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CloudAware vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 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
5.5
Qualys TotalCloud boosts efficiency, reduces manual effort, decreases risk, and offers significant cost savings with a notable ROI.
Sentiment score
7.5
CloudAware boosted ROI with over 2 CR savings, enhanced efficiency, reduced costs, improved compliance, and significant time savings.
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
The real-time database management for risk management has improved, with twenty-four-seven customer care resolving incidents within twenty-four hours, making my clients very happy.
Senior Manager at Agriculture Skill Council of India
This vertical has been operational for two years and helps us reduce IT issues by leveraging predictive analytics to proactively address potential threats.
Project Manager at AGRICULTURE SKILL COUNCIL OF INDIA (ASCI)
We have seen a significant return on investment with CloudAware, saving around four crores in two years due to reduced manpower needs from effective multi-cloud management and consolidating our security measures.
DGM, Content Vertical at Agriculture Skill Council of India
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
7.4
Qualys TotalCloud support is praised for efficiency and staff knowledge but criticized for delays and inconsistent quality.
Sentiment score
8.6
CloudAware is praised for quick, helpful support and engagement, though users desire 24/7 availability despite higher costs.
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
Whenever I have interacted with them, I got the required response from them.
Associate Vice President at Hitachi Systems India Private Limited
Our feedback has been answered quickly in a professional manner without pressure to commit.
Senior Manager at Agriculture Skill Council of India
I request them to extend it to 24/7 to enhance ticket resolution speed.
Project Manager at AGRICULTURE SKILL COUNCIL OF INDIA (ASCI)
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
7.8
Qualys TotalCloud excels in scalability, efficiently supporting diverse environments and business sizes, though it may require skilled management.
Sentiment score
7.3
CloudAware adeptly manages organizational growth, supporting detailed tracking, compliance, and resource management across multiple cloud providers.
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
The scalability as a centralized hub provides access to pre-built compliance standards, simplifying resource monitoring across multiple cloud providers.
Senior Associate Infrastructure at Publicis Sapient
CloudAware scales well for us, and we have expanded from monitoring a few workloads to a large multi-cloud environment without any issues.
Cloud Engineer at TO THE NEW Digital
CloudAware's scalability meets our organization's growth and changing needs.
Project Manager at AGRICULTURE SKILL COUNCIL OF INDIA (ASCI)
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 highly stable with reliable support, 99.9% uptime, minimal bugs, and effective maintenance communication.
Sentiment score
8.7
CloudAware is praised for its stability and reliability, showing no recent downtime, with users considering offering references and use cases.
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
We have not faced any issues, as it is equipped to manage eighty to one hundred types of multi-cloud environments simultaneously without reporting outages in day-to-day operations.
Deputy General Manager at Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI)
CloudAware has been stable in our experience, and we have not had major outages or interruptions;
Cloud Engineer at TO THE NEW Digital
CloudAware is absolutely stable and reliable, allowing us to integrate multiple systems quickly with less downtime compared to before.
Project Manager at AGRICULTURE SKILL COUNCIL OF INDIA (ASCI)
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 suggest enhancing Qualys TotalCloud with clearer reports, better integration, intuitive UI, AI risk assessments, and improved documentation.
CloudAware requires enhanced cloud logs management, cost-effective customization, better UI, integration, AI, and threat management for improved usability.
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
Approximately seventy percent of organizations are focused on threat management across their cloud servers, a space where CloudAware excels, and additional customization would enhance overall security while increasing CloudAware's revenue.
Senior Manager at Agriculture Skill Council of India
CloudAware should enhance their customer support by adding an FAQ and knowledge base section to address commonly asked queries.
DGM, Content Vertical at Agriculture Skill Council of India
I need some cost optimization solution for a workload running in AWS.
Associate Vice President at Hitachi Systems India Private Limited
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's pricing is high yet justified by comprehensive features and flexibility, benefiting larger enterprises seeking robust security.
CloudAware offers reasonable pricing and manageable setup, bypassing AWS Marketplace for a straightforward licensing process despite some cost concerns.
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
The pricing was fair given the feature set.
Cloud Engineer at TO THE NEW Digital
Our initial licensing was smooth, costing approximately $1,000 for basic setup.
Project Manager at AGRICULTURE SKILL COUNCIL OF INDIA (ASCI)
The setup cost was initially about $5,000.
DGM, Content Vertical at Agriculture Skill Council of India
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 offers comprehensive vulnerability detection, cloud security management, and automation with insightful dashboards for efficient threat management.
CloudAware enhances visibility, automates management, reduces costs, and improves security with customizable features, earning high user satisfaction.
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
We have workload running in Kubernetes, Docker, EC2, RDS. I need a single platform that will monitor all these services which are being running in the cloud platform.
Associate Vice President at Hitachi Systems India Private Limited
CloudAware's best feature is that it is very easy to integrate with other Oracle Cloud or Google Cloud servers.
Senior Manager at Agriculture Skill Council of India
CloudAware has positively impacted us by reducing costs by 10 to 15% and improving compliance reporting speed, saving several hours per audit.
Cloud Engineer at TO THE NEW Digital
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 Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (11th), Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (7th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
CloudAware
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
23rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (23rd)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (5th), Container Management (6th), Container Security (4th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.8%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CloudAware is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 5.9%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud5.9%
Qualys TotalCloud1.8%
CloudAware0.5%
Other91.8%
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
 

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.
Dr. Vandana Tatra - PeerSpot reviewer
DGM, Content Vertical at Agriculture Skill Council of India
Unified cloud governance has transformed audits and now improves real-time cost control
The best features CloudAware offers include strong IT compliance and governance, which my team appreciates significantly due to our frequent audits. Additionally, the built-in observability has increased transparency across all management levels; everyone now accesses the same set of information promptly. We have optimized our cloud spending by approximately 40 percent in the last two years, as operating on a singular integrated platform simplifies database and asset management while reducing maintenance costs. The observability feature of CloudAware has streamlined our multi-cloud and on-premises visibility, enhancing our IT infrastructure efficiency. With around 20 to 30 people managing daily data from entry to monitoring, tasks that previously took 24 to 48 hours now occur in real-time. My senior management has access to accurate asset tracking and discovery at any moment, which has strengthened our credibility and transparency with clients. Additionally, the introduction of cloud security posture management features, including unique cloud security policies for each asset, has greatly decreased risk and improved threat response automation. We requested a centralized cloud logging reporting system that provides detailed access logs, which has been implemented and is highly valued. CloudAware has positively impacted our organization by becoming the backbone of our cloud operations. It secures our confidential data and optimizes every aspect, from policy compliance to data reporting, enabling us to manage heavy datasets effectively. Our operations have seen increased productivity, allowing us to onboard more clients and deliver multiple projects simultaneously, all while reducing cloud spending by four crores annually.
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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902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
No data available
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 Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise49
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple en...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
Our use case involves the assets that we have under cloud, the assets exposed to the internet, and the internal appli...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CloudAware?
The pricing was fair given the feature set, and setup required some initial time, but it is manageable, and licensing...
What needs improvement with CloudAware?
CloudAware can be improved by offering more free options or reducing pricing, as startups may find the cost high. For...
What is your primary use case for CloudAware?
CloudAware serves as a centralized platform where we can monitor AWS, GCP, and Azure, allowing us to monitor all clou...
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
No data available
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
Sony, AOL, Thomson Reuters, Pearson
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 CloudAware vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.