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Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Vanta comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Ranking in Compliance Management
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (7th), Container Management (9th), Container Security (7th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (8th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (2nd)
Vanta
Ranking in Compliance Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Compliance Consulting (3rd), Data Governance (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Compliance Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 16.3%, up from 16.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Vanta is 10.3%, down from 16.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Compliance Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Vanta10.3%
Microsoft Defender for Cloud16.3%
Other73.4%
Compliance Management
 

Featured Reviews

Vibhor Goel - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Anas Rifai - PeerSpot reviewer
Has improved our compliance workflow and helped identify and fix security vulnerabilities
The only thing I wish for regarding the features is better RBAC. Permissions for platform users have been an issue. We've had to give admin access to Vanta for another team member to view all items. It would be great if the permissions of Vanta platform users had more verbosity to them, more dynamic. To improve Vanta, I think the refresh after remediation takes place could be controlled more. If it could be faster, that would be great. Besides the user permissions and the refreshing, which are improvements rather than issues, the rest looks fine. Vanta has been really nice, with a nice user experience, clear layout, and very reasonable recommendations compared to other platforms we've tried.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is a platform as a service provided by Azure. We don't need to install or maintain Azure Security Center. It is a ready-made service available in Azure. This is one of the main things that we like. If you look at similar tools, we have to install, maintain, and update services. Whereas, Azure Security Center manages what we are using. This is a good feature that has helped us a lot."
"I would rate Microsoft Defender for Cloud a nine out of 10."
"The security alerts and correlated alerts are most valuable. It correlates the logs and gives us correlated alerts, which can be fed into any security information and event management (SIEM) tool. It is an analyzed correlation tool for monitoring security. It gives us alerts when there is any kind of unauthorized access, or when there is any malfunctioning in multifactor authentication (MFA). If our Azure is connected with Azure Security Center, we get to know what types of authentication are happening in our infra."
"When you have commissioned Defender, you have these things visible already on your dashboard. This gives the efficiency to the people to do their actual work rather than bothering about the email, sorting out the email, or looking at it through an ITSM solution, whey they have to look at the description and use cases. Efficiency increases with this optimized, ready-made solution since you don't need to invest in something externally. You can start using the dashboard and auditing capability provided from day one. Thus, you have fewer costs with a more optimized, easier-to-use solution, providing operational efficiency for your team."
"When we started out, our secure score was pretty low. We adopted some of the recommendations that Security Center set out and we were able to make good progress on improving it. It had been in the low thirties and is now in the upper eighties."
"Scalability is great, and I would rate it a ten out of ten."
"The valuable features include the ability to manage devices and the fact that Defender can replace other security tools like SCCM."
"My favorite part of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is the compliance features. Defender covers a wide range of workloads, on par with competing products on the market."
"The most valuable feature of Vanta would be the time savings from the automation and the continuous compliance monitoring once set up."
"They integrate into New Relic as a performance monitoring tool."
"After implementing those changes with Vanta, we tracked specific outcomes and metrics and improved compliance scores, which we can see in Vanta."
"Task management and vendor assurance are the most valuable features. It is also an easy tool to use."
"It helps us track the compliance of the components listed in our partner's directory. We can also check if the password manager, XML, and three log policies have been properly implemented on the desktop."
"The product has provided automated security controls for our cloud provider. It helps to automate security checks. Vanta offers a list of things that can be done to achieve ISO 27001 compliance."
"The most valuable feature of Vanta is its prebuilt control frameworks."
 

Cons

"Customer service and support from Microsoft are very poor. Even for high-severity cases, response or resolution time can extend to three or four weeks."
"I recommend that they extend the scope for legacy infra assets."
"The cost is always a concern, but overall, it's not too bad because it is easy to use and pretty friendly."
"The documentation could be much clearer."
"It's hard to reach someone who understands my problems. I haven't had many issues, so I haven't called them."
"Azure Security Center takes a long time to update, compared to the on-premises version of Microsoft Defender."
"With the new Copilot functionality available everywhere, it is challenging to pinpoint areas for improvement. If I put in a lot of thought, I might identify things, but right now, nothing significant pops into my mind, but there is always room for more transparency, especially in pricing."
"There needs to be improvement in the security recommendations, particularly in attack path mapping. Sometimes, it misleads users about the real exposure of external-facing assets."
"Currently, Vanta's user access review module is still in development, and we've been giving them continuous feedback to help them improve that."
"Scalability could be improved."
"There is a delay with customer support and they are unsure of the answers we need."
"They have an AI generator for the system description for SOC 2, however, the outline is a little sketchy."
"Permissions for platform users have been an issue. We've had to give admin access to Vanta for another team member to view all items."
"Some of the tool's automated tests do not work the way it should."
"The main area for improvement in Vanta is the user interface's refresh rate."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This solution is more cost-effective than some competing products. My understanding is that it is based on the number of integrations that you have, so if you have fewer subscriptions then you pay less for the service."
"Azure Defender is a bit pricey. The price could be lower."
"Currently, Microsoft offers only one plan at the enterprise level which is $15 per machine."
"I'm not privy to that information, but I know it's probably close to a million dollars a year."
"Pricing is a consideration, but we strive to keep costs low by enabling only necessary services."
"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."
"Our clients complain about the cost of Microsoft Defender for Cloud."
"There is a helpful cost-reducing option that allows you to integrate production subscriptions with non-production subscriptions."
"Vanta is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
7%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise45
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

How is Prisma Cloud vs Azure Security Center for security?
Azure Security Center is very easy to use, integrates well, and gives very good visibility on what is happening across your ecosystem. It also has great remote workforce capabilities and supports a...
What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
The entire Defender Suite is tightly coupled, integrated, and collaborative.
What do you like most about Vanta?
The most valuable feature of Vanta is its prebuilt control frameworks.
What needs improvement with Vanta?
Every product has a lot of areas to improve. They have an AI generator for the system description for SOC 2, for example, however, the outline is a little sketchy. The system description has to hav...
What is your primary use case for Vanta?
We're trying to get SOC 2 compliance, and we're trying to get HIPAA compliance.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.
Care Directives, Shortcut , Nayya, Heizenrader, Treasury Prime
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Vanta and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,837 professionals have used our research since 2012.