JFrog Xray vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud comparison

JFrog and Microsoft are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. JFrog is ranked #37 with an average rating of 7.0, while Microsoft is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.1. JFrog holds a 1.7% mindshare in VM, compared to Microsoft’s 4.8% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of JFrog users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

JFrog Xray and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are cybersecurity solutions that focus on vulnerability detection and mitigation. JFrog Xray holds a cost advantage and better support, while Microsoft Defender for Cloud is more feature-rich, making it a pricier option.

Features: JFrog Xray integrates with multiple CI/CD pipelines and offers deep inspection of binaries, crucial for development processes. It supports a wide range of package technologies and provides comprehensive binary management. Microsoft Defender for Cloud boasts seamless integration with Azure and other Microsoft services, broad threat protection, and a high level of visibility across the Microsoft ecosystem.

Room for Improvement: JFrog Xray could enhance its cloud-native security features to better handle specific cloud environments. Additionally, improvements in its dashboard visualizations would be beneficial. Microsoft Defender for Cloud could simplify its initial setup process and improve cost-effectiveness for smaller enterprises. More granular control over individual security alerts would enhance its flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: JFrog Xray is noted for an easy deployment process tailored for DevOps practices and responsive customer support. Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers comprehensive Azure integration but can require more initial configuration. However, it provides extensive support resources to assist with deployment challenges.

Pricing and ROI: JFrog Xray offers lower setup costs, making it a cost-effective choice focused on binary management and vulnerability scanning. Microsoft Defender for Cloud, with a higher initial outlay, is justified for large-scale deployments in the Microsoft ecosystem, offering a high ROI through extensive cloud protection features.

To learn more, read our detailed JFrog Xray vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

JFrog Xray vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

September 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 November 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 1.1%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of JFrog Xray is 1.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 4.8%, down from 5.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud	4.8%
Zafran Security	1.1%
JFrog Xray	1.7%
Other	92.4%

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini

Associate Director IT Security Operations at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

Weekly insights and risk analysis facilitate informed security decisions

I appreciate the weekly insights Zafran provides, which include critical topics for networks and IT security, allowing us to evaluate which insights apply to our environment. The organization score feature is valuable to keep the leadership team updated on how our infrastructure fares security-wise. The applicable risk level versus base risk level feature is beneficial because prior to Zafran, we only used the base risk level, but now understand that risk depends on the asset itself. Zafran is an excellent tool.

Read full review

Anand Nanwana

DevOps Engineer at Syvora

Offers flexibility across clouds and easy credential management while interface improvements are needed

For JFrog Xray, the Artifactory and package repositories are valuable features. There are many benefits from JFrog Xray. For example, with other registries such as ECR, we can use the images only in the AWS cloud. With JFrog, we can use this registry from any cloud or work locally as well. JFrog can support multiple packages, such as NuGet package, pip, and other technologies. It can be used for Terraform as well. The credential management is very easy in JFrog. For instance, when using GitHub action as a CI/CD tool, I just need to create a token and set up JFrog CLI there and give access to the repository. With multiple repositories, I can generate a token for a specific repository, add that token in the GitHub secret, fetch from the CI/CD, run the command JFrog CLI, and authenticate through the token. Then we can push the images into JFrog.

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Vibhor Goel

Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse

A single tool for complete visibility and addressing security gaps

Currently, issues are structured in Microsoft Defender for Cloud at severity levels of high, critical, or warning, but these severity levels are not always right. For example, Microsoft might consider a port being open as critical, but that might not be the case for our company. Similarly, it might suggest closing some management ports, but you might need them to be able to log in, so the severity levels for certain things can be improved. Even though Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides a way to temporarily disable certain alerts or notifications without affecting our security score, it would be better to have more granularized control over these recommendations. Currently, we cannot even disable certain alerts or notifications. There should be an automated mechanism to design Azure policies based on the recommendations, possibly with AI integration. Instead of an engineer having to write a policy to fix security gaps, which is very time-consuming, there should be an inbuilt capability to auto-remediate everything and have proper control in place. Additionally, enabling Defender for Cloud at the resource group level, rather than only at the subscription level, would be beneficial.

Read full review

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."

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

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

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

"The most valuable features of JFrog Xray are its curation capabilities, its native integration with Artifactory, scanning for vulnerabilities, and license compliance features."

"JFrog Xray's reporting feature has a lot of options in it, including scanning."

"With JFrog, we can use this registry from any cloud or work locally as well, and it can support multiple packages such as NuGet, pip, and other technologies including Terraform, making credential management very easy."

"The most valuable features of JFrog Xray are its curation capabilities, its native integration with Artifactory, scanning for vulnerabilities, and license compliance features."

"The most valuable feature of JFrog Xray is the display of the entire internal dependencies hierarchy."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"I would say that this solution has helped our organization by allowing us to automate a lot of the processes."

"If multiple dependencies and vulnerabilities are found in a project, JFrog Xray is intelligent enough to tell you which vulnerability to target first."

More JFrog Xray pros

"The UX and UI are very good. Users have more of a taste for Microsoft UI."

"It takes very little effort to integrate it. It also gives very good visibility into what exactly is happening."

"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 is the hunting feature, which integrates well into the entire Microsoft ecosystem."

"The vulnerability reporting is helpful. When we initially deployed Defender, it reported many more threats than we currently see. It gave us insight into areas we had not previously considered, so we knew where we needed to act."

"The most valuable features of this solution are the vulnerability assessments and the glossary of compliance."

"Defender for Cloud provides a complete DevOps security package for cloud services."

"My favorite part of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is the compliance features. Defender covers a wide range of workloads, on par with competing products on the market."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

Cons

"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 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."

"The speed of JFrog Xray should improve. Other solutions have better performance."

"Lacks deeper reporting, the ability to compare things."

"X-ray needs improvement in supporting more than one database, as it currently only supports PostgreSQL."

"I think that the user interface should be expanded to provide customers with a better dashboard for reviewing their feedback regarding their images and the vulnerabilities that are associated with the images."

"JFrog Xray does not have a dashboard."

"The UI of JFrog Xray could be improved. There is a dialogue box in the Xray section that doesn't always work properly."

"Since we have been using the solution via APIs, there are some limitations in the APIs."

"JFrog Xray's documentation and error logging could be improved."

More JFrog Xray cons

"It's hard to reach someone who understands my problems. I haven't had many issues, so I haven't called them."

"As an analyst, there is no way to configure or create a playbook to automate the process of flagging suspicious domains."

"The remediation process could be improved."

"No possibility to write or edit any capability."

"Sometimes, it's very difficult to determine when I need Microsoft Defender for Cloud for a special resource group or certain kinds of products. That's not an issue directly with the product, though."

"The range of workloads is broad, but we'd love to add more workloads and make it a single security solution that covers all those workloads. Covering more would allow us to see and protect more workloads from a single pane of glass. Additional features should include protection for more AI workloads as it currently focuses primarily on OpenAI."

"The pricing could be better."

"I felt that there was disconnection in terms of understanding the UI. The communication for moving from the old UI to the new UI could be improved. It was a bit awkward."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Its pricing is a little bit high in terms of Azure Security Center, but the good thing is that we don't need to maintain and deploy it. So, while the pricing is high, it is native to Azure which is why we prefer using this tool."

"The solution is expensive, and I rate it a five to six out of ten."

"I rate Microsoft Defender a three out of ten for affordability. The price could be a little lower."

"They have a free version, but the license for this one isn't too high. It's free to start with, and you're charged for using it beyond 30 days. Some other pieces of Defender are charged based on usage, so you will be charged more for a high volume of transactions. I believe Defender for Cloud is a daily charge based on Azure's App Service Pricing."

"Currently, Microsoft offers only one plan at the enterprise level which is $15 per machine."

"The licensing is straightforward but can become expensive if you cover everything. You must balance the cost against the importance of what needs covering."

"Pricing depends on your workload size, but it is very cheap. If you're talking about virtual machines, it is $5 or something for each machine, which is minimal. If you go for some agent-based solution for every virtual machine, then you need to pay the same thing or more than that. For an on-premises solution like this, we were paying around $30 to $50 based on size. With Defender, Microsoft doesn't bother about the size. You pay based on the number of machines. So, if you have 10 virtual machines, and 10 virtual machines are being monitored, you are paying based on that rather than the size of the virtual machine. Thus, you are paying for the number of units rather than paying for the size of your units."

"The licensing cost per server is $15 per month."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

25%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	45

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 do you like most about JFrog Xray?

JFrog Xray shows us a list of vulnerabilities that can impact our code.

See all answers

What needs improvement with JFrog Xray?

I would assess the integration of JFrog Xray with CI/CD tools as the weak point. You have two means to do that: one i...

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What is your primary use case for JFrog Xray?

For JFrog Xray product, you can use it for two main goals: compliance and security. You can use it to check if your l...

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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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

The entire Defender Suite is tightly coupled, integrated, and collaborative.

See all answers

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

The pricing is pretty standard.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

Wiz vs JFrog Xray

Compared 6% of the time

Veracode vs JFrog Xray

Compared 6% of the time

Mend.io vs JFrog Xray

Compared 6% of the time

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AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 32% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 11% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

Orca Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

October 2025

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

JFrog Xray

October 2025

Download JFrog Xray product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

October 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

JFrog Security Essentials

Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Zafran Security

Demo not available

JFrog

Microsoft

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

JFrog is on a mission to enable continuous updates through Liquid Software, empowering developers to code high-quality applications that securely flow to end-users with zero downtime. The world’s top brands such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Uber, VMware, and Spotify are among the 4500 companies that already depend on JFrog to manage binaries for their mission-critical applications. JFrog is a privately-held, global company, and is a proud sponsor of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation [CNCF].

If you are a team player and you care and you play to WIN, we have just the job you're looking for.

As we say at JFrog: "Once You Leap Forward You Won't Go Back!"

JFrog

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for cloud workloads. It offers real-time visibility into the security posture of cloud environments, enabling organizations to quickly identify and respond to potential threats. With its advanced machine learning capabilities, Microsoft Defender for Cloud can detect and block sophisticated attacks, including zero-day exploits and fileless malware.

The solution also provides automated remediation capabilities, allowing security teams to quickly and easily respond to security incidents. With Microsoft Defender for Cloud, organizations can ensure the security and compliance of their cloud workloads, while reducing the burden on their security teams.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

google, amazon, cisco, netflix, oracle, vmware, facebook

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.

Buyer's Guide

JFrog Xray vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

September 2025

Free Report: JFrog Xray vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

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