Azure Web Application Firewall vs Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service comparison

Microsoft and Barracuda Networks are both solutions in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category. Microsoft is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.3, while Barracuda Networks is ranked #35. Microsoft holds a 3.1% mindshare in WAF, compared to Barracuda Networks’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Barracuda Networks users who would recommend it.

Azure Web Application Firewall

Read 16 Azure Web Application Firewall reviews

3,050 Views
2,471 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

Read 6 Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service reviews

615 Views
615 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Azure Web Application Firewall

Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service and Azure Web Application Firewall compete in web application protection. Azure Web Application Firewall holds the upper hand due to its extensive features and integration capabilities.

Features: Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service includes automated threat updates, comprehensive reporting tools, and DDoS protection. Azure Web Application Firewall offers seamless integration with Azure services, advanced threat intelligence, and filtering capabilities to block false positives with custom rules.

Room for Improvement: Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service could enhance its scalability, improve integration with third-party services, and offer more customizable threat rules. Azure Web Application Firewall might simplify its often complex setup process, improve ease of use for non-Azure environments, and possibly reduce its cost to offer better competitive pricing.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service is known for quick deployment and responsive customer service. Azure Web Application Firewall, despite a more complex integration process, benefits from being part of the Azure ecosystem, offering streamlined processes for those environments.

Pricing and ROI: Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service typically offers a lower setup cost with effective support that ensures a quick ROI. Azure Web Application Firewall, though with higher initial costs, provides extensive scalability and features, appealing to organizations invested in Azure's ecosystem for long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Web Application Firewall vs. Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Web Application Firewall vs. Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

December 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 Web Application Firewall

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Microsoft Security Suite (21st)

Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

Ranking in Web Application Firewall (WAF)

35th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Web Application Firewall (WAF) category, the mindshare of Azure Web Application Firewall is 3.1%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Web Application Firewall (WAF) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Azure Web Application Firewall	3.1%
Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service	0.8%
Other	96.1%

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Featured Reviews

Mano Senaratne

Head of Digital Engineering, Management Consultant at Stax Inc.

Comprehensive suite simplifies configuration while frequent updates require management

Mainly, it comes with the complete suite of Microsoft services. I can use it in conjunction with the best options and other features that come with it. Configuration is much easier than using different platforms. For example, if I have hosted the application in AWS and am using the Application Firewall from Azure, there are certain additional steps to follow when configuring them. With Microsoft, everything is within a single suite, making it easier to configure and plan. Azure continually upgrades platforms and sends us messages to upgrade to the next version, simplifying the process. Later, it's much easier if I want to upgrade the software platform, scale it, or move it to a different application host as the whole suite comes together. The return on investment is good. If I am doing applications for clients, I can invoice them for better costs. Most applications that I run and use have a better return on investment.

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Tarandeep Kaur

DevOps Manager at Flash.co

Security management has reduced ransomware risk and now protects cloud workloads efficiently

The best features that Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service offers are an intuitive centralized dashboard, allowing us to manage policies, Internet protocol servers, antiviruses, anti-DDoS attacks, and traffic shaping across multiple sites. This feature enables seamless scaling of our environments, especially as we work within Amazon Web Services. Additionally, real-time threat intelligence helps us to detect threats in real-time. Another major feature I love is application control and VPN support, providing granular visibility and protection without needing separate appliances. The centralized dashboard is helping us streamline visibility across our admin panels and provides site-to-site visibility deployed directly to our AWS environment, securing VPC traffic and ensuring the firewall is in place. The real-time threat intelligence is an advanced feature helping us track real-time attacks, such as anti-DDoS attacks, ransomware, or viruses that can compromise system integrity. Through the intuitive centralized dashboard, we can manage policies and set rules, assisting us effectively.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best features of Azure Web Application Firewall are that it provides security and protection from poorly designed web applications."

"Azure WAF is extremely stable."

"It's a good option if you want a solution that's ready to go and easy for your team to learn. It's cloud-based, so you don't need to buy or maintain any hardware infrastructure."

"Configuration is much easier than using different platforms."

"The solution has good dashboards."

"It is almost impossible to access these assets from outside, requiring a very skilled attacker to obtain asset tokens of a customer using Azure."

"The Microsoft support and the analytics are what I appreciate about Azure Web Application Firewall; it integrates effectively with things such as Sentinel and Defender for Cloud, so mostly it's the analytics and now the AI capabilities that have been introduced with Co-pilot."

"It has been a stable product in my experience."

More Azure Web Application Firewall pros

"Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service has positively impacted our organization by reducing cyber threats like ransomware and phishing by ninety-five percent."

"The most valuable features of the solution are it is plug and play, has automated policies, a simple configuration, and is easy to create rules."

"The solution can be used for threat prevention or as a cloud-to-cloud backup system"

"It provides an ease of policy management."

"I like its ability to identify known attacks, including DDOS attacks. It's valuable because software must be able to stop known attacks. Application attacks are evolving all the time. When it comes to software-as-a-service, we need to have software that knows about all the latest attacks. It should also protect against major unknown attacks."

"The product's bot protection feature is valuable for our company."

Cons

"Azure WAF should not be deployed in the middle of the traffic."

"I would say that Azure's customer service is not that good...I am not very happy with the support offered."

"We would like to see additional site services using AI to provide information about blocking requests and offer analytics on the origin of calls."

"Deployment should be simplified so that a non-techie can handle it."

"The support for proxy forwarding could improve."

"Upgrading the platform regularly is necessary for security, however, frequent updates every six months or year from Azure can be a maintenance overhead."

"In Brazil, we have some problems with the phone service that affect our connection with the cloud. However, it isn't common."

"There is a need to be able to configure the solution more."

More Azure Web Application Firewall cons

"We found it a bit slow when accessing it through the web browser. The URL also exposed the user name and the hashed password. When I log into my Barracuda WAF user portal, I could see the username and the hashed password on the URL itself. So, it is not very secure, and it is important to take that off."

"It's a very specific solution that is only requested for a customer's web code or their global IT policy."

"One significant area for improvement in Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service lies in its market positioning and pricing strategy."

"The solution can improve by bundling Security Operation Center (SOC) with the WAF-as-a-Service, it would provide a lot more value to customers."

"The stability of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft and the pricing is good."

"The price of the solution depends on your architecture and how you manage it. You can control the cost in Azure quite well. The costs do not directly correlate to expenses in the features we are using."

"Azure WAF has price advantages over other WAF solutions. The pricing model is flexible because you pay on a scale based on the level of protection you need."

"The price is reasonable. It is approximately $2,000 US per month."

"The price is for this solution is fair and there is a license needed."

"I give the pricing a nine out of ten."

"The product is expensive but it offers flexible pricing. It could be affordable."

"It's very difficult for me to give an estimate of the cost. All I know is that we sell the box itself as a service."

"I rate the product's price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high. There are no additional costs to be paid apart from the standard licensing fees attached to the solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	12

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Web Application Firewall?

I would place Azure Web Application Firewall at an eight on a scale from one to 10, with one being cheap and 10 being expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Web Application Firewall?

The pricing needs improvement, and I think for beginners it will be a little bit complicated, so the ease of use could be enhanced. I've worked with Fortinet and Cisco, and I think the UI is a litt...

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What is your primary use case for Azure Web Application Firewall?

Because we mostly operate in the cloud and because we're a Microsoft environment, it was the best option in the scenario. The options were limited in terms of wanting to be an only Microsoft enviro...

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What do you like most about Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service?

It provides an ease of policy management.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service?

I see that cost can be a limitation for small businesses. Additionally, if they can provide more advanced features and customization for specific use cases, that would be beneficial. Apart from tha...

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What is your primary use case for Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service?

We primarily use Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service for raising security incidents by proactively blocking malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks to reduce breach risk and response time. Apart from that...

See all answers

Comparisons

AWS WAF vs Azure Web Application Firewall

Compared 14% of the time

Fortinet FortiWeb vs Azure Web Application Firewall

Compared 11% of the time

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs Azure Web Application Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

Azure Front Door vs Azure Web Application Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

Akamai App and API Protector vs Azure Web Application Firewall

Compared 5% of the time

More Azure Web Application Firewall Competitors

Cloudflare Web Application Firewall vs Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

Compared 46% of the time

Fortinet FortiWeb vs Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

Compared 15% of the time

Azure Front Door vs Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

Compared 14% of the time

AWS WAF vs Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

Compared 11% of the time

More Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Web Application Firewall

January 2026

Download Azure Web Application Firewall product report

Buyer's Guide

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

January 2026

Download Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service product report

Also Known As

No data available

Barracuda WAF as a Service

Overview

Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) provides centralized protection of your web applications from common exploits and vulnerabilities. Web applications are increasingly targeted by malicious attacks that exploit commonly known vulnerabilities. SQL injection and cross-site scripting are among the most common attacks.

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service is a comprehensive solution designed to provide application security, DDoS protection, SSL authentication, protocol support, and application delivery. It is a plug-and-play solution with automated policies, simple configuration, and easy rule creation.

The solution can be used for threat prevention or as a cloud-to-cloud backup system based on email protection with cloud security. It is also a web application firewall and covers major protection and threat management functions. With Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service, customers can ensure the security of their web code and comply with global IT policies.

Barracuda Networks

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Salvation Army

Buyer's Guide

Azure Web Application Firewall vs. Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

December 2025

Free Report: Azure Web Application Firewall vs. Barracuda WAF-as-a-Service

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