Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Tenable Cloud Security comparison

Microsoft and Tenable are both solutions in the Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) category. Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.1, while Tenable is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.2. Microsoft holds a 11.2% mindshare in CNAP, compared to Tenable’s 2.3% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 71% of Tenable users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Tenable Cloud Security are competing in the cloud security management category. Microsoft Defender for Cloud has the upper hand due to its robust integration with Microsoft services.

Features: Microsoft Defender for Cloud integrates deeply with Azure resources, uses AI for threat detection, and automates incident response. It provides extensive recommendations and centralized management. Tenable Cloud Security stands out with its comprehensive vulnerability detection, software composition analysis, and robust asset management. It excels in compliance management and supports DevOps integration.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Defender for Cloud could improve by providing more granular control over policy enforcement and enhancing support for non-Microsoft platforms. Customization options for reporting might be limited, and integrating with third-party SIEM tools can be complex. Tenable Cloud Security could benefit from a more user-friendly interface and better scalability for large enterprise environments. It may also need to enhance support for real-time threat intelligence and improve its remediation automation capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Cloud benefits from easy deployment within Azure, offering a streamlined setup and familiar interface for Microsoft users. Its centralized management provides ease of use across Microsoft environments. Tenable Cloud Security is flexible in multi-cloud deployments, accommodating diverse cloud environments efficiently. Their customer support is reliable, though Microsoft’s seamless Azure integration often results in faster onboarding and configuration.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender for Cloud is integrated into existing Microsoft service subscriptions, potentially lowering costs for Azure users and promising a competitive ROI through enhanced threat protection. Tenable Cloud Security may have higher initial setup costs due to robust vulnerability assessments, but it translates to substantial ROI by reducing security risks and maintaining compliance. The advanced features of Tenable are seen as valuable investments for comprehensive security management.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tenable Cloud Security Report (Updated: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tenable Cloud Security

February 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

SentinelOne Singularity Clo...

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) category, the mindshare of SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is 3.1%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 11.2%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Cloud Security is 2.3%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)

Featured Reviews

Andrew W

VP - Information Technology at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees

Tells us about vulnerabilities as well as their impact and helps to focus on real issues

Looking at all the different pieces, it has got everything we need. Some of the pieces we do not even use. For example, we do not have Kubernetes Security. We are not running any K8 clusters, so it is good for us. Overall, we find the solution to be fantastic. There can be additional education components. This may not be truly fair to them because of what the product is going for, but it would be great to see additional education for compliance. It is not a criticism of the tool per se, but anything to help non-development resources understand some of the complexities of the cloud is always appreciated. Any additional educational resources are always helpful for security teams, especially those without a development background.

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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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Ondrej Kováč

Solution Engineer at Exclusive Networks Czechia

Has vulnerability detection, software composition analysis and asset management features

Due to its robust nature, the platform's adoption can be overwhelming initially. However, once organizations start using it, they tend to get used to it. I haven't had much direct interaction with the support team, but some partners have reported a desire for better support for the product. Another area needing improvement is the implementation complexity, especially in multi-cloud environments. Tenable Cloud Security's features mean there's a steep learning curve, which can consume significant time and resources to utilize the platform's potential and fully see immediate benefits. It's similar to AI in that you must spend time fine-tuning and training before it truly helps.

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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

"SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security has saved up to 50 percent in engineering time."

"SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security offers valuable scalability suitable for organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises."

"Cloud Native Security's most valuable features include cloud misconfiguration detection and remediation, compliance monitoring, a robust authentication security engine, and cloud threat detection and response capabilities."

"The solution's most valuable features are its ability to detect vulnerabilities inside AWS resources and its ability to rescan after a specific duration set by the administrator."

"You not only get to know about vulnerabilities and misconfigurations but also some of the actual"

"I would rate SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security a ten out of ten."

"I would rate their support a ten out of ten."

"The user interface is well-designed and easy to navigate."

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security pros

"The technical support is very good."

"My favorite part of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is the compliance features. Defender covers a wide range of workloads, on par with competing products on the market."

"It's got a lot of great features."

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

"Using Security Center, you have a full view, at any given time, of what's deployed, and that is something that is very useful."

"Defender for Cloud is an improvement over Trend Micro, our previous solution. We like integrating our endpoints and visualizing everything in one place. It provides comprehensive coverage for endpoints, servers, and overall environmental security."

"One important security feature is the incident alerts. Now, with all these cyberattacks, there are a lot of incident alerts that get triggered. It is very difficult to keep monitoring everything automatically, instead our organization is utilizing the automated use case that we get from Microsoft. That has helped bring down the manual work for a lot of things."

"Scalability is great, and I would rate it a ten out of ten."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"If you have multi-cloud tenancy using AWS and Azure, you can have a single dashboard where you can onboard all the cloud infrastructure and have visibility into it."

"The product's deployment phase is easy."

"Ermetic can provide super visibility for our cloud environment (we are using AWS)."

"The product's visibility and remediation work fine for me."

"The solution’s vulnerability management feature has helped us identify and mitigate risks well."

"The tool alerts us on depreciating performance or deficiencies of our web application. It helps us react on time."

"The key benefit lies in having the largest and most up-to-date database. When it comes to using any Tenable product, it excels in finding vulnerabilities and providing analytics."

"Tenable Cloud Security excels in vulnerability detection, one of its strongest features. Another valuable feature is software composition analysis, which highlights and automates the detection of security flaws. Additionally, their knowledge base is excellent; if anything goes wrong, they provide clear guidance on what needs to be done to address specific vulnerabilities."

More Tenable Cloud Security pros

Cons

"I would like PingSafe's detections to be openly available online instead of only accessible through their portal. Other tools have detections that are openly available without going through the tool."

"The areas with room for improvement include the cost, which is higher compared to other security platforms. The dashboard can also be laggy."

"Whenever I view the processes and the process aspect, it takes a long time to load."

"The area of improvement is the cost, which is high compared to other traditional endpoint protections."

"I want PingSafe to integrate additional third-party resources. For example, PingSafe is compatible with Azure and AWS, but Azure AD isn't integrated with AWS. If PingSafe had that ability, it would enrich the data because how users interact with our AWS environment is crucial. All the identity-related features require improvement."

"To enhance the notification system's efficiency, resolved issues should be promptly removed from the portal."

"We are experiencing problems with Cloud Native Security reporting."

"PingSafe can be improved by developing a comprehensive set of features that allow for automated workflows."

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security cons

"Another thing is that Defender for Cloud uses more resources than CrowdStrike, which my current company uses. Defender for Cloud has two or three processes running simultaneously that consume memory and processor time. I had the chance to compare that with CrowdStrike a few days ago, which was significantly less. It would be nice if Defender were a little lighter. It's a relatively large installation that consumes more resources than competitors do."

"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."

"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."

"Early on, the lack of transparency is a challenge. Microsoft does not tell you the cost when they launch something."

"Microsoft can improve the pricing by offering a plan that is more cost-effective for small and medium organizations."

"The remediation process could be improved."

"I would like to have the ability to customize executive reporting."

"Most customer teams need more training on this type of product."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"If Tenable Cloud Security offers a complete Cnapp solution with CWP, CIEM, and Waap security, it will be able to compete with other competitors."

"Tenable needs to offer a patch-based solution since it is an area where the tool lacks a bit."

"Ermetic needs to improve its security scanning. I would like to see more dynamic graphical forms."

"I have faced several bug incidents with the solution"

"The product must provide more features."

"I do think there might be room for more integrations. This could allow for further customization and flexibility, essentially offering different functionality options to accommodate various budgets."

"I didn't find anything that wasn't useful or needed to be added."

"There is a need for the support team to improve their response time since it is one of the areas where the product's technical team has certain shortcomings."

More Tenable Cloud Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price depends on the extension of the solution that you want to buy. If you want to buy just EDR, the price is less. XDR is a little bit more expensive. There are going to be different add-ons for Singularity."

"Pricing is based on modules, which was ideal for us."

"PingSafe falls within the typical price range for cloud security platforms."

"I am personally not taking care of the pricing part, but when we moved from CrowdStrike to PingSafe, there were some savings. The price of CrowdStrike was quite high. Compared to that, the price of PingSafe was low. PingSafe is charging based on the subscription model. If I want to add an AWS subscription, I need to pay more. It should not be based on subscription. It should be based on the number of servers that I am scanning."

"While I'm slightly out of touch with pricing, I know SentinelOne is much cheaper than other products."

"Singularity Cloud Workload Security's licensing and price were cheaper than the other solutions we looked at."

"I would rate the cost a seven out of ten with ten being the most costly."

"While SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security offers robust protection, its high cost may be prohibitive for small and medium-sized businesses."

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security pricing and cost advice

"We are using the free version of the Azure Security Center."

"Azure Defender is a bit pricey. The price could be lower."

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

"The price of the solution is good for the features we receive and there is an additional cost for Microsoft premier support. However, some of my potential customers have found it to be expensive and have gone on to choose another solution."

"This solution is more cost-effective than some competing products. My understanding is that it is based on the number of integrations that you have, so if you have fewer subscriptions then you pay less for the service."

"It has global licensing. It comes with multiple licenses since there are around 50,000 people (in our organization) who look at it."

"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."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud is pricey, especially for Kubernetes clusters."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

"The tool's price is good compared to other brands. The tool's subscription is for a year."

"The tool's pricing is fair."

"There is a need to opt for a subscription-based pricing model to use Tenable Cloud Security. I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about PingSafe?

The dashboard gives me an overview of all the things happening in the product, making it one of the tool's best featu...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PingSafe?

It is cost-effective compared to other solutions in the market.

See all answers

What needs improvement with PingSafe?

In version 2, a lot of rules have been deployed for Kubernetes security and CDR, which makes a lot of issues of criti...

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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...

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What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

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

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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 Tenable Cloud Security?

The solution’s vulnerability management feature has helped us identify and mitigate risks well.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Tenable Cloud Security?

Another team uses the tool. Tenable acquired Ermetic. I think Tenable has features, stays up to date, and upgrades ev...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Tenable Cloud Security?

Right now, I use Tenable as CNAPP, and it is good for the product as it offers enhanced security to users. We did use...

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Comparisons

Wiz vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 24% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 20% of the time

AWS GuardDuty vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 8% of the time

Orca Security vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 5% of the time

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 5% of the time

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security Competitors

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

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Competitors

Wiz vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 20% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 11% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 10% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 7% of the time

Orca Security vs Tenable Cloud Security

Compared 6% of the time

More Tenable Cloud Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

March 2025

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security report

Download SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

March 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Cloud Security

March 2025

Download Tenable Cloud Security product report

Also Known As

PingSafe

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

Ermetic, Ermetic Identity Governance for AWS

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

SentinelOne

Microsoft

Demo not available

Tenable

Overview

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security protects cloud workloads, offering advanced threat detection and automated response. It integrates seamlessly with cloud environments and secures containerized applications and virtual machines against vulnerabilities.

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is renowned for its efficiency in mitigating threats in real-time. The platform integrates effortlessly with existing cloud environments, ensuring robust cloud security management with minimal manual intervention. Securing containerized applications and virtual machines, it excels in threat intelligence and endpoint protection. However, improvements are needed in performance during high workload periods, and more integrations with third-party tools and better documentation would be beneficial. Users often find the installation process complex, support response times slow, and the dashboard's navigation unintuitive.

What are the key features of SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security?

Real-time Threat Detection: Identifies and mitigates threats as they occur.
Automated Response: Automatically responds to threats to minimize impact.
Ease of Deployment: Simple setup process with scalable options.
Machine Learning Insights: AI-driven insights enhance threat prevention.
Seamless Integration: Integrates with cloud environments for unified security management.

What are the primary benefits or ROI to expect from SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security?

Enhanced Threat Mitigation: Improved security against real-time threats.
Reduced Manual Intervention: Automated processes save time and resources.
Scalability: Easily adapts to growing security requirements.
Centralized Management: Manage security across platforms from a single console.
Advanced Threat Intelligence: Provides in-depth analysis and protection.

In specific industries, SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is implemented to safeguard critical data and infrastructure. Organizations in finance, healthcare, and technology depend on its real-time threat detection and automated response to protect sensitive information. Its ability to secure containerized applications and virtual machines is particularly valuable in dynamic environments where rapid scaling is necessary.

SentinelOne

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

Tenable Cloud Security is a comprehensive solution designed to help organizations secure their cloud environments across various platforms, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. It offers continuous visibility, compliance management, and threat detection to ensure that cloud infrastructure and applications are protected from vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.

Tenable Cloud Security exemplifies a comprehensive Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) by providing a unified solution that covers the entire cloud security lifecycle, from development to runtime. This platform is designed to address vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, threats, and compliance risks across multi-cloud environments, making it an essential tool for organizations adopting cloud-native architectures. In practice, Tenable Cloud Security integrates security into the development process through its shift-left approach, particularly with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) security. This ensures that security measures are embedded early in the development lifecycle, allowing teams to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities before they reach production. Once in production, the platform continues to provide real-time visibility into cloud environments, enabling continuous monitoring and proactive threat detection.

The solution's comprehensive protection spans various aspects of cloud security, including the identification and remediation of misconfigurations, automated compliance management, and advanced threat intelligence. By automating these processes, Tenable Cloud Security reduces the manual effort required to manage cloud security, freeing up resources for more strategic initiatives.

What are the key features of Tenable Cloud Security?

Unified Platform: Covers the entire cloud security lifecycle, from development to runtime, providing comprehensive protection.
Shift-Left Approach with IaC Security: Integrates security early in the development process, ensuring that vulnerabilities are caught and remediated before deployment.
Continuous Monitoring: Offers real-time visibility and monitoring of cloud environments, enabling proactive threat detection and response.
Automation: Streamlines security operations, reducing the need for manual intervention and increasing operational efficiency.
Comprehensive Threat and Compliance Management: Identifies and mitigates vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance risks across multi-cloud environments.

What are the benefits of using Tenable Cloud Security?

Improved Security Posture: Early detection and remediation of vulnerabilities lead to a stronger overall security posture.
Operational Efficiency: Automation reduces the workload on security teams, allowing them to focus on higher-priority tasks.
Risk Reduction: Proactively identifies and addresses risks before they impact production environments.
Simplified Compliance: Helps organizations meet and maintain compliance with industry standards, reducing the complexity and cost of audits.

Tenable Cloud Security is particularly valuable in industries with stringent regulatory requirements, such as finance, healthcare, and retail. For example, in the financial sector, it helps organizations ensure compliance with regulations like PCI-DSS while safeguarding sensitive data across cloud environments.

In summary, Tenable Cloud Security is a robust CNAPP solution that integrates security throughout the cloud lifecycle, providing comprehensive protection and operational efficiency for cloud-native environments.

Tenable

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

Tyler Technologies, Bilfinger, BarkBox, MongoDB, airSlate, Adama, Latch, Cloudinary, Riskified, AppsFlyer, IntelyCare, Aidoc, 42Dot, and more.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tenable Cloud Security

February 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tenable Cloud Security

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

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