Microsoft Defender vs Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks comparison

Microsoft and Palo Alto Networks are both solutions in the Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) category. Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8, while Palo Alto Networks is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.4. Additionally, 94% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Palo Alto Networks users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 2, 2024

When comparing Microsoft and Palo Alto Networks in the context of Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), it's important to consider the strengths and focus areas of each vendor's offerings. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Palo Alto's Prisma Cloud designed for managing cloud security risks, ensuring compliance, and automating governance across cloud environments.

Defender provides a unified security management system that strengthens the security posture of your data centers, and it is particularly well-integrated with Azure services, although it also supports multi-cloud environments to an extent. Defender receives positive feedback for its threat protection, seamless integration with Microsoft tools, and reasonable pricing options. Prisma Cloud is a comprehensive cloud-native security platform that integrates security across the full development lifecycle and cloud environments, including AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. The solution is commended for its robust security features, and comprehensive compliance capabilities.

Threat Detection and Remediation: Both offer threat detection, but Prisma Cloud boasts advanced capabilities with real-time alerts. Defender shines in automatic remediation and continuous monitoring.
Compliance: Prisma Cloud excels in automated compliance assessments for various regulations.
User Interface and Customization: Reviews suggest Prisma Cloud has a user-friendly interface, while Defender for Cloud offers better customization options.
Pricing and ROI: Both offer competitive pricing with flexible licensing options. Prisma Cloud is praised for its reasonable setup cost and scalability, while Defender for Cloud integrates seamlessly with existing Microsoft subscriptions for potential cost savings. Both products provide good value for money with different features.
Room for Improvement: Prisma Cloud users suggest improving documentation and training resources, highlighting the need for enhanced third-party integrations. Microsoft Defender users seek better integrations with 3rd parties, advanced customization options, and comprehensive reporting for security incidents.
Deployment and supported environments: Both offer cloud-based deployment. Reviews suggest Prisma Cloud requires more configuration effort compared to the user-friendly setup of Defender, which might benefit from better documentation. Prisma Cloud is built for multi- and hybrid-cloud environments, offering broader support across different cloud providers. Defender offers robust support for Azure, but functionality is reduced for AWS and GCP.

The summary above is based on 134 interviews we conducted recently with Palo Alto Networks and Microsoft Defender users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks Report (Updated: July 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

July 2024

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SentinelOne Singularity Clo...

Featured Reviews

Andrew W

VP - Information Technology at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees

Aug 29, 2024

Tells us about vulnerabilities as well as their impact and helps to focus on real issues

Looking at all the different pieces, it has got everything we need. Some of the pieces we do not even use. For example, we do not have Kubernetes Security. We are not running any K8 clusters, so it is good for us. Overall, we find the solution to be fantastic. There can be additional education components. This may not be truly fair to them because of what the product is going for, but it would be great to see additional education for compliance. It is not a criticism of the tool per se, but anything to help non-development resources understand some of the complexities of the cloud is always appreciated. Any additional educational resources are always helpful for security teams, especially those without a development background.

Read full review

Hari Prasad M

Senior Security Engineer at OutSystems

Mar 2, 2022

Doesn't need to constantly run a security scan for images because the scorecards are updated periodically

Azure's system could be more on point like AWS support. For example, if I have an issue with AWS, I create a support ticket, then I get a call or a message. With Azure support, you raise a ticket, and somebody calls back depending on their availability and the priority, which might not align with your business priority. I can't talk about Microsoft support generally, but I can speak to my experience specifically with Azure Defender support. I would rate it five out of 10. Maybe it's because this is a product that Azure is still developing on the side. I don't think they have made Azure Defender for Kubernetes available to the general public yet, so that could be why their support is not up to par. I don't know the reason, but I haven't had a good experience with the support.

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reviewer2268216

Senior Security Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Sep 7, 2023

The dashboard is very user-friendly and can be used to generate custom RQL based on user requirements

We have a suggestions team, and we used to write our thoughts on the dashboard or website. The website is reviewed by users working with the product team. Recently, we discussed a new thought with the product team that the misconfiguration or the work done by the user should be at the user level. The dashboard can be created at the user level instead of the cloud account level, which will help save time. They can create a folder for their work, directly go to that folder, and work with it on day-to-day activities. It's a new idea we suggested to the product team. When 1,000 members are working on the product, the product team cannot implement all the 1,000 thoughts invented by everyone. We used to submit our thoughts on our product website bi-weekly or bi-monthly.

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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

"The ease of use of the platform is very nice."

"We're monitoring several cloud accounts with Singularity. It is convenient to identify issues or security failures in any account. It's nice to have all the details we need to solve these issues."

"Cloud Native Security is a tool that has good monitoring features."

"We've seen a reduction in resources devoted to vulnerability monitoring. Before PingSafe we spent a lot of time monitoring and fixing these issues. PingSafe enabled us to divert more resources to the production environment."

"The dashboard gives me an overview of all the things happening in the product, making it one of the tool's best features."

"PingSafe's integration is smooth. They are highly customer-oriented, and the integration went well for us."

"PingSafe offers comprehensive security posture management."

"It is fairly simple. Anybody can use it."

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security pros

"The most valuable features of the solution are the insights, meaning the remediation suggestions, as well as the incident alerts."

"I've seen benefits since implementing Microsoft Defender for Cloud. It's easy to manage for our large organization as an endpoint security solution. It integrates well with Office 365 and Windows 11, which is better than before. Patching, updates, and threat protection are all handled together now. Its AI features help predict threats."

"The dashboard is very good. It gives our clients a lot of information and allows them to have a complete overview of the system. Everything is visible in one glance."

"It's quite a good product. It helps to understand the infections and issues you are facing."

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

"The most valuable features of this solution are the remote workforce capabilities and the general experience of the remote workforce."

"The solution is used for risks, vulnerabilities, and compliance."

"The product has given us more insight into potential avenues for attack paths."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"It has helped us build confidence in our security and compliance. Prisma Cloud enables us to implement all these SOC 2 compliances and check the security. It provides visibility and control regardless of how complex our environment is."

"One of the most valuable features is the compliance of RedLock, which we are using for any issues with security. It flags them and that's the primary objective of that feature."

"Integration is very easy. And because it supports security that spans multi- and hybrid-cloud environments, it's very easy to use."

"What I like most about Prisma Cloud is its zero-day signatures, maximum security, minimal downtime, cloud visibility, control, and ease of deployment."

"The solution gives us a lot of visibility across all of our cloud solutions."

"Prisma Cloud stands out as a user-friendly and powerful CSPM solution thanks to its comprehensive capabilities, built-in features, and flexible tagging system."

"I found the network queue sets useful. I also liked the Workload Protection Module, the vulnerability findings, and how the rule sets handle the vulnerabilities based on severity."

"This solution helped us by allowing us to schedule and fix things. This is not an easy thing if you're managing 1,000 plus resources."

More Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks pros

Cons

"There can be a specific type of alert showing that a new type of risk has been identified."

"It took us a while to configure the software to work well in this type of environment, as the support documents were not always clear."

"It would be really helpful if the solution improves its agent deployment process."

"The Kubernetes scanning on the Oracle Cloud needs to be improved. It's on the roadmap. AWS has this capability, but it's unavailable for Oracle Cloud."

"Whenever I view the processes and the process aspect, it takes a long time to load."

"Cloud Native Security's reporting could be better. We are unable to see which images are impacted. Several thousand images have been deployed, so if we can see some application-specific information in the dashboard, we can directly send that report to the team that owns the application. We'd also like the option to download the report from the portal instead of waiting for the report to be sent to our email."

"The could improve their mean time to detect."

"We are experiencing problems with Cloud Native Security reporting."

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security cons

"Azure Security Center takes a long time to update, compared to the on-premises version of Microsoft Defender."

"Most of the time, when we log into the support, we don't get a chance to interact with Microsoft employees directly, except having it go to outsource employees of Microsoft. The initial interaction has not been that great because outsourced companies cannot provide the kind of quality or technical expertise that we look for. We have a technical manager from Microsoft, but they are kind of average unless we make noise and ask them to escalate. We then can get the right people and the right solution, but it definitely takes time."

"After getting a recommendation, it takes time for the solution to refresh properly to show that the problem has been eliminated."

"Most customer teams need more training on this type of product."

"I would suggest building a single product that addresses endpoint server protection, attack surface, and everything else in one solution. That is the main disadvantage with the product. If we are incorporating some features, we end up in a situation where this solution is for the server, and that one is for the client, or this is for identity, and that is for our application. They're not bundling it. Commercially, we can charge for different licenses, but on the implementation side, it's tough to help our end-customer understand which product they're getting."

"The solution could improve by being more intuitive and easier to use requiring less technical knowledge."

"The documentation could be much clearer."

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

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"The cloud integration is too complex. It should be simple to integrate Prisma Cloud with any cloud environment. Policy management could also be simpler."

"The pricing for the solution needs improvement."

"Prisma Cloud lags behind in terms of security automation capabilities."

"It would be nice Prisma Cloud merged its modules for CSPM and infrastructure as code. It would simplify the pricing and make it easier for customers to evaluate the solution because there are different modules, and you need to add it to your subscription separately."

"The UI could be improved."

"For some custom policies, we need more features."

"There are hundreds of built-in policies for AWS and Azure, but GCP and Oracle are not covered as much as AWS. There is a lot of work to do on that part. There is, obviously, a tiny bit of favoritism towards AWS because it has the most market share."

"Technical support could use some improvement."

More Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cheap."

"PingSafe is fairly priced."

"PingSafe is affordable."

"The features included in PingSafe justify its price point."

"The cost for PingSafe is average when compared to other CSPM tools."

"I understand that SentinelOne is a market leader, but the bill we received was astronomical."

"PingSafe falls somewhere in the middle price range, neither particularly cheap nor expensive."

"PingSafe's pricing is good because it provides us with a solution."

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security pricing and cost advice

"Azure Defender is a bit pricey. The price could be lower."

"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."

"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."

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

"Security Center charges $15 per resource for any workload that you onboard into it. They charge per VM or per data-base server or per application. It's not like Microsoft 365 licensing, where there are levels like E3 and E5. Security Center is pretty straightforward."

"There are two different plans. We're using the secure basic plan, but we have used the end security plan as well. There are additional costs, but it gives us more functionalities compared to the basic plan."

"Azure Defender is definitely pricey, but their competitors cost about the same. For example, a Palo Alto solution is the same price per endpoint, but the ground strikes cost a bit more than Azure Defender. Still, it's pricey for a company like ours. Maybe well-established organizations can afford it, but it might be too costly for a startup."

"Microsoft's licensing and pricing are sometimes complicated. If someone is new to Microsoft's licensing, they might have difficulty with it."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

"If you pay for three years of Palo Alto, it's better. If you're planning on doing this, it's obviously not going to be for one year, so it's better if you go with a three-year license... The only challenge we have is with the public cloud vendor pricing. The biggest lesson I have learned is around the issues related to pricing for public cloud. So when you are doing your segmentation and design, it is extremely important that you work with someone who knows and understands what kinds of needs you will have in the future and how what you are doing will affect you in terms of costs."

"The purchasing process was easy and quick. It is a very economical solution."

"One thing we're very pleased about is how the licensing model for Prisma is based on work resources. You buy a certain amount of work resources and then, as they enable new capabilities within Prisma, it just takes those work resource units and applies them to new features. This enables us to test and use the new features without having to go back and ask for and procure a whole new product, which could require going through weeks, and maybe months, of a procurement process."

"The Prisma Cloud pricing is good."

"If a competitor came along and said, "We'll give you half the price," that doesn't necessarily mean that's the right answer, at all. We wouldn't necessarily entertain it that way. Does it do what we need it to do? Does it work with the things that we want it to work with? That is the important part for us. Pricing wasn't the big consideration it might be in some organizations. We spend millions on public cloud. In that context, it would not make sense to worry about the small price differences that you get between the products."

"Prisma Cloud Enterprise is a costly solution. You need a license for all the components. At the same time, you have everything under one roof, so I think it's still justified."

"Although the cost can be high, the value is worth the price tag."

"Prisma Cloud is more expensive than Check Point CloudGuard."

More Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

16%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about PingSafe?

The dashboard gives me an overview of all the things happening in the product, making it one of the tool's best featu...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PingSafe?

The price depends on the extension of the solution that you want to buy. If you want to buy just EDR, the price is le...

See all answers

What needs improvement with PingSafe?

I request that SentinelOne investigate this false positive, as SentinelOne has a higher false positive rate than othe...

See all answers

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

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks ?

Prisma Cloud helps support DevSecOps methodologies, making those responsibilities easier to manage.

See all answers

What Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform do you recommend?

We like Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, since it offers us incredible visibility into our entire cloud system. We...

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What do you think of Aqua Security vs Prisma Cloud?

Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valu...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 33% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Orca Security vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 7% of the time

Sysdig Secure vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 3% of the time

Snyk vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 3% of the time

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AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 20% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Azure Firewall vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

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Wiz vs Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 20% of the time

Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 6% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 5% of the time

AWS Security Hub vs Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 5% of the time

Tenable.io Container Security vs Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

August 2024

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security report

Download SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

August 2024

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

August 2024

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks report

Download Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks product report

Also Known As

PingSafe

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

Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud, Prisma Public Cloud, RedLock Cloud 360, RedLock, Twistlock, Aporeto

Learn More

SentinelOne

Microsoft

Palo Alto Networks

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

SentinelOne

Microsoft

Demo not available

Palo Alto Networks

Overview

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security protects cloud workloads, offering advanced threat detection and automated response. It integrates seamlessly with cloud environments and secures containerized applications and virtual machines against vulnerabilities.

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is renowned for its efficiency in mitigating threats in real-time. The platform integrates effortlessly with existing cloud environments, ensuring robust cloud security management with minimal manual intervention. Securing containerized applications and virtual machines, it excels in threat intelligence and endpoint protection. However, improvements are needed in performance during high workload periods, and more integrations with third-party tools and better documentation would be beneficial. Users often find the installation process complex, support response times slow, and the dashboard's navigation unintuitive.

What are the key features of SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security?

Real-time Threat Detection: Identifies and mitigates threats as they occur.
Automated Response: Automatically responds to threats to minimize impact.
Ease of Deployment: Simple setup process with scalable options.
Machine Learning Insights: AI-driven insights enhance threat prevention.
Seamless Integration: Integrates with cloud environments for unified security management.

What are the primary benefits or ROI to expect from SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security?

Enhanced Threat Mitigation: Improved security against real-time threats.
Reduced Manual Intervention: Automated processes save time and resources.
Scalability: Easily adapts to growing security requirements.
Centralized Management: Manage security across platforms from a single console.
Advanced Threat Intelligence: Provides in-depth analysis and protection.

In specific industries, SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is implemented to safeguard critical data and infrastructure. Organizations in finance, healthcare, and technology depend on its real-time threat detection and automated response to protect sensitive information. Its ability to secure containerized applications and virtual machines is particularly valuable in dynamic environments where rapid scaling is necessary.

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.

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is a cloud security solution used for cloud security posture management, cloud workload protection, container security, and code security. It provides visibility, monitoring, and alerting for security issues in multi-cloud environments.

The solution is user-friendly, easy to set up, and integrates with SIEM for generating alerts and reports. Its most valuable features include security features, monitoring capabilities, reporting, compliance monitoring, vulnerability dashboard, data security features, and multi-cloud capabilities. Prisma Cloud has helped organizations by providing comprehensive protection, automating workflows, simplifying troubleshooting, and improving collaboration between SecOps and DevOps.

Prisma Cloud Features

Prisma Cloud offers comprehensive security coverage in all areas of the cloud development lifecycle:

Code security: Protect configurations, scan code before it enters production, and integrate with other tools.
Security posture management: Monitor posture, identify and remove threats, and provide compliance across public clouds.
Workload protection: Secure hosts and containers across the application lifecycle.
Network security: Gain network visibility and enforce micro segmentation.
Identity security: Enforce permissions and secure identities across clouds.

Benefits of Prisma Cloud

Unified management: All users use the same dashboards built via shared onboarding, allowing cloud security to be addressed from a single agent framework.
High-speed onboarding: Multiple cloud accounts and users are onboarded within seconds, rapidly activating integrated security capabilities.
Multiple integration options: Prisma Cloud can integrate with widely used IDE, SCM, and CI/CD workflows early in development, enabling users to identify and fix vulnerabilities and compliance issues before they enter production. Prisma Cloud supports all major workflows, automation frameworks, and third-party tools.

Reviews from Real Users

Prisma Cloud stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its integration capabilities, as well as its visibility, which makes it very easy for users to get a full picture of the cloud environment.

Alex J., an information security manager at Cobalt.io, writes, “Prisma Cloud has enabled us to take a very strong preventive approach to cloud security. One of the hardest things with cloud is getting visibility into workloads. With Prisma Cloud, you can go in and get that visibility, then set up policies to alert on risky behavior, e.g., if there are security groups or firewall ports open up. So, it is very helpful in preventing configuration errors in the cloud by having visibility. If there are issues, then you can find them and fix them.”

Luke L., a cloud security specialist for a financial services firm, writes, “You can also integrate with Amazon Managed Services. You can also get a snapshot in time, whether that's over a 24-hour period, seven days, or a month, to determine what the estate might look like at a certain point in time and generate reports from that for vulnerability management forums.”

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

Amgen, Genpact, Western Asset, Zipongo, Proofpoint, NerdWallet, Axfood, 21st Century Fox, Veeva Systems, Reinsurance Group of America

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

July 2024

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.

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See our Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks report.

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