CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud comparison

CrowdStrike and Microsoft are both solutions in the Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) category. CrowdStrike is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.1, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.1. CrowdStrike holds a 6.3% mindshare in CWPP, compared to Microsoft’s 13.6% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of CrowdStrike users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

Microsoft Defender for Cloud and CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security compete in the cloud security sector. While Microsoft Defender offers robust security across the Microsoft ecosystem, CrowdStrike stands out with its cloud-native deployment and effective threat intelligence. CrowdStrike is often preferred for its simplicity and threat response capabilities.

Features: Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers seamless integration with Microsoft services, AI and machine learning capabilities, and comprehensive protection. It enhances visibility across systems but faces challenges in managing multiple subscriptions. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is valued for its lightweight, cloud-based threat detection, endpoint protection, and single console management, notable for its real-time response and threat-hunting features.

Room for Improvement: Users of Microsoft Defender for Cloud suggest improvements in customization, more efficient automation, and reducing false positives. Integration with legacy systems and simplifying cost management are also noted. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security users seek enhanced customer support, expanded forensic capabilities, and streamlined pricing. Suggestions for better Linux support and integration simplicity are noted.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Cloud is praised for ease of integration within the Microsoft ecosystem, especially Azure, though technical support experiences vary. CrowdStrike Falcon excels in easy deployment with its lightweight nature, requiring minimal infrastructure changes. Customer service varies, with some users requesting more consistent support.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides competitive pricing options but faces complexity in its pricing structure. Some users find ROI strong due to integration ease, while others struggle with high costs. CrowdStrike Falcon is considered expensive but justifies its pricing with comprehensive coverage and operational efficiencies, with users highlighting ease of management and effective detection capabilities as reasons for solid ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

July 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 865,295 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

SentinelOne Singularity Clo...

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) category, the mindshare of SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is 3.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is 6.3%, up from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 13.6%, down from 16.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)

Featured Reviews

Andrew W

VP - Information Technology at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees

Tells us about vulnerabilities as well as their impact and helps to focus on real issues

Looking at all the different pieces, it has got everything we need. Some of the pieces we do not even use. For example, we do not have Kubernetes Security. We are not running any K8 clusters, so it is good for us. Overall, we find the solution to be fantastic. There can be additional education components. This may not be truly fair to them because of what the product is going for, but it would be great to see additional education for compliance. It is not a criticism of the tool per se, but anything to help non-development resources understand some of the complexities of the cloud is always appreciated. Any additional educational resources are always helpful for security teams, especially those without a development background.

Read full review

Saif Ullah Khan

Security Engineer at ebryx

Boosts security by automatically blocking applications or activities, but query responses have been slower recently

For the past six months, we have been facing some issues. Because it is a cloud-based infrastructure, it has been getting slower. There are no bugs because they release updates continuously. We highly appreciate that, but during hunting or running a query on different logs, the time frame has increased in the past six months. It takes longer to give us the results. Another issue is the lack of proper documentation. During investigations, there is no proper documentation available. This is a problem because many people are saying there should be proper documentation explaining what CrowdStrike captures from the machine and the meaning of it.

Read full review

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.

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

"The visibility SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security provides into the Cloud environment is a valuable feature."

"The dashboard is intuitive in terms of design and functionality. Additionally, it gives me an email for all the findings that are open."

"Cloud Security has provided a single view to observe all workloads, prioritization for handling cloud assets, and reduced noise by distinguishing false positives effectively."

"The most valuable features of SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security are the asset inventory and issue indexing."

"SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is better than other vendors because we get all the cloud-related, data center-related information."

"I would rate their support a ten out of ten."

"The remediation process is good."

"The real-time detection and response capabilities overall are great."

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security pros

"I think the overall solution should be rated a ten out of ten."

"The most valuable feature of Falcon Cloud Security is its comprehensive threat-hunting ability."

"Cloud security posture management (CSPM) is most valuable."

"Falcon is a cloud-based technology, so its resource usage is light. You deploy the agents to your endpoints, but the processing is done on the cloud, so you're CPU utilization is only about 2 percent. Some others solutions use between 30 to 60 percent."

"The most valuable features of CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security are Cloud Security Posture Management and Cloud Workload Protection, offering more visibility and protection across our cloud environment."

"Technical support is helpful."

"I have contacted customer service, and they are fast."

"We like the solution's management and monitoring tools for our network. We use it to monitor our network between workstations and outside our organization. The AI provides useful visualizations of our network on a dashboard."

More CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security pros

"The most valuable features of this solution are the remote workforce capabilities and the general experience of the remote workforce."

"It isn't a highly complex solution. It's something that a lot of analysts can use. Defender gives you a broad overview of what's happening in your environment, and it's a great solution if you're a Microsoft shop."

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

"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."

"Defender for Cloud provides a prioritized list of remediations for security issues, reducing risk and improving security operations."

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

"The most valuable features are ransomware protection and access controls. The solution has helped us secure some folders on our systems from unauthorized modifications."

"The technical support is very good."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

Cons

"The cloud-based operations might pose challenges in areas with limited or unavailable internet connectivity. Desktop features might be useful for smaller organizations with less complex security needs."

"We don't get any notifications from SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security when the clusters are down."

"SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security filtering has some areas that cause problems, and to achieve single sign-on functionality, a break-glass feature, which is currently unavailable, is necessary."

"It is not a criticism of the tool per se, but anything to help non-development resources understand some of the complexities of the cloud is always appreciated. Any additional educational resources are always helpful for security teams, especially those without a development background."

"In some cases, the rules are strictly enforced but do not align with real-world use cases."

"Once all components, including the cloud piece and container runtime piece, integrate further and incorporate an AI layer for better comprehension, it will greatly enhance the utility of Singularity Cloud Security."

"We've found a lot of false positives."

"In version 2, a lot of rules have been deployed for Kubernetes security and CDR, which makes a lot of issues of critical severity, whereas they are not critical or of high severity. There is a mismatch of severities. They need to work on severity management."

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security cons

"Incorporating threat intelligence into the system would be a valuable addition."

"The CrowdStrike partner portal documentation could be improved to provide proper instructions for integrating their products."

"The tool is expensive."

"The file integrity monitoring feature should be enhanced and offered more control"

"The SIEM needs to be more developed."

"Different file options should be available, and clients should be able to select from the options."

"I think the UI could be improved, but the technical support said CrowdStrike will improve the UI in the near future. But right now, it’s so messy."

"The only challenge lies in token verification."

More CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security cons

"An area where Microsoft Defender for Cloud could be improved is in getting away from having multiple menus that do the same thing, which seems imposing when looking at it."

"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 would like to see better automation when it comes to pushing out security features to the recommendations, and better documentation on the step-by-step procedures for enabling certain features."

"From a compliance standpoint, they can include some more metrics and some specific compliances such as GDPR."

"The range of workloads is broad, but we'd love to add more workloads and make it a single security solution that covers all those workloads."

"I recommend that they extend the scope for legacy infra assets."

"Microsoft Graph needs improvement."

"I rate Microsoft support five out of 10. It gets better once you're escalated past the first and second levels. It's difficult to get the necessary support when tickets are first opened."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a little expensive. I would rate it a four out of ten for pricing."

"The cost for PingSafe is average when compared to other CSPM tools."

"SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is on the costlier side."

"It's not cheap, but it is worth the price."

"The pricing is somewhat high compared to other market tools."

"SentinelOne provided competitive pricing compared to other vendors, and we are satisfied with the deal."

"As a partner, we receive a discount on the licenses."

"The tool is cost-effective."

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security pricing and cost advice

"I am not the one who handled the pricing. A different team worked on it, but it is pretty expensive."

"It's an expensive product"

"It's an expensive package but does what it says it will do."

"The pricing is reasonable, neither overly expensive nor excessively cheap, making it competitive compared to other market options."

"CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is very expensive for us. Last month, we had a big issue that took much time and money to resolve. It slowed down our business and required our management team to get involved. We had a problem similar to the "Blue Screen of Death" issue many US companies faced. This incident used up many of our IT resources in just a few months. That's why we're looking for a replacement tool now."

"It is expensive, but it adds value."

"The pricing is fair for what you get. I'd rate them a solid nine out of ten in terms of pricing."

"CrowdStrike Falcon is very expensive."

More CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is very difficult because every type of Defender for Cloud has its own metrics and pricing. If you have Cloud for Key Vault, the pricing is different than it is for storage. Every type has its own pricing list and rules."

"Although I am outside of the discussion on budget and costing, I can say that the importance of security provided by this solution is of such importance that whatever the cost is, it is not a factor."

"Security Center charges $15 per resource for any workload that you onboard into it. They charge per VM or per data-base server or per application. It's not like Microsoft 365 licensing, where there are levels like E3 and E5. Security Center is pretty straightforward."

"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."

"I am not involved in this area. However, I believe its price is okay because even small customers are using Azure Security Center. I don't think it is very expensive."

"The solution is expensive, and I rate it a five to six out of ten."

"The licensing cost per server is $15 per month."

"Our clients complain about the cost of Microsoft Defender for Cloud."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PingSafe?

I don't handle the price part, but it isn't more expensive than Palo Alto Prisma Cloud. It's not cheap, but it is wor...

See all answers

What needs improvement with PingSafe?

There is scope for more application security posture management features. Additionally, the runtime protection needs ...

See all answers

What do you like most about CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security?

It's easy to gather insights and conduct analysis about existing threats.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security?

It's an expensive product. The solution costs around $60 for a single user on a yearly basis. I would rate the pricin...

See all answers

What needs improvement with CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security?

I am not part of the current monitoring team, so I do not know how they feel about the tool. I am sharing information...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

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

See all answers

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

The pricing is pretty standard.

See all answers

Comparisons

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 14% of the time

Wiz vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 13% of the time

AWS GuardDuty vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 8% of the time

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 5% of the time

Skyhigh Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform vs SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

Compared 2% of the time

More SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security Competitors

AWS GuardDuty vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 13% of the time

Wiz vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 12% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 11% of the time

Sysdig Falco vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 5% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 3% of the time

More CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security Competitors

AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 25% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 12% 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 5% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 1% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security

July 2025

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security report

Download SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security product report

Buyer's Guide

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

August 2025

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security report

Download CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

August 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Also Known As

PingSafe

CrowdStrike Falcon ASPM

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

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

SentinelOne

Demo not available

CrowdStrike

Microsoft

Overview

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security offers a streamlined approach to cloud security with intuitive operation and strong integration capabilities for heightened threat detection and remediation efficiency.

Singularity Cloud Security stands out for its real-time detection and response, effectively minimizing detection and remediation timelines. Its automated remediation integrates smoothly with third-party tools enhancing operational efficiency. The comprehensive console ensures visibility and support for forensic investigations. Seamless platform integration and robust support for innovation are notable advantages. Areas for development include improved search functionality, affordability, better firewall capabilities for remote users, stable agents, comprehensive reporting, and efficient third-party integrations. Clarity in the interface, responsive support, and real-time alerting need enhancement, with a call for more automation and customization. Better scalability and cost-effective integration without compromising capabilities are desired.

What are SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security's standout features?

Ease of Use: Intuitive operation simplifies navigation across platforms.
Real-Time Detection: Quick identification and response to threats.
Automated Remediation: Streamlines recovery processes with integration capabilities.
Forensic Visibility: Aids in thorough threat analysis and prevention strategies.
Comprehensive Console: Offers full visibility and historical data tracking.
Platform Integration: Supports seamless operation across cloud and hybrid environments.

What benefits should users expect from SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security?

Enhanced Efficiency: Automation and third-party integration improve threat response.
Improved Detection: Reduces mean time to detect and respond to threats.
Operational Support: Comprehensive visibility and forensic tools aid operational decisions.
Cost Efficiency: Affordable integration with scaling capabilities without high overhead.

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security is deployed in industries needing robust cloud security posture management, endpoint protection, and threat hunting. Utilized frequently across AWS and Azure, it assists in monitoring, threat detection, and maintaining compliance in diverse environments while providing real-time alerts and recommendations for proactive threat management.

SentinelOne

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is a platform of cloud security solutions aimed at protecting organizations from breaches while simplifying cloud security management. The unified platform combines several cloud security functionalities for comprehensive protection. Built on the CrowdStrike Falcon Platform, it leverages the powerful agent and technology used in CrowdStrike's renowned endpoint protection solutions, extending its capabilities seamlessly to cloud environments.

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is designed to be a shield for the cloud infrastructure. One of its key strengths is its ability to monitor cloud workloads for potential breaches and attacks. It doesn't matter if you're running virtual machines, containers, or a combination of both across different cloud providers – Falcon Cloud Security offers visibility and protection. Additionally, it works tirelessly to pinpoint misconfigurations or vulnerabilities in your cloud setup, proactively stopping issues before they become full-blown security incidents. Compliance becomes easier too, as it can check if your deployments meet the requirements of various industry standards and regulations.

If you heavily utilize containers and Kubernetes, Falcon Cloud Security has you covered. It delves deep into container images and running containers to spot weaknesses and potential threats, helping you secure your containerized applications from the moment they're developed to when they're up and running. Finally, it tackles the often messy world of permissions in the cloud. Falcon Cloud Security analyzes identities and their attached permissions, ensuring that the principle of least privilege is followed and sensitive data isn't exposed due to overly broad access rights.

In essence, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security aims to simplify the complexities of cloud security by consolidating tools, providing a centralized view of your risks and threats, and delivering advanced protection that blends seamlessly with your development processes.

Based on the interviews we conducted with CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security users, overall, the sentiment is positive. Users praise the solution's efficacy in detecting and preventing threats, its ease of use, scalability, stability, and integration with existing systems. There were also mentions of areas for improvement, such as the pricing, the user interface, and customer support.

CrowdStrike

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

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

Buyer's Guide

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

July 2025

Free Report: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud report.

See our list of best Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) vendors, best Container Security vendors, and best Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) vendors.

We monitor all Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.