AWS Network Firewall review
A cloud-managed firewall for inspecting and filtering traffic across Amazon VPC environments.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
AWS Network Firewall is a managed, stateful network firewall and intrusion detection and prevention service for Amazon VPC. It is suited to organizations protecting cloud workloads and networks across one or multiple AWS accounts and VPCs. Traffic filtering covers VPC perimeters, internet gateways, NAT gateways, VPN, and Direct Connect paths. The service supports both stateful and stateless inspection, Suricata-compatible intrusion prevention rules, deep packet inspection, domain filtering, geographic filtering, and inbound and outbound TLS inspection.
Pricing uses separate usage measures rather than named subscription tiers. The published endpoint rate starts at $0.395 per firewall endpoint per hour for a managed firewall endpoint. Network traffic processing is charged at $0.065 per GB processed. This structure makes endpoint count and traffic volume central to cost planning, particularly for environments with multiple VPCs or accounts. There is no free plan, and the listed starting endpoint price is a US East (N. Virginia) example.
Its strongest fit is an AWS-centered network architecture that benefits from centralized control and native connections to Amazon VPC, AWS Firewall Manager, AWS Transit Gateway, AWS Certificate Manager, AWS CloudFormation, and the AWS Network Firewall API. Automatic scaling follows network traffic, while logging and monitoring integrations support operational visibility. Choose it when inspection, IPS rules, TLS inspection, and AWS-wide management are priorities. Consider another option if your network is not centered on Amazon VPC or if predictable subscription pricing is more important than usage-based billing.
AWS Network Firewall pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Stateful and stateless inspection with Suricata-compatible IPS rules
- TLS, domain, geographic, and deep packet inspection controls
- Centralized management across AWS accounts and VPCs
- Where it doesn't
- Usage-based pricing can vary with endpoint hours and traffic volume
- Designed for Amazon VPC and AWS ecosystem deployments
- No free plan is available
AWS Network Firewall fact sheet, pricing and score →
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