Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) for Azure, on-premises, and multicloud (Amazon AWS and Google GCP) resources.N/A
Microsoft Defender XDR
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft 365 Defender combines SIEM and XDR capabilities for Microsoft 365 environments, encompassing threat detection, post-breach detection, automated investigation, and response for endpoints. Additionally, it protects cloud apps, emails and documents, and employee identities.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft Defender for CloudMicrosoft Defender XDR
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Defender for CloudMicrosoft Defender XDR
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft Defender for CloudMicrosoft Defender XDR
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Defender for Cloud

No answer on this topic

Microsoft Defender XDR
Chose Microsoft Defender XDR
The on-boarding and initial deployment is very much automated and has less technical overheads in comparison to the above products as per my experience. Apart from that, once organizations decide to move towards even one of the Microsoft security products, it will make more …
Best Alternatives
Microsoft Defender for CloudMicrosoft Defender XDR
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

SentinelOne Singularity
SentinelOne Singularity
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.1 out of 10
SentinelOne Singularity
SentinelOne Singularity
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.1 out of 10
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft Defender for CloudMicrosoft Defender XDR
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(31 ratings)
8.7
(59 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Defender for CloudMicrosoft Defender XDR
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Microsoft Defender is very good while we are enhancing our organization's security, and it is very useful in getting threat alerts and vulnerabilities that can harm our system and users. It is recommended to use this to improve overall security and threat protection of our users and organization. With the help of Microsoft Defender, we get fully covered and secured.
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Microsoft
**Well Suited:**- **Enterprise Environments:** - Ideal for large-scale enterprise environments with a diverse IT infrastructure, offering comprehensive coverage across endpoints, networks, and cloud services.- **Integrated Microsoft Ecosystem:** - Excellently suited for organizations heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, providing seamless integration with other Microsoft security tools and services.- **Proactive Threat Detection:** - Well-suited for organizations that prioritize proactive threat detection and response, leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning for early anomaly identification.- **Regulated Industries:** - Particularly beneficial for businesses in regulated industries, such as finance or healthcare, where compliance with stringent data protection regulations is crucial.**Less Appropriate:**- **Small Businesses with Limited Resources:** - Might be less appropriate for small businesses with limited resources or those with a simpler IT infrastructure, as the comprehensive features may exceed their specific needs.- **Highly Specialized Security Requirements:** - In scenarios where a business has highly specialized security requirements that necessitate specific, niche solutions, Microsoft Defender XDR might be less flexible compared to specialized security tools.- **Non-Windows Environments:** - Less appropriate for organizations predominantly using non-Windows operating systems, as it is optimized for integration within the Microsoft ecosystem.- **Organizations with Strict Bandwidth Constraints:** - In environments with strict bandwidth constraints, continuous monitoring and analysis by Defender XDR could potentially impact network performance.
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Pros
Microsoft
  • detect and respond to security threats in the cloud environment, reducing the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access.
  • The product assists our organization dealing with sensitive data in achieving and maintaining compliance with data protection rules.
  • The product provides real-time visibility into the cloud environment, offering insights into ongoing security activities.
  • It guarantees that security teams can actively handle possible threats by delivering real-time monitoring and notifications, reducing the impact on business operations.
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Microsoft
  • I am a huge fan of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint within Microsoft 365 Defender. It is one of the most professional and reliable EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) tool out there providing excellent features like vulnerability management, baseline assessments, device discovery etc.
  • Microsoft Defender for Office365 (Email Security) is yet another class apart product in this Microsoft 365 Defenderr stack. It is one of the easiest to use tools among all the other Microsoft security products yet at the same time offers such a wide variety of features like threat policies (anti-spam, anti-malware, anti-phishing etc.), attack simulation, message trace etc.
  • Incident Management is the main USP of Microsoft 365 Defender due to which it can actually be considered as a true XDR. The intuitive and user-friendly UI, the very useful attack story view, broad classifications, automated investigation etc. etc. etc.; the list of awesome features just goes on.
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Cons
Microsoft
  • 'Regulatory Compliance' is definitely an area of improvement for MDC. The complex and high number of controls within a specific framework should allow a more helpful and detailed guidelines in order to tackle them.
  • The limitation of options in the incident management menu of MDC has proven to be a hassle while managing security alerts. For example, an analyst cannot even provide a comment about the actions taken on an incident.
  • There is a missing functionality of connecting other EDR or XDR solutions to MDC which I think should be there for a CSPM tool.
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Microsoft
  • Setting up Microsoft 365 Defender integration with other tools or platforms might be challenging and require technical know-how.
  • Improving its third-party security tools integration and simplifying the setup process would offer a smoother experience for security teams.
  • A simpler way to improve security operations is by having a more cohesive way of detecting and responding to threats across different security solutions.
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Usability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Too complicated sometimes, doesn't explain the meaning of certain features or problems encountered.
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Support Rating
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Microsoft Support is really good in calls and uptime availability and they are helpful in understanding and fixing issues and reporting the bugs, also the first line support is amazing in fixing bugs and releasing the new patches.
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In-Person Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Good and hard to find someonme who can explain everything for you beside Microsoft they provide you everything you need.
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Online Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Microsoft Provides a good training for the Microsoft 365 Defender and has a good learning paths to learn and take the exams and get your Certifications.
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Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
Defender for Cloud (previously known as Azure Security Center) is a more comprehensive and extensive security solution. Currently, threat analytics make up only a small portion of the whole picture. It encourages a comprehensive picture of the cloud environment across all of its endpoints. For example, firewalls, virtual machine coverage, etc. When compared to the former Threat Analytics, the attack surface of Defender for Cloud is vastly expanded.
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Microsoft
We used the MS XDR as this is a bundle that we bought when we subscribed to the M365 platform, so having it was a bonus as we stated earlier, but due to limitation on licenses in Sentinelone, having this is just a blessing for us, so we can reduce around 200 licenses and can utilize it for other users
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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • It creates a great insight in all assets that are available
  • The CSPM makes sure that certain risk that might have been missed are addressed
  • Being able to query across the data gives great insights in threats and possible vulernabilties for CVEs
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Microsoft
  • Depending on the licensing you pay for, Defender is included and a great ROI cost wise
  • In terms of time spent, Defender can be a large time suck but yield positive results for end users
  • Generally, it pays to learn and train in Defender BEFORE there is a problem and you need to really use it.
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ScreenShots

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Screenshots

Screenshot of Remediation of critical issues in codeScreenshot of Cloud security benchmark mapped to industry FramworksScreenshot of Prioritization of critical risks with contextual threat analysisScreenshot of Workload protectionScreenshot of Unified DevOps VisibilityScreenshot of Visualizations to improve security posture proactively

Microsoft Defender XDR Screenshots

Screenshot of AH Advanced ModeScreenshot of AH Guided modeScreenshot of CD exampleScreenshot of CD Supported actions