing with customization, scalability, and support for diverse environments, enhancing user experience and flexibility.

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway provides secure, efficient traffic management with integration, automation, and scalability benefits for straightforward application deployment.

By moving all SSL termination to the load balancer, I now manage certificates in a single place, and I can also utilize Let's Encrypt with HAProxy's built-in ACME support, making renewal automatic.

Muhammad Choirul

Junior System Administrator & DevOps at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

HAProxy positively impacted our organization by exceeding scalability expectations, initially projected at 200k requests but ultimately handling over 15 million transactions per second without any issues.

reviewer2775702

Principal Engineer Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

As a production engineer at that time, I definitely wanted to ensure that the system could handle massive connections, especially since we operated an e-commerce platform where we could not lose any customer calls.

Sanooj Mananot

CEo at CloudPositive

For more quotes and insights, download the HAProxy report

We are using it for some of the security features for our applications, particularly for securing traffic in transit with SSL.

Shehzad Ali

Information Security and Compliance Officer at Carnation

The Web Application Firewall (WAF) in Microsoft Azure Application Gateway has been very effective in protecting applications from security threats.

Bonieber Orofeo

IT Manager at Chong Hua Hospital

The gateway's Web Application Firewall feature enhances security as it is the first entry point to your network from the outside world.

DevenderVannela

Cloud Head at White-Spunner & Associates

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Azure Application Gateway report

Categories and Ranking

HAProxy

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

2nd

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

15th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (6th), Bot Management (6th), Service Mesh (3rd)

Microsoft Azure Application...

Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

12th

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

11th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of HAProxy is 8.2%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is 4.9%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
HAProxy	8.2%
Microsoft Azure Application Gateway	4.9%
Other	86.9%

Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)

Featured Reviews

Shrinivas Devarkonda

Head of DevOps at TripFactory

Handles high traffic efficiently and simplifies complex routing with rule-based logic

I think HAProxy is good as it stands now, but I believe there could be improvements. gRPC has recently been implemented, which is great, along with TLS 1.2 and 1.3 support, and HTTP 2.0 is also available. However, I'm unsure about the benchmark of those HTTP 2.0 requests on HAProxy. If there were any other protocol with better performance than HTTP 2.0, or perhaps mTLS and other similar features, including that in HAProxy would be really great. For improvements, I think that during setup and configuration, the steps provided are neat and clear. Anyone can easily install and configure it. There are many kernel tuning parameters also available, which is great. For specific improvement, in terms of logging, I think printing the full object of the request may help, or if there's a way to reference two requests, it would be beneficial to find a complete session history from a logged-in customer, as it would help analyze customer and user analytics.

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reviewer5599486

Cloud Specialist at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Mutual TLS has secured our web services and now needs broader protocol support

The most valuable feature we have found in Microsoft Azure Application Gateway is mutual TLS. We find mutual TLS valuable because we can verify the client securely by setting up the trust certificate of the client, and also if we do it at the client side as well. This successfully develops mutual trust, ensuring that we know the client who is calling our service is a legitimate client. That is a very nice feature.Microsoft Azure Application Gateway has helped manage our traffic efficiently because we have many web services that we can put behind the same URL, and we can have different URLs with the same Application Gateway with a limited number of listeners. We can do host-based routing as well as URL-based routing or path-based routing. It supports both, so we can have even a single URL supporting many applications, or we can have different URLs for different applications respectively. We have both use cases.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	16

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	24

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend HAProxy?

I do recommend HAProxy for more simple applications or for companies with a low budget, since HAProxy is a free, open-source product. HAProxy is also a good choice for someone looking for a stable ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HAProxy?

Since we used the open-source version, we were not concerned about pricing, setup cost, or licensing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with HAProxy?

For the limited use that I have of HAProxy, I don't have any points to improve. I think I need more time with this tool, or perhaps I simply don't have areas that need to get better. I don't have a...

See all answers

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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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 ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Application Gateway?

Regarding the pricing and licensing of Application Gateway, it is not cheap because the version we are using is WAF V2, and we are also using DDoS Premium Protection. I think the price of WAF on Ap...

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Comparisons

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs HAProxy

Compared 9% of the time

NGINX Plus vs HAProxy

Compared 9% of the time

NetScaler vs HAProxy

Compared 9% of the time

Kemp LoadMaster vs HAProxy

Compared 7% of the time

LoadBalancer Enterprise vs HAProxy

Compared 5% of the time

More HAProxy Competitors

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 8% of the time

NetScaler vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 6% of the time

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 5% of the time

F5 Advanced WAF vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 5% of the time

Amazon Elastic Load Balancing vs Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Application Gateway Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HAProxy

August 2026

Download HAProxy product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

August 2026

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway report

Download Microsoft Azure Application Gateway product report

Also Known As

HAProxy Community Edition, HAProxy Enterprise Edition, HAPEE

Azure Application Gateway, MS Azure Application Gateway

Overview

HAProxy delivers reliability, high performance, and efficient load balancing solutions. Its open-source model ensures cost-effectiveness and scalability, ideal for managing extensive infrastructure demands with minimal latency while offering seamless integration with modern platforms.

HAProxy is renowned for its robust performance in load balancing across TCP and HTTP protocols, featuring multiple algorithms such as round-robin. Users appreciate its customizable configuration and seamless SSL termination, which make it an excellent choice for managing complex infrastructures. The platform's open-source nature supports scalability, reducing costs while providing flexible proxy operations. HAProxy efficiently handles high concurrency, enabling smooth traffic management and ensuring stability within diverse systems.

What key features does HAProxy offer?

Load Balancing: Balances TCP and HTTP traffic using algorithms like round-robin
SSL Termination: Provides secure, seamless SSL termination for user connections
Customizable Configuration: Offers detailed configuration options for tailored setups
Traffic Management: Comprehensive management of large traffic loads
Open-Source: Cost-effective, scalable solution for tech infrastructures

What benefits and ROI aspects should you consider?

Reliability: High performance with minimal latency, enhancing user satisfaction
Scalability: Open-source model ensures growth without considerable cost
Integration: Compatible with Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud services
Stability: Robust architecture supports complex infrastructures smoothly

HAProxy is extensively used in load balancing implementations across various sectors. Companies deploy it for managing high traffic, Layer 4 and Layer 7 applications, and SQL databases. It supports microservices architecture, performs SSL offloading, and manages email services like SMTP. As a reverse proxy, HAProxy delivers high availability for systems like Redis, RabbitMQ, and Apache while integrating with Docker and Kubernetes. Its features enhance web application firewall capabilities and traffic routing, making it suitable for industries demanding reliable and efficient network management.

HAProxy

Microsoft Azure Application Gateway offers advanced traffic management and security features for web applications. It includes built-in rules, Layer 7 control, autoscaling, and integration options, providing flexibility and security for managing application traffic efficiently.

Azure Application Gateway is utilized by organizations for securing and managing web traffic with its comprehensive web application firewall, load balancing capabilities, and Layer 7 firewall rules. Known for its ease of setup and integration, the platform facilitates external application access and deploys secure services. While it enhances security with customized configurations, users note areas for improvement such as configuration complexity, pricing, third-party tool integration, and automation. Addressing these aspects can improve user experience and performance.

What are the key features of Microsoft Azure Application Gateway?

Built-in Rules: Pre-configured rules help streamline traffic management and enhance security.
Layer 7 Control: Offers detailed traffic routing and policies based on application-level information.
Real-Time Autoscaling: Automatically adjusts resources to meet demand and optimize performance.
Comprehensive WAF Protection: Guards against web vulnerabilities and potential threats.
Seamless Integration: Easily integrates with Azure services for enhanced workflow efficiency.

What benefits do users look for in reviews?

Traffic Routing: Efficiently directs application traffic based on defined rules for improved performance.
Security: Provides robust protection for internet-facing applications.
Ease of Setup: Simplifies deployment and management of applications.
Flexibility: Supports different application scenarios with customizable configurations.

Industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail implement Azure Application Gateway to protect sensitive data and manage significant web traffic. Its application deployment support and security capabilities make it suitable for businesses needing to ensure secure data exchange and reliable access to online services.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Booking.com, GitHub, Reddit, StackOverflow, Tumblr, Vimeo, Yelp

Lilly, AccuWeather, AIRFRANCE, Honeywell

Buyer's Guide

HAProxy vs. Microsoft Azure Application Gateway

August 2026

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