Which additional features does Azure Firewall Premium offer compared to Azure Firewall Standard?

Azure Firewall Premium includes several advanced capabilities not found in the Standard SKU.

Specifically, it introduces Web categories, which allow administrators to permit or deny access to

websites based on classifications like "social media" or "gambling." Additionally, its URL filtering is

enhanced, enabling filtering based on the entire URL string, including the path and query

parameters, whereas the Standard SKU can only filter based on the Fully Qualified Domain Name

(FQDN). These features provide more granular control over outbound web traffic.

A. Content filtering and threat intelligence integration: Threat intelligence-based filtering is

available in both Azure Firewall Standard and Premium, so it is not an additional feature of

Premium.

B. Antivirus detection and AI prevention capabilities: These terms are imprecise. The actual

feature in Premium is a signature-based Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS), not a

dedicated antivirus engine or an "AI prevention" system.

C. Advanced DDoS protection and VPN diagnostics: These are features of separate Azure

services. Advanced DDoS is part of the Azure DDoS Protection service, and VPN diagnostics are

associated with Azure VPN Gateway, not Azure Firewall SKUs.

1. Microsoft Azure Official Documentation, "Azure Firewall features": This document explicitly

lists "Web categories" and "URL filtering" (with the ability to filter on the full URL) as features of

Azure Firewall Premium, while noting that Standard only supports FQDN filtering. It also confirms

that "Threat intelligence" is available in both SKUs and that "IDPS" is the specific Premium

feature.

URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/firewall/features

Specific Sections: "Azure Firewall Premium features" and the feature comparison table.