Great product for E5 customers
Updated July 28, 2025

Great product for E5 customers

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

We utilize Microsoft Defender for Cloud apps for several functions including web filtering, SaaS app management and control, and Data Loss Prevention. The cloud inventory works well and provides a simple interface with all of the discovered SaaS apps accessed by the organization. By utilizing the sanctioned and unsanctioned tags, we are able to control the SaaS apps by blocking outright or allowing with controls and monitoring. For DLP, we utilize the alerting to report on suspicious or unusual file transfers.

Pros

  • SaaS application discovery
  • Detection alerts
  • Integration with other Microsoft Defender products to enhance the capabilities.

Cons

  • Integrate better with Purview for DLP rules
  • Onboard more supported applications with fine grained controls.
  • Provide more reporting aside from shadow it report
  • Included in the E5 license making total cost of ownership lower compared with competitors and providing greater value for the organization.
The interface is pretty simple and easy to use; however, you will need to do a lot of investigative research on your own to get comfortable with it. Originally, many of the Microsoft security tools had their own seperate consoles. Overtime, they have blended into one interface which is the ideal state. In some cases it is clear Microsoft had to pick which console a certain feature or setting was going to reside in and this leads to some confusion. For example, DLP is managed through Defender for Cloud Apps but you will also need to jump into Purview. For things like reverse proxy on your M365 tenant, you will need to go into Azure and setup conditional access rules. Not a big problem and I can understand why the settings are located where they are but for someone just starting out with Defender for Cloud Apps, it will take some time to figure out.
Many of the competitors who started in the CASB space have expanded into the SASE category. If organizations do not need the additional controls provided by a SASE solution, then Defender for Cloud Apps is pretty good. If an organization needs a true SASE solution, you would be better off with a competitor as they all include CASB functionality by default.

If your organization is a heavy Microsoft shop then Defender for Cloud Apps provides some price advantages through the E5 license and bundling products.

Do you think Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps again?

Yes

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is part of the E5 license suite. For organizations that have the E5 license in place, I would recommend using Defender for Cloud Apps as it provides a good level of functionality and the cost is already covered in the E5 license.

If an organization does not have the E5 license, I would suggest looking at alternative solutions like Zscaler or Netskope.

Overall, Defender for Cloud Apps is a decent product but does not provide as many features as their competitors. The real advantage to using it is when an environment has the E5 license and is utilizing all of the other Microsoft security products that are part of the license. They integrate extremely well and provide a high level of security.



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