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 #21 with an average rating of 8.6, while Microsoft is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.1. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.4% mindshare in VM, compared to Microsoft’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon Inspector

Read 9 Amazon Inspector reviews

3,036 Views
2,672 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...

Read 17 Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management reviews

4,723 Views
3,542 Comparison Views

93% 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: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

April 2026

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Helped 886,510 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Inspector

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

21st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Vendor Risk Management (6th)

Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

13th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (17th), Microsoft Security Suite (18th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Amazon Inspector is 1.4%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is 1.9%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management	1.9%
Amazon Inspector	1.4%
Other	96.7%

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Abdalla Kenawy

AWS DevOps SRE/Infrastructure Engineer at Capgemini

Automated insights streamline data security assessment

For Amazon Inspector, we have many EC2 or virtual machines deployed inside our AWS environment, and the problem is that the existing package deployed inside this EC2 instance has already outdated packages. As we progress with time, this package needs to be updated for security enhancement, which requires us to uninstall the package, install the new version, and then we should be fine. However, the challenge comes with how to scan all our EC2 instances for security vulnerabilities, which is currently managed by Amazon Inspector. Amazon Inspector can scan EC2 instances or ECR, which is the ECR registry where we can save artifacts Docker images. Amazon Inspector can also scan Docker images uploaded to ECR for Elastic Registry service, and it can scan databases and S3 based on the latest updates. I noticed this from a couple of months ago, and it provides huge benefits for security. Regarding the best features of Amazon Inspector, it gives us a list of all existing outdated packages as part of a deployed package on EC2 instances or specific Python packages that are part of the Docker file and the Docker image itself, which are causing security concerns. Amazon Inspector can list these security concerns and offer guidance on how we can remediate it by updating the package to a specific upper version or something similar.

Read full review

Okhan BABUCCU

Microsoft Solutions Manager at Self-Employed

Ensures strong threat and vulnerability management with continuous risk assessment

The major priority is identity, which is crucial; we have lots of companies in manufacturing, energy, or various sectors, and it varies from one to another. I assess Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management as very effective in continuously assessing vulnerabilities without requiring scans. We use automatic investigation and remediation features, safe attachments, safe links, and real-time reports, which are also very effective. For Active Directory, Defender has threat intelligence, and we are using that. The risk-based prioritization within Vulnerability Management affects my ability to manage vulnerabilities, particularly in relation to the Zero Trust Model utilized by our customers. The end-users often do as they please in their systems.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is scanning the whole repository for any sort of vulnerabilities, so it allows us to be more confident in our DevSecOps and not put a lot of folks or attention to it."

"It operates continuously, so as soon as resources are created, it scans them for vulnerabilities."

"The assessment reports provided by Amazon Inspector have helped me in identifying security vulnerabilities in my cloud applications by giving us a nicely designed dashboard that provides all the security information we need to work on remediation."

"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 scalability of the solution itself is unparalleled."

"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 automated vulnerability detection aspect is most valuable."

"I recommend Amazon Inspector because it allows the automation of processes and requires less manual monitoring."

More Amazon Inspector pros

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

"The main advantage of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is that it can locate and prevent most threats even when the endpoints are not connected to the corporate network, as long as the internet is available."

"The solution helps identify threats and vulnerabilities."

"One valuable feature is the Microsoft Security Scorecard."

"The integration with SIEM is the best, specifically the native integration with Microsoft SIEM."

"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is versatile and assesses vulnerabilities, providing detailed information on CVEs, their categories, and exploit statuses."

"A valuable feature is the ease of management and integration with Microsoft products."

"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is a good product, and I believe it deserves a positive recommendation."

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management pros

Cons

"The other point is that the reporting features of Inspector need improvement. For example, I am in an organization with millions of CVEs, and getting an overview of all this is challenging."

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

"There are challenges associated with the interdependencies in AWS services, like requiring an Active Directory for other services, resulting in additional charges."

"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."

"It has automated vulnerability assessment, yet I seek more flexibility in defining custom vulnerability checks tailored to my needs, which is more difficult."

"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."

"The false positive rate of Amazon Inspector is a little high, and it is not covering all different applications and scanning."

"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."

More Amazon Inspector cons

"The product is not stable; it is very resource-intensive, consuming a lot of memory and CPU, which makes it slow."

"The documentation from Microsoft needs significant improvement. The documents are disorganized, with one document linking to another, making the steps unclear and difficult to follow."

"The general support could be improved."

"When I create rules, it gave me problems and I did not know where the problem was located."

"Integration can be improved."

"Probably my only criticism would be the cost. It is expensive."

"There should be risk scoring added to Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management; specifically, they call it quantification of the risk."

"The worst aspect is the refresh rate of the dashboard. A vulnerability I patch within 15 minutes takes 24 additional hours for an update."

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The lowest cost would be around $10 for a few small accounts, however, for thousands of accounts, it could be around $5000 to $6000 dollars per month."

"The pricing is very transparent and clear."

"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."

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

"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 tool is a bit costly."

"The licensing costs are reasonable."

"The product’s pricing is medium."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	6

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...

See all answers

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

I am not honestly sure about the pricing side of Amazon Inspector, but that is taken care of by a separate team. I believe it's cheaper than the other third-party solutions.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon Inspector?

They might launch support for third-party environments in the next version regarding the best features in Amazon Inspector from my perspective. The false positive rate of Amazon Inspector is a litt...

See all answers

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

We are open to discounts on the pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

When I create rules, it gave me problems and I did not know where the problem was located. A small pop-up notification indicating how a rule should be configured would be helpful, rather than the p...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

I do not use Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management at work. However, I am currently not working, but I do use Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management on my personal computer.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 9% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 8% of the time

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 6% of the time

Rapid7 Metasploit vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 6% of the time

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Qualys VMDR vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 9% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 8% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 7% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 6% of the time

JFrog Xray vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector

April 2026

Download Amazon Inspector product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

March 2026

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management report

Download Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management product report

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.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

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.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

betterment, caplinked, flatiron, university of nutri dame

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Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

April 2026

Free Report: Amazon Inspector vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

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