Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai comparison

Microsoft and Horizon3.ai are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Microsoft is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.1, while Horizon3.ai is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.9. Microsoft holds a 3.6% mindshare in VM, compared to Horizon3.ai’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Horizon3.ai users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Read 87 Microsoft Defender for Cloud reviews

20,963 Views
5,031 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

The NodeZero Platform by Ho...

Read 11 The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai reviews

4,176 Views
1,921 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

The NodeZero Platform by Ho...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2025

Microsoft Defender for Cloud and NodeZero Platform are prominent in cybersecurity solutions, each bringing unique strengths to the table. Microsoft Defender's seamless integration with Azure services gives it an edge in environments heavily reliant on Azure, while NodeZero stands out for its affordability and usability, which is appealing to diverse organizations.

Features: Microsoft Defender for Cloud is noted for comprehensive visibility, threat intelligence, and integration with Azure. It effectively manages security across multi-cloud environments providing enriched data for policy compliance and dynamic alerting. NodeZero Platform is highlighted for ease of deployment and automated testing capabilities. Its real attack simulations and ability to instantly retest vulnerabilities are emphasized as practical solutions that offer advantages over traditional penetration testing methods.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Defender for Cloud users encounter challenges with false positives, complex setup processes, and integration across different subscriptions. Pricing transparency, agent features, and enhanced real-time monitoring are also required improvements. NodeZero Platform could enhance its report readability and usability for various teams. Speed improvements in scanning and more integrations with additional vulnerability tools would further enhance its utility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Cloud benefits from its Azure integration, yet faces criticism for complicated policy management and inconsistent technical support. NodeZero Platform receives positive reviews for its intuitive setup, enabling quick deployment with minimal technical challenges. Its responsive customer service enhances user experience and ease of use, catering to different infrastructure needs.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender for Cloud is perceived as costly, particularly suited for larger enterprises using Azure. Its ROI is driven by strong security visibility and reduced administration, though pricing complexity remains an issue. NodeZero Platform is lauded for competitive pricing similar to traditional pen tests but with greater flexibility. Its cost-effective, adaptable licensing delivers high ROI through systematic vulnerability scanning and management.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

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)

The NodeZero Platform by Ho...

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

11th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (12th), Penetration Testing Services (1st), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (1st), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (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 The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai is 1.5%, up from 0.9% 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%
The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai	1.5%
Other	94.9%

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.

Read full review

Shaun Hunt

Chief Information Officer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Has unified our IT teams by providing clear visibility into network vulnerabilities and accelerated remediation with real-world attack testing

One of the things that we've shared with Horizon is just the reporting. They've made a lot of changes over time, but when examining computers, most average normal people don't look at a computer and identify it as 114.82.117.180. They identify it as 'the printer for accounting.' When many of the reports give the very detailed technical IP address or serial number, that's really not helpful for anyone other than the person, the hands-on person that's trying to remediate it. All the managers, all the leaders, having information in that format isn't helpful. Being able to have information about what those devices are would be very helpful. There's a technical reason they can't just have an easy button because some people have really complicated networks. When examining things for the average company, the average executive, that 114 number, there's only one of those. But if examining an AT&T or a Walmart, it isn't unique. They haven't solved that problem. But for the 90% of companies, being able to have just a human readable name for all devices on your network in all of the reports all of the time would be the most beneficial.

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

"One of the features that I like about the solution is it is both a hybrid cloud and also multi-cloud. We never know what company we're going to buy, and therefore we are ready to go. If they have GCP or AWS, we have support for that as well. It offers a single-panel blast across multiple clouds."

"This is a platform as a service provided by Azure. We don't need to install or maintain Azure Security Center. It is a ready-made service available in Azure. This is one of the main things that we like. If you look at similar tools, we have to install, maintain, and update services. Whereas, Azure Security Center manages what we are using. This is a good feature that has helped us a lot."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud has significantly enhanced our overall security posture by approximately 20 to 25 percent."

"There is no better tool found to protect workloads in Azure than Microsoft Defender for Cloud."

"The most valuable feature is the regulatory compliance aspect, where we utilize predefined initiatives like NIST."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"Honestly, it's one of the most transformational technologies we've implemented in our company."

"My favorite feature about The NodeZero Platform is that it's autonomous, and it truly delivers on that promise—it can be set and forgotten while it performs its tasks, and it does exactly what it claims to do."

"The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help identify vulnerabilities on my on-premise systems by adding an element of validation and offensive security testing on top of known vulnerabilities. The feature that allows security teams to fix and retest vulnerabilities instantly is very useful, even though it may not happen literally 'instantly.' It's a necessary tool for any organization to understand whether vulnerabilities are genuinely exploitable by attackers. With its near-real-time testing capabilities, it's an essential part of any security portfolio."

"Overall, I'd rate NodeZero at nine to 9.5 out of ten."

"I rate the stability of the NodeZero Platform a ten out of ten."

"After the third party conducts the pen test, The NodeZero Platform is run, and it finds the same things they found and sometimes a few other things that they did not even identify."

"We experienced a threat that could have severely crippled us, but we were able to shut it down before it escalated, thanks to internal vulnerability testing and addressing critical vulnerabilities using their tool."

"For us, The NodeZero Platform is literally the single best security solution we have because the way that it works is we're able to scan every part of our network, both internally and externally, and then get completely actionable feedback that doesn't matter if it's for an application developer or a network admin."

More The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai pros

Cons

"They could always work to make the pricing a bit lower."

"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."

"Pricing could be improved. There are limited options based on pricing for the government."

"I would rate Microsoft Defender for Cloud a six out of 10 due to its lack of necessary features to operate as a standalone solution."

"We haven't experienced issues with Microsoft Defender for Cloud for our company size of about five hundred people. However, I've heard there might be issues with scalability for larger enterprises."

"Agent features need to be improved. They support agents through Azure Arc or Workbench. Sometimes, we are not able to get correct signals from the machines on which we have installed these agents. We are not able to see how many are currently reporting to Azure Security Center, and how many are currently not reporting. For example, we have 1,000 machines, and we have enrolled 1,000 OMS agents on these machines to collect the log. When I look at the status, even though at some places, it shows that it is connected, but when I actually go and check, I'm not getting any alerts from those. There are some discrepancies on the agent, and the agent features are not up to the mark."

"Microsoft sources most of their threat intelligence internally, but I think they should open themselves up to bodies that provide feel intelligence to build a better engine. There may be threats out there that they don't report because their team is not doing anything on that and they don't have arrangements with another party that is involved in that research."

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

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"They've added a chatbot which isn't particularly useful, but when it can't answer questions, it forwards messages to human support."

"One of the areas where improvement is needed is in the visibility and reporting for large enterprises."

"I think The NodeZero Platform could improve by leveraging GPUs for password cracking, which would be pretty good."

"The speed of the scans takes some time, but in my opinion, it is not surprising for what it is doing."

"The reports are quite useless."

"I encountered challenges with patch management, as we struggled to test and implement patches due to time constraints. This led to our patch management process being ineffective."

"The only issue we’ve encountered is that sometimes the scans take a long time to complete."

"You need to be cautious about what it scans, as it could potentially cause issues."

More The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"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."

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

"The licensing is straightforward but can become expensive if you cover everything. You must balance the cost against the importance of what needs covering."

"There are improvements that have to be made to the licensing. Currently, for servers, it has to be done by grouping the servers on a single subscription... We don't have an option whereby, if all those resources are in one subscription, we can have each of the individual servers subject to different planning."

"This is a worldwide service and depending on the country, there will be different prices."

"Azure Defender is a bit pricey. The price could be lower."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Government

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	1
Large Enterprise	4

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What do you like most about Horizon3.ai?

Penetration testing and scans are useful features.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Horizon3.ai?

I think The NodeZero Platform could improve by leveraging GPUs for password cracking, which would be pretty good.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Horizon3.ai?

We use The NodeZero Platform for control validation and we are also looking for the likelihood of vulnerabilities.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 36% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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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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Pentera vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 25% of the time

Tenable Security Center vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 6% of the time

Cymulate vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 6% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Compared 5% of the time

More The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

January 2026

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

January 2026

The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai report

Download The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai product report

Also Known As

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

Horizon3.ai

Interactive Demo

Microsoft

Demo not available

Horizon3.ai

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

NodeZero by Horizon3.ai is an offensive security platform that enables users to adopt an attacker’s perspective, reveal vulnerabilities, and verify defense effectiveness with evidence-backed insights.

NodeZero provides autonomous pentesting, showing how attackers exploit misconfigurations, credentials, and exposures into attack paths. It helps focus on real risks rather than hypothetical ones, integrating seamlessly into existing IT and security workflows to streamline processes. The platform drives risk-based vulnerability management and CTEM by validating vulnerabilities and measuring resilience.

What standout features improve your security?

Autonomous Pentesting at Scale: Executes extensive pentests across broad IT landscapes swiftly.
Hybrid Cloud Coverage: Navigates on-premises and cloud domains to find attack paths.
Proof of Exploitation: Offers evidence for every finding.
Fix Validation: Allows quick retesting to ensure vulnerabilities are resolved.
NodeZero Tripwires: Uses deception tokens for real adversary detection.

What benefits should you expect from reviews?

Reduced Vulnerability Noise: Prioritizes exploitable risks with ServiceNow integration.
Automated Workflows: MCP Server automates processes, reducing bottlenecks and enhancing efficiency.
Immediate Fix Validation: Ensures defenses work during attacks.
Real-Time Resilience Measurement: Helps schedule routine assessments without external help.

NodeZero assists in automated penetration testing and vulnerability management in industries like finance and healthcare. It enhances security processes by complementing or replacing existing solutions, enabling efficient testing, feedback, and control validation.

Horizon3.ai

Sample Customers

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

Government agencies, Defense Industrial Base organizations, and enterprises in regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and criticalinfrastructure rely on NodeZero to meet rigorous security and compliance requirements with continuous, scheduled, and on-demand testing.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

December 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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