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Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (11th), Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (7th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (5th), Container Management (6th), Container Security (4th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (3rd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (3rd)
Proofpoint Intelligent Com...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (6th), eDiscovery (11th), Compliance Management (12th)
 

Featured Reviews

RO
IT Security Expert at Alior Bank S.A.
Unified risk scoring has improved our cloud visibility and simplifies remediation priorities
Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment across both IAS and SaaS. This solution provides a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce the work I would have to do. We are no longer based on CVSS; we are based on Qualys risk scoring, which is based on CVSS plus internal findings made by Qualys, and then assigns its own score. The TruRisk insight feature has found a small number of assets with high vulnerability scores, though I am cautious since some information is classified. Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution.
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.
reviewer2842215 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate at a legal firm with 201-500 employees
Centralized archiving has transformed how we manage compliance, audits, and investigations
Overall Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform is a strong platform for compliance and information governance, but there are a few areas where it could improve in the future. One improvement area is the user experience and interface consistency across different modules. Some workflows can feel complex, especially for a new user or the team managing multiple compliance functions simultaneously. Community feedback has also highlighted that certain administrative interfaces and navigation flows could be more modern and streamlined. I also think there is room for improvement in support responsiveness and operational simplicity for complex deployments. Some users in the community have mentioned challenges around the ticket response time and troubleshooting efficiency for advanced configurations that needs to be improved. From a product perspective, a continued investment in AI-driven detection, the reduction of false positives, and easier policy tuning would make the platform even more effective at scale. Proofpoint already provides strong automation and machine learning capabilities, but a highly regulated environment still requires significant tuning and oversight to optimize the workflow. One additional improvement for Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform would be making policy configurations and workflow management more intuitive, especially for organizations with complex compliance structures and multiple regulatory requirements. I also think more customizable dashboards and reporting capabilities would help teams gain faster operational insight and improve visibility into the compliance trends, investigations, and reliable workload.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable feature is its agent versatility."
"The vulnerability management feature is the one I like the most because it provides a clear picture of all vulnerabilities."
"One of Qualys' best features is its categorization, which allows us to see the types of assets, their security postures, and the AI-powered version of the tool."
"The dashboards are particularly valuable as they offer a comprehensive view of the environment, highlighting any misconfigurations."
"I would definitely recommend it because it is easy to handle any cloud resources."
"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable features are its security capabilities that help identify and mitigate risk factors."
"The most valuable feature is extensibility."
"TotalCloud's best feature is the integration of cloud accounts. It helps with the risk and security posture management of our cloud infrastructure."
"It helps you to identify the gaps in your solution and remediate them, and it produces a compliance checklist against known standards such as ISO 27001, HIPAA, iTrust, etc."
"Scalability is great, and I would rate it a ten out of ten."
"Defender for Cloud provides a prioritized list of remediations for security issues, reducing risk and improving security operations."
"It is very scalable, the product has been very easy to use and simple to set up, the maintenance and updating are part of the service so that brings great value, it's a stable product, technical support is helpful, and it's got a lot of great features."
"I have not experienced any difficulties or issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud."
"The most valuable features of the solution are the insights, meaning the remediation suggestions, as well as the incident alerts."
"No doubt it is useful as per the log analysis and threat protection analysis."
"There is no better tool found to protect workloads in Azure than Microsoft Defender for Cloud."
"Our experience with the platform has been positive as it has maintained consistent control over spam and malware threats."
"Overall, Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform is a very strong and reliable platform for compliance, archiving, supervision, and information governance."
 

Cons

"There is a lack of data segregation according to criticality or inventory."
"The support process is inefficient due to the excessive number of replies required when submitting tickets."
"In a future release, I suggest that zero-day vulnerabilities should be predicted in advance using AI technologies. The system is not 100% secure yet, so proactive threat hunting could be enhanced to be more proactive than the current system."
"The response part of the Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) module can be improved."
"There should be improvement from a dashboard perspective when collecting and showcasing data to lead management."
"Although TotalCloud is a helpful tool, some of its advanced features are still under development."
"There is room for improvement in vulnerability scanning, particularly for PaaS environments. Currently, Qualys does not have full access to these instances, which limits its effectiveness."
"We encountered challenges identifying the correct resource category for certain items, such as those in containers or storage."
"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."
"One of the issues with the product is that it's not possible to write or edit any capability."
"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."
"Microsoft sources most of their threat intelligence internally, but I think they should open themselves up to bodies that provide feel intelligence to build a better engine. There may be threats out there that they don't report because their team is not doing anything on that and they don't have arrangements with another party that is involved in that research."
"The process of deploying Microsoft Defender for Cloud was not smooth. It was always a challenge migrating, as a lot of it involved application dependencies and what was required before being able to use Azure for those services."
"Comparing Microsoft Defender for Cloud to other solutions on the market, Microsoft needs to push a little bit to improve it."
"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."
"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 Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform does not provide features that help reduce manual efforts, so additional human resources are still required to manage security."
"Some workflows can feel complex, especially for a new user or the team managing multiple compliance functions simultaneously."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for TotalCloud is attractive and competitive in the market. Given the features, especially the dashboard, I have no concerns regarding pricing."
"TotalCloud's price is about right where I would expect it to be."
"Its price seems higher compared to other tools, but it is worth it. If they could adjust the pricing and make it comparable with other tools, that would be great."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers good pricing that is affordable and competitive with the market. Our partnership also provides us with additional benefits."
"The pricing is comparable. It is built into our other product, so I cannot piecemeal it. It is a part of our subscription."
"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive."
"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."
"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."
"Although I am outside of the discussion on budget and costing, I can say that the importance of security provided by this solution is of such importance that whatever the cost is, it is not a factor."
"The cost is fair. There aren't any costs in addition to the standard licensing fee."
"Microsoft Defender for Cloud is pricey, especially for Kubernetes clusters."
"Azure Defender is a bit pricey. The price could be lower."
"The licensing cost per server is $15 per month."
"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."
"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."
"This is a worldwide service and depending on the country, there will be different prices."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Legal Firm
15%
Construction Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise49
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple en...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
Our use case involves the assets that we have under cloud, the assets exposed to the internet, and the internal appli...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing was that the license cost was the only consideration. Setup an...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
To improve Microsoft Defender for Cloud, I think pricing-wise, the license price is a little bit higher from an inges...
What needs improvement with Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform?
Overall Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform is a strong platform for compliance and information governance, bu...
What is your primary use case for Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform?
My main use case of Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform is supporting compliance, information governance, and ...
What advice do you have for others considering Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform?
Overall, Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform is a very strong and reliable platform for compliance, archiving,...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
Proofpoint e-discovery and Analytics, Proofpoint Enterprise Archive
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
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.
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Proofpoint Intelligent Compliance Platform and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.