Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Check Point Security Management vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

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
6.4
Check Point Security Management boosts efficiency and security by significantly reducing incidents, enhancing returns, and streamlining operations.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps enhances security, reduces costs by 35-45%, and improves uptime with efficient cloud application management.
I have seen a strong ROI from using Check Point Security Management through unified policy management, reduced misconfigurations, and faster incident response.
The time to resolve issues is very much better now with Check Point Security Management.
I have seen a hundred percent return on investment with Check Point Security Management.
The biggest return on investment so far has been visibility, knowing what we have in our environment.
As a small team, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps allowed us to manage systems with just one or two people.
We have at least saved the costs we had from the Netskope solution this year.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Check Point Security Management support is responsive with expertise, but experiences vary by region and engineer experience, needing speed improvements.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps support is generally good, but users suggest faster responses and improved communication.
We have partner support that helps us mitigate vulnerabilities reported by our infrastructure team.
The challenge was with drivers due to the size, and we had not provisioned the partition to the right size.
The customer support for Check Point Security Management is great.
Their customer service is pretty good, but it's frustrating to go through three or four channels before reaching the right person.
The support is excellent, and the speed of response is commendable.
There were instances where the engineers were knowledgeable and helpful, but at other times it felt like a ping pong game, with unnecessary transfers until the right person was found.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Check Point Security Management is praised for scalable efficiency, centralized console management, and adaptability across extensive networks.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps offers scalable security, efficiently managing large user bases and app integrations with centralized management.
It can be a multi-domain Security Management server and can manage large or segmented environments with multiple domains or customers.
When you upgrade multiple times, you leave many files that are useless. They are dated, so it's always better to create a new machine every few versions, for example, three or four major versions.
Check Point Security Management's scalability is exceptional as it handles growth in users or devices very well.
For what I know about the log collector and how much data it can take in, it is super scalable and capable of handling high workloads.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is very scalable, provided you have the right subscription.
In my experience, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is good enough for small to medium businesses.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Check Point Security Management is stable, though occasional application crashes and connectivity issues occur, particularly under heavy loads.
Sentiment score
8.1
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is praised for high reliability, minimal downtime, consistent performance, and swift issue resolution.
Check Point Security Management is really stable, and I have not experienced any downtime or issues with reliability except for when we do upgrades.
The SmartConsole used to administrate the security management is somewhat unstable.
I would rate it a ten because I have not experienced any stability issues so far with Defender for Cloud Apps.
I would assess the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps as stable
My impression on the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is that it is very stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Check Point Security Management requires usability, performance, compliance improvements, enhanced interoperability, and better customer support for effective use.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps could improve integration, pricing, support, reporting, automation, alerts, and overall user experience across multi-cloud environments.
When the logs are too heavy for the security management server, the CPU spike will be high, causing our management day-to-day activity to lag or become difficult.
I believe they can improve the management by allowing better API functionality because the API now is a little complicated, making it difficult to do automation.
Additionally, it crashes pretty regularly, so they could resolve the stability issues as well.
For data loss prevention, it would be useful to be able to drill down into the kind of data being transferred over CloudApp.
Defender typically connects to Entra ID, but we have local users on the cloud for database access, SSH, or RDS, and there is nothing produced by Defender regarding those local IAM users.
A significant improvement I would like to see is the integration into a single pane of glass.
 

Setup Cost

Despite high costs, Check Point offers advanced features and strong security, making it valuable for enterprises with complex needs.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is cost-effective within Microsoft 365 bundles, especially for large organizations with discounts available.
Since we are using it extensively, we get significant discounts during procurement.
Licensing is quite expensive.
We pay on a three-year base.
The pricing for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is acceptable.
My organization is currently revisiting pricing, but previously, the cost was a bit expensive, yet comparable to other solutions with similar functionalities and features.
It's not the cheapest, but also not the most expensive, placing it in the mid-level range.
 

Valuable Features

Check Point Security Management offers centralized control, efficient policy and log management, enhanced security, and seamless integration with systems.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps offers integration, threat detection, and management, enhancing security with comprehensive visibility and proactive assessment.
Check Point Security Management has positively impacted my organization by providing centralized control, allowing us to manage all security policies and gateways from a single console, reducing complexity and saving time.
Check Point Security Management has helped my team save time, improve security, and reduce manual work significantly.
We can't work without Check Point because it provides the real visibility needed to manage the environment.
The ability to sanction unsanctioned apps using Secure Score benchmarking, included in Cloud, is also beneficial.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is very comprehensive, providing a complete 360-degree view of applications within an organization.
The most valuable features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps include live, up-to-date information, which provided real-time alerts.
 

Categories and Ranking

Check Point Security Manage...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
11th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
70
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (8th), Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (6th)
Microsoft Defender for Clou...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
14th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Check Point Security Management is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is 1.8%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Check Point Security Management0.7%
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps1.8%
Other97.5%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2751156 - PeerSpot reviewer
Years of using the solution significantly improve log management and troubleshooting efficiency
Check Point Security Management has positively impacted my organization because, after migrating from our previous firewall, a Cisco ASA, we were able to see what traffic was passing through the firewall and from that, build out least access privilege firewall rules. So only what's actually needed by the organization is being let through. The rest is being dropped. The measurable outcomes with Check Point Security Management show that the troubleshooting is definitely quicker. Now it just takes a few minutes to find out where the error is and resolve it. Before, it was at least an hour or two of troubleshooting to locate the issue.
Abdulrahman Muhammadi - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) solutions are best for your needs.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise41
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Check Point Security Management?
The most beneficial features for us are the alert classifications, which help us prioritize critical issues, and the detailed reports that provide insights into attack origins and purposes, such as...
What needs improvement with Check Point Security Management?
Performance with logs needs improvement as Check Point Security Management has large-scale environments that need dedicated log servers. If you store logs on the central management server or Check ...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Security Management?
We need central management for our policy, monitoring, and different day-to-day administrative tasks, so Check Point Security Management fits all the requirements for our needs. As we know, Check P...
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-native solution, unifying multiple features like DNS-layer security, threat intelli...
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 notifications are pretty good.
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 all our productivity applications were on O365, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps...
 

Also Known As

R80.10, R80, R77.30, R77, Check Point R80.10 Security Management, R80 Security Management
MS Cloud App Security, Microsoft Cloud App Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hedgetec, Geiger
Customers for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps include Accenture, St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and Nakilat.
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Security Management vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.