


Acunetix and Microsoft Defender for Cloud compete in the cybersecurity space. Acunetix might be seen as having a slight edge due to its rapid and flexible deployment options.
Features: Acunetix offers real-time vulnerability scanning with minimal false positives and flexible deployment across cloud and on-premises. It can handle multiple domain scans simultaneously and automates vulnerability checks. Microsoft Defender for Cloud features robust multi-layered security, seamless integration with Microsoft services, and threat protection across Azure, AWS, and GCP environments.
Room for Improvement: Acunetix could improve pricing flexibility, better handle false positives, and enhance authentication flows and integration capabilities. Microsoft Defender for Cloud needs to enhance integration with non-Microsoft environments, offer more competitive pricing, improve user interface clarity, and automate remediation.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Acunetix supports on-premises and various cloud deployment models, with generally well-regarded technical support, though some report occasional delays. Microsoft Defender for Cloud is mainly used in public and hybrid cloud setups, benefiting from integration within Microsoft’s ecosystem, though technical support response could be improved.
Pricing and ROI: Acunetix's pricing, based on targeted domains, is considered high, yet justified by its feature set, offering good ROI through reduced vulnerability detection time. Microsoft Defender for Cloud's complex pricing can be costly for small businesses. Although the bundled offerings could be more efficiently priced, large enterprises find the comprehensive features compelling.
We are able to scan all our assets with less human intervention and achieve overall effective outcomes.
It has saved about 90% of our time.
TotalCloud has generated overall savings of 30 to 40 percent across various departments.
It saves a significant amount of time by covering attack surfaces.
I have seen a return on investment, as Acunetix helps reduce the man-days and effort needed for scanning bulk applications through automated assessments.
Defender proactively indexes and analyzes documents, identifying potential threats even when inactive, enhancing preventative security.
Identifying potential vulnerabilities has helped us avoid costly data losses.
Compared to not having Microsoft Defender for Cloud in place, we definitely saw an advantage by not having downtime due to a security threat.
They are helpful, respond to my queries, and can answer any question.
Qualys's tech support is highly responsive, providing multiple ways to interact with them.
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate customer support a ten.
For high-severity issues, they reach out within two to three hours, and for critical issues, a response is received within 15 minutes.
The technical support from Invicti is very good and fast.
Support staff not being familiar with the problem.
Since security is critical, we prefer a quicker response time.
The support team was very responsive to queries.
They understand their product, but much like us, they struggle with the finer details, especially with new features.
We started our organization about nine months back. We started with about 30 users, and we now have more than 100 users.
Our organization currently uses it to manage over 1200 web applications.
It is absolutely scalable, and I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
Acunetix can handle increasing workloads and more applications easily.
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.
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.
It has multiple licenses and features, covering infrastructures from a hundred to five hundred virtual machines, without any issues.
Overall, the support provided has been excellent.
It has a lot of scanning mechanisms, which are agentless APIs, eBPF, and cloud agents, that are highly reliable.
It is a stable solution, which is why we chose it.
Defender's stability has been flawless for us.
I have not experienced any crashes or downtime.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very stable.
Ideally, the scanner should automatically detect and scan all subdomains, even if not explicitly defined, ensuring comprehensive vulnerability assessment.
Ideally, updates should be more immediate, enabling quicker implementation of solutions.
Our goal is to integrate all these functions into Qualys, creating a single dashboard for comprehensive security monitoring and management.
The main concern is related to false positives; Acunetix needs to work on identifying valid and invalid findings.
I could supply it with maybe a Swagger file or a JSON file, and Acunetix would pick it up, scan all the endpoints according to the OWASP Top Ten, and give me remediation and actionable remediation reports.
Acunetix should have better integration with newer tools such as GitHub and Azure DevOps.
Microsoft, in general, could significantly improve its communication and support.
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.
The artificial intelligence features could be expanded to allow the system to autonomously manage security issues without needing intervention from admins.
In our case, replacing the tool will give us better functionalities without increasing the cost compared to what we pay today for the competitor.
Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive.
Pricing is managed by our finance team; however, Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility.
The pricing cost is affordable for small and mid-sized organizations, and when compared to Checkmarx, it is significantly affordable, as Checkmarx is quite expensive.
We secured a special licensing model for penetration testing companies, which is cost-effective.
The pricing of Acunetix is pretty expensive and could be improved.
Security has essentially no cost when compared to the cost of a breach.
Every time we consider expanding usage, we carefully evaluate the necessity due to cost concerns.
We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license.
This view of risk helps reduce the work we would have to do to combine multiple sources to prioritize risk.
It will help cybersecurity professionals monitor the cloud and find vulnerabilities.
We are enjoying the new feature, FlexScan, which is valuable for Internet-facing VMs.
Its most valuable role is in enhancing security by identifying potential vulnerabilities efficiently.
The solution is excellent at detecting SQL injection and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities.
The best feature Acunetix offers is the centralized dashboard and the quality of reports it generates, which includes various options for selecting reports and developer options for directly sharing the reports with developers.
The most valuable feature for me is the variety of APIs available.
This feature significantly aids in threat detection and enhances the user experience by streamlining security management.
The most valuable feature is the recommendations provided on how to improve security.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Defender for Cloud | 2.5% |
| Qualys TotalCloud | 1.2% |
| Acunetix | 1.2% |
| Other | 95.1% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 16 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 10 |
| Large Enterprise | 38 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 18 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 7 |
| Large Enterprise | 19 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 31 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 12 |
| Large Enterprise | 49 |
Qualys TotalCloud enhances security posture across cloud environments with continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, and risk visualization, ensuring efficient threat assessment and automated remediation for improved cyber risk reduction.
Qualys TotalCloud offers a robust suite of security tools essential for organizations managing multi-cloud infrastructures. By integrating cloud accounts and automating workflows, it supports AWS, Azure, and GCP, offering comprehensive vulnerability management and zero-day detection. The platform's user-friendly design, combined with its extensive risk management and unified threat assessment capabilities, enables organizations to prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities effectively. TruRisk Insights provides clear insights on cyber risks, while the automation options streamline patch management and scanning processes. API integration across IaaS and SaaS environments further enhances resource allocation efficiency and saves time, addressing misconfigurations across cloud environments.
What are the most important features of Qualys TotalCloud?Qualys TotalCloud is deployed in sectors needing rigorous vulnerability management, such as finance and healthcare. Companies utilize it to secure multi-cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP, focus on compliance, and integrate security into CI/CD pipelines to detect and remedy threats pre-deployment.
Acunetix is a robust web application security testing tool offering rapid scanning, user-friendly interfaces, and accurate vulnerability detection with minimal false positives. It supports both cloud and on-premises deployment, making it versatile for various security needs.
Acunetix is distinguished by its capability to identify critical vulnerabilities such as cross-site scripting and SQL injection with high precision. It integrates seamlessly with CI/CD tools, supporting continuous scanning and large-scale application management. The centralized dashboard and detailed automated reporting streamline operations. Despite its benefits, users suggest improvements like reducing false positives, flexible pricing, and enhanced API scanning. Better integration with platforms like GitHub and Azure DevOps is sought, alongside more comprehensive customization and faster scanning. Mobile application scanning and improved team collaboration tools are also desired.
What features make Acunetix stand out?Acunetix is widely implemented across industries undertaking web application security assessments, including those requiring penetration testing and vulnerability assessment. It ensures applications meet security protocols and complies with standards while fitting into CI/CD workflows for secure pre-release checks.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a comprehensive security platform offering integration with Microsoft services, multi-cloud capability, AI-driven threat detection, compliance, and unified visibility for improved security operations.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud manages security operations by integrating with Microsoft services and supporting multi-cloud environments. Its features include AI-driven threat detection, compliance oversight, and advanced threat protection. It simplifies processes with unified visibility, threat intelligence, and automated workflows, enhancing security posture across various workloads. Despite its robust capabilities, improvements are needed in third-party tool integration, comprehensive AI-driven remediation, and a more intuitive dashboard. Users report complexity in licensing, inadequate documentation, and high costs, with room for enhancements in compliance reporting and multi-cloud support.
What are the key features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
What benefits and ROI can users expect?
Organizations use Microsoft Defender for Cloud to secure applications from code to runtime across Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, and on-premises environments. Security teams use it to manage cloud security posture, protect servers, containers, and AI workloads, and investigate threats in the Microsoft Defender portal. It provides comprehensive security overviews by monitoring cloud vulnerabilities, limiting unauthorized access, and replacing existing tools with its extensive capabilities from network security to compliance checks, securing Azure infrastructure, and enhancing client security.
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