Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Tanium comparison

Microsoft and Tanium are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Microsoft is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.1, while Tanium is ranked #24 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 5.3% mindshare in VM, compared to Tanium’s 2.5% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 75% of Tanium users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

Tanium and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are competing products in the cybersecurity landscape, focusing on IT security and endpoint management. Microsoft Defender for Cloud stands out due to its extensive features, despite higher pricing, which its overall capabilities justify.

Features: Tanium offers rapid threat detection and response, comprehensive endpoint visibility, and strong integration capabilities. Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides a robust security framework, intelligent threat protection, and seamless integration within the Microsoft ecosystem, making its feature set broader.

Room for Improvement: Tanium could benefit from a simpler initial learning curve, improved documentation, and enhanced reporting features. Microsoft Defender for Cloud may improve by reducing complexity in its dashboards, offering more detailed customization options, and enhancing its alert management system.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides a streamlined deployment process within the Microsoft cloud ecosystem and robust support. Tanium, although flexible in deployment, includes a steeper learning curve for initial users.

Pricing and ROI: Tanium offers competitive pricing and scalable options, appealing to cost-conscious organizations, while Microsoft Defender for Cloud, with its higher cost, promises excellent ROI through its comprehensive value proposition.

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

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tanium

September 2025

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Helped 868,787 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

Zafran Security

Mindshare comparison

As of October 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 Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 5.3%, up from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tanium is 2.5%, up from 2.6% 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	5.3%
Zafran Security	1.1%
Tanium	2.5%
Other	91.1%

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.

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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.

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NitinKushwaha

Product Manager at OakNorth

Stable product with an ability to build complex roles

We use Tanium as an EDR solution for managing end-user devices and servers The product is granular and can build complex roles compared to other EDR vendors. Tanium's dashboard UI could be similar to CrowdStrike. We have been using Tanium for two and a half years. The product is stable. I rate…

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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

"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."

"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."

"The most valuable feature for me is the variety of APIs available."

"The first valuable feature was the fact that it gave us a list of everything that users were surfing on the web. Having the list, we could make decisions about those sites."

"The valuable features include the ability to manage devices and the fact that Defender can replace other security tools like SCCM."

"Everything is built into Azure, and if we go for cross-cloud development with Azure Arc, we can use most of the features. While it's possible to deploy and convert third-party applications, it is difficult to maintain, whereas Azure deployments to the cloud are always easier. Also, Microsoft is a big company, so they always provide enough support, and we trust the Microsoft brand."

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

"The main feature is the security posture assessment through the security score. I find that to be very helpful because it gives us guidance on what needs to be secured and recommendations on how to secure the workloads that have been onboarded."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud has significantly enhanced our overall security posture by approximately 20 to 25 percent."

"The scalability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very good."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"I would say Tanium is the best tool for vulnerability management."

"The solution is scalable and helps to understand how infrastructure works. It helps to improve the health of the organization."

"For incident response tasks, all these tasks can get done in minutes with minimal disruption to the end-user."

"Tanium has made the process of detecting threats more proactive with its detection. So, the process is easier and more efficient."

"When I push a quick update, it's done right away, and I can rescan immediately to confirm completion within minutes."

"I like the fact that you can create patching campaigns depending on the area of your network that you want to address first. I like the ability it has to make several campaigns that work in parallel."

"Tanium's most valuable feature is its instant discovery aspect."

"When I push a quick update, it's done right away, and I can rescan immediately to confirm completion within minutes."

More Tanium 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."

"The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvements."

"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."

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

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

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

"The cost is always a concern, but overall, it's not too bad because it is easy to use and pretty friendly."

"However, some Copilot features aren't available in the GCP environment. This is something we hope will be addressed in the future."

"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."

"Defender could provide more in-depth visibility into vulnerabilities and services. For instance, we wanted to scan Azure NetApp for sensitive data, but they didn't have that feature. It was only for storage accounts. I want Azure Defender features to cover all Azure resources rather than a few."

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

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"The solution can give a lot of false positives."

"The most painful thing is the interface. It's a bit unclear sometimes."

"The solution needs to improve the reporting and tracking capabilities."

"I would like to have more integrations and custom plugins to input. Integration is always a big deal in a lot of different environments."

"Most of the time, agent-relative issues have to be more equipped with self-healing features. At times, the agent is there, but for some reason, it doesn't report a status. It gives certain problems that are obviously agent-based."

"Tanium required local admin or root rights on Mac devices, which did not comply with our security policies. This made the solution less suitable for our restrictive environment."

"Tanium’s scalability could be improved."

"When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium. I have to search outside to download patches, create bundles, and then perform the task."

More Tanium cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Pricing is difficult because each license has its own metrics and cost."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud is pricey, especially for Kubernetes clusters."

"The cost of the license is based on the subscriptions that you have."

"While we pay for any additional features, the pricing seems competitive, though I am not involved in the specific cost details."

"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."

"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."

"The tool is pretty expensive."

"We only use the free tier, so we haven't faced any pricing, setup costs, or licensing challenges."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

"The solution offers value for money."

"Tanium is a more expensive solution in Latin America than some of the competitors, such as BigFix."

"It is higher than some competitors in the market."

"The product's pricing differs from region to region depending on negotiations and the number of endpoints."

"The solution is expensive but it's a good investment."

"It's an expensive solution. It would be nice if the cost were lower."

"There is an annual license required to use this solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

16%

Government

12%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	10

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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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...

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What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

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

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

The pricing is pretty standard.

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What do you like most about Tanium?

The product is granular and can build complex roles compared to other EDR vendors.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Tanium?

While there is always room for improvement, I am pleased with Tanium.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Tanium?

The primary use case for Tanium ( /products/tanium-reviews ) is compliance, patching, and inventory as part of the co...

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Comparisons

Wiz Code vs Zafran Security

Compared 34% of the time

Vulcan Cyber vs Zafran Security

Compared 14% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 8% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Zafran Security

Compared 6% of the time

Nucleus vs Zafran Security

Compared 6% of the time

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AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 29% 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 8% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

Orca Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Competitors

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Tanium

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Tanium

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Tanium

Compared 7% of the time

ServiceNow Discovery vs Tanium

Compared 6% of the time

BigFix vs Tanium

Compared 5% of the time

More Tanium Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

September 2025

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

September 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Tanium

September 2025

Download Tanium product report

Also Known As

No data available

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

No data available

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Zafran Security

Microsoft

Demo not available

Tanium

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

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

Tanium Endpoint Platform reduces security risk, improves agility & increases efficiency, a fundamentally new approach to endpoint security's threat detection, indicent response, vulnerability assessment and configuration compliance & with management's software distribution, asset utilization, asset inventory and patch management.

Tanium

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

JPMorgan Chase, eBay, Amazon, US Bank, MetLife, pwc, Cerner, Delphi, MGM Grand, New York Life

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tanium

September 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tanium

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tanium and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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