Kubernetes vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud comparison

Kubernetes and Microsoft are both solutions in the Container Management category. Kubernetes is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.4, while Microsoft is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.1. Kubernetes holds a 5.1% mindshare in CM, compared to Microsoft’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Kubernetes users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Kubernetes

Read 78 Kubernetes reviews

3,433 Views
2,270 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Read 77 Microsoft Defender for Cloud reviews

236 Views
236 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Kubernetes

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Kubernetes and Microsoft Defender for Cloud compete in the container orchestration and cloud security categories, respectively. Based on feature comparisons, Kubernetes has the upper hand due to its scalability and cost-effectiveness, while Microsoft Defender for Cloud excels in security features.

Features: Kubernetes is renowned for its ability to provide scalability and flexibility, with strong integration support for cloud providers and Docker containers. Its automation capabilities greatly enhance microservice deployment. Microsoft Defender for Cloud stands out for its comprehensive security measures and seamless integration with Azure services. Users appreciate its compliance management capabilities and support for multi-cloud environments.

Room for Improvement: Kubernetes could improve its user interface, streamline its deployment processes, and enhance built-in security features to better integrate with third-party security tools. Microsoft Defender for Cloud, on the other hand, would benefit from improving its cost-effectiveness and creating more intuitive configuration options. Better integration with external tools and a refined approach to alert management are also needed.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Kubernetes, being open-source, relies heavily on community support, leading to varied support experiences. Its open-source nature makes it more complex to deploy, although it offers greater flexibility. Microsoft Defender for Cloud, by integrating seamlessly with Azure, offers easier deployment for Microsoft users. However, response times in customer service can be slower, especially under basic support plans.

Pricing and ROI: Kubernetes, being open-source, incurs no direct licensing fees, making it cost-effective for large-scale deployments. However, operational costs can rise with the need for additional tools. Microsoft Defender for Cloud often comes with higher costs due to its extensive security features, but it remains competitive because of its integrations. While both solutions provide operational efficiencies leading to potential cost savings, Kubernetes' open-source model frequently offers lower total ownership costs compared to the premium pricing associated with Defender for Cloud's advanced features.

To learn more, read our detailed Kubernetes vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Kubernetes vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

April 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

Kubernetes

Ranking in Container Management

4th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Ranking in Container Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (7th), Container Security (4th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (2nd), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (4th), Compliance Management (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Kubernetes is 5.1%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 1.1%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Container Management

Featured Reviews

Nouman Kaiser

Operations Engineer at DNB

Offers a crucial feedback process and support for nonproduction environment but lacks a built-in API development feature

The downside scaling and rendering with Kubernetes in our company is handled by a third-party client; we only raise tickets with them. I would rate the scalability of Kubernetes as seven out of ten. I am satisfied with the scalability of the product offered to our organization. There are around 1500 to 2000 Kubernetes users in our company. Our organization's entire IT blueprint team uses the solution extensively for the nonproduction environment. The usage of Kubernetes may increase in our organization depending upon requirements, as we have no plans to scale down the use, and the upscaling license is already available to us.

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Srikanth Matsa

Senior DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Offers a security posture score that indicates how well our environment is protected but should offer better pricing options

Before Microsoft Defender our external team would give us updates on which ports are opening and which vulnerabilities are being attacked. Now with the recommendations of Microsoft Defender, we can find these vulnerabilities sooner and fix them. Before onboarding those respected resources into Microsoft Defender, we faced a few issues. Once we onboarded those resources, we received prompt recommendations that helped us make the organization's resources more secure. If resources are not secured, it can impact the reputation of the organization. The solution helped identify a lot of the issues, at a high priority that we could resolve. Microsoft Defender helps any organization that needs to follow security baseline recommendations in order to improve its environment. Regarding threats, I recommend Microsoft Sentinel for detecting and hunting the threats. I can identify what exactly happened at that particular time or particular resource with the help of Microsoft Sentinel. The solution has significantly reduced the overall time it takes us to detect issues. Most of the resources are scanned every 30 minutes, so it doesn't take much time for the solution to give us the respected recommendations. Depending on the issue, Microsoft Defender for Cloud has helped reduce our overall time to respond. There are a few recommendations that we can fix immediately by just clicking using the UI. However, the overall time to respond to issues depends upon that respected recommendation list. There are a few things that we need to consider when it comes to the security settings of our virtual machines which can take a long time to identify and fix.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is highly scalable."

"We use this solution for the hosting of micro-services. Kubernetes helps us to orchestrate all the containers hosting these micro-services."

"Kubernetes offers a lot of great features such as scalability and great portability of applications."

"Kubernetes provides scalable clustering for containers and other means of deployment."

"The most valuable feature of Kubernetes is container orchestration."

"It's really scalable and efficient for resource management."

"I am impressed with the product's coupling of resources and flexibility."

"I like Kubernetes' scalability, built-in redundancy, and ease of deployment."

More Kubernetes pros

"The most valuable features are the monitoring of users, endpoint detection and response, and the adaptability of the AI threat intelligence engine, which quickly adapts to customizations."

"The main feature is the security posture assessment through the security score. I find that to be very helpful because it gives us guidance on what needs to be secured and recommendations on how to secure the workloads that have been onboarded."

"It works seamlessly on the Azure platform because it's a Microsoft app. Its setup is similar, so if you already have a Microsoft account, it just flows into it."

"The integration with Logic Apps allows for automated responses to incidents."

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

"The first valuable feature was the fact that it gave us a list of everything that users were surfing on the web. Having the list, we could make decisions about those sites."

"I would rate Microsoft Defender for Cloud a ten."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

Cons

"It would be helpful if the UI were more graphical."

"The Kubernetes dashboard can be improved. It is currently a mess. We were using Rancher earlier, and everyone was happy with the dashboard. Right now, we are using Kubernetes, and it's not working with Microsoft workstations. We still have problems with the dashboard. It's terrible."

"Currently, in Kubernetes, all of the health deployments or monitoring, and the discrete tools need to be configured. Changing this would make it much easier. Otherwise, we have to rely on a external tool to implement the monitoring."

"Setup was not straightforward."

"Kubernetes is incredibly complicated, so one area of improvement is the ease of administration. I would like a user interface that you can run to help you debug and diagnose problems and suggest how to configure things."

"The management needs to be improved."

"The solution can be quite complex for many users."

"Overall, it's very powerful, but there are also a lot of complexities to manage."

More Kubernetes cons

"No possibility to write or edit any capability."

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

"After getting a recommendation, it takes time for the solution to refresh properly to show that the problem has been eliminated."

"The documentation could be much clearer."

"The documentation and implementation guides could be improved."

"Sometimes, it's very difficult to determine when I need Microsoft Defender for Cloud for a special resource group or certain kinds of products. That's not an issue directly with the product, though."

"However, some Copilot features aren't available in the GCP environment. This is something we hope will be addressed in the future."

"The solution's portal is very easy to use, but there's one key component that is missing when it comes to managing policies. For example, if I've onboarded my server and I need to specify antivirus policies, there's no option to do that on the portal. I will have to go to Intune to deploy them. That is one main aspect that is missing and it's worrisome."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs associated with its use."

"Kubernetes is open source and is an orchestration platform. It is a cost effective solution and its pricing depends on your company and how you use it"

"The solution itself is open-source, so there is no cost attached to it. However, it requires a virtual machine to operate, which does come at a cost; a choice of a pay as you go model, or a monthly charge via an enterprise agreement. There is a pricing calculator available, where organizations can determine the level and number of virtual machines required, and how much that will cost."

"Kubernetes is free; it's open-source software."

"If you have a solid AKS and a solid DevOps process, you'll automatically get an ROI, not just in terms of cost but also in how quickly you can see your business application progress."

"In addition to Kubernetes, you have to pay for support."

"The solution is open source and has no fees."

"Kubernetes is open-source."

More Kubernetes pricing and cost advice

"The cost is fair. There aren't any costs in addition to the standard licensing fee."

"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."

"I rate Microsoft Defender a three out of ten for affordability. The price could be a little lower."

"The pricing and licensing of Microsoft Defender for Cloud have been good for us. We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license."

"Pricing is a consideration, but we strive to keep costs low by enabling only necessary services."

"It has global licensing. It comes with multiple licenses since there are around 50,000 people (in our organization) who look at it."

"Pricing depends on your workload size, but it is very cheap. If you're talking about virtual machines, it is $5 or something for each machine, which is minimal. If you go for some agent-based solution for every virtual machine, then you need to pay the same thing or more than that. For an on-premises solution like this, we were paying around $30 to $50 based on size. With Defender, Microsoft doesn't bother about the size. You pay based on the number of machines. So, if you have 10 virtual machines, and 10 virtual machines are being monitored, you are paying based on that rather than the size of the virtual machine. Thus, you are paying for the number of units rather than paying for the size of your units."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

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 Kubernetes?

There are many good features. I feel that the scale-out features, like replica sets, are very good. The number of running containers can be autoscaled.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kubernetes?

Since we use Kubernetes on-premises, the costs are related to our expertise and the personnel we hire.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Kubernetes?

Although we face issues when migrating to new versions of Kubernetes, such as misunderstandings on using new features or integration with proxy services, these issues can be addressed with proper p...

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 across your ecosystem. It also has great remote workforce capabilities and supports a...

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 cost is generally reasonable. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Plan 2 costs $15 per server, per month. For a normal customer with ten to twenty servers, the cost is about $300 per month, which is a...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 44% of the time

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Compared 18% of the time

Portainer vs Kubernetes

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs Kubernetes

Compared 6% of the time

Google Kubernetes Engine vs Kubernetes

Compared 4% of the time

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AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 20% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 14% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Orca Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Kubernetes

May 2025

Download Kubernetes product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

May 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Also Known As

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

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Kubernetes

Microsoft

Overview

Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
It groups containers that make up an application into logical units for easy management and discovery. Kubernetes builds upon 15 years of experience of running production workloads at Google, combined with best-of-breed ideas and practices from the community.

Kubernetes

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

China unicom, NetEase Cloud, Nav, AppDirect

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

Buyer's Guide

Kubernetes vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

April 2025

Free Report: Kubernetes vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Find out what your peers are saying about Kubernetes vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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