Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps comparison

The compared Check Point Software Technologies and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. Check Point Software Technologies is ranked #10 in VM , with an average rating of 8.5, and holds a 1.3% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #4 in CASB , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 8.8% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Check Point Software Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps are major players in the cloud security domain. CloudGuard CNAPP tends to have an edge with its real-time visibility and security orchestration, while Defender for Cloud Apps excels in threat detection, particularly for Microsoft-centric enterprises.

Features:CloudGuard CNAPP provides continuous compliance monitoring, IAM control, and auto-remediation, offering comprehensive security management. It also delivers real-time visibility across cloud assets. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps seamlessly integrates with Microsoft products, focusing on extensive threat detection and robust data protection, which is advantageous for enterprises utilizing Microsoft's ecosystem.

Room for Improvement:CloudGuard CNAPP could enhance integration with third-party tools, provide better policy validation, and improve documentation. Its reporting features need refinement to reduce false positives. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps could benefit from better integration with non-Microsoft environments, improved report generation, and simpler licensing options. Enhancing response times to alerts and providing more streamlined user interfaces are also areas to work on.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:CloudGuard CNAPP is praised for its straightforward setup, being effective in both public and hybrid cloud scenarios, with commendable customer service support, though response times could be faster. Microsoft's deployment benefits from strong integration with other Microsoft services, supported by reliable customer service, with a desire for more comprehensive multi-cloud support.

Pricing and ROI:CloudGuard CNAPP offers competitive pricing with a flexible licensing model based on cloud assets, resulting in high ROI due to reduced compliance costs and operational efficiency. In contrast, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, often included in Microsoft 365 packages, can be perceived as costly but provides significant value in a Microsoft ecosystem, delivering enhanced security and seamless integration for users.

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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

Mindshare comparison

Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP	1.3%
Wiz	10.5%
Tenable Nessus	7.3%
Other	80.9%

Vulnerability Management

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps	8.8%
Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks	17.8%
Netskope	15.0%
Other	58.4%

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini

Associate Director IT Security Operations at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

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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Bart Coddens

Cloud Engineer at Cloudar

Evolved cloud security with active monitoring but needs interface consistency

The user interface needs work. Sometimes, it is a transition from the old tool to the new CNAPP Two that I currently have, and remnants of the old environment can still be detected. I require consistency in the user interface to ensure everything is streamlined into the same look and feel. More work is needed in fine-tuning the threat data towards your CSPM and activity logs, aligning them with business intelligence, which requires a cohesive console interface. My assessment of CloudGuard CDRs in intrusion detection and threat hunting capabilities is that it still needs some work. All the threat data that comes in, you need to fine tune it a bit.

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Abdulrahman Muhammadi

information Security and IT Manager at Discover Dollar Technologies Pvt Ltd.

Integration with existing cloud workflows has simplified compliance and threat detection

Licensing cost is a significant concern. With Defender Plan 1, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps comes with a pay-per-use model. Each feature has its own pricing when activated on VMs. For example, the vulnerability assessment has separate pricing, the base model including encryptions has separate pricing, and the compliance features have separate pricing. This applies to each VM and Azure resource individually. It is not straightforward where you can take one license and apply it to everything. Each feature has its own pricing model which can be tedious, as the costs keep accumulating. The only lacking feature currently is XDR (extended detection and response). Apart from that, I have only positive experiences with the whole Microsoft suite, except for the pricing structure.

Read full review

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."

"We are able to see the real risk of a vulnerability on our environment with our security tools."

"We saw benefits from Zafran Security almost immediately after deploying it."

"Overall, we have seen about eighty-seven percent reduction of the number of vulnerabilities that require urgency to remediate, specifically the number of criticals."

"Compliance is becoming an important tool for us as well."

"The system has deployed security tools to enhance effective investigations in the entire company networking system."

"The user interface is responsive and quite intuitive; when selecting an object it automatically shows the relevant actions."

"The two most valuable features for us are the central firewall administrator and the real-time cloud compliance monitoring."

"This platform has allowed us to collect data from multiple sources, centralizing everything under a single source."

"Customer service is very good."

"It offers a range of features tailored to address the unique security challenges."

"Visibility is a key feature. It helps me to validate my overall network posture."

More Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP pros

"The impact of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps on our organization's ability to assess and manage app related risks has been significant because we have more visibility."

"The raw logs that come directly from Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps contain all the data I need, and the ability to track activities happening on cloud applications and the alerts provided is an interesting aspect."

"If your business requirements are relatively simple, it can get the job done."

"The ability to prevent users from using certain applications is one of the most valuable features. It doesn't require any configuration for implementation from the client perspective. It just works right away and gives you the information you need."

"Defender helps us control which applications are being used and gain more security insight into remote and hybrid users based on user identity and log in location. You can also integrate Defender for Cloud Apps with Defender for Endpoint to extend its capabilities."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is to stop shadow IT."

"It does a great job of monitoring and maintaining a security baseline. For us, that is a key element. The notifications are pretty good."

"I like the web GUI/the management interface. I also like the security of Microsoft. As compared to other manufacturers, it's less complex and easy to understand and work with."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps 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."

"The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvements."

"I think the ability to have some enhanced reporting capabilities is something they can improve on, as they have good reports but we have asked for some specific reporting enhancements."

"Making basic rules is easy, but it's complex if you want to do something a little more nuanced. I've been unable to make some rules that I wanted. I couldn't evaluate some values or parameters of the components I look for. I haven't always been able to assess them."

"It should have some options to activate API calls to the platform in the cloud, another improvement would be that when the rules are colonized and they want to be published."

"I would like them to include support for their products in languages other than English."

"Automatic remediation requires read/write access. When providing read/write access to third-party applications, this can add risk. It should have some options of triggering API calls to the cloud platform, which in turn, can make the required changes."

"I am not a technical person, but generically, the user interface can be a little more intuitive. Our staff has trained network security and cloud security professionals, and they get it, but when you are trying to get to the customers to be able to pick it up and maintain it, it can be a bit difficult."

"I would like to see tighter integration with other compliance tools, like Chef Compliance, in addition to Inspector."

"The software configurations theory is complicated, and without proper planning and a well-skilled technical team, it cannot perform its tasks properly."

"We want to be able to customize the solution more in order to meet the needs of our company."

More Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP cons

"They should continue integration with all other Microsoft security-related products. The integration with all the other products is still ongoing."

"We would like to get more information from the endpoint. I don't get enough detailed information right now on why something failed. There is not enough visibility."

"We are having trouble with our continuous reporting configuration and struggling with configuring the collector properly with our log parsing. We've also faced difficulties getting support for this issue. It's taken us months to figure this out after going through a couple of different support channels."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps’s technical support services needs improvement."

"They need to improve the attack surface reduction (ASR) rules. In the latest version, you can implement ASR rules, which are quite useful, but you have to enable those because if they're not enabled, they flag false positives. In the Defender portal, it logs a block for WMI processes and PowerShell. Apparently, it's because ASR rules are not configured. So, you generally have to enable them to exclude, for example, WMI queries or PowerShell because they have a habit of blocking your security scanners. It's a bit weird that they have to be enabled to be configured, and it's not the other way around."

"I want them to enhance in-session policy."

"The technical support team has room for improvement."

"The areas of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps that need improvement are related to IAM, as they do not provide much support for local users."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The licensing part still needs some work. The issue that I have is that we do not use all the services in the cloud, but sometimes, CloudGuard identifies them as an asset."

"It is a very straightforward licensing model that is based on the number of assets you are discovering and managing with the solution."

"The pricing is extremely competitive."

"Its price is very fair."

"We have the enterprise-level license and we renew it annually because it is worth the cost."

"The licensing and costs are straightforward, as they have a baseline of 100 workloads (number of instances) within one license with no additional nor hidden charges. If you want to have 200 workloads under Dome9, then you need to take out two licenses for that. Also, it does not have any impact on cloud billing, as data is shared using the API call. This is well within the limit of free API calls provided by the cloud provider."

"The price is on the higher end."

"Check Point CloudGuard Posture Management is always known as a good solution but an expensive one. When you're using Cisco, Check Point, or Palo Alto, you know that you will pay more, but you know that it will work."

More Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP pricing and cost advice

"The E5 license offers everything bundled. People are moving to Microsoft because you buy one license and it gives you everything."

"The price could be better and should be reconsidered."

"It has pretty good pricing."

"The pricing is a little bit high but right now, we are okay with it because of the compatibility with Office 365, Teams, and Azure AD."

"The cost could be improved when you need to pay for anything. For example, refreshing files takes time to load, though it may be my Internet. To improve the refresh time, Microsoft says that we need to pay for a Premium license, and I don't like paying for things that help make a solution better."

"This product is not expensive."

"Its pricing is on the higher side. Its price is definitely very high for a small-scale company. As an enterprise client, we do get benefits from Microsoft. We get a discounted price because of the number of users we have in our company. We have a premier package, and with that, we do get a lot of discounts. There are no additional costs. It only comes in the top-tier packages. Generally, the top-tier license is the best license that you can get for your organization. If you want, you can buy it separately, but that's not a good idea."

"Microsoft offers bundle discounts and a pay-as-you-go option."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	51
Midsize Enterprise	17
Large Enterprise	57

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	19

Questions from the Community

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

Since we stood Zafran Security up in our private cloud, we handle the maintenance on our side. As we opted not to use...

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What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

In terms of areas for improvement, Zafran Security is doing a really great job as a new and emerging company. Oftenti...

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What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?

My use cases for Zafran Security revolve around two primary areas. One is around vulnerability management and priorit...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CloudGuard Workload Protection?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the pricing model is flexible and consumption-based, wh...

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What do you like most about CloudGuard for Cloud Intelligence?

The new scanning function is a valuable feature that wasn't available until recently.

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What needs improvement with CloudGuard for Cloud Intelligence?

There is a lack of functionalities and usability. I used to compare it with another solution that is focused on speci...

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Which is the better security solution - Cisco Umbrella or Microsoft Cloud App Security?

Cisco Umbrella is an integral component of the Cisco SASE architecture. It integrates security in a single, cloud-nat...

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What do you like most about Microsoft Cloud App Security?

It does a great job of monitoring and maintaining a security baseline. For us, that is a key element. The notificatio...

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

At the time of implementation, when the size of our organization was small, it was a more affordable product. Since a...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 33% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Zafran Security

Compared 7% of the time

Nucleus vs Zafran Security

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Wiz vs Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP

Compared 14% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP

Compared 12% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP

Compared 7% of the time

Cloudflare vs Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP

Compared 4% of the time

Orca Security vs Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP

Compared 4% of the time

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Zscaler Internet Access vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 15% of the time

Netskope vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 12% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 6% of the time

Skyhigh Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP

October 2025

Download Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

October 2025

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps report

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps product report

Also Known As

No data available

Check Point CloudGuard Posture Management, Dome9, Check Point CloudGuard Workload Protection, Check Point CloudGuard Intelligence

MS Cloud App Security, Microsoft Cloud App Security

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

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP offers comprehensive cloud security with features like dynamic access control, asset protection, and compliance checks, tailored for organizations seeking enhanced governance across AWS, Azure, and GCP platforms.

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP provides robust capabilities, including centralized firewall management, IAM scanning, and real-time visibility. Its strengths lie in predictive visualization, threat intelligence, and auto-remediation, making it a valuable tool for risk mitigation and compliance management. The platform's integration and responsiveness enhance cloud security, ensuring alignment with industry standards and effective threat protection.

What are the key features of Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP?

Dynamic Access Control: Enables granular security permissions for cloud resources.
Asset Protection: Safeguards cloud assets from unauthorized access and threats.
Compliance Checks: Ensures alignment with industry regulations like PCI DSS and SOC 2.
Centralized Firewall Management: Simplifies firewall rule configuration across cloud environments.
IAM Scanning: Audits and secures identity and access management configurations.
Real-Time Visibility: Provides insights into cloud environments for proactive threat detection.

What benefits and ROI should you expect from Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP?

Threat Intelligence: Identifies and mitigates potential risks before exploitation.
Auto-Remediation: Automates responses to security incidents, reducing manual intervention.
Intuitive Interface: Simplifies management and enhances operational efficiency.
Posture Management: Maintains strong security posture through continuous assessment.

Organizations in finance, healthcare, and retail frequently implement Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP for compliance and security across cloud environments. It assists with workload protection, threat detection, and regulatory obligation fulfillment, proving effective for securing applications and monitoring API interactions.

Check Point Software Technologies

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a comprehensive security solution that provides protection for cloud-based applications and services. It offers real-time threat detection and response, as well as advanced analytics and reporting capabilities. With Defender for Cloud Apps, organizations can ensure the security of their cloud environments and safeguard against cyber threats. Whether you're running SaaS applications, IaaS workloads, or PaaS services, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps can help you secure your cloud environment and protect your business from cyber threats.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Benefits:

Provides comprehensive security for cloud applications
Integrates with other Microsoft security tools
Easy to use and deploy
Provides real-time threat detection and response
Strong protection against phishing attacks and other common threats
Highly customizable to meet specific needs of different organizations

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Use Cases:

Governance, authentication, security, and compliance.
Detects shadow IT and anomalous user behavior
Controls access to applications
Provides auditing and filtering setups
Used for end-user compute devices, file monitoring, user investigation, and activity
Used for data governance, threat detection, and getting visibility over cloud applications
Used to identify information about applications beyond organizational boundaries
Prevent exfiltration and data filtration of corporate data
Used to deal with spam emails and detect shadow IT

Reviews from Real Users

Ram-Krish, Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm, says that Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps "Integrates well and helps us in protecting sensitive information, but takes time to scan and apply the policies and cannot detect everything we need".

PeerSpot user, Senior Cloud & Security Consultant at a tech services, writes that Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps "Great for monitoring user activity and protecting data while integrating well with other applications".

Simon Burgess,Infrastructure Engineer at SBITSC, states that Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is "A fluid, intelligent product for great visibility, centralized management, and increased uptime".

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Symantec, Citrix, Car and Driver, Virgin, Cloud Technology Partners

Customers for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps include Accenture, St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and Nakilat.

Buyer's Guide

Vulnerability Management

October 2025

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