Azure Web Application Firewall
Web application firewalls (WAF)
DevSecOps software
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$5 per WAF policy per month
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What is Azure Web Application Firewall
Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) is a managed web application firewall service used to help protect HTTP/S applications from common web exploits and bots. It is typically deployed with Azure Application Gateway (regional) or Azure Front Door (global edge) to inspect inbound web traffic and apply rule-based protections such as OWASP Core Rule Set coverage and custom rules. Security and platform teams use it to reduce application-layer risk while keeping policy management within Azure. It integrates with Azure monitoring and logging services for operational visibility and incident investigation.
Native Azure traffic integration
The WAF is designed to sit directly in front of Azure-hosted web applications when used with Azure Application Gateway or Azure Front Door. This simplifies deployment patterns for teams already standardizing on Azure networking and load-balancing services. It also aligns policy enforcement with Azure routing, TLS termination, and scaling constructs, reducing the need for separate third-party appliances in many Azure-centric architectures.
Managed rules and customization
Azure WAF supports managed rule sets (including OWASP CRS) and allows custom rules for IP restrictions, geo filtering, header/URI matching, and rate limiting scenarios depending on the hosting service. Teams can tune protections using exclusions to reduce false positives for specific parameters or paths. This combination supports baseline protection plus application-specific policy adjustments without building signatures from scratch.
Azure monitoring and governance hooks
The service integrates with Azure Monitor and can emit diagnostic logs for analysis and alerting. It fits into Azure governance patterns such as role-based access control and infrastructure-as-code workflows used by platform and DevSecOps teams. These integrations help operationalize WAF policy changes and auditing alongside other Azure resources.
Tied to specific Azure services
Azure WAF is not a standalone component; it is delivered through Azure Application Gateway and Azure Front Door. Organizations that need a WAF independent of a specific cloud load balancer, or that run significant workloads outside Azure, may find the deployment model limiting. Multi-cloud or on-prem architectures can require additional products or parallel policy management.
Tuning required to reduce noise
Like other OWASP-CRS-based WAFs, Azure WAF can generate false positives for certain application patterns (for example, complex query strings, APIs, or encoded payloads). Achieving stable protection often requires exclusions, custom rules, and iterative testing in detection mode before blocking. This adds operational effort, especially for teams with many applications or frequent releases.
Feature parity varies by platform
Capabilities and limits can differ depending on whether the WAF is deployed on Application Gateway versus Front Door (for example, edge versus regional placement, routing model, and some policy behaviors). This can complicate standardization when an organization uses both services for different application types. Teams may need separate design and testing approaches to ensure consistent security outcomes.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (combination of hourly fixed charges + capacity-unit hourly charges for Application Gateway WAF; and request-based + base fees for Front Door WAF).
Free tier/trial: Azure free account: $200 credit for 30 days (see "Try Azure for free").
Example costs (official site):
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Azure WAF (classic / Front Door classic / Azure CDN classic):
- Policy (monthly fixed charge): $5 per month.
- Custom Rules: $1 per rule per month.
- Requests processed (classic WAF): $0.6 per million requests.
- Managed ruleset (default): $20 per month + $1 per million requests for processed requests.
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Azure Front Door Standard / Premium (Modern Front Door):
- Standard (request pricing, Zone 1 example): $0.009 per 10,000 requests (first 250M requests, Zone 1).
- Premium (includes WAF at no additional cost): $0.015 per 10,000 requests (first 250M requests, Zone 1).
- Premium WAF add-on example: CAPTCHA $0.40 per 1,000 CAPTCHA sessions.
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Azure WAF with Application Gateway (WAF_v2 / Application Gateway):
- Charged as: fixed gateway-hour + capacity unit per hour + data processing/outbound data transfer (varies by size and region). Exact hourly rates vary by region/SKU and are shown on the Application Gateway pricing page or in the Azure pricing calculator; examples are provided in Azure documentation for cost calculation scenarios.
- Example (illustrative calculation from Microsoft docs): fixed-hour costs shown in docs (e.g., example values used in documentation calculations: $0.025/hour and $0.448/hour in illustrative examples). These example numbers are illustrative—actual rates depend on region/SKU.
Discounts & notes:
- Pricing varies by region, SKU, and traffic volume; volume/enterprise discounts and custom quotes are available via Contact Sales.
- For large-scale needs (over threshold volumes) Azure asks to Contact Us for pricing.
- Some WAF components (WAF Policy and WAF rules) are included at no extra cost when using the WAF or WAF_v2 SKU of Application Gateway; classic WAF (Front Door classic / CDN classic) has separate policy and managed-rules charges.
Important: Official pages require region/currency selection for exact rates. Use the Azure pricing calculator or contact Azure sales for a precise quote.
Seller details
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Washington, United States
1975
Public
https://www.microsoft.com/
https://x.com/Microsoft
https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/
