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Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 10, 2025

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
6.9
Microsoft Defender for Cloud boosts security and efficiency, integrates with Azure, reduces costs, prevents breaches, and offers proactive defense.
Sentiment score
6.8
Nutanix Cloud Manager boosts productivity, reduces costs, and enhances resource allocation through efficient management, scalability, and seamless integration.
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
Anything that reduces bandwidth and reduces the brain work that our teams have to do to maintain systems across all environments is time-saving and cost-saving.
Vice President at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The biggest return on investment for me when using this product is the fast deployment and the rapid integration and migration without impacting our operations during the migration.
IT INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGER
Playbooks and automation definitely freed up engineer time. This allows us to focus on other projects and not have to get hands-on, reducing operational costs.
Citrix & IT Operations Manager, Cloud at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Defender for Cloud support is responsive at higher levels, but experiences vary with mixed satisfaction due to delays.
Sentiment score
8.1
Nutanix Cloud Manager's support is praised for responsiveness, expertise, and reliability, despite occasional regional delays, earning high ratings.
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
There is a feature that allows you to escalate the call.
Team Lead, IT Infrastructure at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
The handoff with support and the knowledge of the support engineer is significantly better than experience with other vendors.
Citrix & IT Operations Manager, Cloud at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Even when a node goes down, it doesn't impact our infrastructure because it gets load-balanced between the available nodes.
Technology Lead at Thomson Reuters
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is scalable, integrating across environments effortlessly, suitable for all enterprise sizes with flexible performance.
Sentiment score
7.4
Nutanix Cloud Manager enables scalable cluster management, seamless integration, and predictive planning across diverse environments with strong performance support.
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
Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) scales well.
Citrix & IT Operations Manager, Cloud at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
The key aspects include mix-match hardware and hyper-converged infrastructure, combining compute, storage, and network in a single platform.
Senior Information Technology Advisor at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) has not had any issues scaling with the growing needs of my company.
Director, Information Technology at a government with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is stable and reliable, with minimal issues mainly during updates, ensuring strong user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.7
Nutanix Cloud Manager is praised for reliability, minimal downtime, effective support, and strong disaster recovery, ensuring high performance.
Defender's stability has been flawless for us.
Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very stable.
Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Microsoft sometimes changes settings or configurations without transparency.
Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse
We've never had any downtime related to the Nutanix product itself.
Sr. Network Systems Administrator at Moda Health
I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.
Sr System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The stability and reliability of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) have been excellent.
Director, Information Technology at a government with 201-500 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Cloud users seek better automation, clarity, integration, AI features, and comprehensive analytics for improved security management.
Nutanix Cloud Manager struggles with organization, complex integration, language support, licensing, performance, automation, and partner knowledge-sharing.
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
It supports different hardware types without vendor lock-in, which is an advantage over Azure Stack HCI, which may only work with specific vendors such as HP or Dell.
Technology Lead at Thomson Reuters
Our primary reason for choosing Nutanix was for mission-critical applications and Kubernetes.
Consultant at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Quick resolution of disconnection issues and errors in plugins is crucial.
Sr System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is scalable, offering free and paid versions with costs averaging $15 monthly per server.
Nutanix Cloud Manager offers cost-effective, flexible pricing, praised for competitive value, scalability, and quick ROI despite occasional high-tier costs.
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
It's not cheap, but there are savings and return on investment when coming from a non-Nutanix shop.
Citrix & IT Operations Manager, Cloud at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
In comparison, Nutanix's pricing is significantly higher than that of other setups.
Cloud Engineer at CtrlS Datacenters Ltd
While VMware costs depend on ESXi hypervisor pricing, the AHV hypervisor for Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is free.
Senior Information Technology Advisor at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances security with AI-based threat detection, multi-cloud support, and a unified portal for comprehensive management.
Nutanix Cloud Manager provides easy VM management, automation, and multi-cloud flexibility with features like cost governance and predictive analytics.
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
It's easy to control resources and govern the resources, and it frees up support to focus on other things without having to help developers.
Citrix & IT Operations Manager, Cloud at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would approximate the cost savings to be in the 20% to 25% range since we can optimize our resources and avoid the need to purchase more hardware or reuse resources in the infrastructure from one implementation.
Sr. Network Systems Administrator at Moda Health
The importance of faster outcomes for their environment is significant; for example, when I delivered the Disaster Recovery solution, we included automation for auto-configuration of VMs and resizing of VMs, which replaced many tasks that were previously done manually.
Spécialiste VMware at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Ranking in Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (6th), Container Management (7th), Container Security (7th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (2nd)
Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM)
Ranking in Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
111
Ranking in other categories
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (3rd), Cloud Management (1st), Virtualization Management Tools (2nd), Cloud Cost Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 8.7%, down from 13.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud8.7%
Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM)0.8%
Other90.5%
Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)
 

Featured Reviews

David Birhange - PeerSpot reviewer
Director, Cloud and Modern Workplace at Informanix Technology Group
Brings together cloud security insights through a unified view and supports agentless protection for virtual machines
Copilot and similar features are already being used, though not necessarily for Microsoft Defender for Cloud specifically. We are trying to get more experience before rolling out most of Microsoft Defender for Cloud's AI capabilities. This is definitely on our to-do list, and the priority is urgent as we seek to learn more about these capabilities. The GenAI threat protection from Microsoft Defender for Cloud has not been enabled yet. There are many unknowns with AI applications. AI agents will operate while you're not present, whether you are sleeping or awake, and it's unclear whether there would be any exfiltration of data or how data is being managed. Microsoft Purview is being used extensively, and there is significant development going on with DSPM that will be rolled out to address security concerns. Data labeling and proper demarcation for sensitivity of data before it is received are being actively pursued.
Phani Venkata Sai BKD - PeerSpot reviewer
Technology Lead at Thomson Reuters
Manages hybrid infrastructure seamlessly with flexible cluster scaling and comprehensive oversight
The most important aspect of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) is that it helps us manage the infrastructure as a hyperconverged infrastructure in HCI mode. If I have different physical servers, I can map them into a cluster and manage the storage together. It provides flexibility to make use of storage in a clustered format instead of using it in an individual storage endpoint. We have the flexibility to have Nutanix-based licensing based on the core model, instead of having a specific cost on the cluster. The costing on a core model gives customers flexibility to add multiple cores to a single physical host and adjust the infrastructure accordingly, and we can scale up the cluster as needed. While other cloud providers, AWS or Azure, are mostly into cloud-based solutions, and Azure has introduced Azure Stack HCI for managing on-premises infrastructure, Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) provides flexibility from day one. We can manage both on-premises and Azure solutions using a single pane of glass, eliminating the need to navigate different windows or screens. It provides a comprehensive view of the infrastructure and highlights specific areas through alerts, giving us good visibility of infrastructure conditions.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Marketing Services Firm
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise65
 

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 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 did have a consultation with a third party to go over different tiers and produ...
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 Zero Trust, similar to ThreatLocker software.
Which set of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) features do you find to be the most useful?
For me, the features related to cost savings are the best part of NCM. Of course, the whole product is worth using and when it comes to cloud management, there is a reason why it is favored by so m...
Are the setup process and further maintenance of Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) difficult?
When I came into my current organization, NCM was already set up. According to the team that dealt with it, the product was fairly easy to set up. Compared to other products, our IT rates are set u...
Is Nutanix Cloud Manager’s Intelligent Operations feature effective?
Yes, this is a highly effective feature and the rebranding only made things better as they introduced more improvements. You can benefit from Zero coding task automation Automated optimization Tic...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
Nutanix Cloud Manager Intelligent Operations, Nutanix Cloud Manager Self-Service, Nutanix Cloud Management Cost Governance, Nutanix Cloud Manager Security Central, Nutanix Software Subscription
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.
JetBlue, International Speedway Corporation, Volkswagen SAIC, Brighton and Hove City Council, Foresters Financial, Janus International Group, Cloud Comrade, Serco
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.