Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker comparison

Microsoft and Proofpoint are both solutions in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category. Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.5, while Proofpoint is ranked #20. Microsoft holds a 6.5% mindshare in CASB, compared to Proofpoint’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Proofpoint users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps and Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker compete in the cloud security space. Microsoft Defender has the upper hand in integration within Microsoft's ecosystem, while Proofpoint's specialized data protection features provide an edge in threat detection.

Features: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps offers seamless integration with Microsoft products, real-time monitoring, and extensive policy controls. Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker provides advanced threat protection, data loss prevention, and superior compliance and investigation tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is straightforward to deploy within Microsoft environments, benefiting from infrastructure familiarity, and offers consistent support through Microsoft services. Proofpoint provides more complex yet customizable deployment options and tailored support through its specialized services, catering to diverse IT landscapes.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is competitively priced for Microsoft customers, offering ROI through integration efficiencies. Proofpoint requires a higher initial investment but delivers strong ROI due to its comprehensive security capabilities. While Microsoft's pricing is appealing within its ecosystem, Proofpoint's advanced protection may justify its cost for organizations prioritizing security.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs. Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs. Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker

December 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

iboss

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) category, the mindshare of iboss is 2.5%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is 6.5%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker is 0.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps	6.5%
iboss	2.5%
Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker	0.8%
Other	90.2%

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2701851

Managing Director

Enhances web security with a single pane of glass and flexible deployment

I don't see any need for improvement; one of the really good things about iboss as a company is that they listen to customer feedback. I have suggested enhancements, and they are responsive, making changes for the better, and they do a lot of testing. To improve iboss, although we haven't used it, we considered the VPN solution that comes with the highest tier licensing, which includes DLP and various other add-ons. We prefer using another product which automatically logs you back onto your network when turning on your PC. With iboss, the connection is manual, which doesn't meet our needs. Additionally, sizing can be tricky because, although the initial recommendations may seem adequate, actual usage may require more gateways than anticipated.

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Frank Van Der Spek

Security and Continuity Manager at Rolinco NV

Deployment has been seamless with insightful data categorization and enhanced control

The features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps that I have found most valuable include the overall portal view, with bubble graphs which give us insight into what goes where in the categorization, nowadays with Generative AI but all kinds of categorization, collaboration, etc. That central view of the portal is very useful for us. The impact of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps on our organization's ability to assess and manage app related risks has been significant because we have more visibility. Therefore, we can add more control, and we have already done so. This was not possible in the old solution, in the old CASB solution with Netskope. We now can see on the spot, and we do that almost weekly, what the end users are utilizing, which cloud providers or cloud apps they're using. The visibility into OAuth apps provided by Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is very good. The visibility into risk and risk management of our organization's Generative AI apps is very nice, as you can choose the category Generative AI and then see exactly what traffic has been going to and from Generative AI in the cloud. This makes us very insightful on what is used within the company. We have some policies on blocking specific Generative AI, and we use within our company one particular AI part, which is CoPilot of Microsoft. In this way, we can see what the end users are using other than CoPilot, and that makes us more in control. The effectiveness of the integration of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps with Defender XDR and defending against SaaS attacks is very intuitive. It works immediately if we create a new policy or in Purview or in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, or when we make an app unsanctioned by blocking it, then it is almost immediately, or at least within a couple of hours, effective on all the endpoints where the EDR is running. This gives us much better control over things than before.

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Kamal Kumar Verma

Lead Consultant at Genpact - Headstrong

Stable product with essential document tracking features

In my organization, we worked with around ten to fifteen different technologies, including Bitglass, and CASB was not among our top priorities. While CASB might benefit some organizations, it was optional for our specific setup, considering the other security measures and technologies we had in place. I found no particularly valuable features regarding CASB resolutions. There are other tools available that can achieve the same functionalities and perform similar tasks. For example, I can accomplish tasks like encryption or secure data movement from our office to the internet using alternative services like Zero Trust solutions. Because of this, our organization considered removing it from our system due to its limited benefits compared to other products.

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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

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device."

"Iboss is a solution that prevents advanced persistent threats, and has a zero tolerance for attacks."

"From a use-case scenario, what I like the most is the plug-in. I like the fact that we can do the filtering of these devices offsite independent of the network they are connected to, and we do not have to have traffic coming back inside our network."

"Our primary use case for this product is DLP,"

"The security aspect of the solution, particularly the malware behind it, is excellent. That's something that really helped us out. It's not just a simple proxy that just blocks the insights of potential threats that come on behind it. They do malware detection and that helps us a lot."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"iboss is among the few products providing inline filtering where no application is needed on the device. It operates on the network side and is not device-based. This feature was one of the main reasons why we stayed with them for so long."

"I would definitely recommend iboss for web filtering purposes to other organizations or individuals."

More iboss pros

"One of the most valuable features is auditing. Some of the other protection services have issues with auditing. Microsoft Defender for Cloud has an excellent auditing technique that helps us avoid the risk of filtering or information loss. You can use different tools to guarantee these things. It allows you to conduct an in-depth exploration of applications, users, and files that are harmful or suspicious. You can also enhance your security setup by creating personalized rules or policies that help you better control traffic in the cloud."

"It does a great job of monitoring and maintaining a security baseline. For us, that is a key element. The notifications are pretty good."

"All of the features are valuable because all of the features are related."

"The solution does not affect a user's workflow."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is to stop shadow IT."

"The raw logs that come directly from Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps contain all the data I need, and the ability to track activities happening on cloud applications and the alerts provided is an interesting aspect."

"The most effective features for data protection are data loss prevention (DLP) and data classification."

"The impact of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps on our organization's ability to assess and manage app related risks has been significant because we have more visibility."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is reporting. It helps us understand what's going on in our environment."

"The product is stable."

"From stability and availability standpoints, it is pretty good."

"The quarantine feature is the solution's most valuable aspect."

Cons

"Fold that in with the risk intelligence they're getting from all of the different subscriptions they are a part of. Now, these security companies subscribe to things like emerging threats, databases, etc. You can fold all this intelligence to decide what's happening on an endpoint. I would love to see them start moving into that space. That would compete directly with Microsoft. Maybe that's why they haven't. Having that ability native within the solution would be great. The other area in which I would love to see improvement is more detailed descriptions of why they block websites."

"Sometimes the agent stops working in iboss, and we have to reinstall the agent."

"Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern."

"One thing I would like to see differently with their Zero Trust platform is that some of the AI aspects related to high-risk activities have more false positives."

"Our iboss subscription access should be more secure with an OTP or VPN etc. It is easy to gain access if, for example, hackers obtain my username and password."

"Our biggest problem with their service was it did not recognize the device and filtering did not always work correctly."

"To scale up, a new iboss Node Blade Chassis must be purchased."

"The dashboards for local use could be better."

More iboss cons

"The areas of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps that need improvement are related to IAM, as they do not provide much support for local users."

"A significant improvement I would like to see is the integration into a single pane of glass, which would allow me to view everything in one place rather than having to switch between different areas."

"The interface needs to be more user-friendly."

"Licensing cost is a significant concern. With Defender Plan 1, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps comes with a pay-per-use model."

"We are having trouble with our continuous reporting configuration and struggling with configuring the collector properly with our log parsing."

"We sometimes get errors when we create policies, which is somewhat annoying because some policies stop working due to misconfigurations. We find this challenging because it limits our options for troubleshooting an issue."

"The insights could be improved, especially in reporting."

"Defender could integrate better with multi-cloud and hybrid environments. It requires some additional configuration to ingest data from non-Azure environments and integrate it with Sentinel."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps cons

"The TLS encryption needs to be improved. It's not state of the art."

"Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker should be cheaper."

"They are priced significantly higher and less cost-effective than alternative options."

"I think some of the hiccups that we had were with the number of domains that we had and how that had to be implemented in Proofpoint."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have not priced the solution recently, but they were competitive with other vendors in the past."

"The overall pricing for iboss is very competitive and transparent."

"It is not expensive, and it is also not cheap. iboss is priced right in the sweet spot for the number of features it offers."

"It is probably in line with other solutions, but I do not deal with the financial side."

"It is expensive compared to one of its competitors."

"We had the cost of purchasing a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs. However, the following year, the cost of just licensing was similar to what was paid the previous year for a new appliance along with the implementation and licensing costs."

"It is a little bit expensive. When you want to have the complete package with Office 365, Defender, and everything else, it is expensive."

"We have an educational licensing agreement. It's a customer agreement for multiple years."

"This product is not expensive."

"It has fair pricing. You pay for what you get. As far as I know, there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fee."

"It has pretty good pricing."

"The E5 license offers everything bundled. People are moving to Microsoft because you buy one license and it gives you everything."

"We are an MST and we do not pay for the solution. However, the price of the solution could be better."

"The pricing is a little bit high but right now, we are okay with it because of the compatibility with Office 365, Teams, and Azure AD."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps pricing and cost advice

"The tool's most valuable feature is reporting. It helps us understand what's going on in our environment."

"We had an enterprise contract with them for about 32,000 users at that point, which has now grown."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

18%

Outsourcing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	19

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with iboss?

For zero trust implementation, we encountered complexity issues, especially with a large infrastructure company Exxon...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iboss?

Previously when I used iboss, we did the POC for iboss for ExxonMobil. Four or five people wanted to move from our ol...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iboss?

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, iboss is not cheap, and that's my only concern. There are cheaper alte...

See all answers

Which is the better security solution - Cisco Umbrella or Microsoft Cloud App Security?

Cisco Umbrella is an integral component of the Cisco SASE architecture. It integrates security in a single, cloud-nat...

See all answers

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

At the time of implementation, when the size of our organization was small, it was a more affordable product. Since a...

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Cloud App Security?

The fidelity of the signal in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps has been a challenge in some areas. There have been i...

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Comparisons

Netskope vs iboss

Compared 12% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs iboss

Compared 10% of the time

FortiSASE vs iboss

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs iboss

Compared 7% of the time

More iboss Competitors

Zscaler Internet Access vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 13% of the time

Cisco Umbrella vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 11% of the time

Netskope vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 10% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 7% of the time

Skyhigh Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Competitors

Forcepoint CASB vs Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker

Compared 35% of the time

Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks vs Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker

Compared 31% of the time

More Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

iboss

January 2026

Download iboss product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

January 2026

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps report

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)

January 2026

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker report

Download Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker product report

Also Known As

iBoss Cloud Platform

MS Cloud App Security, Microsoft Cloud App Security

FireLayers, PCASB

Overview

Iboss offers a comprehensive cloud-based security platform valued for its scalability and autonomous features, ensuring robust security with easy deployment and management capabilities.

Renowned for its robust security architecture, Iboss integrates seamlessly within diverse networks, delivering efficient granular filtering and advanced content categorization. Its single pane of glass console provides ease of management, allowing rapid scalability suitable for rapidly deploying environments. Operates in BYOD setups due to inline filtering without device installation. Integration with cloud-based applications enhances user control, and features like SASE, SSL inspection, and ChatGPT risk protection stand as highlights. Despite its strengths, users have pointed out areas for enhancement like direct navigation in reports, SSL decryption, and better cloud integration while having room to improve data loss prevention.

What are the most important features of Iboss?

Scalability: Supports rapid deployment across diverse networks.
SASE: A consolidated approach to secure access.
SSL Inspection: Ensures safe data transmission.
Granular Filtering: Detailed control over accessible content.
Single Pane Management: Unifies control through a centralized console.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers competitive pricing with robust features.
Autonomous Operation: Reduces management overhead.
Responsive Support: Provides assistance when needed.
Flexible Deployment: Available for both cloud and on-premises environments.

The usage of Iboss spans educational institutions, specifically K-12, to enforce internet policies, protect data, and support remote work environments. It provides web filtering and security frameworks to ensure safe browsing. Its platform-as-a-service model offers flexibility for both cloud-based and on-premises requirements, integrating seamlessly to deliver enhanced security features suitable for various deployment needs including zero trust, CASB, and network security for work-from-home setups.

iboss

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a comprehensive security solution that provides protection for cloud-based applications and services. It offers real-time threat detection and response, as well as advanced analytics and reporting capabilities. With Defender for Cloud Apps, organizations can ensure the security of their cloud environments and safeguard against cyber threats. Whether you're running SaaS applications, IaaS workloads, or PaaS services, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps can help you secure your cloud environment and protect your business from cyber threats.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Benefits:

Provides comprehensive security for cloud applications
Integrates with other Microsoft security tools
Easy to use and deploy
Provides real-time threat detection and response
Strong protection against phishing attacks and other common threats
Highly customizable to meet specific needs of different organizations

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Use Cases:

Governance, authentication, security, and compliance.
Detects shadow IT and anomalous user behavior
Controls access to applications
Provides auditing and filtering setups
Used for end-user compute devices, file monitoring, user investigation, and activity
Used for data governance, threat detection, and getting visibility over cloud applications
Used to identify information about applications beyond organizational boundaries
Prevent exfiltration and data filtration of corporate data
Used to deal with spam emails and detect shadow IT

Reviews from Real Users

Ram-Krish, Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm, says that Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps "Integrates well and helps us in protecting sensitive information, but takes time to scan and apply the policies and cannot detect everything we need".

PeerSpot user, Senior Cloud & Security Consultant at a tech services, writes that Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps "Great for monitoring user activity and protecting data while integrating well with other applications".

Simon Burgess,Infrastructure Engineer at SBITSC, states that Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is "A fluid, intelligent product for great visibility, centralized management, and increased uptime".

Microsoft

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker is a comprehensive solution that enables organizations to secure their cloud applications and data. Its primary use case is to provide visibility and control over cloud applications, detect and prevent unauthorized access, and ensure compliance. The most valuable functionality is its ability to integrate with multiple cloud applications, deliver deep visibility, and enforce policies in real-time. This helps organizations to minimize risks, protect sensitive data and maintain compliance with regulations.

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker Benefits:

Easy to deploy and manage
Provides granular control over app usage and data access
Offers real-time threat detection and response
Integrates with other security solutions
Provides detailed reports and analytics

Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker Features:

Real-time threat detection and response
Granular visibility
Control over cloud applications
Customizable policies and rules
Integration with leading cloud providers and security tools

Proofpoint

Sample Customers

More than 4,000 global enterprises trust the iboss Cloud Platform to support their modern workforces, including a large number of Fortune 50 companies.

Customers for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps include Accenture, St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and Nakilat.

Emerging Technologies, HP, CSA, Perion

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs. Proofpoint Cloud App Security Broker

December 2025

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