Acunetix vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management comparison

Invicti and Microsoft are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Invicti is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.4, while Microsoft is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.9. Invicti holds a 1.2% mindshare in VM, compared to Microsoft’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Invicti users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Acunetix and Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management compete in the cybersecurity field, focusing on identifying and managing vulnerabilities. Acunetix appears to have the upper hand in specialized features, while Microsoft Defender benefits from seamless integration with Microsoft ecosystems.

Features: Acunetix provides comprehensive vulnerability scanning capabilities supporting various web applications and networks. It has strengths in identifying complex vulnerabilities, offering specialized features. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management provides robust threat intelligence and integrates fully with Microsoft security tools, ensuring a unified security experience.

Room for Improvement: Acunetix could enhance its integration with third-party tools and refine its user interface for better user experience. More accessible pricing options could attract a broader user base. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management might benefit from expanding support beyond Microsoft products, enhancing customization options, and improving support documentation for non-Microsoft environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Acunetix offers versatile deployment with on-premise and cloud options, suitable for different network architectures. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management uses Azure for a cloud-centric approach, simplifying deployment in Microsoft ecosystems. Customer service for both products is responsive, but Microsoft benefits from an established network, offering comprehensive support for enterprises.

Pricing and ROI: Acunetix's setup costs can be high for advanced features, yet it offers substantial ROI through accurate vulnerability detection. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management provides competitive pricing, cost-effective for organizations using Microsoft services, maximizing ROI through integrated solutions. Microsoft’s pricing may appeal more to existing users.

To learn more, read our detailed Acunetix vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

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

As of January 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 1.1%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Acunetix is 1.2%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is 2.1%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management	2.1%
Zafran Security	1.1%
Acunetix	1.2%
Other	95.6%

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Reviewer6233

Works at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal

While Zafran Security is already a powerful tool, there are areas where it could be further improved to provide even greater value. One key area for enhancement is the searching capabilities within its vulnerabilities module. By incorporating the ability to create Boolean searches, users would gain the ability to apply more complex filters and customize their search criteria. This would greatly enhance the precision and efficiency with which security teams can identify and prioritize vulnerabilities. Having such tailored search capabilities would save time and resources by narrowing down vast lists of vulnerabilities to those that meet specific parameters relevant to our unique risk environment. Additionally, integrating more robust reporting and visualization tools would be advantageous. Enhanced dashboards that offer customizable visual representations of risk configurations and threat landscapes would facilitate better communication with stakeholders, making it easier to explain vulnerabilities and the rationale behind certain security measures. This would also aid in demonstrating the improvements and value derived from existing security investments to leadership and non-technical team members.

Read full review

Rahul Kumar

Senior Engineer - Penetration Tester at a government with 10,001+ employees

Identifies vulnerabilities across bulk web applications but needs better support and cleaner reports

The best feature Acunetix offers is the centralized dashboard and the quality of reports it generates, which includes various options for selecting reports and developer options for directly sharing the reports with developers. The centralized dashboard of Acunetix gives visibility into the security aspects of mass applications; for instance, with more than 200 applications, it provides a valuable overview of findings and necessary fixes, along with a high-level summary that helps us achieve compliance through monthly and sometimes weekly scanning. In terms of reporting, Acunetix is excellent because it can generate different types of reports, such as an executive summary report, detailed reports, and developer reports that can be shared directly with developers. Acunetix positively impacts my organization by helping identify outdated libraries and applications, including legacy applications vulnerable to old attacks based on OWASP Top 10, thus aiding in compliance checks for PCI DSS and OWASP. Acunetix provides a centralized report with compliance-related aspects and a vulnerability timeline, effectively helping reduce vulnerabilities and save time.

Read full review

Okhan BABUCCU

Microsoft Solutions Manager at Self-Employed

Ensures strong threat and vulnerability management with continuous risk assessment

The major priority is identity, which is crucial; we have lots of companies in manufacturing, energy, or various sectors, and it varies from one to another. I assess Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management as very effective in continuously assessing vulnerabilities without requiring scans. We use automatic investigation and remediation features, safe attachments, safe links, and real-time reports, which are also very effective. For Active Directory, Defender has threat intelligence, and we are using that. The risk-based prioritization within Vulnerability Management affects my ability to manage vulnerabilities, particularly in relation to the Zero Trust Model utilized by our customers. The end-users often do as they please in their systems.

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 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."

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

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

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

"With Zafran Security, it integrates with your security controls, allowing you to take that risk score and reduce it based on the controls in place or increase the risk based on different factors, such as if the issue is internet reachable or if there's an exploit in the wild."

"The centralized dashboard of Acunetix gives visibility into the security aspects of mass applications; for instance, with more than 200 applications, it provides a valuable overview of findings and necessary fixes, along with a high-level summary that helps us achieve compliance through monthly and sometimes weekly scanning."

"The most important feature is that it's a web-based graphical user interface. That is a great addition. Also, the ability to schedule scans is great."

"I find it to be one of the most comprehensive tools, with support for manual intervention."

"The automated approach to these repetitive discovery attempts would take days to do manually and therefore it helps reduce the time needed to do an assessment."

"The most valuable feature of Acunetix is the UI and the scan results are simple."

"Picks up weaknesses in our app setups."

"I haven't seen reporting of that level in any other tool."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the speed at which it can scan multiple domains in just a few hours."

More Acunetix pros

"The main advantage of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is that it can locate and prevent most threats even when the endpoints are not connected to the corporate network, as long as the internet is available."

"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management has streamlined our threat management processes and provided region-specific customization for our healthcare operations."

"The integration with Sentinel has been one of the most valuable features for my organization."

"The solution is highly scalable."

"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is versatile and assesses vulnerabilities, providing detailed information on CVEs, their categories, and exploit statuses."

"A valuable feature is the ease of management and integration with Microsoft products."

"The product's stability is very high...The scalability of the product is amazing."

"The solution helps identify threats and vulnerabilities."

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management pros

Cons

"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."

"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."

"There was an issue related to updates from the internet."

"There is room for improvement in website authentication because I've seen other products that can do it much better."

"We have had issues during upgrades where their scans worked on some apps better with previous versions. Then, we had to work with their tech support, who were great, to get it fixed for the next version."

"The solution's pricing could be better."

"You can't actually change your password after you've set it unless you go back into the administration account and you change it there. Thus, if you're locked out and don't remember your password, that's a thing."

"I believe Acunetix can improve customer support, as the dedicated support staff are often unfamiliar with problems and troubleshooting, leading to communication gaps that delay issue resolution."

"I think Acunetix needs improvement since it is now working with Invicti, so the price list will need to be reconsidered."

More Acunetix cons

"The setup phase of the product is not that easy and needs a person to have a certain level of expertise."

"The general support could be improved."

"Probably my only criticism would be the cost. It is expensive."

"The documentation from Microsoft needs significant improvement. The documents are disorganized, with one document linking to another, making the steps unclear and difficult to follow."

"The automated remediations can be more specific."

"There should be risk scoring added to Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management; specifically, they call it quantification of the risk."

"The constant changes in the product configuration or the console setup can sometimes be challenging."

"It is challenging to extract and customize reports from the system."

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The solution is expensive."

"The cost is based on two types of licenses, ConsultLite, and ConsultPlus, as well as the number of domains that are scanned."

"The costs aren't very expensive. It costs around $3000 or $4000."

"Acunetix was around the same price as all the other vendors we looked at, nothing special."

"I would say that Acunetix is expensive because there are products on the market with similar features that are equally or better-priced."

"The pricing is a little high, and moreover, it's kind of domain-based."

"The price is exceptionally high."

"The pricing and licensing are reasonable to a point. In order to run multiple scans at a time, we are going to have to purchase a 100 count license, which is an overkill. Though, compared to what we were paying for, the cost seems reasonable."

More Acunetix pricing and cost advice

"The licensing costs are reasonable."

"The product’s pricing is medium."

"I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."

"The tool is a bit costly."

"The licensing model follows a per-user per-month structure."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Vulnerability Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	17

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	5

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner?

The tool's most valuable feature is scan configurations. We use it for external physical applications. The scanning t...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner?

My main use case for Acunetix is providing a vulnerability scanner for our web application server. I use Acunetix to ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Acunetix Vulnerability Scanner?

My advice to others looking into using Acunetix is that it is really helpful to discover the web attacks and have gre...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

The solution helps identify threats and vulnerabilities.

See all answers

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

We are open to discounts on the pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

The documentation from Microsoft needs significant improvement. The documents are disorganized, with one document lin...

See all answers

Comparisons

Wiz Code vs Zafran Security

Compared 24% of the time

Vulcan Cyber vs Zafran Security

Compared 10% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 10% of the time

Nucleus vs Zafran Security

Compared 8% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Zafran Security

Compared 6% of the time

More Zafran Security Competitors

OWASP Zap vs Acunetix

Compared 14% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Acunetix

Compared 8% of the time

Invicti vs Acunetix

Compared 7% of the time

HCL AppScan vs Acunetix

Compared 5% of the time

SonarQube vs Acunetix

Compared 5% of the time

More Acunetix Competitors

Qualys VMDR vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 16% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 15% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 11% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 4% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

January 2026

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix

January 2026

Download Acunetix product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

January 2026

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management report

Download Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management product report

Also Known As

No data available

AcuSensor

No data available

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

Acunetix Web Vulnerability Scanner is an automated web application security testing tool that audits your web applications by checking for vulnerabilities like SQL Injection, Cross site scripting, and other exploitable vulnerabilities.

Invicti

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management enables organizations to identify vulnerabilities, manage patches, and fortify threat detection. It offers endpoint assessments, cloud incident management, and dynamic security through Microsoft's Security Scorecard integration.

Organizations leverage Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management for advanced threat detection and response. It provides robust tools for vulnerability assessment and cloud incident management, integrated with Microsoft's Security Scorecard to enhance dynamic security profiling. Key features include automatic patch deployment, security configuration management, and seamless integration with Microsoft platforms, benefiting both on-prem and cloud environments. Organizations can track vulnerabilities with severity-based reports, helping manage outdated software and minimizing threat exposure.

What are the key features of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

Compliance: Ensures adherence to security regulations.
Recommendations: Provides actionable advice for security enhancements.
Inventories: Offers detailed inventory tracking for software and hardware.
Threat Identification: Detects potential threats proactively.
Vulnerability Assessment: Evaluates system vulnerabilities comprehensively.
Zero-day Protection: Shields systems from newly discovered exploits.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Integration: Facilitates seamless integration with Microsoft and diverse platforms.
Risk Mitigation: Assists in mitigating risks through accurate assessments.
Prioritization: Helps prioritize vulnerabilities for efficient patch management.
Up-to-date Protection: Ensures systems remain secured and current.

In healthcare, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management helps manage compliance with health regulations, while in finance, it aids in securing sensitive data from cyber threats. Manufacturing sectors benefit from its patch management, keeping operational technology systems less vulnerable to disruptions.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Joomla!, Digicure, Team Random, Credit Suisse, Samsung, Air New Zealand

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Acunetix vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

December 2025

Free Report: Acunetix vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Find out what your peers are saying about Acunetix vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Acunetix vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management report.

See our list of best Vulnerability Management vendors.

We monitor all Vulnerability Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.