Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Tanium comparison

Microsoft and Tanium are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Microsoft is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.1, while Tanium is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.1. Additionally, 94% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 73% of Tanium users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Tanium and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are competing products in the endpoint security and cloud protection markets. Based on the data comparison, Microsoft Defender for Cloud has an advantage due to its integrated cloud services and expansive feature set, which provides more value for the investment.

Features: Tanium provides exceptional endpoint security through deep visibility and control, real-time data collection, and efficient incident response capabilities. Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers robust threat intelligence, seamless Azure integration, and a comprehensive suite of security tools designed for cloud environments. These features make Defender for Cloud better suited for cloud-focused security needs.

Room for Improvement: Tanium could improve its ease of use and streamline its deployment process to reduce the learning curve. Additionally, enhancing integration capabilities with third-party services would be beneficial. For Microsoft Defender for Cloud, expanding its strengths in endpoint security would provide a more balanced offering. It would also benefit from refining its multi-cloud support features and improving its threat detection precision to reduce false positives.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tanium's deployment model is flexible but requires dedicated resources and a significant learning curve; however, it provides personalized support. Microsoft Defender for Cloud is straightforward to deploy, especially within Microsoft's ecosystem, and benefits from guided setup, extensive online resources, and robust support, making it more user-friendly in Azure environments.

Pricing and ROI: Tanium's higher upfront costs are offset by its capabilities in detailed data collection, offering substantial ROI through efficiency. Microsoft Defender for Cloud is cost-effective with cloud-native security features and integration benefits, providing significant ROI, particularly for organizations already utilizing Microsoft services. Despite the higher costs, Tanium's data visibility may justify the investment, while Defender for Cloud delivers strong ROI through its cloud features.

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

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tanium

March 2025

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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

Zafran Security

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini

Associate Director IT Security Operations at Novartis

Weekly insights and risk analysis facilitate informed security decisions

I appreciate the weekly insights Zafran provides, which include critical topics for networks and IT security, allowing us to evaluate which insights apply to our environment. The organization score feature is valuable to keep the leadership team updated on how our infrastructure fares security-wise. The applicable risk level versus base risk level feature is beneficial because prior to Zafran, we only used the base risk level, but now understand that risk depends on the asset itself. Zafran is an excellent tool.

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Vibhor Goel

Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse

A single tool for complete visibility and addressing security gaps

Currently, issues are structured in Microsoft Defender for Cloud at severity levels of high, critical, or warning, but these severity levels are not always right. For example, Microsoft might consider a port being open as critical, but that might not be the case for our company. Similarly, it might suggest closing some management ports, but you might need them to be able to log in, so the severity levels for certain things can be improved. Even though Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides a way to temporarily disable certain alerts or notifications without affecting our security score, it would be better to have more granularized control over these recommendations. Currently, we cannot even disable certain alerts or notifications. There should be an automated mechanism to design Azure policies based on the recommendations, possibly with AI integration. Instead of an engineer having to write a policy to fix security gaps, which is very time-consuming, there should be an inbuilt capability to auto-remediate everything and have proper control in place. Additionally, enabling Defender for Cloud at the resource group level, rather than only at the subscription level, would be beneficial.

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Mo Vermeiren

Cybersecurity Business & Technology Consultant at Capgemini

Is able to make several campaigns work in parallel, but the user interface needs improvement

It's mainly used by the cybersecurity team for Windows patching and deployment of some software solutions I like the fact that you can create patching campaigns depending on the area of your network that you want to address first. I like the ability it has to make several campaigns that work in…

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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

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."

"Defender is user-friendly and provides decent visibility into threats."

"Defender lets you orchestrate the roll-out from a single pane. Using the Azure portal, you can roll it out over all the servers covered by the entire subscription."

"I find Microsoft Defender for Cloud's KQL very flexible and powerful. It's really easy to search through with KQL queries to find the security breaches and incidents and to track down the breach itself."

"The solution's coordinated detection and response across devices and identities is impressive because it is complete."

"The valuable features include the ability to manage devices and the fact that Defender can replace other security tools like SCCM."

"The security policy is the most valuable feature for us. We can go into the environment settings and attach any globally recognized framework like ISO or any benchmark."

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

"The technical support is very good."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"I like the fact that you can create patching campaigns depending on the area of your network that you want to address first. I like the ability it has to make several campaigns that work in parallel."

"Tanium's most valuable feature is its instant discovery aspect."

"The security features are very valuable."

"Tanium's most valuable features are patch management, inventory, and distribution software."

"I like the tool's incident response and security patching."

"The product is granular and can build complex roles compared to other EDR vendors."

"The interrogation piece was the most valuable feature because it was very detailed."

"When I push a quick update, it's done right away, and I can rescan immediately to confirm completion within minutes."

More Tanium pros

Cons

"Initially, we were somewhat concerned about the scalability of Zafran due to our large asset count and the substantial amount of information we needed to process."

"Agent features need to be improved. They support agents through Azure Arc or Workbench. Sometimes, we are not able to get correct signals from the machines on which we have installed these agents. We are not able to see how many are currently reporting to Azure Security Center, and how many are currently not reporting. For example, we have 1,000 machines, and we have enrolled 1,000 OMS agents on these machines to collect the log. When I look at the status, even though at some places, it shows that it is connected, but when I actually go and check, I'm not getting any alerts from those. There are some discrepancies on the agent, and the agent features are not up to the mark."

"Sometimes it's very difficult to determine when I need Microsoft Defender for Cloud for a special resource group or a special kind of product."

"However, some Copilot features aren't available in the GCP environment. This is something we hope will be addressed in the future."

"The documentation and implementation guides could be improved."

"After getting a recommendation, it takes time for the solution to refresh properly to show that the problem has been eliminated."

"I felt that there was disconnection in terms of understanding the UI. The communication for moving from the old UI to the new UI could be improved. It was a bit awkward."

"I would like to see more connectors and plugins with other platforms."

"With the new Copilot functionality available everywhere, it is challenging to pinpoint areas for improvement. If I put in a lot of thought, I might identify things, but right now, nothing significant pops into my mind, but there is always room for more transparency, especially in pricing."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"The most painful thing is the interface. It's a bit unclear sometimes."

"The reporting could be improved."

"When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium. I have to search outside to download patches, create bundles, and then perform the task."

"Most of the time, agent-relative issues have to be more equipped with self-healing features. At times, the agent is there, but for some reason, it doesn't report a status. It gives certain problems that are obviously agent-based."

"They could improve the UI."

"The main issues are the network connection because different customers have issues with their networks. It's difficult implementing this type of solution because the network is the main feature in the architecture for these types of solutions. Tanium could improve by creating some network optimization."

"When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium."

"The solution needs to improve the reporting and tracking capabilities."

More Tanium cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The product's pricing policy is generally favorable."

"I am not involved much with the pricing but the bundle offering is good."

"The solution is expensive, and I rate it a five to six out of ten."

"Defender for Cloud is pretty costly for a single line. It's incredibly high to pay monthly for security per server. The cost is considerable for an enterprise with 500-plus virtual machines, and the monthly bill can spike."

"This is a worldwide service and depending on the country, there will be different prices."

"Its pricing is a little bit high in terms of Azure Security Center, but the good thing is that we don't need to maintain and deploy it. So, while the pricing is high, it is native to Azure which is why we prefer using this tool."

"Azure Defender is definitely pricey, but their competitors cost about the same. For example, a Palo Alto solution is the same price per endpoint, but the ground strikes cost a bit more than Azure Defender. Still, it's pricey for a company like ours. Maybe well-established organizations can afford it, but it might be too costly for a startup."

"Our clients complain about the cost of Microsoft Defender for Cloud."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

"There is an annual license required to use this solution."

"It is higher than some competitors in the market."

"The solution offers value for money."

"The solution is expensive but it's a good investment."

"Tanium is a more expensive solution in Latin America than some of the competitors, such as BigFix."

"The product's pricing differs from region to region depending on negotiations and the number of endpoints."

"It's an expensive solution. It would be nice if the cost were lower."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

University

Retailer

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Government

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?

Pricing for Zafran Security is not expensive. We have a contract for five years, and the cost is lower than other too...

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What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

I would like to see an integration with Check Point firewalls. It's essential for us and they are currently working o...

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What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?

We use Zafran Security for threat prioritization. We establish priority to understand which risks should be patched o...

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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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

The entire Defender Suite is tightly coupled, integrated, and collaborative.

See all answers

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

Initially, the cost was reasonable, but additional services from Microsoft sometimes incur extra expenses that seem h...

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What do you like most about Tanium?

Tanium’s linear-chain architecture is valuable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Tanium?

When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Tanium?

We primarily use Tanium for patching, focusing on vulnerabilities. Our major goal with Tanium is to patch based on vu...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 53% of the time

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Compared 21% of the time

ServiceNow Security Operations vs Zafran Security

Compared 17% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 10% of the time

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AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 21% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 13% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

Orca Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

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CrowdStrike Falcon vs Tanium

Compared 16% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Tanium

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Tanium

Compared 9% of the time

ServiceNow Discovery vs Tanium

Compared 6% of the time

BigFix vs Tanium

Compared 6% of the time

More Tanium Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

March 2025

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

March 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Tanium

March 2025

Download Tanium product report

Also Known As

No data available

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

No data available

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Zafran Security

Microsoft

Demo not available

Tanium

Overview

Zafran Security integrates with existing security tools to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities effectively, proving that most critical vulnerabilities are not exploitable, optimizing threat management.

Zafran Security introduces an innovative operating model for managing security threats and vulnerabilities. By leveraging the threat exposure management platform, it pinpoints and prioritizes exploitable vulnerabilities, reducing risk through immediate remediation. This platform enhances your hybrid cloud security by normalizing vulnerability signals and integrating specific IT context data, such as CVE runtime presence and internet asset reachability, into its analysis. No longer reliant on patch windows, Zafran Security allows you to manage risks actively.

What are the key features of Zafran Security?

Threat Exposure Management: Utilizes existing tools to prioritize vulnerabilities and manage threats.
Integrative Analysis: Combines security data with IT context for precise vulnerability management.
Real-time Risk Reduction: Enables immediate risk management without waiting for patches.
Hybrid Cloud Compatibility: Functions across diverse cloud environments for comprehensive security.

What benefits can users expect from Zafran Security?

Improved Security: Enhances protection by efficiently identifying and mitigating risks.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces unnecessary patching expenses by confirming non-exploitable vulnerabilities.
Time Savings: Frees developers to focus on root causes by handling immediate threats.
Comprehensive Insight: Offers a holistic view of security threats and vulnerabilities.

In industries where security is paramount, such as finance and healthcare, Zafran Security provides invaluable protection by ensuring that only exploitable vulnerabilities are addressed. It allows entities to maintain robust security measures while allocating resources efficiently, fitting seamlessly into existing security strategies.

Zafran Security

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

Tanium Endpoint Platform reduces security risk, improves agility & increases efficiency, a fundamentally new approach to endpoint security's threat detection, indicent response, vulnerability assessment and configuration compliance & with management's software distribution, asset utilization, asset inventory and patch management.

Tanium

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

JPMorgan Chase, eBay, Amazon, US Bank, MetLife, pwc, Cerner, Delphi, MGM Grand, New York Life

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tanium

March 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tanium

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

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