Azure Front Door vs Windows Azure CDN comparison

Azure Front Door and Windows Azure CDN are both solutions in the CDN category. Azure Front Door is ranked #2 with an average rating of 9.0, while Windows Azure CDN is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4. Azure Front Door holds a 17.5% mindshare in CDN, compared to Windows Azure CDN’s 3.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Azure Front Door users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Windows Azure CDN users who would recommend it.

Azure Front Door

Read 15 Azure Front Door reviews

5,724 Views
3,519 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Windows Azure CDN

Read 12 Windows Azure CDN reviews

882 Views
517 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Azure Front Door

Windows Azure CDN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Windows Azure CDN and Azure Front Door are competing in the Azure cloud services sector, each with its strengths. Azure Front Door appears to have the upper hand due to its superior features that justify a higher cost.

Features: Windows Azure CDN is efficient in content caching and boosting speeds through its global reach. It supports extensive datasets and offers fast data caching and website loading, providing an intuitive UI. Azure Front Door excels with global load balancing, application acceleration, and a web application firewall. It integrates well with cloud services, offers bot protection, and combines CDN with load-balancing capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Windows Azure CDN could enhance its security features, caching mechanisms, and user interface simplicity. Better integration with other platforms and enhanced user feedback systems would also be valuable. Azure Front Door would benefit from simplifying its setup process, improving cost-effectiveness, and expanding feature documentation to make configuration more user-friendly. Enhancing customer support and reducing technical complexities would also be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Windows Azure CDN offers straightforward deployment with reliable support, simplifying integration. Azure Front Door's feature-rich architecture results in a more complex deployment process. However, its customer service aids users in navigating the setup and troubleshooting, ensuring a smooth experience once configured.

Pricing and ROI: Windows Azure CDN is known for lower setup costs and favorable ROI, ideal for businesses with basic needs. Azure Front Door may demand higher initial investment but offers greater returns in demanding settings, justifying its costs for those needing enhanced performance and security.

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

Buyer's Guide

Azure Front Door 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

Azure Front Door

Ranking in CDN

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Web Application Firewall (WAF) (13th), Microsoft Security Suite (18th)

Windows Azure CDN

Ranking in CDN

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the CDN category, the mindshare of Azure Front Door is 17.5%, down from 19.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Azure CDN is 3.1%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CDN

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

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

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

"The solution is good."

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

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

"The most valuable feature is that I can have CDN and load-balancing capabilities in a single service instead of managing two separate tools."

"The web application firewall is a great feature."

"The most valuable feature is that you can implement resources globally. It does not depend on location and ability or something like that. This is to connect clients around the world."

More Azure Front Door pros

"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."

"The UI is very intuitive."

"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 most valuable feature of Windows Azure CDN is its effectiveness."

"I like that CDN offers a routing feature."

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

More Windows Azure CDN pros

Cons

"My suggestion for improvement would be to enhance the Data Export feature to include specific tables, particularly the Azure Diagnostics table."

"I dislike the URL set parameters."

"The product's features are limited compared to Cloudflare. The tool also doesn't work well in a hybrid environment. I would like to see a way to add personalized APIs in the system."

"The product needs to improve its latency."

"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."

"This is a relatively expensive solution."

"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."

"In the tool, there needs to be a good amount of monitoring in the area of health probes to capture in front of what is happening."

More Azure Front Door cons

"Azure is continuously improving its CDN but the documentation should be up-to-date."

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

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

"The solution’s pricing could be improved."

"Windows Azure CDN should lower its prices."

"We have experienced issues with switch connectivity."

"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."

"There were a few bugs that were very disappointing. So, that is a part of the reason why we started using Fastly."

More Windows Azure CDN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is a bit expensive."

"The product is expensive."

"The pricing of the solution is good."

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

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

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

"It comes at a relatively affordable cost."

"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."

"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 tool's pricing is cheap."

"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 solution's price is above the medium range."

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

"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."

More Windows Azure CDN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

17%

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

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...

See all answers

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 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

Cloudflare vs Azure Front Door

Compared 17% of the time

Amazon CloudFront vs Azure Front Door

Compared 15% of the time

Akamai vs Azure Front Door

Compared 12% of the time

AWS Global Accelerator vs Azure Front Door

Compared 10% of the time

Imperva Web Application Firewall vs Azure Front Door

Compared 4% of the time

More Azure Front Door Competitors

Cloudflare vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 27% of the time

Akamai vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 26% of the time

Uplynk vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 19% of the time

Amazon CloudFront vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 12% of the time

More Windows Azure CDN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Front Door

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

CDN

June 2025

Download Windows Azure CDN 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

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

Information Not Available

NORAD, Agreeya Mobility

Buyer's Guide

Azure Front Door vs. Windows Azure CDN

June 2025

Free Report: Azure Front Door vs. Windows Azure CDN

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