F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs Windows Azure CDN comparison

F5 and Microsoft are both solutions in the CDN category. F5 is ranked #10 with an average rating of 10.0, while Microsoft is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.0. F5 holds a 2.4% mindshare in CDN, compared to Microsoft’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Read 2 F5 Distributed Cloud Services reviews

2,707 Views
487 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Windows Azure CDN

Read 13 Windows Azure CDN reviews

918 Views
918 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Windows Azure CDN

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Windows Azure CDN and F5 Distributed Cloud Services are competing in the cloud services market for content delivery. F5 Distributed Cloud Services have a more robust feature set, whereas Windows Azure CDN is more appealing in pricing and customer support.

Features: Windows Azure CDN integrates with Microsoft Azure, supports seamless scalability, and offers extensive global reach. F5 Distributed Cloud Services provide advanced security, comprehensive threat protection, and real-time analytics, making them suitable for high-security needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Windows Azure CDN allows straightforward deployment within Azure's ecosystem, offering comprehensive documentation and prompt customer support. F5 Distributed Cloud Services offer flexible deployment for complex architectures, though requiring more technical expertise. Their customer service provides in-depth support, perceived as more technical.

Pricing and ROI: Windows Azure CDN offers a transparent pricing structure with competitive setup costs, making it appealing to cost-conscious organizations. The integration with Azure services enhances ROI. F5 Distributed Cloud Services, while seen as costly upfront, offer superior features that yield higher ROI for organizations needing advanced functionalities. Buyers should weigh budget constraints against feature requirements to make informed decisions.

To learn more, read our detailed F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. Windows Azure CDN Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. Windows Azure CDN

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

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Ranking in CDN

10th

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Web Application Firewall (WAF) (19th), API Security (6th)

Windows Azure CDN

Ranking in CDN

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the CDN category, the mindshare of F5 Distributed Cloud Services is 2.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Azure CDN is 3.4%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CDN Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Windows Azure CDN	3.4%
F5 Distributed Cloud Services	2.4%
Other	94.2%

CDN

Featured Reviews

Filip Mikulik

IT Analyst at Atlas.cz, a.s.

Protects web applications with comprehensive security features

All features are valuable. In a multi-cloud or distributed cloud, there are many protection possibilities from data to web application or API protection, including bot mitigation. This is a comprehensive package for web application security. The main benefit is Web App Security, offering a complete security package from DDoS to web application firewall, API protection, and bot mitigation.

Read full review

AlaaMadkhana

Pre Sales at eSense Software

Has provided exceptional performance for handling high web traffic

In my opinion, Windows Azure CDN is one of the best CDNs. We tried to replace it and made a business case to check other options such as Cloudflare, and we are using Cloudflare and tried Akamai, wanting to explore alternatives from OCI. One of the best features of Windows Azure CDN is that it has integrated WAF; it is not only CDN alone and it is a very smart and capable WAF. Windows Azure CDN is easily integrated with Azure services such as Azure Storage and Azure Web Apps, and sometimes we are using just Azure Front Door while the back end and database will be on OCI. The impact of Windows Azure CDN's dynamic content acceleration on our application performance is very significant. For one of our clients, we could not use anything other than Azure Front Door.

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

"In a multi-cloud or distributed cloud, there are many protection possibilities from data to web application or API protection, including bot mitigation."

"The main benefit is Web App Security, offering a complete security package from DDoS to web application firewall, API protection, and bot mitigation."

"F5 is known for being the best load balancer in the market. Customers with an existing module can easily adopt additional modules without investing in new hardware."

"One of the most valuable aspects is the capability to store extensive datasets and objects in the cloud, enabling their download through shared access signatures."

"We use the product for faster content delivery with low latency."

"It is a stable solution."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that one can access Windows Azure CDN from anywhere."

"One of the best features of Windows Azure CDN is that it has integrated WAF; it is not only CDN alone and it is a very smart and capable WAF."

"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."

"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 geolocation feature is very important because many colleagues travel worldwide and need to access information from anywhere. The product has improved security."

More Windows Azure CDN pros

Cons

"The pricing could be adjusted to better meet the needs of typical customers in regions like Poland, where the product is considered too expensive."

"The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF."

"The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF. There are some problems, mainly from the perspective of implementation and customer expectations, which sometimes differ from reality."

"The solution’s pricing could be improved."

"We have experienced issues with switch connectivity."

"It is not a weakness of Windows Azure CDN; rather, it is the fact that it is outside Saudi Arabia, leading to some regulation issues."

"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."

"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 response time of the support team must be improved."

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

More Windows Azure CDN cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"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."

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

"The tool's pricing is cheap."

"It comes at a relatively affordable cost."

More Windows Azure CDN pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	6

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

I am not involved in sales, so I do not deal with the pricing aspect directly. I give the cost of the solution a four out of ten since it is not a cheap product.

See all answers

What needs improvement with F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

It's a long way to be perfect, of course, as with all solutions. The main issue is integration with other parts or products of F5, like on-premise WAF. There are some problems, mainly from the pers...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for F5 Distributed Cloud Services?

There are two main use cases for Distributed Call Services: DDoS or Distributed attacks protection and WAF web application security or firewall.

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?

In terms of pricing for Windows Azure CDN and the whole Microsoft products, you cannot compare networking alone or compute alone; you need a full solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Windows Azure CDN?

It is not a weakness of Windows Azure CDN; rather, it is the fact that it is outside Saudi Arabia, leading to some regulation issues. For computing, they could make a flex engine similar to other p...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 12% of the time

Imperva Application Security Platform vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 11% of the time

Cloudflare vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 11% of the time

Azure Front Door vs F5 Distributed Cloud Services

Compared 10% of the time

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Cloudflare vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 30% of the time

Akamai vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 23% of the time

Amazon CloudFront vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 15% of the time

Uplynk vs Windows Azure CDN

Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

CDN

January 2026

Download F5 Distributed Cloud Services product report

Buyer's Guide

Windows Azure CDN

January 2026

Download Windows Azure CDN product report

Overview

F5 Distributed Cloud Services excel in enhancing security, optimizing web application delivery, and ensuring robust network performance. Users value its integrated Web Application Firewall, DDoS protection, global server load balancing, and intuitive management interface. It boosts organizational efficiency, reduces operational costs, and scales seamlessly, making it essential for businesses operating in distributed environments.

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

F5 Distributed Cloud Services vs. Windows Azure CDN

December 2025

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