FortiCNAPP vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management comparison

Fortinet and Microsoft are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Fortinet is ranked #42 with an average rating of 6.5, while Microsoft is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.9. Fortinet holds a 1.5% mindshare in VM, compared to Microsoft’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 18, 2025

FortiCNAPP and Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management are competitors in the security solution domain. While FortiCNAPP is noted for its strong automation and effective monitoring capabilities suggesting a solid ROI, Microsoft Defender has the advantage of cost-effectiveness within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Features: FortiCNAPP is valued for its machine learning anomaly detection, comprehensive compliance reporting, and user-friendly interface which eases data management while minimizing maintenance. Microsoft Defender enhances threat identification through robust vulnerability assessments, detailed CVE reporting, and seamless integration with Microsoft products, ideal for large-scale deployments.

Room for Improvement: FortiCNAPP could improve data visibility, integration features, and alert configuration simplicity. Users also seek enhanced IAM security controls. Microsoft Defender would benefit from more precise vulnerability identification and better support for diverse operating systems, with a reduction in pricing and integration complexities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both products offer various deployment options across cloud environments. FortiCNAPP's responsive customer service stands out with proactive updates and community engagement, while Microsoft Defender provides consistent but less interactive support post-deployment.

Pricing and ROI: FortiCNAPP is perceived as having higher upfront costs but demonstrates notable ROI through automation efficiencies. Its flexible licensing is appreciated by early adopters. Microsoft Defender's pricing structure benefits users in the Microsoft ecosystem with economic advantages through bundling, yielding substantial ROI from its comprehensive vulnerability management.

To learn more, read our detailed FortiCNAPP vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

FortiCNAPP vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

December 2025

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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

Zafran Security

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 1.1%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of FortiCNAPP is 1.5%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is 2.1%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management	2.1%
Zafran Security	1.1%
FortiCNAPP	1.5%
Other	95.3%

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Reviewer6233

Works at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal

While Zafran Security is already a powerful tool, there are areas where it could be further improved to provide even greater value. One key area for enhancement is the searching capabilities within its vulnerabilities module. By incorporating the ability to create Boolean searches, users would gain the ability to apply more complex filters and customize their search criteria. This would greatly enhance the precision and efficiency with which security teams can identify and prioritize vulnerabilities. Having such tailored search capabilities would save time and resources by narrowing down vast lists of vulnerabilities to those that meet specific parameters relevant to our unique risk environment. Additionally, integrating more robust reporting and visualization tools would be advantageous. Enhanced dashboards that offer customizable visual representations of risk configurations and threat landscapes would facilitate better communication with stakeholders, making it easier to explain vulnerabilities and the rationale behind certain security measures. This would also aid in demonstrating the improvements and value derived from existing security investments to leadership and non-technical team members.

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Sai Tharun Kumar

Software Engineer at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees

Improving security insights has been helpful but inconsistent vulnerability tracking needs attention

The vulnerability part is not systematically organized; it is all clumsy in the web UI, and it is not user-friendly. Regarding improvements, the vulnerability part, recent changes with user management, and Fortinet IM coming into place, which is not helpful at all because it cuts out the automation part, are the most important things. Lacework FortiCNAPP should have a new clean UI and ease of access for the users as that should be the main concern. There are limitations regarding the scalability of Lacework FortiCNAPP. There are also more limitations with integrations like GitHub or any other pipeline, CI/CD, or ISD. It is glitchy and works well only sometimes, and most of the time, the reports or other things are not properly calculated or circulated with the teams.

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Okhan BABUCCU

Microsoft Solutions Manager at Self-Employed

Ensures strong threat and vulnerability management with continuous risk assessment

The major priority is identity, which is crucial; we have lots of companies in manufacturing, energy, or various sectors, and it varies from one to another. I assess Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management as very effective in continuously assessing vulnerabilities without requiring scans. We use automatic investigation and remediation features, safe attachments, safe links, and real-time reports, which are also very effective. For Active Directory, Defender has threat intelligence, and we are using that. The risk-based prioritization within Vulnerability Management affects my ability to manage vulnerabilities, particularly in relation to the Zero Trust Model utilized by our customers. The end-users often do as they please in their systems.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We saw benefits from Zafran Security almost immediately after deploying it."

"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."

"Overall, we have seen about eighty-seven percent reduction of the number of vulnerabilities that require urgency to remediate, specifically the number of criticals."

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

"We are able to see the real risk of a vulnerability on our environment with our security tools."

"With Zafran Security, it integrates with your security controls, allowing you to take that risk score and reduce it based on the controls in place or increase the risk based on different factors, such as if the issue is internet reachable or if there's an exploit in the wild."

"The machine learning capability in Lacework FortiCNAPP is used for threat detection, and automated policy recommendation helps to improve my security measures in general."

"The most valuable feature, from a compliance perspective, is the ability to use Lacework as a platform for multiple compliance standards. We have to meet multiple standards like PCI, SOC 2, CIS, and whatever else is out there. The ability to have reports generated, per security standard, is one of the best features for me."

"The best feature, in my opinion, is the ease of use."

"Polygraph compliance is a valuable feature. In our perspective, it delivers significant benefits. The clarity it offers, along with the ability to identify and address misconfigurations, is invaluable. When such issues arise, we promptly acknowledge and take action, effectively collaborating with our teams and the responsible parties for those assets. This enables us to promptly manage problems as soon as they arise."

"The most valuable feature is Lacework's ability to distill all the security and audit logs. I recommend it to my customers. Normally, when I consult for other customers that are getting into the cloud, we use native security tools. It's more of a rule-based engine."

"There are many valuable features that I use in my daily work. The first are alerts and the event dossier that it generates, based on the severity. That is very insightful and helps me to have a security cap in our infrastructure. The second thing I like is the agent-based vulnerability management, which is the most accurate information."

"For the most part, out-of-the-box, it tells you right away about the things you need to work on. I like the fact that it prioritizes alerts based on severity, so that you can focus your efforts on anything that would be critical/high first, moderate second, and work your way down, trying to continue to improve your security posture."

"I find the cloud configuration compliance scanning mature. It generates a lot of data and supports major frameworks like ISO 27001 or SOC 2, providing reports and datasets. Another feature I appreciate is setting custom alerts for specific events. Additionally, I value the agent-based monitoring and scanning for compute nodes. It gives us deeper insights into our workloads and helps identify vulnerabilities across our deployed assets."

More FortiCNAPP pros

"The solution is highly scalable."

"The solution is up-to-date and helps prevent zero-day attacks."

"The integration with Sentinel has been one of the most valuable features for my organization."

"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is a good product, and I believe it deserves a positive recommendation."

"The integration with Sentinel has been one of the most valuable features for my organization."

"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management has streamlined our threat management processes and provided region-specific customization for our healthcare operations."

"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is versatile and assesses vulnerabilities, providing detailed information on CVEs, their categories, and exploit statuses."

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management pros

Cons

"I think the ability to have some enhanced reporting capabilities is something they can improve on, as they have good reports but we have asked for some specific reporting enhancements."

"The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvements."

"Initially, we were somewhat concerned about the scalability of Zafran due to our large asset count and the substantial amount of information we needed to process."

"I would like to see a remote access assistance feature. And the threat-hunting platform could be better."

"Visibility is lacking, and both compliance-related metrics and IAM security control could be improved."

"Its integrations with third-party SIEMs can be better. That is one of the things that we discussed with them."

"The solution lacks a cohesive data model, making extracting the necessary data from the platform challenging. It uses its own LQL query language, and each database across different layers and modules is structured differently, complicating correlation efforts. Consequently, I had to create extensive custom reports outside Lacework because their default dashboards didn't communicate risk metrics. They're addressing these issues by redesigning their tools, including introducing the dashboard, which is a step closer to actionable insights but still needs refinement."

"The configuration and setup of alerts should be easier. They should make it easier to integrate with systems like Slack and Datadog. I didn't spend too much time on it, but to me, it wasn't as simple as the alerting that I've seen on other systems."

"The biggest thing I would like to see improved is for them to pursue and obtain a FedRAMP moderate authorization... I don't believe they have any immediate plans to get FedRAMP moderate authorized, which is a bit of a challenge for us because we can only use Lacework in our commercial environment."

"The vulnerability part is not systematically organized; it is all clumsy in the web UI, and it is not user-friendly."

"A feature that I have requested from them is the ability to sort alerts and policies based on a security framework. Right now, when you go into alerts, you have hundreds and hundreds of them that you have to manually pick. It would be useful to have categories for CIS Benchmark or SOC 2 and be able to display all the alerts and policies for one security framework."

More FortiCNAPP cons

"It is expensive."

"There should be risk scoring added to Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management; specifically, they call it quantification of the risk."

"The worst aspect is the refresh rate of the dashboard."

"Probably my only criticism would be the cost. It is expensive."

"There is a good solution from Microsoft, however, there is a gap between Windows and Linux management."

"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."

"Integration can be improved."

"Regarding Microsoft's technical support, I would rate it a three out of ten; they could be more responsive and knowledgeable."

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"It is slightly expensive. It depends on how big your environment is, but it is expensive. Right now, we are spending a lot of money. We have covered all of the cloud providers and most of our colocation facilities as well, so we cannot complain, but it is slightly expensive. It is not super expensive."

"My smaller deployments cost around 200,000 a year, which is probably not as expensive as Wiz."

"The pricing has gotten better. That scenario was somewhat unstable. They have a rather interesting licensing structure. I believe you get 200 resources per "Lacework unit." It was difficult, in the beginning, to figure out exactly what a "resource" was... That was a problem until about a year or so ago. They have improved it and it has stabilized quite a bit."

"The licensing fee was approximately $80,000 USD, per year."

"The product’s pricing is medium."

"The licensing costs are reasonable."

"I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."

"The licensing model follows a per-user per-month structure."

"The tool is a bit costly."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

University

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?

Since we stood Zafran Security up in our private cloud, we handle the maintenance on our side. As we opted not to use...

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What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

In terms of areas for improvement, Zafran Security is doing a really great job as a new and emerging company. Oftenti...

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What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?

My use cases for Zafran Security revolve around two primary areas. One is around vulnerability management and priorit...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lacework?

My smaller deployments cost around 200,000 a year, which is probably not as expensive as Wiz.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lacework?

The vulnerability part is not systematically organized; it is all clumsy in the web UI, and it is not user-friendly. ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Lacework?

The major use case for Lacework FortiCNAPP is for security. I'm using it for security internally for my company.

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

The solution helps identify threats and vulnerabilities.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

We are open to discounts on the pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

The documentation from Microsoft needs significant improvement. The documents are disorganized, with one document lin...

See all answers

Comparisons

Wiz Code vs Zafran Security

Compared 24% of the time

Vulcan Cyber vs Zafran Security

Compared 11% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 10% of the time

Nucleus vs Zafran Security

Compared 8% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Zafran Security

Compared 6% of the time

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Wiz vs FortiCNAPP

Compared 8% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs FortiCNAPP

Compared 5% of the time

Tenable Cloud Security vs FortiCNAPP

Compared 5% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs FortiCNAPP

Compared 4% of the time

Orca Security vs FortiCNAPP

Compared 3% of the time

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Qualys VMDR vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 16% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 15% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 11% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 4% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

January 2026

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

FortiCNAPP

January 2026

Download FortiCNAPP product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

January 2026

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management report

Download Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management product report

Also Known As

No data available

Polygraph, FortiCNP, Lacework

No data available

Overview

Zafran Security integrates with existing security tools to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities effectively, proving that most critical vulnerabilities are not exploitable, optimizing threat management.

Zafran Security introduces an innovative operating model for managing security threats and vulnerabilities. By leveraging the threat exposure management platform, it pinpoints and prioritizes exploitable vulnerabilities, reducing risk through immediate remediation. This platform enhances your hybrid cloud security by normalizing vulnerability signals and integrating specific IT context data, such as CVE runtime presence and internet asset reachability, into its analysis. No longer reliant on patch windows, Zafran Security allows you to manage risks actively.

What are the key features of Zafran Security?

Threat Exposure Management: Utilizes existing tools to prioritize vulnerabilities and manage threats.
Integrative Analysis: Combines security data with IT context for precise vulnerability management.
Real-time Risk Reduction: Enables immediate risk management without waiting for patches.
Hybrid Cloud Compatibility: Functions across diverse cloud environments for comprehensive security.

What benefits can users expect from Zafran Security?

Improved Security: Enhances protection by efficiently identifying and mitigating risks.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces unnecessary patching expenses by confirming non-exploitable vulnerabilities.
Time Savings: Frees developers to focus on root causes by handling immediate threats.
Comprehensive Insight: Offers a holistic view of security threats and vulnerabilities.

In industries where security is paramount, such as finance and healthcare, Zafran Security provides invaluable protection by ensuring that only exploitable vulnerabilities are addressed. It allows entities to maintain robust security measures while allocating resources efficiently, fitting seamlessly into existing security strategies.

Zafran Security

FortiCNAPP is a comprehensive cloud security platform focusing on ease of use and machine learning-driven anomaly detection. It offers robust compliance reporting, seamless integration, and continuous monitoring, making it an essential tool for organizations managing multi-cloud environments and security configurations.

FortiCNAPP provides significant capabilities in cloud security, compliance, and vulnerability management. Designed for organizations needing efficient monitoring, it enables detection of anomalies across cloud infrastructures while optimizing security posture and ensuring compliance with environments like AWS and GCP. The platform offers in-depth insights through scanning of IAC scripts, host systems, and cloud configurations. Recognized for effectively managing security posture, it safeguards Kubernetes and container environments, providing comprehensive threat detection and response. However, some areas like visibility, IAM security controls, and compliance metrics need improvement. Users face challenges with alert setup and lack intuitive design, alongside issues like FedRAMP authorization absence and complexity in the data model.

What are the key features of FortiCNAPP?

Ease of Use: FortiCNAPP simplifies security management for cloud environments.
Machine Learning Anomaly Detection: Automatically identifies and prioritizes threats.
Compliance Reporting: Streamlines compliance procedures and reporting.
Seamless Integration: Ensures smooth operation across multi-cloud environments.
Continuous Monitoring: Provides ongoing oversight of security vulnerabilities.
Multi-Cloud Integration: Enables swift response to misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating FortiCNAPP?

Time Efficiency: Reduces time spent on compliance and threat management.
Improved Security Posture: Enhances protection for cloud and container environments.
Valuable Security Insights: Provides in-depth analysis for proactive threat response.
Noise Reduction: Distills security logs to minimize alert fatigue.
Operational Effectiveness: Facilitates seamless multi-cloud security management.

FortiCNAPP is implemented extensively by industries needing reliable cloud security, such as finance, healthcare, and technology sectors. It supports organizations in enhancing cloud infrastructure protection, ensuring compliance, and strengthening vulnerability management. By integrating with platforms like AWS and GCP, businesses can optimize security posture in their cloud deployments.

Fortinet

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management enables organizations to identify vulnerabilities, manage patches, and fortify threat detection. It offers endpoint assessments, cloud incident management, and dynamic security through Microsoft's Security Scorecard integration.

Organizations leverage Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management for advanced threat detection and response. It provides robust tools for vulnerability assessment and cloud incident management, integrated with Microsoft's Security Scorecard to enhance dynamic security profiling. Key features include automatic patch deployment, security configuration management, and seamless integration with Microsoft platforms, benefiting both on-prem and cloud environments. Organizations can track vulnerabilities with severity-based reports, helping manage outdated software and minimizing threat exposure.

What are the key features of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?

Compliance: Ensures adherence to security regulations.
Recommendations: Provides actionable advice for security enhancements.
Inventories: Offers detailed inventory tracking for software and hardware.
Threat Identification: Detects potential threats proactively.
Vulnerability Assessment: Evaluates system vulnerabilities comprehensively.
Zero-day Protection: Shields systems from newly discovered exploits.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Integration: Facilitates seamless integration with Microsoft and diverse platforms.
Risk Mitigation: Assists in mitigating risks through accurate assessments.
Prioritization: Helps prioritize vulnerabilities for efficient patch management.
Up-to-date Protection: Ensures systems remain secured and current.

In healthcare, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management helps manage compliance with health regulations, while in finance, it aids in securing sensitive data from cyber threats. Manufacturing sectors benefit from its patch management, keeping operational technology systems less vulnerable to disruptions.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

J.Crew, AdRoll, Snowflake, VMWare, Iterable, Pure Storage, TrueCar, NerdWallet, and more.

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

FortiCNAPP vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

December 2025

Free Report: FortiCNAPP vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Find out what your peers are saying about FortiCNAPP vs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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