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  1. Home
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  3. Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Logo of Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

byMicrosoft
in
4.5
Market Presence: Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms, Cloud Security Posture Management Tools

Overview

Product Information on Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Updated 14th October 2025

What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a software that provides security management and threat protection for cloud-based and on-premises resources. It offers capabilities such as vulnerability assessment, security posture management, and continuous monitoring of workloads across different environments. The software helps organizations identify misconfigurations, strengthen the security of their infrastructure, and detect potential threats using analytics and intelligence tools. Microsoft Defender for Cloud supports protecting applications and data by providing recommendations for improving security and enabling automated responses to security incidents, addressing the need for unified security and compliance management across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Pricing

Microsoft Defender for Cloud software uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model based on the consumption of resources and features selected The cost varies depending on the types of workloads protected such as virtual machines databases and storage as well as the data ingestion for security analytics Additional capabilities and advanced services are available as separate charges with no long-term contractual commitment required

Overall experience with Microsoft Defender for Cloud

CLOUD APPLICATION SECURITY ENGINEER
Gov't/PS/ED <5,000 Employees, Education
FAVORABLE

“Defender for Cloud Offers Compliance Improvements But Visual Analytics Fall Short”

4.0
Oct 21, 2025
Overall, my experience with Microsoft Defender for Cloud has been positive. It's been very effective in delivering a unified view of my security posture across multiple clouds (AWS/GCP/Azure). However, the cost was surprisingly high and the analytics could leave much to be desired from a visual standpoint. Despite this, it helped us improve compliance and streamline an overabundance of tooling that we had.
IT Security & Risk Management Associate
10B - 30B USD, Banking
CRITICAL

“Decent if you have E5 but don't rely on it solely”

3.0
Oct 16, 2025
Like many MS tools, they have too many UI's that you need to navigate to for accessing data. You get an alert and then have to click multiple times to get any actionable details, if you want to explore more pieces you have to load up another dashboard. Loads of false positives so alert fatigue is a thing.

About Company

Company Description

Updated 11th August 2023

Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft is dedicated to advancing human and organizational achievement. Microsoft Security helps protect people and data against cyberthreats to give peace of mind.

Company Details

Updated 25th March 2024
Company type
Public
Year Founded
1975
Head office location
Redmond, Washington, United States
Number of employees
10000+
Annual Revenue
30B+ USD
Website
https://microsoft.com

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Key Insights

A Snapshot of What Matters - Based on Validated User Reviews

User Sentiment About Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Reviewer Insights for: Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Deciding Factors: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Vs. Market Average
Performance of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Across Market Features

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Likes & Dislikes

Like

1. Broad Cloud Coverage: Defender for Cloud supports multiple cloud environments and has automated enrollment into said environments. This is significantly more than other cloud vendor specific CSPM tools provide. 2. Strong Compliance Support: The security score that is a feature of Defender is here and gives you quick and actionable items that can be done to improve your security posture. 3. Microsoft Stack Value: I found that if you are using just the base level of Defender for Cloud as an Azure customer, you will find tremendous value at a low cost, and there is an easy path forward for expanding into workload protection and some of the more advanced offerings from the platform.

Like

What I like most about it is because microsoft is such a large company, they get lots of good threat intel to utilize in alerts and detections. Their footprint in many environments is large so they also have a good spread of detections across many areas.

Like

I like the CSPM, ATP with AI threat analytics, copilot security, and integration with Sentinel and Defender XDR.

Dislike

1. Cost/Licensing Concerns: When enabling some of the more advanced modules (workload protection, etc.) it can be confusing about the actual cost of what you are enabling. This is not an issue that is unique to Defender for Cloud, however, as other CSPM tools suffer from the same licensing problems. 2. Reporting Limitations: Dashboards, alerting/reporting and other such tools suffer from being rather rigid and overall limited in what data they provide. This can be frustrating if you are looking for an overall security posture across multiple environments. 3. Complexity: If you aren't familiar with Azure and/or compliance standards, navigating through the portal and setting up the proper permissions for Defender for Cloud can be an intimidating task, especially given the clunkiness of the portal.

Dislike

Managing settings is rather difficult, sometimes you need to go to the security.microsoft.com dashboard, sometimes you need to go to intune, sometimes you need to go to azure to make changes. They need a more cohesive single pane of glass.

Dislike

cost/pricing; learning curve, initial setup and policy setup.

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Peer Discussions

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Reviews and Ratings

Showing data for 43 ratings and reviews for Cloud Security Posture Management Tools market. View all 148 ratings and reviews across markets for a complete picture.

4.5

(43 Ratings)

Rating Distribution

5 Star
58%
4 Star
35%
3 Star
5%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
2%
Why ratings and reviews count differ?

Customer Experience

Evaluation & Contracting

4.4

Integration & Deployment

4.7

Service & Support

4.3

Product Capabilities

4.4

Filter Reviews
Sort By:
Most helpful
Last 12 Months
Star Rating
Reviewer Type
Reviewer's Company Size
Reviewer's Industry
Reviewer's Region
Reviewer's Job Function
  • CLOUD APPLICATION SECURITY ENGINEER
    Gov't/PS/Ed
    Education
    Review Source

    Defender for Cloud Offers Compliance Improvements But Visual Analytics Fall Short

    4.0
    Oct 21, 2025
    Overall, my experience with Microsoft Defender for Cloud has been positive. It's been very effective in delivering a unified view of my security posture across multiple clouds (AWS/GCP/Azure). However, the cost was surprisingly high and the analytics could leave much to be desired from a visual standpoint. Despite this, it helped us improve compliance and streamline an overabundance of tooling that we had.
  • IT Security & Risk Management Associate
    10B+ USD
    Banking
    Review Source

    Decent if you have E5 but don't rely on it solely

    3.0
    Oct 16, 2025
    Like many MS tools, they have too many UI's that you need to navigate to for accessing data. You get an alert and then have to click multiple times to get any actionable details, if you want to explore more pieces you have to load up another dashboard. Loads of false positives so alert fatigue is a thing.
  • MANAGER, IT SECURITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
    50M-1B USD
    Real Estate
    Review Source

    Integrating MS Defender for Cloud Enhances Threat Visibility and Multi-Cloud Security

    5.0
    Oct 16, 2025
    Since we have migrated to Azure, MS defender for cloud has become a core part of our security compliance strategy across hybrid and multi cloud environment. We get great visibility, continuous threat protection, and actionable recommendations that work well with defender cloud and MS Entra.
  • Ict Infrastructure Manager
    1B-10B USD
    Manufacturing
    Review Source

    Integration With Microsoft Services and Automated Remediation Stand Out in Azure Security

    5.0
    Jan 18, 2026
    We integrate security into our services and infrastructure on Azure, centrally managed by the Defender portal.
  • Manager, IT Security and Risk Management
    1B-10B USD
    Miscellaneous
    Review Source

    Unified Security Posture Offers Strength Across Cloud and Hybrid Environments

    5.0
    Nov 18, 2025
    It provides a strong, unified security posture across cloud and hybrid environments. It's straightforward to use, integrates well with other Azure services and offers helpful insights.
...
Showing Result 1-5 of 72

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