Azure Firewall vs AWS Network Firewall vs GCP Cloud NGFW: 2026 Comparison

Cloud-native firewalls have matured beyond basic stateful packet inspection. As organizations push more critical workloads into Azure, AWS, and GCP, the demand for integrated, scalable, and high-performance L7 security services is paramount. This analysis dissects Azure Firewall Premium, AWS Network Firewall, and GCP Cloud NGFW Enterprise, focusing on their capabilities, performance characteristics, and total cost of ownership (TCO) for enterprise deployments in 2026. We will ignore the base tiers where L7 inspection is not a primary feature, focusing on the Premium/Enterprise offerings that compete with traditional next-generation firewalls (NGFWs).

Cloud-Native Firewall Architecture and Scalability

Each cloud provider approaches firewall deployment and scaling differently. Azure Firewall, particularly the Premium SKU, is a managed service deployed into a virtual network (VNet). It scales out automatically based on throughput and connection demands, with a maximum capacity of 100 Gbps for the Premium tier. This autoscaling is a critical advantage, removing the operational burden of rightsizing and scaling virtual appliances. Customers define a minimum and maximum scale unit, and Azure manages the underlying infrastructure. Management is primarily through Azure Portal, CLI, or ARM templates, with consolidated policy management via Azure Firewall Manager.

AWS Network Firewall integrates with AWS Transit Gateway (TGW) or individual VPCs, allowing for centralized inspection. It is also a managed service, scaling automatically to handle traffic fluctuations. AWS does not publish an explicit maximum throughput for a single Network Firewall endpoint, but performance scales proportionally to traffic. Rule groups are processed for each packet, and custom rules can leverage Suricata-compatible syntax, offering flexibility for threat intelligence integration. Its deep integration with TGW simplifies hub-and-spoke architectures within AWS, providing a clean interception point for east-west and north-south traffic. Log consumption through CloudWatch Logs or Kinesis Firehose is standard.

GCP Cloud NGFW Enterprise stands out with its direct lineage from Palo Alto Networks. This offering provides advanced L7 inspection, IDPS, and application control capabilities. It functions as a managed service, transparently scaling with demand without requiring customers to deploy or manage VM instances. Google leverages Palo Alto's threat intelligence and signature sets, bringing a mature security stack to the native GCP environment. It supports up to 400 Gbps throughput per firewall policy, distributed across multiple enforcement points, making it a performance leader for extreme scale. Centralized policy management is handled through Cloud NGFW policy objects, which can be applied hierarchically across VPCs or organizations.

TLS Inspection and Certificate Management

TLS decryption is a resource-intensive operation, and its implementation varies significantly. Azure Firewall Premium supports TLS inspection for egress traffic. It requires integrating with Azure Key Vault for storing the decryption certificate authority (CA) certificate. The CA certificate must be deployed to client machines (or managed by Intune for managed endpoints) for trust. Performance impacts are generally manageable below 40 Gbps, but pushing significantly higher traffic volumes with full TLS inspection will consume dedicated scale units, increasing per-Gbps costs. The operational overhead lies in certificate distribution and rotation, especially in dynamic environments. The service handles the decryption and re-encryption transparently.

AWS Network Firewall currently lacks native TLS inspection capabilities. This is a significant limitation for environments requiring full L7 visibility into encrypted traffic for IDPS or URL filtering. Organizations needing TLS decryption with AWS Network Firewall typically front-end it with a third-party NVA (like Palo Alto VM-Series or FortiGate-VM) that performs decryption, or they rely on endpoint agents or other security services for TLS visibility. This limitation restricts its utility in Zero Trust architectures demanding deep inspection of all encrypted flows. AWS's philosophy here leans towards offloading highly specialized functions to partners or other services.

GCP Cloud NGFW Enterprise, leveraging Palo Alto's technology, offers robust TLS decryption. It supports both inbound and outbound decryption, essential for comprehensive threat protection. Certificate management integrates with Google Cloud Key Management Service (KMS) or Certificate Authority Service (CAS). The performance impact is explicitly managed by the service, with decryption capabilities baked into the scaling logic. This direct integration of a mature TLS inspection engine with native GCP services simplifies deployment compared to managing VM-based appliances. The ability to utilize organizational CA infrastructure is crucial for enterprises.

IDPS, URL Filtering, and Advanced Threats

Azure Firewall Premium includes a signature-based intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS) using Microsoft's threat intelligence feed. It also provides URL filtering based on categories (e.g., adult, gambling, phishing) and supports FQDN filtering. The IDPS engine offers both alert and deny modes, with custom signature support for advanced use cases. While effective, the depth of IDPS rules may not rival dedicated NGFWs like Palo Alto or Fortinet for every niche threat scenario. Microsoft is continuously updating these capabilities, but enterprises with stringent compliance requirements or unique threat profiles often complement it with other layers like Defender for Cloud.

AWS Network Firewall's IDPS capabilities are driven by Suricata-compatible rule groups. This open-source compatibility is a strength, allowing customers to import custom Suricata rule sets, subscribe to managed threat intelligence feeds that provide Suricata rules, or use AWS-managed rule groups. While flexible, this means the quality and coverage of IDPS signatures depend heavily on the chosen rule sets. URL filtering is possible through FQDN lists within rules, but there isn't a native category-based URL filtering service integrated. This requires more manual effort for broad URL control compared to Azure or GCP, often necessitating integration with other services or relying on third-party rule sets.

GCP Cloud NGFW Enterprise offers comprehensive IDPS, URL filtering, and application control. Built on Palo Alto Networks' WildFire and Threat Prevention technologies, it boasts industry-leading threat intelligence and signature coverage. This includes protection against exploits, malware, spyware, and command-and-control (C2) traffic. The application control feature allows granular policy enforcement based on over 1,500 applications, independent of port or protocol. URL filtering is category-driven, with real-time updates from Palo Alto's URL database. This makes it a compelling choice for organizations prioritizing best-of-breed security features directly within their GCP environment.

Management and Integration with Cloud Ecosystems

Azure Firewall Manager provides centralized security policy management for multiple Azure Firewall instances across subscriptions and VNets. It integrates with Azure Virtual WAN for hub-and-spoke and global transit architectures. Logging is integrated with Azure Monitor and Log Analytics, allowing for centralized visibility and SIEM integration. Policies can be linked to a policy hierarchy, enabling inherited rules and custom overrides. This consolidation reduces operational overhead for large deployments, streamlining rule management and auditability. Automation via PowerShell and Azure CLI is robust, crucial for CI/CD pipelines.

AWS Network Firewall integrates seamlessly with AWS Transit Gateway for traffic inspection, routing all relevant traffic through the firewall endpoints. Management is through AWS Firewall Manager (which governs Network Firewall, WAF, and Shield Advanced policies) or directly via the Network Firewall service console, CLI, and APIs. Logs are sent to CloudWatch Logs or Kinesis Firehose, enabling integration with S3, Athena, Splunk, or other SIEMs. While management is granular, the distributed nature of AWS services can sometimes lead to more fragmented policy definition across different services compared to a single pane of glass approach. Custom rule deployment and updates can be automated.

GCP Cloud NGFW Enterprise leverages hierarchical firewall policies that can be applied at the organization or folder level, pushing down policies to individual VPCs. This aligns well with GCP's resource hierarchy, simplifying large-scale deployments and compliance. Management is through the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI, or APIs. Logging integrates with Cloud Logging and can be exported to BigQuery or Splunk. The consistency in policy application across the GCP estate, combined with the familiarity of Palo Alto's policy structure, is a strong point for enterprises already using Palo Alto products on-premises. The Network Connectivity Center (NCC) provides a solid foundation for hub-and-spoke designs with NGFW integration.

Cost Analysis and TCO (Throughput-based)

Pricing models differ. Let's consider costs for 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps average throughput scenarios, assuming a typical mix of traffic demanding L7 inspection, based on Q1 2026 pricing estimates (e.g., US East region). These are list prices and don't account for enterprise agreements or discounts.

Feature	Azure Firewall Premium	AWS Network Firewall	GCP Cloud NGFW Enterprise
Base Service Hour (per firewall)	$1.71/hour	$0.40/hour	$0.70/hour (per policy enforcement point equivalent)
Data Processed (per GB)	$0.019/GB (up to 10TB)	$0.065/GB	$0.05/GB
10 Gbps Average Throughput (Monthly Est.)	$1.71*720 + 0.019*10*30*24*60*60/1024/1024 = $1231 + $4925 = $6156	$0.40*720 + 0.065*10*30*24*60*60/1024/1024 = $288 + $16875 = $17163	$0.70*720 + 0.05*10*30*24*60*60/1024/1024 = $504 + $13000 = $13504
40 Gbps Average Throughput (Monthly Est.)	Assumes 4 scale units: $6.84*720 + 0.019*40*... = $4925 + $19700 = $24625	Scales automatically, no explicit rate change: $0.40*720 + 0.065*40*... = $288 + $67500 = $67788	Scales automatically, no explicit rate change: $0.70*720 + 0.05*40*... = $504 + $52000 = $52504
IDPS/TLS Inspection Cost	Included in Premium tier GB rate	Additional for Managed Threat Signatures	Included in Enterprise tier GB rate

Note on calculation: 10 Gbps average throughput is approximately 32.4 PB/month. Pricing for data processed is a dominant factor. Azure's lower per-GB rate significantly impacts TCO at higher throughputs. AWS's higher GB rate makes it substantially more expensive in high-volume inspection scenarios. GCP offers a middle ground. These figures are illustrative and need detailed calculation based on egress/ingress ratios and actual inspection requirements.

{
  "description": "Azure Firewall Premium policy snippet for FQDN filtering and IDPS.",
  "properties": {
    "sku": {
      "name": "Premium",
      "tier": "Premium"
    },
    "threatIntelMode": "AlertAndDeny",
    "firewallPolicies": [
      {
        "name": "AppPolicy",
        "properties": {
          "ruleCollectionGroups": [
            {
              "name": "DefaultRuleCollectionGroup",
              "priority": 100,
              "ruleCollections": [
                {
                  "name": "EgressAppRules",
                  "priority": 100,
                  "action": {
                    "type": "Deny"
                  },
                  "rules": [
                    {
                      "ruleType": "ApplicationRule",
                      "name": "DenySocialMedia",
                      "protocols": [
                        {
                          "protocolType": "Http",
                          "port": 80
                        },
                        {
                          "protocolType": "Https",
                          "port": 443
                        }
                      ],
                      "targetFqdns": [
                        "*.facebook.com",
                        "*.twitter.com"
                      ],
                      "sourceAddresses": [
                        "10.0.0.0/8"
                      ]
                    }
                  ]
                }
              ]
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Third-Party NVA Considerations

While cloud-native firewalls offer significant operational benefits, third-party Network Virtual Appliances (NVAs) like Palo Alto VM-Series (e.g., VM-300, VM-500, VM-700) or FortiGate-VM (e.g., FG-VM16, FG-VM32) still have a place, especially for specific use cases:

• Advanced Features: For organizations deeply invested in specific vendor ecosystems (e.g., Check Point, Cisco), or requiring advanced features like specific behavioral analytics, sandboxing, or highly customized WAF capabilities not yet offered by native services.
• Hybrid Cloud Consistency: Maintaining a consistent security posture, policy, and management plane across on-premises and multiple cloud environments.
• Performance predictability: Where guaranteed throughput and connections are paramount and over-provisioning dedicated NVA instances are acceptable for critical applications. For example, a Palo Alto VM-700 in AWS c5n.18xlarge could push 25-30 Gbps with full L7 inspection. FortiGate FG-VM16s can achieve 20 Gbps threat protection on similar instances.
• Cost Optimization (Specific Scenarios): For very high throughput with stable traffic patterns, or scenarios bridging multiple cloud environments with complex routing. The TCO of licensing a Palo Alto VM-Series vs. the per-GB costs of native firewalls often warrants a detailed comparison. A VM-700 license is typically $30,000-$50,000 annually, plus VM compute costs.

The choice between native and NVA often boils down to a balance of operational simplicity (native), feature depth/consistency (NVA), and cost efficiency at scale. Native firewalls are rapidly closing the feature gap, but NVAs retain an edge in niche, highly specialized areas.

Verdict

• For deep L7 security and advanced threat prevention in GCP: Google Cloud NGFW Enterprise is the clear winner, leveraging Palo Alto's mature security stack. Its raw throughput and comprehensive IDPS/URL filtering make it ideal for enterprises prioritizing best-of-breed security within GCP.
• For cost-effective, scalable L7 security in Azure: Azure Firewall Premium offers the best balance of features, performance (up to 100 Gbps), and TCO, especially at higher throughputs due to its competitive data processing rates. Its autoscaling and Firewall Manager simplify operations.
• For native integration with AWS Transit Gateway and Suricata rule flexibility: AWS Network Firewall excels in simplifying network traffic inspection in large AWS environments. However, its lack of native TLS inspection and higher per-GB costs for L7 inspection makes it less compelling for pure L7 use cases without supplementing with other services or relying solely on Suricata for IDPS. It is often paired with other security services or third-party NVAs for comprehensive L7.
• When third-party NVAs win: For hybrid cloud consistency, extremely specialized feature requirements (e.g., bespoke WAF, advanced behavioral analytics), or when existing vendor investments dictate the use of Palo Alto VM-Series or FortiGate-VM to maintain a unified security posture across multiple clouds and on-premises.

The decision in 2026 is less about whether cloud-native firewalls are viable and more about which one aligns best with your existing cloud environment, security requirements, and budget constraints. All three offer strong contenders, but their strengths are distinctly aligned with their respective cloud ecosystems.

Related reading

• Azure Virtual WAN Hub-Spoke Reference Architecture with Firewall
• FortiGate 7.6 NGFW Design: Scaling in Hybrid Clouds
• Palo Alto VM-Series Autoscaling Design in AWS
• AWS Transit Gateway Security Best Practices 2026
• GCP Network Connectivity Center for Enterprise Interconnect