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Digital Guardian 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
7.5
Digital Guardian improved data protection, reduced breach risks, ensured compliance, saved money, and enhanced security and operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps enhances security, reduces costs by 35-45%, and improves uptime with efficient cloud application 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
6.6
Digital Guardian offers 24/7 global customer support with quick issue resolution, though some users face delays and varying service quality.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps support is generally good, but users suggest faster responses and improved communication.
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
7.8
Digital Guardian is scalable, handling hundreds to thousands of users efficiently, with unified server management and straightforward licensing.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps offers scalable security, efficiently managing large user bases and app integrations with centralized management.
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
7.4
Digital Guardian is reliable and performs well, though some users face challenges with agent stability requiring regular updates and support.
Sentiment score
8.1
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is praised for high reliability, minimal downtime, consistent performance, and swift issue resolution.
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

Digital Guardian needs better Linux/Mac support, stability, compatibility updates, multilingual dictionaries, pre-sales support, partner program, and technical support.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps could improve integration, pricing, support, reporting, automation, alerts, and overall user experience across multi-cloud environments.
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

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is cost-effective within Microsoft 365 bundles, especially for large organizations with discounts available.
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

Digital Guardian excels in data protection, boasting extensive features, stability, scalability, ease of setup, and high user satisfaction.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps offers integration, threat detection, and management, enhancing security with comprehensive visibility and proactive assessment.
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

Digital Guardian
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
23rd
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (13th), Endpoint Encryption (8th), Mobile Data Protection (4th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (44th)
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 Digital Guardian is 1.1%, down from 1.2% 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 (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps1.8%
Digital Guardian1.1%
Other97.1%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

Sandeep Jopat - PeerSpot reviewer
Highly customizable, helpful support, and multiple modules available
Digital Guardian is generally considered stable, with its robust data loss prevention capabilities being highly valued by organizations. However, as with any complex software solution, there may be occasional challenges in terms of compatibility with certain operating systems or applications. In such cases, it may be necessary to modify settings or entries within Digital Guardian to ensure optimal performance. Overall, Digital Guardian is a stable solution that can be highly customized to meet the specific needs and requirements of organizations. As with any software solution, regular maintenance and support from a team of experts is necessary to ensure optimal performance and stability.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
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 Business9
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Digital Guardian?
I like the solution's adaptive inspection and container inspection.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Digital Guardian?
Technical support is included in the subscription package. But if, during the subscription, our clients want to include the professional services of a Digital Guardian engineer, the price changes. ...
What needs improvement with Digital Guardian?
If the client uses Windows 10 or 11 and Microsoft updates the operating system's version, Digital Guardian must update their product to match compatibility.
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

No data available
MS Cloud App Security, Microsoft Cloud App Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Fifth Avenue Theatre, Jabil Circuit
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 Digital Guardian vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.