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AttackIQ vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.9
Qualys TotalCloud enhances efficiency, reduces costs by 30-40%, and increases ROI by 10-20%, significantly saving time and resources.
Sentiment score
4.5
AttackIQ improved operational efficiency by enhancing security validation, reducing manual efforts, and increasing detection accuracy and alert quality.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances ROI by improving security, productivity, and cost efficiency, despite perceived licensing costs.
It has saved about 90% of our time.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
TotalCloud has generated overall savings of 30 to 40 percent across various departments.
Security Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
CallStream helps us integrate and automate tasks.
Senior Security Consultant at CyberNxt Solutions LLP
We have seen a massive return on investment with AttackIQ, specifically from a resource perspective and time spent on findings due to the fact that the accuracy of the reporting or the accuracy of the findings from AttackIQ was brilliant.
Solutions Sales Specialist at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Defender proactively indexes and analyzes documents, identifying potential threats even when inactive, enhancing preventative security.
Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees
Identifying potential vulnerabilities has helped us avoid costly data losses.
Manager at CBTS
Compared to not having Microsoft Defender for Cloud in place, we definitely saw an advantage by not having downtime due to a security threat.
Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Qualys TotalCloud's customer support is praised for expertise and responsiveness but occasionally faces response delays and inefficiencies.
Sentiment score
7.5
<p>AttackIQ support is responsive and knowledgeable, aiding users with BAS workflows and MITRE ATT&amp;CK, though improvements are suggested.</p>
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Defender for Cloud support is knowledgeable with effective documentation, but first-tier delays impact overall satisfaction.
They are helpful, respond to my queries, and can answer any question.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys's tech support is highly responsive, providing multiple ways to interact with them.
Service Manager, Security Operations at CDA IT SOLUTIONS
Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
The support team generally responsive, technically knowledgeable, and helpful during both onboarding and operational phases.
Security Consultant at Deloitte
The customer support for AttackIQ is quite quick to resolve issues.
Software Development Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The customer support for AttackIQ is pretty quick.
DevOps at a marketing services firm with 51-200 employees
Since security is critical, we prefer a quicker response time.
Manager at CBTS
The support team was very responsive to queries.
Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
They understand their product, but much like us, they struggle with the finer details, especially with new features.
Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Qualys TotalCloud excels in scalability but may need skilled management, adaptable for varying environments and large-scale deployments.
Sentiment score
7.1
AttackIQ excels in handling workloads, offering centralized visibility and scalability when integrated with logging, SIEM, and monitoring systems.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is highly scalable, seamlessly integrates across platforms, and efficiently handles growth, with room for feature improvement.
We started our organization about nine months back. We started with about 30 users, and we now have more than 100 users.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Our organization currently uses it to manage over 1200 web applications.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is absolutely scalable, and I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
retired at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
It can handle increasing workloads and more complex simulations as my needs grow without any problem.
Software Development Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
AttackIQ scales well for enterprise-level security validation and continuous testing use cases.
Security Consultant at Deloitte
AttackIQ is quite scalable as long as you understand what you want to do with it and where you want to go.
Solutions Sales Specialist at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
As we have reduced our on-premises infrastructure, it is about how we can migrate workloads to the cloud to make it easier, and then having everything fully encompassed and secured within that area makes it much easier for us to scale as needed and grow.
Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge
We are using infrastructure as a code, so we do not have any scalability issues with Microsoft Defender for Cloud implementation because our cloud automatically does it.
Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse
It has multiple licenses and features, covering infrastructures from a hundred to five hundred virtual machines, without any issues.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Qualys TotalCloud is praised for stability, boasting 99.9% uptime with minimal downtime and quickly resolved minor bugs.
Sentiment score
7.9
AttackIQ is highly stable and reliable, with no downtime issues, ideal for continuous security validation and assessments.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is stable and reliable, though minor update issues occur with older systems and internet latency.
Overall, the support provided has been excellent.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is a stable solution, which is why we chose it.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Continuous monitoring is crucial to ensure system stability and avoid vulnerabilities or threats.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Defender's stability has been flawless for us.
Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
I have not experienced any crashes or downtime.
Head Of IT at Cirrus Response
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very stable.
Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Users recommend enhancing compliance, UI, integration, and reporting, improving security features, and optimizing pricing and navigation for Qualys TotalCloud.
AttackIQ needs improved onboarding, tool integrations, user-friendly features, and simplified workflows to enhance value and user experience.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud needs improved customization, automation, UI performance, policy management, integration, AI functions, and reduced licensing complexities.
Ideally, the scanner should automatically detect and scan all subdomains, even if not explicitly defined, ensuring comprehensive vulnerability assessment.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
Ideally, updates should be more immediate, enabling quicker implementation of solutions.
Project Lead at Persistent Systems
Our goal is to integrate all these functions into Qualys, creating a single dashboard for comprehensive security monitoring and management.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
One area for improvement is the initial configuration complexity, which is very complex in the initial stage to configure the whole thing and integrate with the SOC, presenting a learning curve for organizations that are new to adversary emulation or continuous security validation.
Security Consultant at Deloitte
AttackIQ works best when a SOC already has a process for acting on findings.
Solutions Sales Specialist at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would appreciate even deeper integrations with security tools and more automated remediation recommendations to streamline follow-up actions.
SOC L2 | Incident Responder at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Microsoft, in general, could significantly improve its communication and support.
Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees
It would be beneficial to streamline recommendations to avoid unnecessary alerts and to refine the severity of alerts based on specific environments or environmental attributes.
Works at Coca-Cola HBC
The artificial intelligence features could be expanded to allow the system to autonomously manage security issues without needing intervention from admins.
Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG
 

Setup Cost

Qualys TotalCloud is costly but offers value and integration, ideal for enterprises despite higher pricing.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers flexible pricing but gets complex and costly, requiring careful evaluation, especially for advanced plans.
Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive.
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Pricing is managed by our finance team; however, Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches.
Vice President at Inspira Enterprise
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for AttackIQ is that since I was using the free version, I did not purchase it initially and was only utilizing the platform, doing lab simulations that were free in that environment.
Software Development Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Security has essentially no cost when compared to the cost of a breach.
Director, Cloud and Modern Workplace at Informanix Technology Group
Every time we consider expanding usage, we carefully evaluate the necessity due to cost concerns.
Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license.
Manager, Microsoft Technology Alliance at Silverfort
 

Valuable Features

Qualys TotalCloud enhances risk management with misconfiguration detection, TruRisk integration, continuous monitoring, automation, and seamless integration for IaaS and SaaS.
AttackIQ provides continuous security testing, enhances visibility, and integrates with tools to improve detection and threat defense.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances security and compliance with AI-powered threat intelligence, automation, and multi-cloud integration for improved protection.
This view of risk helps reduce the work we would have to do to combine multiple sources to prioritize risk.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
It will help cybersecurity professionals monitor the cloud and find vulnerabilities.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
We are enjoying the new feature, FlexScan, which is valuable for Internet-facing VMs.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
AttackIQ allows us to resolve issues much quicker because these issues come in categories, enabling us to prioritize them and fix the emergency issues first.
DevOps at a marketing services firm with 51-200 employees
The continuous validation of security controls through repeatable attack simulations is a massive advantage for me.
Solutions Sales Specialist at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The most valuable feature for me is the variety of APIs available.
Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
This feature significantly aids in threat detection and enhances the user experience by streamlining security management.
Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG
The most valuable feature is the recommendations provided on how to improve security.
Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (12th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (8th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (2nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (7th)
AttackIQ
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
35th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (4th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (10th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (4th)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Container Management (6th), Container Security (4th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (6th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.2%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AttackIQ is 0.7%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 2.7%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud2.7%
Qualys TotalCloud1.2%
AttackIQ0.7%
Other95.4%
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

RO
IT Security Expert at Alior Bank S.A.
Unified risk scoring has improved our cloud visibility and simplifies remediation priorities
Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment across both IAS and SaaS. This solution provides a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce the work I would have to do. We are no longer based on CVSS; we are based on Qualys risk scoring, which is based on CVSS plus internal findings made by Qualys, and then assigns its own score. The TruRisk insight feature has found a small number of assets with high vulnerability scores, though I am cautious since some information is classified. Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution.
Charl Pinches - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Sales Specialist at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Continuous validation has transformed our SOC and now proves control effectiveness with evidence
Running in our SOC, it moves the conversation from assumptions and dashboards to measurable proof, which is exactly what makes AttackIQ valuable in day-to-day security operations. The breach and attack simulation that supports testing, prevention, detection, and response is a key feature for me, as is the ongoing exposure management, rather than a one-time security assessment. AttackIQ's reporting helps translate technical findings into actionable remediation steps, which are easy to understand. The continuous validation of security controls through repeatable attack simulations is a massive advantage for me. Once properly implemented, AttackIQ becomes a valuable part of a continuous validation program. The one feature I rely on the most from AttackIQ is specifically the continuous validation of security controls through repeatable attack simulations. From the reporting that stands out, once you have the report, the translation from a technical finding perspective and how they align with actionable remediation steps is easy to understand, which helps significantly. From a SOC perspective, AttackIQ running in our SOC is a solid enterprise-grade platform delivering genuine operational value. The biggest strength for me is the realism, its alignment with all the compliance situations we might have, and the ability to continuously validate control effectiveness. By doing that, we can continuously provide feedback to our customers to ensure they are running the best of breed for their security posture and environment. AttackIQ is best viewed as a tool that helps a SOC move from assumption-based security to evidence-based security, while providing reporting that can easily be communicated in layman's terms to your customer base. It is most effective for teams that want to prove their controls work, identify gaps early, and continuously improve rather than just rely on periodic testing alone.
RW
Head Of IT at Cirrus Response
Cloud security has cut investigation time and now reveals threats faster but needs simpler oversight
When deploying AI applications, my key security concerns with Microsoft Defender for Cloud are data loss, leakage of data, and guardrails around the actual AI, and I am hoping that this is going to help me put those guardrails in place and identify data exfiltration. Microsoft Defender for Cloud has not helped me manage and secure multi-cloud environments, as we are 100 percent Microsoft and have not really got it in any other environment at all. I am not yet using the unified AI-powered security feature offered by Microsoft Defender for Cloud, but that is coming. I am not yet using the integrated XDR feature of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, but that is coming. I am not yet utilizing the GenAI threat protection features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud. That is also coming and a lot of that will come from learning it here. I have enabled the agentless scanning in my cloud environment with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Assessing the impact on my workload protection without needing to install agents with Microsoft Defender for Cloud makes it a lot easier, but it also identifies a lot more, which puts more load on me sometimes. I would advise another organization considering Microsoft Defender for Cloud that it is the most logical route to follow if their whole ecosystem is Microsoft. It is easy to implement and it is very self-explanatory when doing it, making sense to just follow the steps as it is too simple, really. I would rate this review a 7.5 out of 10.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise49
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
To be totally honest, I do not have any best features because I have had a bad experience using this tool, especially...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
My main use case for Qualys TotalCloud is vulnerability management and exposure management. I use this tool to evalua...
What needs improvement with AttackIQ?
There is a learning curve at the beginning, especially for teams that are quite new to a BAS or continuous validation...
What is your primary use case for AttackIQ?
The key features that we mainly depend on are the continuous validation of security controls through repeatable attac...
What advice do you have for others considering AttackIQ?
The accuracy of AttackIQ is very good and the reliable output is straightforward and easy to understand. The advice I...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing was that the license cost was the only consideration. Setup an...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
To improve Microsoft Defender for Cloud, I think pricing-wise, the license price is a little bit higher from an inges...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
DeepSurface
Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Information Not Available
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about AttackIQ vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,948 professionals have used our research since 2012.