No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Secureworks Taegis XDR comparison

Why PeerSpot?
Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
54
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (5th), Container Security (8th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (7th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (6th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (2nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (11th), Container Management (8th), Container Security (4th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (3rd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (5th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (7th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (3rd)
Secureworks Taegis XDR
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Network Detection and Response (NDR) (9th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud6.5%
Wiz12.5%
Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks10.1%
Other70.9%
Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Secureworks Taegis XDR1.2%
SentinelOne Singularity Endpoint6.3%
Wazuh5.1%
Other87.4%
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2859021 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Risk-based triage has transformed container security and now prioritizes high-impact threats
The best features Qualys TotalCloud offers currently include managing cloud infrastructure and container security while facing major challenges such as alert fatigue. Traditional vulnerability scanners flag hundreds of CVEs on short-lived Kubernetes containers, some of which have no internet exposure or are gone before we can even triage them. I leverage Qualys TotalCloud to move beyond static CVSS. I use it to implement runtime exposure, correlation risk reprioritization, and shift-left integration. This notifies developers to fix a base image upstream rather than patching live ephemeral instances. In my work with cloud and container security, the biggest operational hurdle was alert fatigue. I use Qualys to shift left from static CVSS severity to context-aware risk prioritization. I correlated raw vulnerability data with real-time risk factors such as public network exposure, active runtime execution, or overly permissive IAM roles. This allows us to immediately drop the priority of isolated containers and escalate lower-severity CVEs that sit on an exposed, high-risk path. We can map these findings directly back to our CI/CD pipelines so developers can patch the root base images upstream. We have drastically cut down the signal-to-noise ratio, saved a lot of manual hours doing triage work, and ensured engineering effort goes directly towards high-impact risk reduction.
RW
Head Of IT at Cirrus Response
Cloud security has cut investigation time and now reveals threats faster but needs simpler oversight
When deploying AI applications, my key security concerns with Microsoft Defender for Cloud are data loss, leakage of data, and guardrails around the actual AI, and I am hoping that this is going to help me put those guardrails in place and identify data exfiltration. Microsoft Defender for Cloud has not helped me manage and secure multi-cloud environments, as we are 100 percent Microsoft and have not really got it in any other environment at all. I am not yet using the unified AI-powered security feature offered by Microsoft Defender for Cloud, but that is coming. I am not yet using the integrated XDR feature of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, but that is coming. I am not yet utilizing the GenAI threat protection features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud. That is also coming and a lot of that will come from learning it here. I have enabled the agentless scanning in my cloud environment with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Assessing the impact on my workload protection without needing to install agents with Microsoft Defender for Cloud makes it a lot easier, but it also identifies a lot more, which puts more load on me sometimes. I would advise another organization considering Microsoft Defender for Cloud that it is the most logical route to follow if their whole ecosystem is Microsoft. It is easy to implement and it is very self-explanatory when doing it, making sense to just follow the steps as it is too simple, really. I would rate this review a 7.5 out of 10.
Mohammad Jundiah - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at Qatar Datamation Systems
Centralized monitoring has strengthened threat hunting and improved ransomware protection
Threat hunting and SOC augmentation represent the most special features about Secureworks Taegis XDR, where some of the best people in cybersecurity proactively search, provide reports, and deliver indicators of compromise for any activity in your network. This monitoring and reporting can be conducted weekly or monthly. Centralized security monitoring and reporting is one of the most valuable aspects, as security fundamentally revolves around compliance. Having a centralized security monitoring platform that detects endpoints, networks, and cloud environments, including servers and switches, is essential. Secureworks Taegis XDR's architecture involves a collector device that collects all your data, even from small laptops, and allows you to monitor everything in one platform. This centralized system provides compliance and security visibility, ensuring evidence and visibility for your security and any compliance requirements you have. Analytics with Secureworks Taegis XDR give you a full preview of everything on your device. It takes all the inputs and outputs of your infrastructure; for example, if it is a firewall, it scans all of the traffic. While it is not a SIEM, it is an open XDR, which excels at conducting analytics. This represents one of its best features because Secureworks has implemented a machine learning model that can detect and analyze everything independently, providing AI-driven features. Integration with third-party tools is quite seamless. Secureworks Taegis XDR can integrate with virtually anything. One of the best features of this product is its integration capabilities with multiple sources of EDRs and any operating system, whether protecting Linux or Windows servers. It boasts very good integration, and if a specific integration is not available, you can raise a ticket to Secureworks, and they will work on your integration, whatever it is, even if it is custom-built software. Secureworks Taegis XDR absolutely aids in efficiency. SOC augmentation extends an organization's existing SOC, which helps reduce alert fatigue significantly. It provides additional threat intelligence and expert investigation, making it very useful for organizations that have a security team but lack twenty-four seven coverage.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Qualys TotalCloud provides a single, prioritized view of risk, reducing the workload associated with consolidating multiple sources for risk prioritization."
"I would recommend Qualys TotalCloud to other users because it is cost-efficient and has a good return on investment."
"I found the initial setup user-friendly."
"Generally, Qualys is very good at detections, whether on cloud or on-prem, and the agent allows deployment on both infrastructures, providing continuous monitoring of your assets, which is a key selling point for us."
"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable features are its security capabilities that help identify and mitigate risk factors."
"By integrating TotalCloud, we have significantly reduced vulnerabilities in our deployment pipeline."
"TotalCloud has been excellent in providing us with immediate access to all the products and features we need, such as CSPM, TruRisk Insights, and compliance reports, including CIS and HIPAA."
"I would rate Qualys TotalCloud ten out of ten."
"Some of the most valuable features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud include its effectiveness in threat detection through unsupervised machine learning, CTI, and advanced sandboxing."
"Defender gave us more substantial visibility into our security, helping us increase our overall security posture and manage risks throughout the entire organization."
"The solution's coordinated detection and response across devices and identities is impressive because it is complete."
"The most valuable feature is that it's intuitive. It's very intuitive."
"Defender for Cloud provides a prioritized list of remediations for security issues, reducing risk and improving security operations."
"Defender for Cloud is a plug-and-play solution that provides continuous posture management once enabled."
"Good compliance policies."
"The valuable features include the ability to manage devices and the fact that Defender can replace other security tools like SCCM."
"The auto-triage feature of Secureworks Taegis XDR makes my workflow easier and efficient, helping me shorten the time of responding to every alert, make my activities productive, and manage everything that I need to check every alert and detection."
"The features I find most valuable are the fact that Secureworks Taegis XDR runs itself without any form of intervention."
"Definitely, Secureworks Taegis XDR is cost effective for the long run since the product is at a lower cost rather than other brands."
"Sophos is a good XDR, and I recommend it for large companies since they have approximately 2,000 or 3,000 devices and can implement it as it is the best XDR."
"Secureworks Taegis XDR helps me go from the alert to a search and investigation, which I find very helpful."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"Using Secureworks Taegis XDR has positively impacted our organization overall."
"It's a complete solution package."
 

Cons

"Qualys TotalCloud can be improved in the integration piece, especially with ServiceNow, where there's a bidirectional sync integrated, as there is no native capability from Qualys that can give monitoring metrics of how many assets came in and how many failed or were not properly reconciled or combined."
"We would like to see Windows-based sensors available in Qualys, as this would make the platform more versatile and support a broader range of environments."
"TotalCloud could improve its scanning of niche devices like Wi-Fi dongles and USB modems because they are often untested. It covers everything else, like laptops, mobile devices, and Bluetooth IoT devices. They can improve on the small IoT devices because hackers and testers use these."
"The response part of the Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) module can be improved."
"Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA."
"Qualys TotalCloud needs to enhance its scanning capabilities in the IP domain, as it currently lacks the functionality to resolve IPs to their corresponding domain names."
"An area for improvement would be to focus on risks related to AI, such as large language models and potential data leakage."
"I think Qualys TotalCloud needs to improve its handling of zero-day vulnerabilities and supply chain management because modern ransomware attacks not only target prime critical infrastructures but also the supply chain system."
"Support needs to be highly responsive, especially in large enterprise environments."
"They could always work to make the pricing a bit lower."
"Pricing could be improved. There are limited options based on pricing for the government."
"Defender is occasionally unreliable. It isn't 100% efficient in terms of antivirus detection, but it isn't an issue most of the time. It's also somewhat difficult to train new security analysts to use Defender."
"Defender for Cloud is pretty costly for a single line. It's incredibly high to pay monthly for security per server."
"The range of workloads is broad, but we'd love to add more workloads and make it a single security solution that covers all those workloads. Covering more would allow us to see and protect more workloads from a single pane of glass. Additional features should include protection for more AI workloads as it currently focuses primarily on OpenAI."
"If they had an easier way to display all the vulnerabilities of the machines affected and remediation steps on one screen rather than having to dive deep into each of them, that would be a lot easier."
"Defender could improve how data is represented. It can be unstructured or slow to load. The recent update allowing policy grouping into control groups is beneficial, but further enhancements for speed and clarity are needed."
"I would like to see more automation and more workbooks as needed improvements."
"We found limitations in the XDR's detections, lacking the ability to create customized detection and log parsing rules."
"The efficiency or the smooth navigation of the website or the application can be improved in Secureworks Taegis XDR."
"Customer support for Secureworks Taegis XDR is not that bad; they are reachable but not super efficient."
"To improve Secureworks Taegis XDR, we need to enhance the support part."
"Hardware compatibility could be an area for improvement."
"The pricing could be improved."
"One negative aspect I always hear from customers is about the cost."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"TotalCloud's price is about right where I would expect it to be."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility."
"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."
"The pricing for TotalCloud is attractive and competitive in the market. Given the features, especially the dashboard, I have no concerns regarding pricing."
"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."
"The pricing is comparable. It is built into our other product, so I cannot piecemeal it. It is a part of our subscription."
"While Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive and may soon be considered overpriced."
"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive."
"This is a worldwide service and depending on the country, there will be different prices."
"Azure Defender is a bit pricey. The price could be lower."
"I am not involved much with the pricing but the bundle offering is good."
"While we pay for any additional features, the pricing seems competitive, though I am not involved in the specific cost details."
"I rate Microsoft Defender a three out of ten for affordability. The price could be a little lower."
"The pricing and licensing of Microsoft Defender for Cloud have been good for us. We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license."
"Although I am outside of the discussion on budget and costing, I can say that the importance of security provided by this solution is of such importance that whatever the cost is, it is not a factor."
"Our clients complain about the cost of Microsoft Defender for Cloud."
"The pricing is six out of ten."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) solutions are best for your needs.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
18%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys TotalCloud?
We purchased Qualys TotalCloud for GCP and Azure as well. It is comparatively better than others regarding pricing. T...
What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
I am unsure about how Qualys TotalCloud can be improved. I do not have anything else to add about the needed improvem...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
My main use case for Qualys TotalCloud is telemetry, although I am unsure about the specifics. A quick specific examp...
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 acros...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing was that the license cost was the only consideration. Setup an...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
To improve Microsoft Defender for Cloud, I think pricing-wise, the license price is a little bit higher from an inges...
What needs improvement with Secureworks Taegis XDR?
If there were a next release of the product, I would like to see an increase in playbooks, specifically for augmentat...
What is your primary use case for Secureworks Taegis XDR?
Clients are primarily using Secureworks Taegis XDR for securing endpoints, networks, and extending to cloud, identity...
What advice do you have for others considering Secureworks Taegis XDR?
One of the best features of this product is its integration capabilities with multiple sources of EDRs and any operat...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
Secureworks Taegis NDR
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Wiz, SentinelOne, Palo Alto Networks and others in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP). Updated: October 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.