Cloudflare vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud comparison

Cloudflare and Microsoft are both solutions in the Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) category. Cloudflare is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.8, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.1. Cloudflare holds a 1.5% mindshare in CSPM, compared to Microsoft’s 8.0% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Cloudflare users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Cloudflare

Read 77 Cloudflare reviews

37,802 Views
1,134 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Read 87 Microsoft Defender for Cloud reviews

19,729 Views
6,905 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Cloudflare

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

Cloudflare and Microsoft Defender for Cloud compete in the cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure management space. Microsoft Defender for Cloud has the upper hand in comprehensive security management due to its integration across Azure and regulatory compliance features.

Features: Cloudflare offers CDN caching, DDoS mitigation, and easy DNS management, which are highly beneficial for speed and basic security. Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides extensive security features integrated across Azure environments, with strengths in regulatory compliance and multi-cloud security alerts.

Room for Improvement: Cloudflare needs to improve support responsiveness and expand its free plan to include enterprise features; DNS management and integration capabilities also need enhancement. Microsoft Defender for Cloud could benefit from a clearer UI for non-technical users and reducing false positives.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cloudflare is praised for its straightforward setup in public cloud environments and robust enterprise support, though regular users report occasional support issues. Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers strong Azure integration but faces complexity in deployment and interface updates.

Pricing and ROI: Cloudflare provides a flexible pricing structure with options from free to enterprise level, offering good ROI for small to medium businesses using its CDN and DDoS protection. Microsoft Defender for Cloud is considered costly but justified by its security features and Azure integration, though some SMEs find it less cost-effective.

To learn more, read our detailed Cloudflare vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 879,899 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

6.5

Cloudflare users experienced increased performance, security, and cost-effectiveness, leading to improved loyalty and revenue despite difficult ROI calculations.

Sentiment score

6.9

Microsoft Defender for Cloud boosts security and efficiency, integrates with Azure, reduces costs, prevents breaches, and offers proactive defense.

For the small project I was working on, using the basic tier provided a huge improvement at zero cost.

Wellington Malagutti

Security Specialist at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

In terms of return on investment with Cloudflare, it costs my time to set them up, but basically once they're set up, it's done.

Herb Angle

Owner at Hga consulting

For more quotes and insights, download the Cloudflare report

Defender proactively indexes and analyzes documents, identifying potential threats even when inactive, enhancing preventative security.

Preston Cleary

Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees

Identifying potential vulnerabilities has helped us avoid costly data losses.

SaulPatino

Manager at CBTS

Compared to not having Microsoft Defender for Cloud in place, we definitely saw an advantage by not having downtime due to a security threat.

Jason_Lane

Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.0

Cloudflare's customer service is quick, but technical support feedback is mixed, with improvement needed in responsiveness and detailed assistance.

Sentiment score

6.3

Microsoft Defender for Cloud support is responsive at higher levels, but experiences vary with mixed satisfaction due to delays.

Cloudflare does not offer hands-on technical support to fix customer problems but rather a self-service model.

reviewer1245303

Senior Consultant CDN at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

I would rate the technical support with Cloudflare as excellent every time I've had to call them.

Herb Angle

Owner at Hga consulting

I have primarily worked not with the tool's customer support but with the product's sales engineers and technical sales engineers, who seem to know their stuff.

reviewer2541525

Principal Cyber Prevent and Defense Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Cloudflare report

Since security is critical, we prefer a quicker response time.

SaulPatino

Manager at CBTS

The support team was very responsive to queries.

reviewer2564271

Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

They understand their product, but much like us, they struggle with the finer details, especially with new features.

Preston Cleary

Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

8.1

Users praise Cloudflare for seamless scalability, effective traffic management, easy upgrades, and robust global infrastructure without disruptions.

Sentiment score

7.4

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is scalable, integrating across environments effortlessly, suitable for all enterprise sizes with flexible performance.

It is a SaaS tool, but the fact that they have workloads deployed across the world proves that it is a highly scalable tool.

reviewer2541525

Principal Cyber Prevent and Defense Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

The tool offers very good performance, even during high-traffic periods.

Carlos Alam Hernandez Baruch

Engineer at SITMEXICO

I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.

Prajith Chowthee

Independent Consultant at Unaikui

For more quotes and insights, download the Cloudflare report

As we have reduced our on-premises infrastructure, it is about how we can migrate workloads to the cloud to make it easier, and then having everything fully encompassed and secured within that area makes it much easier for us to scale as needed and grow.

Jason_Lane

Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge

We are using infrastructure as a code, so we do not have any scalability issues with Microsoft Defender for Cloud implementation because our cloud automatically does it.

Vibhor Goel

Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse

It has multiple licenses and features, covering infrastructures from a hundred to five hundred virtual machines, without any issues.

Syed Abid

Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.6

Cloudflare is highly rated for stability and uptime, with few past issues, especially on higher-tier plans.

Sentiment score

7.5

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is stable and reliable, with minimal issues mainly during updates, ensuring strong user satisfaction.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

Prajith Chowthee

Independent Consultant at Unaikui

The service is very stable with no impacts during high-traffic periods.

Carlos Alam Hernandez Baruch

Engineer at SITMEXICO

For more quotes and insights, download the Cloudflare report

Defender's stability has been flawless for us.

reviewer2595948

Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very stable.

Martin Welen

Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Microsoft sometimes changes settings or configurations without transparency.

Vibhor Goel

Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

Room For Improvement

Enhancements needed in Cloudflare: analytics, CDN latency, API integration, user support, DNS, pricing, documentation, server coverage, WAF, and cache.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud users seek better automation, clarity, integration, AI features, and comprehensive analytics for improved security management.

Despite these challenges, overall, Cloudflare remains the preferred solution compared to Azure, AWS CloudFront, and Google Cloud Armor.

Bilal Mujahid

Managed Services Manager at Adapture Technology Group

Areas like how assessment, discovery, and payload are dealt with and how it all comes into your organization can be considered when trying to make suggestions to Cloudflare for improvements.

Darryl Wethington

Senior Cloud Solution Architect at Integrated Technology Solution Group (ITSG)

There are some performance considerations when it comes to dynamic content that involves fetching data from databases or using APIs.

Animesh.Kumar

Senior Solutions Architect at Think Power Solutions

For more quotes and insights, download the Cloudflare report

Microsoft, in general, could significantly improve its communication and support.

Preston Cleary

Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees

It would be beneficial to streamline recommendations to avoid unnecessary alerts and to refine the severity of alerts based on specific environments or environmental attributes.

John Tzamtzis

Works at Coca-Cola HBC

The artificial intelligence features could be expanded to allow the system to autonomously manage security issues without needing intervention from admins.

Javier_Rodriguez

Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

Setup Cost

Cloudflare offers scalable pricing, from free to enterprise plans, providing significant value especially for mid-sized companies.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is scalable, offering free and paid versions with costs averaging $15 monthly per server.

I find it to be cheap.

Carlos Alam Hernandez Baruch

Engineer at SITMEXICO

I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.

Animesh.Kumar

Senior Solutions Architect at Think Power Solutions

The tool is a premium product, so it is very expensive.

reviewer2541525

Principal Cyber Prevent and Defense Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Cloudflare report

Security has essentially no cost when compared to the cost of a breach.

David Birhange

Director, Cloud and Modern Workplace at Informanix Technology Group

Every time we consider expanding usage, we carefully evaluate the necessity due to cost concerns.

reviewer2564271

Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license.

Antonio Andres

Manager, Microsoft Technology Alliance at Silverfort

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

Valuable Features

Cloudflare enhances performance and security with CDN caching, DDoS protection, and an easy-to-use dashboard, benefiting many users.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances security with AI-based threat detection, multi-cloud support, and a unified portal for comprehensive management.

The most valuable features of the solution are performance and security.

Darryl Wethington

Senior Cloud Solution Architect at Integrated Technology Solution Group (ITSG)

Techniques like minification and image compression reduce the size of assets, leading to better performance and faster user load times.

Animesh.Kumar

Senior Solutions Architect at Think Power Solutions

The solution has been able to compare it to the market, and I think the product has taken great strides in automating quite a bit of things, and they use a lot of AI.

reviewer2541525

Principal Cyber Prevent and Defense Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Cloudflare report

The most valuable feature for me is the variety of APIs available.

reviewer2564271

Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

This feature significantly aids in threat detection and enhances the user experience by streamlining security management.

Javier_Rodriguez

Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG

The most valuable feature is the recommendations provided on how to improve security.

Martin Welen

Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

Categories and Ranking

Cloudflare

Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

12th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CDN (1st), WAN Optimization (4th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (1st), Managed DNS (1st), Domain Name System (DNS) Security (5th)

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (6th), Container Management (7th), Container Security (7th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (5th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) category, the mindshare of Cloudflare is 1.5%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 8.0%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud	8.0%
Cloudflare	1.5%
Other	90.5%

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

Featured Reviews

Herb Angle

Owner at Hga consulting

Has helped manage client domains with streamlined access control and threat visibility

I don't know what areas could be improved with Cloudflare WAF; Cloudflare is constantly improving and adding features to their feature set. They're doing a good job, and as far as DNS and support for any domains that I create or my clients create, it's mandatory for me to make sure that they have Cloudflare as their DNS provider. The Cloudflare load balancing capability hasn't really helped in enhancing my website's uptime and resiliency because we don't really get that much traffic; it's mostly remote users, and web hosting is done by a web hosting service. It doesn't pay to try to host your own website.

Read full review

David Birhange

Director, Cloud and Modern Workplace at Informanix Technology Group

Brings together cloud security insights through a unified view and supports agentless protection for virtual machines

Copilot and similar features are already being used, though not necessarily for Microsoft Defender for Cloud specifically. We are trying to get more experience before rolling out most of Microsoft Defender for Cloud's AI capabilities. This is definitely on our to-do list, and the priority is urgent as we seek to learn more about these capabilities. The GenAI threat protection from Microsoft Defender for Cloud has not been enabled yet. There are many unknowns with AI applications. AI agents will operate while you're not present, whether you are sleeping or awake, and it's unclear whether there would be any exfiltration of data or how data is being managed. Microsoft Purview is being used extensively, and there is significant development going on with DSPM that will be rolled out to address security concerns. Data labeling and proper demarcation for sensitivity of data before it is received are being actively pursued.

Read full review

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

879,899 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Comparison Review

it_user68487

Security Expert with 51-200 employees

Nov 6, 2013

CloudFlare vs Incapsula: Web Application Firewall

CloudFlare vs Incapsula: Round 2 Web Application Firewall Comparative Penetration Testing Analysis Report v1.0 Summary This document contains the results of a second comparative penetration test conducted by a team of security specialists at Zero Science Lab against two cloud-based Web…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	46
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	25

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	27
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	49

Questions from the Community

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

Cloudflare. We are moving from Akamai prolexic to Cloudflare. Cloudflare anycast network outperforms Akamai static GRE tunnels. We have decreased site load times on Mobile 3G from 8 to 1,6 seconds ...

See all answers

Which would you choose - Cloudflare DNS or Quad9?

Cloudflare DNS is a very fast, very reliable public DNS resolver. It is an enterprise-grade authoritative DNS service that offers great redundancy and advanced security with built-in unmetered and ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cloudflare?

Cloudflare offers CDN and DDoS protection. We have the front end, API, and database in how you structure applications.

See all answers

How is Prisma Cloud vs Azure Security Center for security?

Azure Security Center is very easy to use, integrates well, and gives very good visibility on what is happening across your ecosystem. It also has great remote workforce capabilities and supports a...

See all answers

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

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Microsoft Defender for Cloud was pretty straightforward. We did have a consultation with a third party to go over different tiers and produ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

Microsoft Defender for Cloud can be improved. An additional feature that should be included in the next release is Zero Trust, similar to ThreatLocker software.

See all answers

Comparisons

Quad9 vs Cloudflare

Compared 50% of the time

Akamai vs Cloudflare

Compared 4% of the time

Imperva Application Security Platform vs Cloudflare

Compared 3% of the time

Myra Security DDoS Protection vs Cloudflare

Compared 2% of the time

Azure DNS vs Cloudflare

Compared 2% of the time

More Cloudflare Competitors

AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 38% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 9% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare

January 2026

Download Cloudflare product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

December 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Also Known As

Cloudflare DNS

Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Cloudflare

Microsoft

Overview

Cloudflare enhances web performance and security with features like CDN caching and DDoS mitigation while providing easy DNS management and intuitive setup through its user-friendly dashboard.

Cloudflare is recognized for its comprehensive web security and performance solutions. Speed improvements are achieved through caching mechanisms and DDoS protection, combining ease of DNS management with flexible page rules. The robust analytics and threat insight tools provide valuable data, assisted by a user-friendly dashboard allowing quick setup and configuration. An API offers dynamic DNS settings ensuring low latency and high performance across the globe.

What are Cloudflare's key features?

CDN Caching: Enhances website speed through content delivery network caching.
Web Application Firewall: Protects websites from online threats.
DDoS Mitigation: Shields against distributed denial-of-service attacks.
DNS Management: Offers easy-to-use and flexible domain management.
SSL Certificates: Ensures secure connections between users and servers.
Analytics: Provides insights with robust analytics tools.

What benefits and ROI should users evaluate?

Enhanced Security: Strengthening web security with DDoS and firewall protection.
Speed Improvement: Faster content delivery with CDN caching.
Operational Simplicity: Simplifies website optimization through a user-friendly interface.
Scalable Solutions: Scales with global reach, lowering latency for improved performance.
Cost Efficiency: Offers layers of valuable functionality with pricing options.

Cloudflare finds utility across industries for DNS management and defense mechanisms. Its content delivery network assures fast content distribution and fortified security. Businesses integrate features like web application firewalls, load balancing, end-to-end SSL, and zero trust to protect websites from cyber threats while ensuring resilience and reliable performance.

Cloudflare

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for cloud workloads. It offers real-time visibility into the security posture of cloud environments, enabling organizations to quickly identify and respond to potential threats. With its advanced machine learning capabilities, Microsoft Defender for Cloud can detect and block sophisticated attacks, including zero-day exploits and fileless malware.

The solution also provides automated remediation capabilities, allowing security teams to quickly and easily respond to security incidents. With Microsoft Defender for Cloud, organizations can ensure the security and compliance of their cloud workloads, while reducing the burden on their security teams.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Trusted by over 9,000,000 Internet Applications and APIs, including Nasdaq, Zendesk, Crunchbase, Steve Madden, OkCupid, Cisco, Quizlet, Discord and more.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.

Buyer's Guide

Cloudflare vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

December 2025

Free Report: Cloudflare vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Find out what your peers are saying about Cloudflare vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

879,899 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Cloudflare vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud report.

See our list of best Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) vendors.

We monitor all Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.