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Azure Sphere vs Forescout Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

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 Sphere
Ranking in IoT Security
7th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Forescout Platform
Ranking in IoT Security
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
Network Access Control (NAC) (6th), Endpoint Compliance (2nd), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (19th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the IoT Security category, the mindshare of Azure Sphere is 3.4%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Forescout Platform is 8.2%, down from 12.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IoT Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Forescout Platform8.2%
Azure Sphere3.4%
Other88.4%
IoT Security
 

Featured Reviews

Chandrakant Deshmukh - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior VP IOT at Mastek Ltd
Has a learning curve that is easy to deal with for users
With the tool, the learning curve is really good. I don't have to spend time in long training sessions, which is typically required for other platforms. As my company is a Microsoft kind of shop, we have developers, making the learning curve easy compared to other tools. When it comes to integration with the back-end systems, manufacturing companies are still using some other apps in their environment. Getting data or pushing those analytics data back to the back-end systems is relatively simple while using Azure Sphere and other integration points, and so that is why there is a clear direction from our company's end customer that they need an Azure solution.
AshishKumar Rai - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Comprehensive visibility has strengthened endpoint control and automated threat response across networks
When it comes to improving Forescout Platform, I have faced some issues recently, particularly with the switch integration part. When integrating a switch, it asks for the vendor type, and often it does not match. For example, one series of HP switches may not be found in that vendor list. This leads to frustration because you have to check again with different HP models, and once you integrate a switch, you cannot edit the vendor list without removing it. Other issues are being worked on, particularly related to switch integration. I believe they will be fixed in the next upgrade or patch fix. There are no major issues, but the configuration changes needed for the switch model are necessary, and I think it would help if during integration, an admin user could check the password or credential used, as they currently cannot see the password after it is entered and saved.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I think my team is comfortable with the installation of the product."
"When you use this solution, you get a dual processor with all the necessary security and Microsoft updates supplied, so you don't have to be concerned about the security aspect related to IoT because Microsoft takes care of this."
"It's stable and the performance has been great."
"The most valuable features of the Forescout Platform are NAC for sharing, Network Access Control, and port sharing of the devices."
"Forescout is easy to integrate with a lot of end systems."
"The product is very easy to work with and easy to deploy."
"The support from the Forescout Platform is great."
"The initial setup is straightforward; we had to implement the solution in a short timeframe and we managed to do it in one month as a managed service, and Forescout Platform is easy to deploy as the fastest NAC solution that you can deploy in a large environment."
"Since implementing Forescout, our environment is significantly more secure."
"The product has proven to be worth the cost and time savings alone in finding rogue devices."
"Forescout Platform has granular features and one of the most impressive features is the agentless feature."
 

Cons

"The type of edge devices being addressed through the suite was limited, however, even that has also significantly increased."
"The lack of awareness of the products among our company's customers is a challenge that needs to be looked at and improved by Microsoft."
"One of the pain points of this solution is that the full Linux box is not exposed to all developers. This restricts what the applications can do as they cant be adjusted."
"The product needs to improve its support. I know a case that dragged on for about one and a half years. They eventually suggested professional services and closed the ticket. We followed their advice, engaging the account manager and professional service team, only to discover that the issue was a bug. After reopening the case, it's been about six months, and the problem still hasn't been resolved."
"The configuration of the rules is both a blessing and a curse. While it is almost infinitely configurable, knowing how to get the product to do what you want it to do can be difficult, especially at first."
"We only looked at it in terms of discovery modes and I think it's too expensive to use for that purpose alone."
"Better integration with third-party vendors is needed because as it is now, the list of third-party solutions that we can integrate and automate is quite limited."
"When it comes to improving Forescout Platform, I have faced some issues recently, particularly with the switch integration part."
"There were many issues with deployment, but these were largely due to our own network architecture issues."
"Forescout Platform could improve the costs of integrations."
"In terms of technical support, their engineering team is very rigid."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution offers secure IoT communication to the cloud at a fairly low cost."
"The fact that we were allowed to spin up as many servers as we had need of to support our geographic requirements while paying for licensing as an enterprise truly set Forescout apart from the crowd and improved the way we could design our access."
"It's about $160,000, but I'm not sure how long that is for or what it includes. Because we were a test base, we were provided with servers, but now, Forescout wants us to buy servers because those servers are now end-of-life or end-of-service. For our lifecycle management program, in order to get a refresh on those servers, we would have to buy servers or use our own network resources to house Forescout. Forescout takes up about 13 or 14 virtual CPUs."
"We have a very clear licensing model for business. I don't have to have a Ph.D. to be able to understand the licensing model as you might need for other solutions. If I know exactly what we want, it can tell you which license you need. The solution is easy for purchasing, ordering, and ease of deployment as well."
"We need to pay for integration for each integration that we want to do and there is an additional license fee. This adds more costs. It is not something that anyone can afford. If you want to integrate this with a lot of other tools, it can be costly."
"5,000 user licenses will cost you between seven and eight million dollars, compared to 20 million for Aruba."
"Licenses are perpetual but can come with renewable support."
"It is expensive because you have to pay for their CSM, the customer's access manager, and their professional services on top of that, and they charge you roughly $400 per hour, which is overhead."
"The solution’s pricing is fine."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise45
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Sphere?
I think the license part is good enough as of now because as a company, we don't handle the license part. My company has a partner from Microsoft who manages everything for us, so we don't deal dir...
What needs improvement with Azure Sphere?
When it comes to the challenges or drawbacks associated with the product, I will not talk about the system. Our company's customers who are into manufacturing and other such businesses are not very...
What is your primary use case for Azure Sphere?
I use the solution in my company for process automation. Based on the kind of devices and architecture our company's customers use, our company is now fetching those data points and integrating the...
What advice do you have for others considering Forescout Platform?
Forescout is a very powerful NAC product that does not rely on port level configuration. It can detect and block unauthorized devices very quickly. But it has a lot of capabilities and really would...
What advice do you have for others considering Forescout Platform?
I would rate the Forescout Device and Visibility Control Platform at a six out of ten.
What advice do you have for others considering Forescout Platform?
I recommend doing a compression demo. If people use it, they will buy it. So they have to see the product in place. That's the main recommendation is to do a proof of concept. If they do, they will...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Forescout Platform, CounterACT for Endpoint Compliance, ForeScout CounterACT
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
NHS Sussex, SAP, SEGA, Vistaprint, Miami Children's Hospital, Pioneer Investments, New York Law School, OmnicomGroup, Meritrust
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Sphere vs. Forescout Platform and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.