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Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 11, 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
7.0
SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security enhances detection, reduces incident response time, and saves over 30% in costs and resources.
Sentiment score
3.7
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks enhances response time and ROI with discounts and features, beneficial during critical periods.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Defender for Cloud boosts security and efficiency, integrates with Azure, reduces costs, prevents breaches, and offers proactive defense.
The detailed information PingSafe gives about how to fix vulnerabilities reduces the time spent on remediation by about 70 to 80 percent.
Security and Compliance Manager at Bidgely
After implementing SentinelOne, it takes about five to seven minutes.
Cloud engineer at a construction company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Our ability to get in and review our vulnerability stance, whether daily, monthly, weekly, or whatever it might be, has drastically improved over our prior provider.
IT Support Specialist at a non-tech company with 201-500 employees
The solution provides a good ROI, especially for regular customers, offering discounts for three-year licenses.
Senior Cybersecurity Consultant at Ernst & Young
I don't think the tool in itself is very capable of doing that, but we have XSOAR and other tool integrations done on the platform, so this can be accomplished.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
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
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
SentinelOne's customer service is praised for expertise and responsiveness, with improved satisfaction post-acquisition despite occasional support variability.
Sentiment score
6.6
Cortex Cloud offers efficient global support, expert troubleshooting, and user-friendly dashboards, driving strategic adoption despite its cost.
Sentiment score
6.2
Microsoft Defender for Cloud support is responsive at higher levels, but experiences vary with mixed satisfaction due to delays.
When we send an email, they respond quickly and proactively provide solutions.
Security and Compliance Manager at Bidgely
They took direct responsibility for the system and could solve queries quickly.
Senior DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Having a reliable team ready and willing to assist with any issues is essential.
Director, DevOps at Relay Network
If I make it a high priority, they have resolved one query within 20 minutes.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
If local Indian support cannot resolve an issue, global tech support aligns promptly within the agreed SLA.
Senior Cybersecurity Consultant at Ernst & Young
Fast response times and knowledgeable staff who understand the intricacies of the system.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 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
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security offers scalable solutions, seamlessly integrating with systems and efficiently supporting dynamic and growing environments.
Sentiment score
4.5
Cortex Cloud offers scalability, efficient response, and integration, maintaining consistent pricing, rated highly for organizations of all sizes.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is scalable, integrating across environments effortlessly, suitable for all enterprise sizes with flexible performance.
I would rate it a 10 out of 10 for scalability.
IT Engineer at a venture capital & private equity firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Scalability is no longer a concern because Cloud Native Security is a fully cloud-based resource.
CISO at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
I would rate the scalability of PingSafe 10 out of 10.
Sr DevOps Engineer at a media company with 51-200 employees
For stability, scalability, mean time to response, and potential incident investigation improvements, I would give it a nine or probably even a ten.
Business Development Team Lead at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Onboarding endpoints and assets on Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is very easy.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
The platform is able to auto-shut certain resources that are not in use through the agentless scan feature.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
SentinelOne Singularity is praised for reliability and stability, despite occasional UI glitches and communication delays.
Sentiment score
7.8
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is reliable, stable, with quick performance, no latency, and effective real-time attack prevention.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is stable and reliable, with minimal issues mainly during updates, ensuring strong user satisfaction.
SentinelOne Singularity Cloud is incredibly reliable.
Security Analyst at Intersistemi Italia s.p.a.
The only downtime we had was when switching from V1 to V2 but it was smooth.
Cloud Security Specialist at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Cloud Native Security is a SaaS product and I've never experienced an outage.
CISO at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
My impression of Cloud Runtime Security in stopping attacks in real-time is that I have never had an issue where it has let something through, causing an outage or concerns to the customer.
Business Development Team Lead at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
However, now in Cortex Cloud, I have not seen any lag or buffer.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
My evaluation of how stable and reliable Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is very positive.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
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
 

Room For Improvement

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud needs better integration, enhanced functionality, improved user interface, and cost-effective, stable solutions with comprehensive support.
Cortex Cloud requires a user-friendly interface, cost efficiency, enhanced features, and skilled personnel to overcome operational challenges.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud users seek better automation, clarity, integration, AI features, and comprehensive analytics for improved security management.
If they can merge Kubernetes Security with other modules related to Kubernetes, that would help us to get more modules in the current subscription.
IT Engineer at a venture capital & private equity firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
As organizations move to the cloud, a cloud posture management tool that offers complete cloud visibility becomes crucial for maintaining compliance.
CISO at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
I would also like to see Cloud Native Security offer APIs that allow us to directly build dashboards within the platform.
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Regarding the generative AI security tool, I know for sure it's Agentic.
Cybersecurity Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The solution is quite premium in cost compared to alternatives such as Wiz.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
There is not a clear MSP model compared to other vendors such as CrowdStrike.
Business Development Manager For Palo Alto Networks at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 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
 

Setup Cost

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security provides flexible, modular pricing that is competitive and valued by enterprises for cloud security solutions.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is scalable, offering free and paid versions with costs averaging $15 monthly per server.
With very little negotiation involved, we just let them know what we could pay and they were willing to meet us at slightly above what we paid with Sophos, which was still very fair for what we were looking at.
IT Support Specialist at a non-tech company with 201-500 employees
There are some tools that are double the cost of Cloud Native Security.
IT Engineer at a venture capital & private equity firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I recall Cloud Native Security charging a slightly higher premium previously.
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
The solution is costly, with high-end capabilities suitable for enterprises.
Senior Cybersecurity Consultant at Ernst & Young
Today, it is smart and easy to calculate the licenses.
Cloud Security Manager at T-Systems International GmbH
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
 

Valuable Features

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud offers AI-driven threat detection, intuitive interface, seamless integration, automated remediation, and enhanced security management.
Cortex Cloud enhances security with AI-driven automation, reducing manual tasks and improving threat management for lean enterprise teams.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances security with AI-based threat detection, multi-cloud support, and a unified portal for comprehensive management.
This tool has been helpful for us. It allows us to search for vulnerabilities and provides evidence directly on the screen.
Cloud Security Specialist at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Cloud Native Security's cloud SIEM feature has been essential in preventing our most critical security incidents.
Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
The cloud misconfiguration feature gave us almost zero false positives.
Sr security engineer at Halodoc
AI/ML aids in anticipating remediation for misconfigurations and vulnerabilities, and automatic remediation can be easily configured.
Senior Cybersecurity Consultant at Ernst & Young
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks has reduced the time spent on incident investigations, and if I had to estimate, I would say it has cut our investigation time in half.
Sr. Compliance Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
This simplifies the management of shared responsibility among different people and entities, allowing you to use one single tool instead of having dozens of different tools to orchestrate and integrate.
Business Development Manager For Palo Alto Networks at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 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
 

Categories and Ranking

SentinelOne Singularity Clo...
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Ranking in Vulnerability Management
4th
Ranking in Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
4th
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
3rd
Ranking in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
Cloud and Data Center Security (3rd), Container Security (3rd), Compliance Management (2nd), AI Observability (2nd)
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto N...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
27th
Ranking in Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
13th
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
18th
Ranking in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (12th), Software Supply Chain Security (7th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (6th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (6th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (4th)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
7th
Ranking in Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
1st
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
4th
Ranking in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Container Management (8th), Container Security (7th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (5th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) category, the mindshare of SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is 4.4%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is 1.5%. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 16.5%, up from 14.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud16.5%
SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security4.4%
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks1.5%
Other77.6%
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
 

Featured Reviews

SC
Information Security Engineer at DataVigilant Infotech
Enables us to prioritize and effectively address critical security issues
Evidence-based reporting helps us to prioritize and solve critical security issues. The new visualization feature demonstrates how an attacker can enter the system, highlighting the potential path that can be exploited and outlining all the steps the attacker could take. With that visibility, we can ensure the perimeter is strong and attackers cannot enter, thus reducing the risk. It has helped us prioritize issues. The visibility into how an attack could happen is valuable. For example, it highlights the system vulnerability and outlines where an attack could propagate. The visualization helps me to prioritize remediation, and if I don't know where to start, I can check to see the score that enables me to prioritize issues. I am using infrastructure-as-code scanning, and it's one of the useful features. In pre-production, it identifies embedded secrets and misconfigurations, including issues with Kubernetes or some privileged containers. This feature allows us to pass the audit and secure IaC code so that it isn't easily exploitable by attackers. We can more proactively work to identify and resolve vulnerabilities by using the dashboard and the alerting system that SentinelOne provides. It helps us with audits and compliance. We can show the compliance in percentage. We can confidently say that our company or infrastructure is very secure. It has improved our security posture by 30% to 35%. It has reduced our false positives by 30%. It has helped teams collaborate better. The security team manages SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security, and when it flags vulnerabilities, they are forwarded to DevOps for remediation. Previously, we needed to identify and report the issues, but there would be lapses in communication. Now, there is a centralized dashboard that anyone can look at and see the open issues and work on them.
SJ
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
Cloud security has improved as AI-driven runtime protection detects threats and reduces incidents
In my opinion, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks could be improved or enhanced in various ways. I don't have an idea about that yet because for that you actually need to use two or three different other tools to make a basic comparison. If you ask me how good the tool is, I would fairly rate it quite high. The tool is very popular, and customers can already see that it is one of the cloud leaders in the security space. The platform had a very good feature which provides documentation links about how to use a specific feature on the UI. It takes you to the proper documentation page where it suggests what to do and tells you about the steps that need to be done for a resource deployment. My thoughts about improving the product which I believe could greatly aid vendors is that it used to be a very user-friendly tool, but now they have incorporated everything under one umbrella. It has XDR, XSOAR, and Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. Before, we used to have separate modules and separate environments for each of these capabilities or features. Right now, it is a little complex and users would take their own time to know the tool better. This is something that would have been way better, but I would say there would be different opinions on this. Talking about user-friendliness, it has decreased now.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Performing Arts
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business49
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise55
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise49
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about PingSafe?
The dashboard gives me an overview of all the things happening in the product, making it one of the tool's best featu...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PingSafe?
Regarding the pricing for SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security, I do not think it is something I can compare.
What needs improvement with PingSafe?
I do not see room for improvement in SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security. In the future, I would like to see the i...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
The solution is costly, with high-end capabilities suitable for enterprises. It is less affordable for startups or sm...
What needs improvement with Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
As per my experience with Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, the UI could be simpler. There are few features which a...
What is your primary use case for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
My use case for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is for CSPM, application security, and IAM. I use it for checking ...
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 cost, and licensing for Microsoft Defender for Cloud was pretty straightforward. We...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
Microsoft Defender for Cloud can be improved. An additional feature that should be included in the next release is Ze...
 

Also Known As

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

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Information Not Available
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.