Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Tanium comparison

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Read 20 Tanium reviews

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78% willing to recommend

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 18, 2026

Tanium and Microsoft Defender for Cloud compete in the cybersecurity sector. While Tanium is exceptional for endpoint management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers a comprehensive set of security features and integration capabilities that give it an edge.

Features: Tanium offers real-time data on IT assets, supports any Windows, Linux, or Mac endpoint, and provides excellent inventory management. Microsoft Defender for Cloud excels with advanced threat protection, supports seamless integration with Azure services, and includes automated threat analysis and mitigation.

Room for Improvement: Tanium could enhance integration with third-party applications, streamline initial setup processes, and expand its cloud capabilities. Microsoft Defender for Cloud may improve user interface intuitiveness, provide better non-Microsoft platform support, and enhance its customization options for threat alerts.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tanium offers straightforward deployment but may require extensive initial setup. Microsoft Defender for Cloud stands out with easy integration into existing Microsoft ecosystems, reducing deployment complexity. Both offer substantial customer support, with Microsoft potentially resolving issues faster due to its native integration.

Pricing and ROI: Tanium's initial costs might be high, but it offers significant ROI through its endpoint management. Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides competitive pricing, especially appealing to organizations using Microsoft services, highlighting its cost-effectiveness in comprehensive security management.

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

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Tanium

December 2025

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Helped 881,707 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 Vulnerability Management

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (5th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (2nd)

Tanium

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

24th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (3rd), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (20th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (21st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 3.6%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tanium is 1.9%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud	3.6%
Tanium	1.9%
Other	94.5%

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

David Birhange

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.

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Vignesh K

Infra Vulnarability Manager at Rezilyens

Immediate results in patching promptly address vulnerabilities

When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium. I have to search outside to download patches, create bundles, and then perform the task. It would be easier if Tanium provided the patches directly. Some other brands provide the patch with a direct download link, which facilitates the process. Also, I feel that if there were more detailed documents and remediations readily available online for troubleshooting, especially more up-to-date information, it would be beneficial. Currently, some resources online are very out-of-date.

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 feature of Microsoft Defender for Cloud that I appreciate most is the ability to view logs of applications, as I find it much clearer to understand what is running."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud monitors our entire cloud environment. It enables conditional access and incorporates features like number matching and single sign-on for all our cloud apps. It is great for protecting against ransomware and various security threats."

"The solution is very easy to deploy."

"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 solution's robust security posture is the most valuable feature."

"Using Security Center, you have a full view, at any given time, of what's deployed, and that is something that is very useful."

"It has seamless integration with any of the services I mentioned, on Azure, such as IaaS platforms, virtual machines, applications, or databases, because it's an in-house product from Microsoft within the Azure ecosystem."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud can find potential phishing links and malicious code in data at rest."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"The most valuable features of this solution are the consolidation of all historical data on device endpoints, security drivers, firmware, and Software version gaps."

"Threat hunting is a very good feature on Tanium. We have just started using it and have not used it extensively."

"For incident response tasks, all these tasks can get done in minutes with minimal disruption to the end-user."

"I like the tool's incident response and security patching."

"Tanium's most valuable feature is its instant discovery aspect."

"Tanium has made the process of detecting threats more proactive with its detection. So, the process is easier and more efficient."

"When I push a quick update, it's done right away, and I can rescan immediately to confirm completion within minutes."

"Tanium’s best features include support for any Windows, Linux, or Mac endpoint, regardless of where it is, and the ability to do IT operations and security operations."

More Tanium pros

Cons

"Most of the time, when we log into the support, we don't get a chance to interact with Microsoft employees directly, except having it go to outsource employees of Microsoft. The initial interaction has not been that great because outsourced companies cannot provide the kind of quality or technical expertise that we look for. We have a technical manager from Microsoft, but they are kind of average unless we make noise and ask them to escalate. We then can get the right people and the right solution, but it definitely takes time."

"Defender could improve how data is represented. It can be unstructured or slow to load. The recent update allowing policy grouping into control groups is beneficial, but further enhancements for speed and clarity are needed."

"For Kubernetes, I was using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). To see that whatever is getting deployed into AKS goes through the correct checks and balances in terms of affinities and other similar aspects and follows all the policies, we had to use a product called Stackrox. At a granular level, the built-in policies were good for Kubernetes, but to protect our containers from a coding point of view, we had to use a few other products. For example, from a programming point of view, we were using Checkmarx for static code analysis. For CIS compliance, there are no CIS benchmarks for AKS. So, we had to use other plugins to see that the CIS benchmarks are compliant. There are CIS benchmarks for Kubernetes on AWS and GCP, but there are no CIS benchmarks for AKS. So, Azure Security Center fell short from the regulatory compliance point of view, and we had to use one more product. We ended up with two different dashboards. We had Azure Security Center, and we had Stackrox that had its own dashboard. The operations team and the security team had to look at two dashboards, and they couldn't get an integrated piece. That's a drawback of Azure Security Center. Azure Security Center should provide APIs so that we can integrate its dashboard within other enterprise dashboards, such as the PowerBI dashboard. We couldn't get through these aspects, and we ended up giving Reader security permission to too many people, which was okay to some extent, but when we had to administer the users for the Stackrox portal and Azure Security Center, it became painful."

"Comparing Microsoft Defender for Cloud to other solutions on the market, Microsoft needs to push a little bit to improve it."

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

"Microsoft has much room for improvement regarding the support for Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Their competitors are much better regarding support."

"The vulnerabilities are duplicated many times."

"Integration into other third-party products, particularly those from tier three vendors like ManageEngine and Hexcode, has proven difficult."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"Tanium’s scalability could be improved."

"Tanium required local admin or root rights on Mac devices, which did not comply with our security policies. This made the solution less suitable for our restrictive environment."

"The solution needs to improve the reporting and tracking capabilities."

"It is not really additional functions, or the features that are needed, rather the complexity would be reduced based on the number of modules required to put together a comprehensive operational security and risk compliance model."

"The solution lacks mobility."

"When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium. I have to search outside to download patches, create bundles, and then perform the task."

"The solution can give a lot of false positives."

"Most of the time, agent-relative issues have to be more equipped with self-healing features. At times, the agent is there, but for some reason, it doesn't report a status. It gives certain problems that are obviously agent-based."

More Tanium cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Understanding the costs of cloud services can be complicated at first. As with a lot of things in the cloud, it can be quite hard to understand the end cost, but it becomes clearer over time. Early on, the lack of transparency is a challenge. Microsoft does not tell you the cost when they launch something. It is clever marketing, and there is room for improvement there. There should be clarity from the start."

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

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Defender for Cloud is pretty costly for a single line. It's incredibly high to pay monthly for security per server. The cost is considerable for an enterprise with 500-plus virtual machines, and the monthly bill can spike."

"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

"There is an annual license required to use this solution."

"It's an expensive solution. It would be nice if the cost were lower."

"Tanium is a more expensive solution in Latin America than some of the competitors, such as BigFix."

"The product's pricing differs from region to region depending on negotiations and the number of endpoints."

"The solution offers value for money."

"It is higher than some competitors in the market."

"The solution is expensive but it's a good investment."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	27
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	49

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	11

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.

What needs improvement with Tanium?

While there is always room for improvement, I am pleased with Tanium.

What is your primary use case for Tanium?

The primary use case for Tanium ( /products/tanium-reviews ) is compliance, patching, and inventory as part of the core functions.

What advice do you have for others considering Tanium?

For smaller companies, Tanium is quite a big investment, and one needs to have a considerable setup to make it economically viable. I would recommend it to others with a similar use case. The solut...

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Comparisons

Compared 36% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

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CrowdStrike Falcon vs Tanium

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Tanium

Compared 6% of the time

BigFix vs Tanium

Compared 4% of the time

NinjaOne vs Tanium

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Tanium

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

January 2026

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Download Tanium product report

January 2026

Also Known As

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

Tanium Inc Cloud, Tanium XEM

Interactive Demo

Microsoft

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

Tanium offers robust endpoint protection, patching, and inventory management, consolidating the functions of tools like BigFix with capabilities in incident response, network security, and cloud or on-premise deployments.

Known for real-time capabilities, Tanium provides detailed analytics, security features, and device management. Users benefit from quick implementation, real-time updates, and patching campaigns. Despite its strengths, integration and custom plugin expansion remain areas to improve, along with data visualization and network optimization. Reporting enhancements and user training could advance its usability, and some UI elements may require updates for clarity and security.

What are the essential features of Tanium?

Detailed Analytics: Provides actionable insights for better decision-making.
Security Capabilities: Offers strong defense measures against threats.
Real-Time Queries: Facilitates immediate information access.
Patch Management: Streamlines software updates across devices.
Device Management: Efficiently handles comprehensive inventory and monitoring tasks.

What benefits should users expect?

Ease of Use: Simplifies complex IT tasks.
Scalability: Adapts to growing IT infrastructure needs.
Integration Flexibility: Merges with existing systems effortlessly.
Real-Time Updates: Ensures current data availability for informed actions.

Tanium's deployment spans industries focusing on endpoint protection and compliance, ensuring reliable device and server management in settings where safety and quick adaptation are critical. Organizations use it for application deployment, compliance checks, and integrating it as an EDR solution, enhancing overall security and operational efficiencies.

Sample Customers

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

JPMorgan Chase, eBay, Amazon, US Bank, MetLife, pwc, Cerner, Delphi, MGM Grand, New York Life