Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Entra Verified ID comparison

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Entra Verified ID

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Helped 850,028 peers since 2012

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

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (7th), Container Management (9th), Container Security (4th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (2nd), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (3rd), Compliance Management (3rd)

Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

25th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 6.4%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra Verified ID is 0.8%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

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.

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Andy Yen

Partner marketing at ServiceNow

Offers single sign-on feature for business applications but needs to offer personalized insights

Microsoft Entra Verified ID has saved time for IT admins. The product helps us save money from the cost of security breaches. It is a more cost-effective solution than others in the market. It comes in a Microsoft suite. You can manage permission and access the products without buying anything additional. I rate it a six out of ten.

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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

"Defender for Cloud provides a prioritized list of remediations for security issues, reducing risk and improving security operations."

"When you have commissioned Defender, you have these things visible already on your dashboard. This gives the efficiency to the people to do their actual work rather than bothering about the email, sorting out the email, or looking at it through an ITSM solution, whey they have to look at the description and use cases. Efficiency increases with this optimized, ready-made solution since you don't need to invest in something externally. You can start using the dashboard and auditing capability provided from day one. Thus, you have fewer costs with a more optimized, easier-to-use solution, providing operational efficiency for your team."

"Defender lets you orchestrate the roll-out from a single pane. Using the Azure portal, you can roll it out over all the servers covered by the entire subscription."

"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."

"It's got a lot of great features."

"The solution's robust security posture is the most valuable feature."

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

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"The authentication features of Microsoft Entra Verified ID are valuable. As an infrastructure professional, I appreciate the exceptional integration between on-premises Active Directory features and Entra ID."

"The MFA number matching feature effectively prevents unauthorized access by phishing bad actors who might obtain email credentials. This feature requires users to verify a number on their screen, ensuring they only approve genuine requests."

"I like the Microsoft Authenticator app since it comes with two-factor authentication."

"The most valuable features of the solution are mainly in the areas of security and auditing."

Cons

"Early on, the lack of transparency is a challenge. Microsoft does not tell you the cost when they launch something."

"There needs to be improvement in the security recommendations, particularly in attack path mapping. Sometimes, it misleads users about the real exposure of external-facing assets."

"The solution is quite complex. A lot of the different policies that actually get applied don't pertain to every client. If you need to have something open for a client application to work, then you get dinged for having a port open or having an older version of TLS available."

"The pricing could be improved, as it is somewhat high for smaller companies."

"The customer service at Microsoft has room for improvement. The first line of support is not technically adept and often requires engaging higher-level technicians to resolve issues."

"When you work with it, the only problem that we're struggling with is that we have 21 different subscriptions we're trying to apply security to. It's impossible to keep everything organized."

"The product was a bit complex to set up earlier, however, it is a bit streamlined now."

"There is no perfect product in the world and there are always features that can be added."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"I must do two-factor authentication when I sign in from a different location. It creates friction. It's not personalized for the end user. I would like to see specific insights."

"There are issues with the integration of Microsoft Entra Verified ID and MFA. Sometimes, the MFA process doesn't succeed, requiring users to sign out and log back in."

"While Microsoft continues to improve the solution, integrating the ID with biometric features could be enhanced, especially in terms of standard B2C flows for multi-factor authentication. Improvements in remembering devices and the timing of MFA triggers could also be beneficial."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"Defender's basic version is free, which is good. Many of our teams are evaluating the paid version against third-party products."

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

"It has global licensing. It comes with multiple licenses since there are around 50,000 people (in our organization) who look at it."

"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."

"Understanding the costs of cloud services can be complicated at first. As with a lot of things in the cloud, it can be quite hard to understand the end cost, but it becomes clearer over time. Early on, the lack of transparency is a challenge. Microsoft does not tell you the cost when they launch something. It is clever marketing, and there is room for improvement there. There should be clarity from the start."

"The pricing and licensing of Microsoft Defender for Cloud have been good for us. We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

"The pricing and setup are standard. With Entra, you choose between P1 and P2 licenses. We recommend having at least one P2 license in a company for better alert management, even though P2 is more expensive."

"I still feel the pricing is on the higher side for larger customers. They don't pay anything for on-prem Active Directory. Although we receive additional features with Microsoft’s SSO, pricing is an area Microsoft can work on."

"If one is cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the product price as seven."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

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

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

The cost is generally reasonable. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Plan 2 costs $15 per server, per month. For a normal customer with ten to twenty servers, the cost is about $300 per month, which is a...

What do you like most about Microsoft Entra Verified ID?

I like the Microsoft Authenticator app since it comes with two-factor authentication.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra Verified ID?

There are issues with the integration of Microsoft Entra Verified ID and MFA. Sometimes, the MFA process doesn't succeed, requiring users to sign out and log back in.

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Entra Verified ID?

We started using Microsoft Entra Verified ID when the Active Directory was changed, and we needed to onboard customers from on-premises to Azure Cloud. For instance, we started using the solution w...

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Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Download Microsoft Entra Verified ID product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Overview

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.

Learn more about Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Microsoft Entra Verified ID is a managed verifiable credential service that lets organizations build unique user-owned identity scenarios designed for trustworthy, secure, and efficient interactions between people and organizations. Transform the way you perform identity verification with verifiable credentials.

Face Check with Microsoft Entra Verified ID is a premium privacy-respecting facial matching feature powered by Azure AI services that unlocks high-assurance identity verification at scale. It matches a user's real-time selfie with a trusted identity document – such as a driver’s license or a passport – without ever passing or storing personal data, providing secure, trustworthy verifications for organizations and a quick, simple experience for users.

Sample Customers

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

Information Not Available

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Entra Verified ID