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Azure Key Vault vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.1
Azure Key Vault delivers ROI through cost-efficiency, enhanced security, compliance, and centralized management, improving organizational security and access control.
Sentiment score
4.4
Microsoft Defender's financial benefits are unclear, best within E5 suite, and difficult to assess against AWS for mixed solution users.
Organizations typically do not rely solely on Microsoft products to avoid putting all eggs in one basket, which presents a challenge for maximizing ROI.
Cloud Security Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
As a Microsoft partner, we receive significant discounts, making the solution affordable for us.
COO at Floating-Dot Technology LTD
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Azure Key Vault support is praised for responsiveness and knowledge, though some experience communication issues and delays reaching experts.
Sentiment score
6.1
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management receives mixed reviews, highlighting expertise gaps and communication delays but valued for friendly assistance.
Technical support from Azure responds as quickly as possible without any delay.
Security Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have a strong relationship with Microsoft since we are one of their best clients in Spain.
Software Architect at RedesCDM
The skill level of the support staff is also questionable.
IT Director at Infosys
They are sometimes responsive, however, often issues cannot be reproduced on their end, making it challenging.
Security Specialist at Prudential Systems Japan
The support we receive from Microsoft is declining, and for example, after taking advanced support, we have not received satisfactory answers.
Microsoft Solutions Manager at Self-Employed
They are familiar with Microsoft products but are not direct Microsoft staff, which is an area needing improvement.
Cloud Security Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Azure Key Vault is scalable, cloud-based, suitable for enterprises, but requires improved integration; users rate scalability highly.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is lauded for scalability and integration across environments, though some users seek improved documentation.
The integration is straightforward for those who understand it, though documentation needs improvement.
Cloud Security Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
It is scalable; I evaluated the product and decided to use Defender on over 700 of our company servers.
Security Specialist at Prudential Systems Japan
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Azure Key Vault is highly reliable, rated 8-10, with minor performance issues as usage increases, outperforming competitors in stability.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is appreciated for stability and ease despite resource intensity and occasional compatibility issues.
There are compatibility issues occasionally arising with false positives when other security tools are not whitelisted in Microsoft Defender.
information Security and IT Manager at Discover Dollar Technologies Pvt Ltd.
It is very resource-intensive, consuming a lot of memory and CPU.
Security Specialist at Prudential Systems Japan
If Microsoft experiences downtime, this solution goes down as it is a SaaS-based solution where we have no control.
Cloud Security Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Key Vault needs an intuitive interface, improved integration, enhanced security, optimized pricing, and better support and accessibility.
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management needs simplified configuration, better integration, faster updates, and advanced features for improved security and efficiency.
My security area wants to rotate passwords every day, every week, or every month, depending on the services.
Software Architect at RedesCDM
One of our certificates was not getting deployed, and during that time, the support team was unsure and had to connect with the back-end team for assistance.
Senior Infrastructure Engineer at MIC Global
The skill level of the support staff is also questionable.
IT Director at Infosys
This scoring should be for specific industries as well. If I belong to the healthcare industry using Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, it should provide me with a risk score and show how I fare against the risk score of my industry.
DGM. Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
A vulnerability I patch within 15 minutes takes 24 additional hours for an update.
information Security and IT Manager at Discover Dollar Technologies Pvt Ltd.
The product is not stable; it often uses excessive memory and CPU, which makes it slow.
Security Specialist at Prudential Systems Japan
 

Setup Cost

Azure Key Vault pricing varies by usage, seen as cost-effective versus competitors, though some find it expensive.
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management offers competitive pricing in industry, though costs can be complex, especially for non-partners.
I would classify it as low priced.
Enterprise Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The pricing of Azure Key Vault is nominal, not that expensive.
Associate Vice President (Data Security & Protection - Confidential AI) at Standard Chartered Bank
We are planning to buy protection for Entra.
IT Director at Infosys
Overall, every organization wishes for cheaper options, but we look at the security side as well, so we are good for now.
Senior Cloud Security Consultant at MetLife
For non-partners, however, the cost could be seen as higher, between seven to ten.
COO at Floating-Dot Technology LTD
The pricing is reasonable, and it's included in the whole Microsoft E5 bundle, so it's all-inclusive.
Corporate Planner at MISC Berhad
 

Valuable Features

Azure Key Vault offers secure, scalable secret management with easy integration, featuring advanced protection, role-based access, and DevOps support.
Microsoft Defender offers asset discovery, real-time intelligence, seamless integration, risk prioritization, continuous monitoring, and proactive remediation with AI capabilities.
All secrets are in the Key Vault, and access is managed by the integrated management in ITT, which Azure provides to the services.
Software Architect at RedesCDM
It also helps me increase my security posture and assists with regulatory and compliance requirements.
Enterprise Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Since implementing Azure Key Vault, I have observed that instead of storing plain values, we can store them securely as and when required.
Software Engineer at Synoptek
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.
DGM. Technical Security at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The feature for customizing to region-specific and domain-specific requirements in healthcare is particularly beneficial.
Cloud Security Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The most valuable aspect is the kind of assessment results I get, and the recommendations provided in Microsoft products really help in taking care of the resources.
Senior Cloud Security Consultant at MetLife
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Key Vault
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Password Managers (1st), Certificate Management Software (1st), Secrets Management Tools (2nd)
Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
17th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (14th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (20th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Key Vault is 2.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is 1.7%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management1.7%
Azure Key Vault2.6%
Other95.7%
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

Rajthilak BS - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Vice President (Data Security & Protection - Confidential AI) at Standard Chartered Bank
Have addressed compliance challenges but still struggle with seamless integration of certificate issuance between environments
In terms of Azure Key Vault improvements, we have to compare the competitor. If we consider AWS, our bank has Microsoft PKI, which is a Microsoft product, for the entire digital certificate infrastructure. Even in the cloud, when it is AWS, the internal certificates are MS PKI. When we had a problem, users had to come to on-premise to get a certificate and import it to AWS Certificate Manager and assign it. We wondered why we could not issue the certificate directly from the cloud for cloud users. There was a simple way in AWS. They have a Private Certificate Authority (PCA) and Amazon Certificate Manager. Private Certificate Authority issues certificates to Amazon services. They also provide Amazon Certificate Manager to store and deploy certificates. These are two neat components - one is an issuer and another is storage and deployment solutions for certificates. With PCA, I can directly enable it and get certificates from AWS itself. AWS can issue SSL/TLS certificates if you enable it directly. If you consider Azure, it is not very clear. Even the naming convention, Key Vault, might not suggest that this is a PKI or certificate manager. You cannot issue certificates directly. They have app certificates and did not have a clear-cut certificate management solution in the cloud when I worked at that time. I am not sure whether they have updated Azure Key Vault as a full-fledged PKI solution now. From what I saw, it was not a full-fledged PKI solution. We are not majorly using Azure Key Vault because it is only for storing secrets. If some solutions can provide guidance on how we can maximize leverage, we can immediately look forward to doing that. We already have some business problems we want to solve. While our primary focus is AWS, many of the services such as ADO are running on Azure, and the secondary services are growing bigger.
reviewer2770602 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Security Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Has helped with regional threat monitoring but needs better documentation and real-time capabilities
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. Regarding updates, it is not truly real-time as it takes between eight to twelve hours for updates to occur. It would be beneficial if updates could happen more quickly, perhaps within 10 minutes to half an hour. Support for integration and documentation needs to be more straightforward. The pricing is expensive, even though it is part of the E5 package.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise27
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Azure Key Vault or AWS Secrets Manager?
Azure Key Vault is a SaaS solution. You can easily store passwords and secrets securely and encrypt them. Azure Key Vault is a great solution to ensure you are compliant with security and governanc...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Key Vault?
Based on my three years of experience, I believe there have been no updates to Azure Key Vault. I think the product needs upgrades in terms of access control and certification improvements. While A...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
Configuration of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is something that needs improvement. In future updates of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, I would like to see security enha...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
I can control the applications using Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, which are its best features for me personally. I use the Asset Discovery tool in Microsoft Defender Vulnerability M...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure Key Vault, MS Azure Key Vault
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Adobe, DriveTime, Johnson Controls, HP, InterContinental Hotels Group, ASOS
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Key Vault vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.