Load Balancing Options¶
Azure offers several services to distribute traffic across your applications. Choosing the right one depends on the layer of the OSI model you need to operate at and the scope of your application.
| Service | OSI Layer | Scope | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Load Balancer | Layer 4 | Regional | High throughput, low latency. |
| Application Gateway v2 (recommended) | Layer 7 | Regional | URL-based routing, WAF, autoscaling, zone redundancy, static VIPs. |
| Azure Front Door | Layer 7 | Global | CDN, WAF, SSL offload. |
| Traffic Manager | DNS | Global | Performance, Priority routing. |
mermaid graph TD Start[Traffic Source] --> Q{Global or Regional?} Q -->|Global| Q2{HTTP/S or DNS?} Q -->|Regional| Q3{HTTP/S or L4?} Q2 -->|HTTP/S| FD[Azure Front Door] Q2 -->|DNS| TM[Traffic Manager] Q3 -->|HTTP/S| AGW[Application Gateway v2] Q3 -->|L4| ALB[Azure Load Balancer]
Tip
Start with traffic scope (global or regional), then choose by protocol layer (L7 HTTP/S or L4 TCP/UDP) to narrow the correct load-balancing service quickly.
Warning
Application Gateway v1 retires on April 28, 2026. Prefer v2 for autoscaling, zone redundancy, and static VIP support.