Amazon Inspector vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.0, while Microsoft is ranked #18 with an average rating of 8.4. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 2.8% mindshare in VM, compared to Microsoft’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon Inspector

Read 5 Amazon Inspector reviews

1,623 Views
1,408 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...

Read 7 Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management reviews

2,367 Views
2,037 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon Inspector

Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Amazon Inspector and Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management are competing products in the category of vulnerability management. Microsoft Defender seems to have the upper hand due to its extensive feature set, despite Amazon Inspector's smooth AWS integration.

Features: Amazon Inspector provides automated security assessments, tight integration with AWS services, and a focus on cloud-native environments, making it ideal for AWS-centric organizations. Microsoft Defender offers comprehensive vulnerability coverage, integration across Windows environments, and robust threat intelligence features, appealing to businesses seeking extensive capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Amazon Inspector could improve by expanding support beyond AWS-centric environments, enhancing threat intelligence capabilities, and offering more detailed reporting features. Microsoft Defender could benefit from simplifying its deployment process, improving integration with non-Microsoft environments, and offering more customizable reporting options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon Inspector benefits from quick deployment within AWS, facilitating straightforward integration for existing AWS customers. Microsoft Defender, while more comprehensive, requires more effort in deployment but offers extensive Microsoft ecosystem integration and support. Customers report Amazon Inspector is easier to deploy, but Defender's support services may offer better long-term value.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon Inspector typically presents a cost-effective solution for AWS users due to its usage-based pricing model. Microsoft Defender has a higher initial setup cost but justifies this with a rich feature set and comprehensive management capabilities. Organizations leveraging cloud-native and Microsoft solutions may find the ROI attractive despite the higher upfront costs. Amazon Inspector may appear more budget-friendly, while Microsoft Defender appeals to businesses seeking extensive vulnerability management features.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Inspector vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

December 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Amazon Inspector

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

25th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Vendor Risk Management (7th)

Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

18th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (22nd), Microsoft Security Suite (24th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Amazon Inspector is 2.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is 3.4%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Nikhil Sehgal

Lead Solution Advisor (Cyber Security) at Deloitte

Primarily focuses on security of EC2 instances, provides point-in-time assessments rather than real time protection but provides automated vulnerability detection

It has a limited scope. So, AWS Inspector primarily focuses on the security of the EC2 instance. So, if your architecture includes other AWS services, then you may need to use additional tools for your comprehensive security assessment. So that is one con. Another is, like, we have a dependency on agents. So other is dependency on agents, like, Inspector relies on agents installed on instances for deeper assessment. So managing these agents can be additional overhead. So these kinds of things. It does not even provide real-time protection. So, Inspector provides point-in-time assessment rather than continuous monitoring. So these are all cons. When it comes to false positives, it is there for most security tools as of now. I would not consider false positives a major concern. So, these are the major concerns that I found: dependency on agents, limited scope, and no real-time protection.

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René-SylvainBédard

CEO at Indominus

The vulnerability assessment is very accurate because it runs directly into the vulnerability database

I have three years of experience with Microsoft Defender and Office 365 for eleven years. My company operates as a shop for Microsoft products, and we have always stayed with Microsoft. We intend to displace the competition when my company enters a new client environment. I have dealt with customers who were using Carbon Black and SentinelOne. My company's customers switched work from their previous products to Microsoft because the tools they were using were power-hungry solutions, which had an impact on production. Microsoft Office 365's premium licenses have many built-in services, which our customers used to use from some other products. With Microsoft products, there is no need for our company's customers to pay extra for licensing charges. The major difference between Carbon Black and Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management revolves around areas like stability and integration capabilities within the operating systems, which are strong in Microsoft, especially compared to any of its competitors. The actual depth of knowledge that the platform offers is good because Microsoft has been very rigorous in documenting every single vulnerability that exists for its platform. Microsoft has the most complete list of vulnerabilities for its platform.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Amazon Inspector is highly stable, rated ten out of ten, and this stability impacts business security and administration positively."

"The findings dashboards are neat and easy to understand, offering clear demarcations for different types of findings and detailed insights into specific vulnerabilities and their associated instances. It is not a place where everything is dumped together. It offers an easy-to-understand layout."

"The integration of Amazon Inspector with other AWS services has enhanced our security. Security Hub is a major asset because it allows us to centralize data from various AWS services. We can integrate third-party tools as well. It is just a single-click option."

"The automated vulnerability detection aspect is most valuable."

"The vulnerability discovery is valuable, and they also rank those vulnerabilities for you. So, you could rapidly attack some of the higher, severe vulnerabilities as they pop up, if they do pop up."

"The most valuable feature of Amazon Inspector is the categorization of findings, which filters vulnerabilities by instance, container image, container repository, and Lambda function."

"The product’s most valuable features are compliance, recommendations, and inventories."

"The solution helps identify threats and vulnerabilities."

"The recommendations, scores, and steps to remediate actions are highly useful."

"One valuable feature is the Microsoft Security Scorecard."

"The most valuable aspect is the kind of assessment results I get, and the recommendations provided in Microsoft products really help in taking care of the resources."

"The product's stability is very high...The scalability of the product is amazing."

"The solution is highly scalable."

"The solution is up-to-date and helps prevent zero-day attacks."

Cons

"It has a limited scope. So, AWS Inspector primarily focuses on the security of the EC2 instance. So, if your architecture includes other AWS services, then you may need to use additional tools for your comprehensive security assessment. So that is one con. Another is, like, we have a dependency on agents."

"There is room for improvement in the scanning capabilities. I'd like to see broader coverage in terms of the vulnerabilities detected."

"One major area for improvement is remediation. My team works on remediating findings over time, likely using available patches. However, easier integration with Amazon's patching services would be very helpful."

"One area for improvement in Amazon Inspector is the automation aspect."

"There isn't too much to improve right now. Scanning on demand or as a part of the pipeline versus a post pipeline solution would be good, but it is not a deal breaker by any means."

"It is challenging to extract and customize reports from the system."

"The general support could be improved."

"The technical support takes too much time to resolve tickets."

"The constant changes in the product configuration or the console setup can sometimes be challenging."

"The automated remediations can be more specific."

"The setup phase of the product is not that easy and needs a person to have a certain level of expertise."

"Integration can be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is scaled as you go. There are probably a certain number of scans per month, and there are tiers. If you're under a certain tier, it is free. The second level is pennies, and then all the way up to like a million. So, it has a tiered pricing program. They're pretty good with your initial scanning, and there is room to scale based on being affordable, but it is fairly cheap. There are no additional costs. They pretty much think about it as a pay-per-scan type model."

"The pricing is very transparent and clear."

"It's priced according to market standards for its services."

"The tool is a bit costly."

"The licensing costs are reasonable."

"The licensing model follows a per-user per-month structure."

"I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."

"The product’s pricing is medium."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Inspector?

The integration of Amazon Inspector with other AWS services has enhanced our security. Security Hub is a major asset because it allows us to centralize data from various AWS services. We can integ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Inspector?

The pricing for Amazon Inspector is very fair, and I would rate it as two out of ten, with ten being the most expensive. It's on the cheaper side.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon Inspector?

One area for improvement in Amazon Inspector is the automation aspect. Automation for scheduling 'turn on' and 'turn off' operations and better integration with CloudWatch for alarms could enhance ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

The solution helps identify threats and vulnerabilities.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

The licensing costs are reasonable. While the solution is not the cheapest, it is competitively priced and aligns with the industry average. There are no significant additional costs beyond the sta...

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

The constant changes in the product configuration or the console setup can sometimes be challenging. They can be disruptive because we need to adjust to these changes, which can interfere with ongo...

See all answers

Comparisons

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 27% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 12% of the time

Wiz vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Secure Score vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 2% of the time

More Amazon Inspector Competitors

Qualys VMDR vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 36% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 25% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 17% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 6% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector

December 2024

Download Amazon Inspector product report

Buyer's Guide

Vulnerability Management

November 2024

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management report

Download Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management product report

Learn More

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Microsoft

Overview

Amazon Inspector is an automated security assessment service that helps improve the security and compliance of applications deployed on AWS. Amazon Inspector automatically assesses applications for exposure, vulnerabilities, and deviations from best practices. After performing an assessment, Amazon Inspector produces a detailed list of security findings prioritized by level of severity. These findings can be reviewed directly or as part of detailed assessment reports which are available via the Amazon Inspector console or API.

Amazon Inspector security assessments help you check for unintended network accessibility of your Amazon EC2 instances and for vulnerabilities on those EC2 instances. Amazon Inspector assessments are offered to you as pre-defined rules packages mapped to common security best practices and vulnerability definitions. Examples of built-in rules include checking for access to your EC2 instances from the internet, remote root login being enabled, or vulnerable software versions installed. These rules are regularly updated by AWS security researchers.

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management enables organizations to identify vulnerabilities, manage patches, and fortify threat detection. It offers endpoint assessments, cloud incident management, and dynamic security through Microsoft's Security Scorecard integration.

Organizations leverage Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management for advanced threat detection and response. It provides robust tools for vulnerability assessment and cloud incident management, integrated with Microsoft's Security Scorecard to enhance dynamic security profiling. Key features include automatic patch deployment, security configuration management, and seamless integration with Microsoft platforms, benefiting both on-prem and cloud environments. Organizations can track vulnerabilities with severity-based reports, helping manage outdated software and minimizing threat exposure.

What are the key features of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

Compliance: Ensures adherence to security regulations.
Recommendations: Provides actionable advice for security enhancements.
Inventories: Offers detailed inventory tracking for software and hardware.
Threat Identification: Detects potential threats proactively.
Vulnerability Assessment: Evaluates system vulnerabilities comprehensively.
Zero-day Protection: Shields systems from newly discovered exploits.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Integration: Facilitates seamless integration with Microsoft and diverse platforms.
Risk Mitigation: Assists in mitigating risks through accurate assessments.
Prioritization: Helps prioritize vulnerabilities for efficient patch management.
Up-to-date Protection: Ensures systems remain secured and current.

In healthcare, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management helps manage compliance with health regulations, while in finance, it aids in securing sensitive data from cyber threats. Manufacturing sectors benefit from its patch management, keeping operational technology systems less vulnerable to disruptions.

Sample Customers

betterment, caplinked, flatiron, university of nutri dame

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Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

December 2024

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