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Frends vs Microsoft Azure API Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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

Frends
Ranking in API Management
28th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure API Management
Ranking in API Management
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Frends is 0.7%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure API Management is 11.9%, down from 16.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Azure API Management11.9%
Frends0.7%
Other87.4%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Lauri Vanhanen - PeerSpot reviewer
Development Manager at ELO
Integration platform has simplified logistics workflows and has streamlined complex order handling
The best aspect is that it is very easy to use. The UI is very intuitive, and you can learn it very quickly because the basic principles are straightforward and easy to search. Frends has a great UI, but the UI is missing role-based permissions. You can filter your integrations by roles and add several users to roles, but in the UI, the functionality for this kind of management feature is not optimal. User management or user role management could be improved.
AD
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
Has supported smooth channel partner integration and data analysis for several years
We use the existing services hosted in Microsoft Azure API Management without making any changes. For transformation capabilities, we utilize ADF, Data Factory instead of Microsoft Azure API Management. Regarding security features in Microsoft Azure API Management, we utilize token bearer authentication. As retailers with integration to our channel partners, we haven't experienced any security issues with Microsoft Azure API Management since it isn't exposed to external parties. We use a basic Azure function hosted in Microsoft Azure API Management rather than the integrated developer portal. Tracking analytics and performance analytics in Microsoft Azure API Management is straightforward. We use basic features for performance analytics and log analytics due to additional subscription charges. We enabled log analytics for Microsoft Azure API Management in the past month to investigate issues such as unreachable endpoints or request timeouts.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best aspect is that it is very easy to use."
"The product has valuable features for version control."
"The user-friendly interface for constructing integration solutions is also a notable benefit."
"One of the benefits is the speed of creating something new. Second, it's replacing the old integration quite fast. Then it is like the visibility of the integration and the possibility to see what is happening in the integration."
"The package as a whole is useful for our customers."
"The most valuable feature is the developer portal, which has source code examples in various programming languages to help developers learn the API."
"We use this solution for API rate limiting and for its security features against DDoS."
"Access control is the most valuable aspect, as we are able to deploy multiple APIs and segregate who has access to each one, and that centralized management is what the customer is really looking for."
"Other than that, it's easy to use and start up."
"We chose Azure because it's easy to deploy and it's cheap."
"Everything is already available and ready to operate without a lot of preparation work."
"It seems quite good so far. It handles our current workload well, and I'm optimistic it can scale effectively as our needs grow."
 

Cons

"Another enhancement includes the monitoring part. It would be nice to have some sort of maybe mobile app on which we can see how integrations are running if there are some problems, and getting those alerts on the mobile would be really nice."
"Logging should be better."
"It is a new application and lacks some essential features compared to competitors."
"One of the primary areas for improvement is a more mobile-friendly interface for the control center."
"They're trying to implement versioning and trying to be able to manage different versions of your API all at the same time, but they're not doing that just quite right yet."
"Support for GraphQL could be better."
"Price is the first thing that comes to mind. It's quite expensive, which could be a barrier for some users."
"The initial setup of Microsoft Azure API Management is somewhat complex, but having eight years of experience, it is simple for me as we use it regularly."
"The implementation has room for improvement and can be more user-friendly."
"Technical support could be more flexible and try to meet the client's needs a bit more effectively."
"The integration with other API gateways is where they might try to improve."
"Microsoft Azure API Management could be improved by enhancing the preview feature, specifically the workspaces."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Recent changes in their pricing have removed this benefit, moving towards process-specific pricing."
"The pricing is quite fair."
"There are additional costs to the standard licensing fees."
"Azure is a pay-as-you-go model. You build out your virtual environment and pay a monthly price depending on CPU cores, storage, etc."
"It's being paid monthly."
"Azure API Management is the most expensive solution on the market."
"The solution is highly expensive. Our customers worry about the costs. The price should be a lot less."
"It's pay as you go. The subscription packages have room for different scales. It's calculated by the number of apps or computers you use. You do not have to use the enterprise subscription. These subscriptions have different pricing, so you can find one to meet your needs for scalability."
"Microsoft Azure is an expensive solution not for the large enterprises but for the medium and small."
"We pay for a yearly license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
35%
Educational Organization
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise54
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Frends?
Logging should be better. Third-party software logging should be integrated into the monitors of the front-end integrations, but it does not monitor the third-party connectors through that. Those l...
What is your primary use case for Frends?
We had many different applications for Frends. For file transferring of different types, we modified the files and then used it for logistical processes including warehousing, inventory checkups, a...
What advice do you have for others considering Frends?
If you need an integration platform, I would recommend Frends. I give this product a rating of 8 out of 10.
How does Apigee differ from Azure API Management?
Apigee offers both cloud-based and on-prem options while Microsoft Azure API Management currently only offers a cloud-based solution. Both solutions are easy to use. Apigee allows for the ability...
Which is better - Azure API Management or Amazon API Gateway?
If you use Azure products, API Management is a great solution. It solves many of the problems of externalizing web services. For example, when you need versioning, establish a developer portal and ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure API Management?
The pricing is medium, which I find to be reasonable for the value we receive.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure API Management, MS Azure API Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH, Opensistemas
Find out what your peers are saying about Frends vs. Microsoft Azure API Management and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.