No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Veracode comparison

Why PeerSpot?
Sponsored
 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.3
Qualys TotalCloud enhances efficiency and automation, achieving up to 40% cost savings and over 50% improved asset scanning.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances ROI by improving security, productivity, and cost efficiency, despite perceived licensing costs.
Sentiment score
6.5
Veracode boosts ROI by reducing security breaches and costs, enhancing compliance, and integrating effective vulnerability detection and automation.
We are able to scan all our assets with less human intervention and achieve overall effective outcomes.
Dns architect at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It has saved about 90% of our time.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
TotalCloud has generated overall savings of 30 to 40 percent across various departments.
Security Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Defender proactively indexes and analyzes documents, identifying potential threats even when inactive, enhancing preventative security.
Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees
Identifying potential vulnerabilities has helped us avoid costly data losses.
Manager at CBTS
Compared to not having Microsoft Defender for Cloud in place, we definitely saw an advantage by not having downtime due to a security threat.
Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge
The scanners of Veracode bring status of the weaknesses in the current infrastructure. It scans and provides reports regarding the servers, the network, and the applications running on those servers.
Senior Solutions Architect at IDS Comercial
Regarding price, the evaluation should focus on how efficiently they will recover their investment, considering the time saved through the use of Veracode Fix, for example, and the ability to fix code at dev time compared to the problems faced when fixing after the product is already deployed.
Head of Security Architecture at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We did see a return on investment with Veracode, as we segregated our remediation efforts, which reduced our time to delivery as well as the number of engineers needed to help us in delivering a secure solution.
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
Qualys TotalCloud's customer service is praised for responsiveness despite occasional delays, with ratings from seven to ten.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Defender for Cloud support is knowledgeable with effective documentation, but first-tier delays impact overall satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.2
Veracode's support is praised for expertise and responsiveness, though some report delays, improvements noted with dedicated managers.
They are helpful, respond to my queries, and can answer any question.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys's tech support is highly responsive, providing multiple ways to interact with them.
Service Manager, Security Operations at CDA IT SOLUTIONS
Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Since security is critical, we prefer a quicker response time.
Manager at CBTS
The support team was very responsive to queries.
Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
They understand their product, but much like us, they struggle with the finer details, especially with new features.
Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees
Access to the engineering team is crucial for faster feedback on the product fix process.
Principal Architect at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
I have communicated with the technical support of Veracode a couple of times, and this was a really great experience because these professionals know their material.
Application Security Specialist at Herrenknecht
They share detailed information via email, including screenshots or further clarification about the issue.
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Qualys TotalCloud is highly scalable and adaptable, efficiently supporting varied environments and large-scale deployments with robust performance.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is highly scalable, seamlessly integrates across platforms, and efficiently handles growth, with room for feature improvement.
Sentiment score
7.4
Veracode is praised for effective scalability across diverse needs, though costs and complexity can increase with scaling.
We started our organization about nine months back. We started with about 30 users, and we now have more than 100 users.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Our organization currently uses it to manage over 1200 web applications.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is absolutely scalable, and I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
retired at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
As we have reduced our on-premises infrastructure, it is about how we can migrate workloads to the cloud to make it easier, and then having everything fully encompassed and secured within that area makes it much easier for us to scale as needed and grow.
Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge
We are using infrastructure as a code, so we do not have any scalability issues with Microsoft Defender for Cloud implementation because our cloud automatically does it.
Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse
It has multiple licenses and features, covering infrastructures from a hundred to five hundred virtual machines, without any issues.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
Cloud solutions are easier to scale than on-premise solutions.
Senior Solutions Architect at IDS Comercial
It has a good capacity to scale effectively.
Lead Automation Quality Engineer in Leading UK Bank at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Implementing these features into our normal CI/CD was good, so I can say that scalability is really good.
Application Security Specialist at Herrenknecht
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Qualys TotalCloud is stable and reliable, offering 99.9% uptime with quick support for minor issues and transparent maintenance updates.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is stable and reliable, though minor update issues occur with older systems and internet latency.
Sentiment score
7.8
Veracode is generally stable with minor glitches, but could improve speed and communication for enhanced reliability.
Overall, the support provided has been excellent.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It has a lot of scanning mechanisms, which are agentless APIs, eBPF, and cloud agents, that are highly reliable.
Sr Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
It is a stable solution, which is why we chose it.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Defender's stability has been flawless for us.
Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
I have not experienced any crashes or downtime.
Head Of IT at Cirrus Response
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very stable.
Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
If the Veracode server is down, we experience many issues during the scan.
Lead Automation Quality Engineer in Leading UK Bank at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I have observed that it is not that reliable in terms of security because Veracode was not able to find some security threats in our application that existed since the product was developed.
Software Development Engineer II at Rocket Software
It's not that easy to onboard, but once they have been onboarded on the platform, and the pipeline configured alongside the product configured, it works effectively.
Head of Security Architecture at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Qualys TotalCloud requires UI improvements, better cloud integration, enhanced support, and optimized reporting, onboarding, and vulnerability detection.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud needs improved customization, automation, UI performance, policy management, integration, AI functions, and reduced licensing complexities.
Veracode is criticized for high costs, licensing rigidity, false positives, slow UI, and limited integration and language support.
Ideally, the scanner should automatically detect and scan all subdomains, even if not explicitly defined, ensuring comprehensive vulnerability assessment.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
Ideally, updates should be more immediate, enabling quicker implementation of solutions.
Project Lead at Persistent Systems
Our goal is to integrate all these functions into Qualys, creating a single dashboard for comprehensive security monitoring and management.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft, in general, could significantly improve its communication and support.
Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees
It would be beneficial to streamline recommendations to avoid unnecessary alerts and to refine the severity of alerts based on specific environments or environmental attributes.
Works at Coca-Cola HBC
The artificial intelligence features could be expanded to allow the system to autonomously manage security issues without needing intervention from admins.
Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG
If it could be integrated directly with code repositories such as Bitbucket or GitHub, without the need to create a pipeline to upload and decode code, it would simplify the code scan process significantly.
We had issues with scanning large applications. Scanning took a lot of time, so we kept it outside the DevOps pipeline to avoid delaying deployments.
Lead Automation Quality Engineer in Leading UK Bank at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
A nice addition would be if it could be extended for scenarios with custom cleansers.
IT App Security Senior Analyst at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Qualys TotalCloud is costly but justified for large companies due to features, flexibility, and VMware integration efficiencies.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers flexible pricing but gets complex and costly, requiring careful evaluation, especially for advanced plans.
Veracode's pricing is high and complex, valued by enterprises but expensive for smaller businesses with flexible options.
Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive.
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Pricing is managed by our finance team; however, Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches.
Vice President at Inspira Enterprise
Security has essentially no cost when compared to the cost of a breach.
Director, Cloud and Modern Workplace at Informanix Technology Group
Every time we consider expanding usage, we carefully evaluate the necessity due to cost concerns.
Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license.
Manager, Microsoft Technology Alliance at Silverfort
It's not the most expensive solution.
Senior Solutions Architect at IDS Comercial
Overall, Veracode's pricing is lower and more scalable than many alternatives in the market.
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
If there's a security gap, you'll never know the cost or effect.
 

Valuable Features

Qualys TotalCloud offers efficient asset discovery, security posture management, and vulnerability management with excellent integration and threat intelligence features.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances security and compliance with AI-powered threat intelligence, automation, and multi-cloud integration for improved protection.
Veracode offers effective security analysis, CI/CD integration, multi-language support, and detailed reports for secure, compliant software development.
This view of risk helps reduce the work we would have to do to combine multiple sources to prioritize risk.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
It will help cybersecurity professionals monitor the cloud and find vulnerabilities.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
We are enjoying the new feature, FlexScan, which is valuable for Internet-facing VMs.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature for me is the variety of APIs available.
Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
This feature significantly aids in threat detection and enhances the user experience by streamlining security management.
Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG
The most valuable feature is the recommendations provided on how to improve security.
Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
It offers confidence by preventing exposure to vulnerabilities and helps ensure that we are not deploying vulnerable code into production.
Site Leader (India) at Industrial Scientific
The best features in Veracode include static analysis and the early detection of vulnerable libraries; it integrates with tools such as Jenkins.
It fixes issues directly in the IDE while you're doing it.
IT App Security Senior Analyst at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Ranking in Container Security
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (8th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (2nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (7th)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Ranking in Container Security
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (6th), Container Management (6th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (6th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (3rd)
Veracode
Ranking in Container Security
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
208
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (3rd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (3rd), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (2nd), Static Code Analysis (1st), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (1st), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Container Security category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.7%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 4.8%, down from 6.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Veracode is 2.6%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud4.8%
Qualys TotalCloud1.7%
Veracode2.6%
Other90.9%
Container Security
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2859021 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Risk-based triage has transformed container security and now prioritizes high-impact threats
The best features Qualys TotalCloud offers currently include managing cloud infrastructure and container security while facing major challenges such as alert fatigue. Traditional vulnerability scanners flag hundreds of CVEs on short-lived Kubernetes containers, some of which have no internet exposure or are gone before we can even triage them. I leverage Qualys TotalCloud to move beyond static CVSS. I use it to implement runtime exposure, correlation risk reprioritization, and shift-left integration. This notifies developers to fix a base image upstream rather than patching live ephemeral instances. In my work with cloud and container security, the biggest operational hurdle was alert fatigue. I use Qualys to shift left from static CVSS severity to context-aware risk prioritization. I correlated raw vulnerability data with real-time risk factors such as public network exposure, active runtime execution, or overly permissive IAM roles. This allows us to immediately drop the priority of isolated containers and escalate lower-severity CVEs that sit on an exposed, high-risk path. We can map these findings directly back to our CI/CD pipelines so developers can patch the root base images upstream. We have drastically cut down the signal-to-noise ratio, saved a lot of manual hours doing triage work, and ensured engineering effort goes directly towards high-impact risk reduction.
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.
reviewer2753535 - PeerSpot reviewer
DevSecOps Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Integrates security into the development process and improves team collaboration
Veracode helps organizations develop software by reducing the risk of security vulnerabilities through developer enablement and applications focused on governance. You can utilize different levels of processes to achieve better performance or a more scalable service. Since I started working with it in 2022, I’ve found it to be cost-effective as well. Overall, Veracode is a user-friendly security tool. It includes features such as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), and Software Composition Analysis (SCA). During the development phase, we can identify vulnerabilities in the application. This process occurs in the staging environment during development. When we're ready to go to production, we conduct a final check. Essentially, this tool helps identify vulnerabilities during the code development stage, including both high-level vulnerabilities and those related to open-source software composition. We utilize specific methodologies for this purpose. Additionally, it offers a feature that allows us to set up policies based on client requirements. This means we can customize the tool to meet the specific needs of our clients, ensuring that they receive the appropriate level of security in their applications. Veracode is user-friendly as well. Compared to other tools, their scans take 15 minutes or under. If you have a large scale of libraries or data, it might take longer, but based on my personal experience, the scan usually runs within fifteen minutes. For my case study using the Veracode tool, I worked on an internal project following industry standards. We used Veracode to improve our security posture and speed up the time to market by streamlining the development process. This enhanced collaboration between developers, operations, and security teams. The automated scanning process helped identify and fix vulnerabilities earlier in the development process. We maintained compliance with regulatory requirements, avoided fines, and built customer trust by integrating security into the development process. When we conduct this scan, we receive data on a list of vulnerabilities. This information improved our communication and increased transparency, which leads to better reports about the efforts being put in. This results in a more effective and efficient collaboration process, making it user-friendly for all involved. When considering costs, if we resort to manual processes, it can be time-consuming. Therefore, we utilize automated scans to identify and fix security issues. This allows us to address vulnerabilities early in the development process, as we discussed previously. This applies both to our in-house code and third-party libraries, using Software Composition Analysis (SCA) agent-based scans. In the future, we will also implement SCA agent-based scans as a separate feature within Veracode, which can help organizations avoid the expensive and time-consuming consequences of security issues. Furthermore, we have seen an increase in compliance, helping to maintain adherence to regulatory requirements and industry standards, thereby avoiding fines and reputational damage associated with noncompliance. Additionally, by integrating security into the development process, we enhance customer trust in our organization and its products.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Container Security solutions are best for your needs.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
16%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise34
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business70
Midsize Enterprise46
Large Enterprise114
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
In terms of improvement, remediation still belongs to the cloud team, which is one of the issues we faced with Qualys...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
My main use case for Qualys TotalCloud is regarding the cloud visibility that we were not having previously. Previous...
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...
Which gives you more for your money - SonarQube or Veracode?
SonarQube is easy to deploy and configure, and also integrates well with other tools to do quality code analysis. Son...
What is the biggest difference between Veracode and Checkmarx?
According to my experience of using both the tools in different organizations Veracode is a Cloud-native, managed Ap...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Veracode Static Analysis?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Veracode is that it is fairly moderate.
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
Crashtest Security , Veracode Detect
 

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.
Manhattan Associates, Azalea Health, Sabre, QAD, Floor & Decor, Prophecy International, SchoolCNXT, Keap, Rekner, Cox Automotive, Automation Anywhere, State of Missouri and others.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Veracode and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.