Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Defender for IoT comparison

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Defender for IoT

July 2025

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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

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (7th), Container Management (8th), Container Security (7th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (5th), Compliance Management (5th)

Microsoft Defender for IoT

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

27th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IoT Security (5th), Operational Technology (OT) Security (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 6.1%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for IoT is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

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.

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William Tuleja

Senior Endpoint Engineer at a university with 501-1,000 employees

Integration with existing tools boosts management efficiency

The only improvement I see is that some detection explanations are vaguely provided by Microsoft, resulting in generic IoT detections that alert me to an issue yet don't specify what's wrong. Often, it just links back to a generic KB article without additional information. When it happens, it requires extra detective work. This issue doesn't occur often but can be annoying.

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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 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."

"The vulnerability reporting is helpful. When we initially deployed Defender, it reported many more threats than we currently see. It gave us insight into areas we had not previously considered, so we knew where we needed to act."

"Defender is a robust platform for dealing with many kinds of threats. We're protected from various threats, like viruses. Attacks can be easily minimized with this solution defending our infrastructure."

"Defender for Cloud is an improvement over Trend Micro, our previous solution. We like integrating our endpoints and visualizing everything in one place. It provides comprehensive coverage for endpoints, servers, and overall environmental security."

"Microsoft Defender has a lot of features including regulatory compliance and attaching workbooks but the most valuable is the recommendations it provides for each and every resource when we open Microsoft Defender."

"The solution's coordinated detection and response across devices and identities is impressive because it is complete."

"The most valuable feature is the hunting feature, which integrates well into the entire Microsoft ecosystem."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a valuable tool that integrates seamlessly with Azure Policy and our Security SIEM, simplifying implementation and enhancing security posture."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"Mainly, it is manageable and integrates with other Microsoft products, which is crucial for me."

"I believe it is best suited for cloud services and is unmatched by other cloud security solutions."

"I find Microsoft Defender very effective in vulnerability management and it provides good attack reduction, making it a next-generation protection solution."

"It is manageable and integrates with other Microsoft products, which is crucial for me."

"The graphics and analysis in Microsoft Defender for IoT are very representative."

"As a cybersecurity consultant, the best part of Microsoft Defender for IoT is the capability to integrate with other tools such as Microsoft Sentinel and receive real-time alerts from the product."

"Some advantages of Microsoft Defender for IoT are that it's easy to install on any OS, and you can create any custom use cases easily."

Cons

"There are challenges with the licensing policies, which are quite complicated."

"The user interface of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, like many Microsoft portals, undergoes frequent changes and feature relocation."

"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."

"I would like to see more connectors and plugins with other platforms."

"I would like to have the ability to customize executive reporting."

"My experience with Microsoft Defender for Cloud has been largely negative due to a poor user experience."

"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."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud is not compatible with Linux machines."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"The primary area that needs improvement is compatibility with the latest IoT technologies."

"The only improvement I see is that some detection explanations are vaguely provided by Microsoft, resulting in generic IoT detections that alert me to an issue yet don't specify what's wrong."

"There are a few limitations with Microsoft Defender for IoT. We raised concerns with the product team because they don't capture all the information regarding command execution or processes executed on certain endpoints."

"The only improvement I see is that some detection explanations are vaguely provided by Microsoft, resulting in generic IoT detections that alert me to an issue yet don't specify what's wrong."

"Customer service and support from Microsoft are costly. The execution by engineers is expensive, and the service is neither free nor toll-free, making it less accessible for customers."

"Microsoft Defender for IoT is not scalable. If you want to monitor another industrial network, you need an additional server, making it less scalable."

"The documentation for Microsoft Defender for IoT is lacking. There are no clear steps or guidance, and updates are frequent, which adds to the confusion."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is difficult because each license has its own metrics and cost."

"The pricing model for most plans is generally good, but the cost of the new Defender for Storage plan is high and should be revisited, as it could lead to disabling desirable security features due to cost."

"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."

"We only use the free tier, so we haven't faced any pricing, setup costs, or licensing challenges."

"It is bundled with our enterprise subscription, which makes it easy to go for it. It is available by default, and there is no extra cost for using the standard features."

"The product's pricing policy is generally favorable."

"I am not involved much with the pricing but the bundle offering is good."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

15%

Energy/Utilities Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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...

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

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

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

The pricing is pretty standard.

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

I find that Microsoft Defender for IoT itself is affordable.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for IoT?

I don't think I have any recommendation on improvements for Microsoft Defender for IoT because we don't use it too extensively. There are a few limitations with Microsoft Defender for IoT. We raise...

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for IoT?

Clients mainly use Microsoft Defender for IoT for unfamiliar sign-in attempts and Microsoft Defender EDRs. We are using use cases for unfamiliar sign-in and malicious activity, such as user sign-in...

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Comparisons

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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 4% of the time

Orca Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

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Nozomi Networks vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 24% of the time

Claroty Platform vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 21% of the time

Azure Sphere vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 10% of the time

Radiflow vs Microsoft Defender for IoT

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for IoT Competitors

Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

August 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Microsoft Defender for IoT

August 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for IoT product report

Also Known As

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

Azure Defender for IoT

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Overview

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 Defender for IoT offers advanced security designed to protect IoT environments from sophisticated threats. Its deep integration with Azure reinforces security across devices and networks.

Microsoft Defender for IoT provides scalable threat detection and security intelligence tailored for IoT devices. Leveraging cloud-powered analytics, it ensures protection against emerging threats while supporting diverse device landscapes. The platform's compatibility with Azure Sentinel offers robust security operations and management capabilities.

What are the core features of Microsoft Defender for IoT?

Threat Intelligence: Provides real-time insights and threat detection using cloud-powered analytics.
Device Management: Simplifies the monitoring and management of IoT devices across networks.
Integrated Security: Seamlessly integrates with Azure Sentinel for comprehensive security operations.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Improved Security Posture: Strengthens the protection of IoT ecosystems against cyber threats.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces the complexities and costs associated with managing IoT security.
Scalability: Supports growth and adaptation to expanding IoT networks.

In manufacturing, Microsoft Defender for IoT aids in maintaining operational efficiency by preventing unauthorized access to industrial control systems. Healthcare providers utilize it to protect sensitive patient data transmitted through connected devices. Retailers benefit from secure management of inventory systems and customer data across smart devices.

Sample Customers

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

Information Not Available