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Illumio Insights vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Illumio Insights
Ranking in Cloud Detection and Response (CDR)
10th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
1.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Ranking in Cloud Detection and Response (CDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (7th), Container Management (8th), Container Security (7th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (5th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2769927 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Platform Architect at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Hands-on breach labs have deepened my understanding of real-world scenarios
The hands-on labs were well-designed and provided great insight into real-world breach scenarios. I also really appreciated the chance to connect with other Illumio customers and partners. Illumio Insights impressed me with its ease of use, clarity, and potential to significantly improve breach containment strategies. It is a powerful tool that adds real value to any security team looking to stay ahead of evolving threats.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Illumio Insights impressed me with its ease of use, clarity, and potential to significantly improve breach containment strategies."
"This solution has contributed to quick detection of risky traffic and offers one-click containment."
"One of the most valuable features is the ability to map traffic and patterns over multiple hyperscalers, not just AWS."
"This solution has the best security center, security manager dashboard that I have ever seen."
"It is very intuitive when it comes to policy administration, alerts and notifications, and ease of setting up roles at different hierarchies. It has also been good in terms of the network technology maps. It provides a good overview, but it also depends on the complexity of your network."
"This solution is stable, it's 100% guaranteed and I've never had any problems with it other than some planned IT downtime."
"It's got a lot of great features."
"Microsoft Defender for Cloud helps in improving our overall security posture. We have a nice overview of what is missing where and what can be improved."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is its ability to assess an environment and give us a clear idea of what security components are lacking and which are not."
"We saw improvement from a regulatory compliance perspective due to having a single dashboard."
"The most valuable features offer the latest threat detection and response capabilities."
 

Cons

"In some of the views, an IP address appears to be a link, but it doesn't open any new windows or display any new information."
"There is room for improvement with more AI-based detection to report traffic abnormalities and potential issues."
"My experience with Microsoft Defender for Cloud has been largely negative due to a poor user experience."
"Microsoft Defender for Cloud could be improved by adding capabilities for NetApp files and more PaaS resources from other vendors, not just Microsoft."
"One of the issues with the product is that it's not possible to write or edit any capability."
"Customizing some of the compliance requirements based on individual needs seems like the biggest area of improvement. There should be an option to turn specific controls on and off based on how your solution is configured."
"The overview provides you with good information, but if you want more details, there is a lot more customization to do, which requires knowledge of the other supporting solutions."
"Early on, the lack of transparency is a challenge. Microsoft does not tell you the cost when they launch something."
"Consistency is the area where the most improvement is needed. For example, there are some areas where the UI is not uniform across the board."
"I've heard there might be issues with scalability for larger enterprises."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing is very difficult because every type of Defender for Cloud has its own metrics and pricing. If you have Cloud for Key Vault, the pricing is different than it is for storage. Every type has its own pricing list and rules."
"While we pay for any additional features, the pricing seems competitive, though I am not involved in the specific cost details."
"The licensing cost per server is $15 per month."
"The product's pricing policy is generally favorable."
"It has global licensing. It comes with multiple licenses since there are around 50,000 people (in our organization) who look at it."
"We are using the free version of the Azure Security Center."
"The cost of the license is based on the subscriptions that you have."
"Microsoft Defender for Cloud is pricey, especially for Kubernetes clusters."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise49
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Illumio Insights?
In some of the views, an IP address appears to be a link, but it doesn't open any new windows or display any new information.
What is your primary use case for Illumio Insights?
I have used the solution to improve detection and trend spotting by using dashboards to highlight key areas instead of trying to randomly hunt for them.
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 across your ecosystem. It also has great remote workforce capabilities and supports a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Microsoft Defender for Cloud was pretty straightforward. We did have a consultation with a third party to go over different tiers and produ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
Microsoft Defender for Cloud can be improved. An additional feature that should be included in the next release is Zero Trust, similar to ThreatLocker software.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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 Illumio Insights vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.