AWS Security Hub vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud comparison

AWS Security Hub vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

June 2026

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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

Qualys TotalCloud

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.9%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Security Hub is 2.7%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 5.6%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud	5.6%
Qualys TotalCloud	1.9%
AWS Security Hub	2.7%
Other	89.8%

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

Featured Reviews

Robert Orłowski

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.

Has helped identify misconfigurations and prioritize risks but lacks multi-cloud support and deeper integration features

Karthik Ekambaram

Director at Scybers

AWS Security Hub cannot scale up to multiple different cloud environments; it only works for AWS. There are other products in the market for CSPM that can give you multi-cloud environment misconfigurations, even Microsoft for that matter. Regarding the integration of AWS Security Hub with third-party tools, I am not certain whether we can integrate them, but there is no need to do so. However, AWS Security Hub cannot integrate with other cloud providers, so it only supports the AWS environment. The compliance checks within AWS Security Hub are good, but we don't use them much. We utilize compliance frameworks such as CIS compliance frameworks and ISO 27017 framework, which are beneficial, but it can improve in other areas too, such as including NIST and other frameworks beyond just ISO and CIS. Improvements can be applicable for scalability, particularly on integration with multi-cloud environments, and compliance frameworks can be added for more variety as well. The unified dashboard in AWS Security Hub is adequate; I cannot say it is exceptional, but the content available in the dashboards is satisfactory for now.

Cloud security has cut investigation time and now reveals threats faster but needs simpler oversight

RyanWalker

Head Of IT at Cirrus Response

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.

More Qualys TotalCloud pros

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"With TotalCloud, we can scan through the API. If we are not able to deploy cloud agents on the machine, we can use the API."

"One of Qualys' best features is its categorization, which allows us to see the types of assets, their security postures, and the AI-powered version of the tool."

"The scalability is good as well. I would rate it ten out of ten."

"The best feature would be the ability to create policies. It is easy to control and update policies as required."

"TruRisk Insights is the most important innovation they've released this year."

"Qualys TotalCloud has significantly improved our organization by automating our reporting processes, reducing the time spent on report creation from two hours to less than fifteen to twenty minutes."

"Qualys TotalCloud has improved our security posture."

"The platform's unified view of the organization proves particularly valuable for leadership team meetings."

"AWS Security Hub has very good integration features. It allows for AWS native services integration, and it helps us to integrate some of the services outside of AWS. They have partners, such as Amazon Preferred Network Partners (APN). If you have different security tools around APN, we can integrate those findings with AWS Security Hub reducing the need to refer to different portals or different UIs. You can have AWS Security Hub act as a single common go-to dashboard."

"This solution is for security posture management for the cloud, showing the security posture of your cloud infrastructure and giving you good insight into whether your infrastructure is secure or not."

"Though I'm still in the initial evaluation phase for AWS Security Hub, I would recommend it to others because it has good features."

"Within AWS Security Hub, there is a feature for aggregating and prioritizing security findings which allows for better risk prioritization based on misconfiguration, as they know AWS thoroughly."

"It's a security posture management tool from AWS. Basically, it identifies misconfigurations, similar to Trusted Advisor but on a larger scale."

"Cloudposse is a valuable feature as it guarantees my security."

"Currently, our organization utilizes AWS for various purposes, including SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and hosting applications in the cloud. We develop our applications and use AWS services as a platform for basic functions and secondary development needs. Additionally, we rely on PaaS for accounting services. Approximately, 50% of our applications are hosted in the cloud environment, making it a significant part of our current setup."

"The solution is very good at detection and providing real-time alerts."

More AWS Security Hub pros

"The most valuable feature is the hunting feature, which integrates well into the entire Microsoft ecosystem."

"The pricing is good."

"It's quite a good product, as it helps to understand the infections and issues you are facing."

"One of the features that I like about the solution is it is both a hybrid cloud and also multi-cloud. We never know what company we're going to buy, and therefore we are ready to go. If they have GCP or AWS, we have support for that as well. It offers a single-panel blast across multiple clouds."

"The solution's robust security posture is the most valuable feature."

"The features that Azure Security Center provides from a security point of view are amazing."

"I have not experienced any difficulties or issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud."

"It is very intuitive when it comes to policy administration, alerts and notifications, and ease of setting up roles at different hierarchies. It has also been good in terms of the network technology maps. It provides a good overview, but it also depends on the complexity of your network."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

Cons

"Their support could be improved."

"We encountered challenges identifying the correct resource category for certain items, such as those in containers or storage."

"The cost of Qualys TotalCloud is high and could be more competitive."

"Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple enough for everyone to understand."

"There is room for improvement in vulnerability scanning, particularly for PaaS environments. Currently, Qualys does not have full access to these instances, which limits its effectiveness."

"The price is very expensive, actually."

"The support is not up to the mark and seems to be overburdened."

"TotalCloud could improve its scanning of niche devices like Wi-Fi dongles and USB modems because they are often untested. It covers everything else, like laptops, mobile devices, and Bluetooth IoT devices. They can improve on the small IoT devices because hackers and testers use these."

More Qualys TotalCloud cons

"Adding SIEM features would be beneficial because of the limited customization of AWS Security Hub."

"There is room for improvement in implementing AI capabilities."

"It is not flexible for multi-cloud environments."

"The user interface, graphs, and dashboards of the solution could improve in the future. They are not very sophisticated and could use an update."

"However, the sheer number of services can be overwhelming when implementing something new."

"The solution will only give you insight if you have configure rule enabled. It should work more like Prisma Cloud and Dome9 which have a better approach."

"Right now, there are some difficulties we're facing with AWS Security Hub, and we need our central team to mitigate the issues."

"Although AWS Security Hub does a periodic scan of your overall infrastructure, it doesn't do it in real time."

More AWS Security Hub cons

"I've heard there might be issues with scalability for larger enterprises."

"The process of deploying Microsoft Defender for Cloud was not smooth. It was always a challenge migrating, as a lot of it involved application dependencies and what was required before being able to use Azure for those services."

"The most significant areas for improvement are in the security of our identity and endpoints and the posture of the cloud environment. Better protection for our cloud users and cloud apps is always welcome."

"For Kubernetes, I was using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). To see that whatever is getting deployed into AKS goes through the correct checks and balances in terms of affinities and other similar aspects and follows all the policies, we had to use a product called Stackrox. At a granular level, the built-in policies were good for Kubernetes, but to protect our containers from a coding point of view, we had to use a few other products. For example, from a programming point of view, we were using Checkmarx for static code analysis. For CIS compliance, there are no CIS benchmarks for AKS. So, we had to use other plugins to see that the CIS benchmarks are compliant. There are CIS benchmarks for Kubernetes on AWS and GCP, but there are no CIS benchmarks for AKS. So, Azure Security Center fell short from the regulatory compliance point of view, and we had to use one more product. We ended up with two different dashboards. We had Azure Security Center, and we had Stackrox that had its own dashboard. The operations team and the security team had to look at two dashboards, and they couldn't get an integrated piece. That's a drawback of Azure Security Center. Azure Security Center should provide APIs so that we can integrate its dashboard within other enterprise dashboards, such as the PowerBI dashboard. We couldn't get through these aspects, and we ended up giving Reader security permission to too many people, which was okay to some extent, but when we had to administer the users for the Stackrox portal and Azure Security Center, it became painful."

"Early on, the lack of transparency is a challenge. Microsoft does not tell you the cost when they launch something."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud could be improved by adding capabilities for NetApp files and more PaaS resources from other vendors, not just Microsoft."

"The cost is always a concern, but overall, it's not too bad because it is easy to use and pretty friendly."

"We would like to have better transparency as to how the security score is calculated because as it is now, it is difficult to understand."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Qualys TotalCloud offers competitive pricing given its comprehensive suite of features, including integration, assessment, remediation, and detection capabilities, all within a single platform."

"The cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."

"I am not sure about the pricing. From what I understand, it is a bit on the higher side, but I do not have the exact numbers."

"Its price seems higher compared to other tools, but it is worth it. If they could adjust the pricing and make it comparable with other tools, that would be great."

"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."

"While Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive and may soon be considered overpriced."

"As a middle management member, I do not have direct pricing knowledge, but based on the knowledge from our meetings, its pricing is competitive."

"The pricing is comparable. It is built into our other product, so I cannot piecemeal it. It is a part of our subscription."

More Qualys TotalCloud pricing and cost advice

"AWS Security Hub is not an expensive tool. I would consider it to be a cheap solution. AWS Security Hub follows the PAYG pricing model, meaning you will have to pay for whatever you use."

"The price of the solution is not very competitive but it is reasonable."

"Security Hub is not an expensive solution."

"The cost is based on the number of compliances, core checks, and services required, and for more than 10,000 recommendations, the charge is just one dollar."

"AWS Security Hub's pricing is pretty reasonable."

"The price of AWS Security Hub is average compared to other solutions."

"The pricing is fine. It is not an expensive tool."

"There are multiple subscription models, like yearly, monthly, and packaged."

"The product's pricing policy is generally favorable."

"The solution is expensive, and I rate it a five to six out of ten."

"They have a free version, but the license for this one isn't too high. It's free to start with, and you're charged for using it beyond 30 days. Some other pieces of Defender are charged based on usage, so you will be charged more for a high volume of transactions. I believe Defender for Cloud is a daily charge based on Azure's App Service Pricing."

"Pricing depends on your workload size, but it is very cheap. If you're talking about virtual machines, it is $5 or something for each machine, which is minimal. If you go for some agent-based solution for every virtual machine, then you need to pay the same thing or more than that. For an on-premises solution like this, we were paying around $30 to $50 based on size. With Defender, Microsoft doesn't bother about the size. You pay based on the number of machines. So, if you have 10 virtual machines, and 10 virtual machines are being monitored, you are paying based on that rather than the size of the virtual machine. Thus, you are paying for the number of units rather than paying for the size of your units."

"Understanding the costs of cloud services can be complicated at first. As with a lot of things in the cloud, it can be quite hard to understand the end cost, but it becomes clearer over time. Early on, the lack of transparency is a challenge. Microsoft does not tell you the cost when they launch something. It is clever marketing, and there is room for improvement there. There should be clarity from the start."

"Microsoft's licensing and pricing are sometimes complicated. If someone is new to Microsoft's licensing, they might have difficulty with it."

"The licensing cost per server is $15 per month."

"Pricing is difficult because each license has its own metrics and cost."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) solutions are best for your needs.

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Comparison Review

it_user186927

Director of Operations at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Feb 16, 2015

Cybereason vs. Interset vs. SQRRL

Capture DB - they all use NoSQL db and hence solve the ad hoc query and 'go back in time' problem with current best of breed SIEM and DLP solutions that rely on real time analysis of incoming logs (and don't store them). This means deeper and quicker iterative threat analysis and assessment…

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys TotalCloud?

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	30

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	49

Questions from the Community

The price is very expensive, actually.

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...

Which is better - Azure Sentinel or AWS Security Hub?

We like that Azure Sentinel does not require as much maintenance as legacy SIEMs that are on-premises. Azure Sentinel...

What needs improvement with AWS Security Hub?

I do not see any areas for improvement in AWS Security Hub itself, but the cost factor is something that is the main ...

What is your primary use case for AWS Security Hub?

AWS Security Hub is something I have used daily as it is a part of my job for cloud security purposes. If you are dea...

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...

JupiterOne vs Qualys TotalCloud

Comparisons

Wiz vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 10% of the time

Compared 7% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 6% of the time

Orca Security vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 4% of the time

Nucleus Security vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 4% of the time

More Qualys TotalCloud Competitors

Microsoft Sentinel vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 30% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 6% of the time

Wiz vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 4% of the time

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 4% of the time

Datadog vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 2% of the time

More AWS Security Hub Competitors

AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 22% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

Datadog vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 1% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Download Qualys TotalCloud product report

Qualys TotalCloud

July 2026

Download AWS Security Hub product report

AWS Security Hub

August 2026

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

July 2026

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan

SQRRL

Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Qualys

Demo not available

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Microsoft

Overview

Qualys TotalCloud enhances security posture across cloud environments with continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, and risk visualization, ensuring efficient threat assessment and automated remediation for improved cyber risk reduction.

Qualys TotalCloud offers a robust suite of security tools essential for organizations managing multi-cloud infrastructures. By integrating cloud accounts and automating workflows, it supports AWS, Azure, and GCP, offering comprehensive vulnerability management and zero-day detection. The platform's user-friendly design, combined with its extensive risk management and unified threat assessment capabilities, enables organizations to prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities effectively. TruRisk Insights provides clear insights on cyber risks, while the automation options streamline patch management and scanning processes. API integration across IaaS and SaaS environments further enhances resource allocation efficiency and saves time, addressing misconfigurations across cloud environments.

What are the most important features of Qualys TotalCloud?

Accurate Vulnerability Reports: Delivers precise and actionable insights for risk mitigation.
Zero-Day Detection: Identifies and addresses zero-day vulnerabilities proactively.
Unified Threat Assessment: Offers comprehensive evaluation of threats across the environment.
Extensive Risk Management: Manages risks effectively with advanced insights and prioritization.
Continuous Monitoring: Provides non-stop surveillance for vulnerabilities and threats.
Cloud-Native Automation: Streamlines processes and reduces manual efforts using automation.
FlexScan for Internet-Facing VMs: Scans external VMs efficiently to detect vulnerabilities.
Dashboard Risk Visualization: Clear visualization helps prioritize vulnerabilities.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Improved Security Posture: Enhances threat detection and response across clouds.
Time Savings: Automation reduces time spent on manual vulnerability management.
Resource Efficiency: Better allocation of resources through streamlined workflows.
Enhanced Risk Prioritization: Focus on critical vulnerabilities for effective mitigation.
Integrated Cloud Accounts: Facilitates seamless cloud management and security.

Qualys TotalCloud is deployed in sectors needing rigorous vulnerability management, such as finance and healthcare. Companies utilize it to secure multi-cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP, focus on compliance, and integrate security into CI/CD pipelines to detect and remedy threats pre-deployment.

Qualys

AWS Security Hub provides multi-account management and compliance checks alongside integrations with AWS services and third-party tools. It centralizes vulnerability tracking and risk prioritization, delivering real-time alerts for proactive security management.

AWS Security Hub enhances cloud security management through a centralized dashboard that monitors infrastructure resources and compliance scores, ensuring adherence to AWS standards. With integrations for vulnerability detection and security posture management, users can streamline security operations. While the platform offers notable benefits, areas for improvement include customization options for findings suppression and integration with multi-cloud environments.

What are the key features of AWS Security Hub?

Multi-Account Management: Seamlessly manage security across numerous accounts.
Compliance Checks: Stay aligned with standards such as PCI through automated reviews.
AWS Integrations: Connect effortlessly with AWS and third-party services to enhance security posture.
Real-Time Alerts: Quickly respond to potential threats with immediate notifications.
Risk Prioritization: Focus on critical vulnerabilities to enhance resource allocation.

What benefits should users expect from using AWS Security Hub?

Proactive Security: Early threat detection enables quicker mitigation strategies.
Cloud-Native Functionality: Utilize tools tailored for cloud environments.
Compliance Insights: Simplified compliance management provides transparency.
Ease of Use: Streamlined interface facilitates efficient security management.

Industries implementing AWS Security Hub leverage its capabilities for comprehensive security across multiple accounts and regions. Health, finance, and retail sectors benefit by automating compliance checks and monitoring security infrastructures. This service aids in identifying misconfigurations, tracking alerts, and ensuring infrastructure integrity during cyber incidents.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a comprehensive security platform offering integration with Microsoft services, multi-cloud capability, AI-driven threat detection, compliance, and unified visibility for improved security operations.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud manages security operations by integrating with Microsoft services and supporting multi-cloud environments. Its features include AI-driven threat detection, compliance oversight, and advanced threat protection. It simplifies processes with unified visibility, threat intelligence, and automated workflows, enhancing security posture across various workloads. Despite its robust capabilities, improvements are needed in third-party tool integration, comprehensive AI-driven remediation, and a more intuitive dashboard. Users report complexity in licensing, inadequate documentation, and high costs, with room for enhancements in compliance reporting and multi-cloud support.

What are the key features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

Integration with Microsoft Services: Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft platforms for streamlined operations.
Multi-Cloud Capability: Supports various cloud environments for broader coverage.
AI-Driven Threat Detection: Uses AI to identify and counter security threats effectively.
Compliance Features: Offers regulatory compliance tools to ensure adherence to standards.
Unified Visibility: Provides a comprehensive view of security operations for better management.
Endpoint Management: Manages and secures endpoint devices efficiently.
Advanced Threat Protection: Delivers enhanced defense against complex threats.
Vulnerability Management: Identifies and addresses vulnerabilities proactively.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Enhanced Security Posture: Strengthens security across multiple environments.
Unified Threat Intelligence: Centralizes threat data for informed decision-making.
Automated Processes: Streamlines security operations with automated workflows.
Prioritized Remediation: Offers prioritized actions to address security challenges efficiently.

Industries leverage Microsoft Defender for Cloud for security posture management and endpoint protection. Many companies integrate it with Office 365 for enhanced functionality. It provides comprehensive security overviews by monitoring cloud vulnerabilities, limiting unauthorized access, and replacing existing tools with its extensive capabilities from network security to compliance checks, securing Azure infrastructure, and enhancing client security.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Edmunds, Frame.io, GoDaddy, Realtor.com

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.