Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai comparison

Microsoft and Horizon3.ai are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Microsoft is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.1, while Horizon3.ai is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.9. Microsoft holds a 4.8% mindshare in VM, compared to Horizon3.ai’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Horizon3.ai users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2025

Microsoft Defender for Cloud and NodeZero Platform are prominent in cybersecurity solutions, each bringing unique strengths to the table. Microsoft Defender's seamless integration with Azure services gives it an edge in environments heavily reliant on Azure, while NodeZero stands out for its affordability and usability, which is appealing to diverse organizations.

Features: Microsoft Defender for Cloud is noted for comprehensive visibility, threat intelligence, and integration with Azure. It effectively manages security across multi-cloud environments providing enriched data for policy compliance and dynamic alerting. NodeZero Platform is highlighted for ease of deployment and automated testing capabilities. Its real attack simulations and ability to instantly retest vulnerabilities are emphasized as practical solutions that offer advantages over traditional penetration testing methods.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Defender for Cloud users encounter challenges with false positives, complex setup processes, and integration across different subscriptions. Pricing transparency, agent features, and enhanced real-time monitoring are also required improvements. NodeZero Platform could enhance its report readability and usability for various teams. Speed improvements in scanning and more integrations with additional vulnerability tools would further enhance its utility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Cloud benefits from its Azure integration, yet faces criticism for complicated policy management and inconsistent technical support. NodeZero Platform receives positive reviews for its intuitive setup, enabling quick deployment with minimal technical challenges. Its responsive customer service enhances user experience and ease of use, catering to different infrastructure needs.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender for Cloud is perceived as costly, particularly suited for larger enterprises using Azure. Its ROI is driven by strong security visibility and reduced administration, though pricing complexity remains an issue. NodeZero Platform is lauded for competitive pricing similar to traditional pen tests but with greater flexibility. Its cost-effective, adaptable licensing delivers high ROI through systematic vulnerability scanning and management.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

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 Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 4.8%, down from 5.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai is 1.2%, up from 1.0% 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%
The NodeZero Platform	1.2%
Zafran Security	1.1%
Other	92.9%

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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Brian W.

Director of IT Security at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Effectively prioritizes vulnerabilities and has been one of the most transformative technologies

Prioritization is really key; it's a massive differentiator. The prioritization aspect is crucial. The ability to capture or crack credentials and then use that to move laterally and identify additional vulnerabilities is significant. Their password-cracking capability is a distinct function that is very helpful. Additionally, when a new vulnerability, such as a zero-day exploit, is identified, they review your previous scans to determine if you might be vulnerable to it, and they proactively notify you. That's a huge benefit. Also, the fact that they provide fixes alongside all their identified vulnerabilities means you don’t have to search for fixes yourself. They give you specific actions to take, which is incredibly helpful and saves a lot of time.

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

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

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

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

"We saw benefits from Zafran Security almost immediately after deploying it."

"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."

"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."

"Technical support is helpful."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud is stable and reliable as advertised."

"I have not experienced any difficulties or issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud monitors our entire cloud environment. It enables conditional access and incorporates features like number matching and single sign-on for all our cloud apps. It is great for protecting against ransomware and various security threats."

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

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

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud has improved our security poster by at least 100 percent."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"Penetration testing and scans are useful features."

"The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help in identifying vulnerabilities on our on-prem systems because it provides actual vulnerabilities by attacking our systems."

"We experienced a threat that could have severely crippled us, but we were able to shut it down before it escalated, thanks to internal vulnerability testing and addressing critical vulnerabilities using their tool."

"For us, The NodeZero Platform is literally the single best security solution we have because the way that it works is we're able to scan every part of our network, both internally and externally, and then get completely actionable feedback that doesn't matter if it's for an application developer or a network admin."

"I rate the stability of the NodeZero Platform a ten out of ten."

"The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help identify vulnerabilities on my on-premise systems by adding an element of validation and offensive security testing on top of known vulnerabilities. The feature that allows security teams to fix and retest vulnerabilities instantly is very useful, even though it may not happen literally 'instantly.' It's a necessary tool for any organization to understand whether vulnerabilities are genuinely exploitable by attackers. With its near-real-time testing capabilities, it's an essential part of any security portfolio."

"The NodeZero Platform is amazing; what I love most about it is that it's automated and comparable to the manual pen testing we did with a third-party company, but with the added benefit of unlimited retesting to validate fixes."

"Honestly, it's one of the most transformational technologies we've implemented in our company."

More The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai 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."

"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."

"For Kubernetes, I was using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). To see that whatever is getting deployed into AKS goes through the correct checks and balances in terms of affinities and other similar aspects and follows all the policies, we had to use a product called Stackrox. At a granular level, the built-in policies were good for Kubernetes, but to protect our containers from a coding point of view, we had to use a few other products. For example, from a programming point of view, we were using Checkmarx for static code analysis. For CIS compliance, there are no CIS benchmarks for AKS. So, we had to use other plugins to see that the CIS benchmarks are compliant. There are CIS benchmarks for Kubernetes on AWS and GCP, but there are no CIS benchmarks for AKS. So, Azure Security Center fell short from the regulatory compliance point of view, and we had to use one more product. We ended up with two different dashboards. We had Azure Security Center, and we had Stackrox that had its own dashboard. The operations team and the security team had to look at two dashboards, and they couldn't get an integrated piece. That's a drawback of Azure Security Center. Azure Security Center should provide APIs so that we can integrate its dashboard within other enterprise dashboards, such as the PowerBI dashboard. We couldn't get through these aspects, and we ended up giving Reader security permission to too many people, which was okay to some extent, but when we had to administer the users for the Stackrox portal and Azure Security Center, it became painful."

"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."

"The documentation and implementation guides could be improved."

"Integration into other third-party products, particularly those from tier three vendors like ManageEngine and Hexcode, has proven difficult."

"The initial setup is not actually so complex but it feels complex because there are many add-ons. There are many options and my team needs to be aware of all of these changes happening on the backend which is a distraction."

"Features like code scanning and pipeline scanning are not included in the solution."

"The overview provides you with good information, but if you want more details, there is a lot more customization to do, which requires knowledge of the other supporting solutions."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"One of the areas where improvement is needed is in the visibility and reporting for large enterprises."

"They've added a chatbot which isn't particularly useful, but when it can't answer questions, it forwards messages to human support."

"The reports are quite useless."

"I think The NodeZero Platform could improve by leveraging GPUs for password cracking, which would be pretty good."

"The speed of the scans takes some time, but in my opinion, it is not surprising for what it is doing."

"You need to be cautious about what it scans, as it could potentially cause issues."

"Sometimes even their support doesn't know why we're seeing certain issues."

"The areas for improvement for The NodeZero Platform involve integration and automation. It would be beneficial if it could integrate directly with vulnerability management tools that would allow the platform to automatically import data, identify vulnerable systems, and test targets immediately, potentially even enabling automated feedback loops for rescanning since the process is currently manual."

More The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The price of the solution is good for the features we receive and there is an additional cost for Microsoft premier support. However, some of my potential customers have found it to be expensive and have gone on to choose another solution."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"The product's pricing policy is generally favorable."

"I am not involved much with the pricing but the bundle offering is good."

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

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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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

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

11%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

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	6
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

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 Horizon3.ai?

Penetration testing and scans are useful features.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Horizon3.ai?

One significant area to focus on is external vulnerabilities, particularly in the web application space. This often r...

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What is your primary use case for Horizon3.ai?

The primary use case that we have for The NodeZero Platform is for scanning the environment and identifying vulnerabi...

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Comparisons

Wiz Code vs Zafran Security

Compared 29% of the time

Vulcan Cyber vs Zafran Security

Compared 14% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 9% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Zafran Security

Compared 7% of the time

Nucleus vs Zafran Security

Compared 6% of the time

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AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 33% 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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Pentera vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 34% of the time

Tenable Security Center vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 10% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 8% of the time

vPentest vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 8% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 2% of the time

More The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

October 2025

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

October 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

October 2025

The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai report

Download The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai product report

Also Known As

No data available

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

Horizon3.ai

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Zafran Security

Microsoft

Demo not available

Horizon3.ai

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

NodeZero by Horizon3.ai is an offensive security platform that enables users to adopt an attacker’s perspective, reveal vulnerabilities, and verify defense effectiveness with evidence-backed insights.

NodeZero provides autonomous pentesting, showing how attackers exploit misconfigurations, credentials, and exposures into attack paths. It helps focus on real risks rather than hypothetical ones, integrating seamlessly into existing IT and security workflows to streamline processes. The platform drives risk-based vulnerability management and CTEM by validating vulnerabilities and measuring resilience.

What standout features improve your security?

Autonomous Pentesting at Scale: Executes extensive pentests across broad IT landscapes swiftly.
Hybrid Cloud Coverage: Navigates on-premises and cloud domains to find attack paths.
Proof of Exploitation: Offers evidence for every finding.
Fix Validation: Allows quick retesting to ensure vulnerabilities are resolved.
NodeZero Tripwires: Uses deception tokens for real adversary detection.

What benefits should you expect from reviews?

Reduced Vulnerability Noise: Prioritizes exploitable risks with ServiceNow integration.
Automated Workflows: MCP Server automates processes, reducing bottlenecks and enhancing efficiency.
Immediate Fix Validation: Ensures defenses work during attacks.
Real-Time Resilience Measurement: Helps schedule routine assessments without external help.

NodeZero assists in automated penetration testing and vulnerability management in industries like finance and healthcare. It enhances security processes by complementing or replacing existing solutions, enabling efficient testing, feedback, and control validation.

Horizon3.ai

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

Government agencies, Defense Industrial Base organizations, and enterprises in regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and criticalinfrastructure rely on NodeZero to meet rigorous security and compliance requirements with continuous, scheduled, and on-demand testing.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

September 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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