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Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Vanta comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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
5.5
Qualys TotalCloud boosts efficiency, reduces manual effort, decreases risk, and offers significant cost savings with a notable ROI.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances ROI by improving security, productivity, and cost efficiency, despite perceived licensing costs.
Sentiment score
4.2
Vanta improves ROI by streamlining evidence collection and supports security enhancement, though precise ROI metrics are challenging to assess.
It has saved about 90% of our time.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
TotalCloud has generated overall savings of 30 to 40 percent across various departments.
Security Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
CallStream helps us integrate and automate tasks.
Senior Security Consultant at CyberNxt Solutions LLP
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
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Qualys TotalCloud support is praised for efficiency and staff knowledge but criticized for delays and inconsistent quality.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Defender for Cloud support is knowledgeable with effective documentation, but first-tier delays impact overall satisfaction.
Sentiment score
6.5
Vanta's customer support is responsive and effective, with quick responses and appreciated flexibility, despite occasional initial contact delays.
They are helpful, respond to my queries, and can answer any question.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys's tech support is highly responsive, providing multiple ways to interact with them.
Service Manager, Security Operations at CDA IT SOLUTIONS
Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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
Every time I ask their customer success team, if I get a technical question and I've done this half a dozen times in the last year, they will respond within the next 24 hours.
Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
The customer support from Vanta is good.
HITRUST and GRC Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Qualys TotalCloud excels in scalability, efficiently supporting diverse environments and business sizes, though it may require skilled management.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is highly scalable, seamlessly integrates across platforms, and efficiently handles growth, with room for feature improvement.
Sentiment score
7.0
Vanta excels in scalability and adaptability, supporting diverse needs, smooth integration, and growth for expanding companies.
We started our organization about nine months back. We started with about 30 users, and we now have more than 100 users.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Our organization currently uses it to manage over 1200 web applications.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is absolutely scalable, and I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
retired at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Qualys TotalCloud is highly stable with reliable support, 99.9% uptime, minimal bugs, and effective maintenance communication.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is stable and reliable, though minor update issues occur with older systems and internet latency.
Sentiment score
7.7
Users perceive Vanta as stable and reliable, despite occasional latency and connection issues affecting some users.
Overall, the support provided has been excellent.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is a stable solution, which is why we chose it.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Continuous monitoring is crucial to ensure system stability and avoid vulnerabilities or threats.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Defender's stability has been flawless for us.
Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
I have not experienced any crashes or downtime.
Head Of IT at Cirrus Response
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very stable.
Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vanta is very stable; we haven't had any downtimes or weird behavior so far, which we really appreciate.
DevOps Engineer / SRE at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
There are connection problems about 50% of the time because of the automated evidence collection.
Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Users suggest enhancing Qualys TotalCloud with clearer reports, better integration, intuitive UI, AI risk assessments, and improved documentation.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud needs improved customization, automation, UI performance, policy management, integration, AI functions, and reduced licensing complexities.
Vanta's user access module needs development, improved interfaces, flexible permissions, and better integration for effective policy management.
Ideally, the scanner should automatically detect and scan all subdomains, even if not explicitly defined, ensuring comprehensive vulnerability assessment.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
Ideally, updates should be more immediate, enabling quicker implementation of solutions.
Project Lead at Persistent Systems
Our goal is to integrate all these functions into Qualys, creating a single dashboard for comprehensive security monitoring and management.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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
Vanta has been really nice, with a nice user experience, clear layout, and very reasonable recommendations compared to other platforms we've tried.
DevOps Engineer / SRE at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
The UI is not super intuitive, but now that I've worked with it for a couple of years, I know how to navigate and get around.
Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
I have to clear all CVEs before the test will pass.
Vice President of Technology at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Setup Cost

Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is high yet justified by comprehensive features and flexibility, benefiting larger enterprises seeking robust security.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers flexible pricing but gets complex and costly, requiring careful evaluation, especially for advanced plans.
Enterprise buyers have mixed views on Vanta's pricing, finding it expensive yet valuable for reducing audit costs.
Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive.
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Pricing is managed by our finance team; however, Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches.
Vice President at Inspira Enterprise
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
Vanta's pricing for small businesses allows you to double that person's SOC/ISO compliance capabilities for less than the cost of another staff member.
Vice President of Technology at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Valuable Features

Qualys TotalCloud offers comprehensive vulnerability detection, cloud security management, and automation with insightful dashboards for efficient threat management.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances security and compliance with AI-powered threat intelligence, automation, and multi-cloud integration for improved protection.
Vanta automates compliance, streamlines processes, and enhances integration, monitoring, and reporting to ensure data integrity and audit readiness.
This view of risk helps reduce the work we would have to do to combine multiple sources to prioritize risk.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
It will help cybersecurity professionals monitor the cloud and find vulnerabilities.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
We are enjoying the new feature, FlexScan, which is valuable for Internet-facing VMs.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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
Vanta has positively impacted my organization by helping us remediate a lot of vulnerabilities and bad practices, especially from vulnerable ECR repos, and enforced good behavior.
DevOps Engineer / SRE at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
The best features Vanta offers in my opinion are the key performance indicators for framework compliance as well as integration into internal environments and accurate data provided towards compliance frameworks and metrics.
HITRUST and GRC Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
All our policy documents are organized so I always know where I can go to get the latest and greatest version of those.
Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (11th), Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (8th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (5th), Container Management (7th), Container Security (4th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (3rd)
Vanta
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Compliance Consulting (1st), Data Governance (14th), Compliance Management (3rd)
 

Featured Reviews

RO
IT Security Expert at Alior Bank S.A.
Unified risk scoring has improved our cloud visibility and simplifies remediation priorities
Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment across both IAS and SaaS. This solution provides a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce the work I would have to do. We are no longer based on CVSS; we are based on Qualys risk scoring, which is based on CVSS plus internal findings made by Qualys, and then assigns its own score. The TruRisk insight feature has found a small number of assets with high vulnerability scores, though I am cautious since some information is classified. Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution.
RW
Head Of IT at Cirrus Response
Cloud security has cut investigation time and now reveals threats faster but needs simpler oversight
When deploying AI applications, my key security concerns with Microsoft Defender for Cloud are data loss, leakage of data, and guardrails around the actual AI, and I am hoping that this is going to help me put those guardrails in place and identify data exfiltration. Microsoft Defender for Cloud has not helped me manage and secure multi-cloud environments, as we are 100 percent Microsoft and have not really got it in any other environment at all. I am not yet using the unified AI-powered security feature offered by Microsoft Defender for Cloud, but that is coming. I am not yet using the integrated XDR feature of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, but that is coming. I am not yet utilizing the GenAI threat protection features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud. That is also coming and a lot of that will come from learning it here. I have enabled the agentless scanning in my cloud environment with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Assessing the impact on my workload protection without needing to install agents with Microsoft Defender for Cloud makes it a lot easier, but it also identifies a lot more, which puts more load on me sometimes. I would advise another organization considering Microsoft Defender for Cloud that it is the most logical route to follow if their whole ecosystem is Microsoft. It is easy to implement and it is very self-explanatory when doing it, making sense to just follow the steps as it is too simple, really. I would rate this review a 7.5 out of 10.
reviewer2585640 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Compliance workflows have become organized and automation supports ongoing healthcare audits
There are always tons of rooms for improvement for Vanta. I kind of exaggerated a little bit about the policy control. I don't really love the way they handle the revision management of that feature. If I'm on V1 of the policy document and I make some changes to it, then I get rid of V1 and then I re-upload V2. It's not that it keeps a running history of each of the different revisions. A little bit of an issue with that, but workable. I don't really have any negative complaint right now that would be worthwhile expressing. It's just that there's a lot of features. The UI is not super intuitive, but now that I've worked with it for a couple of years, I know how to navigate and get around. Initially, it was a little bit of a struggle understanding how these things would all work.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple en...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
Our use case involves the assets that we have under cloud, the assets exposed to the internet, and the internal appli...
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 acros...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing was that the license cost was the only consideration. Setup an...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
To improve Microsoft Defender for Cloud, I think pricing-wise, the license price is a little bit higher from an inges...
What needs improvement with Vanta?
To improve Vanta, I suggest continuing to improve the areas of integration with the HITRUST CSF for R2 assessments. I...
What is your primary use case for Vanta?
My main use case is certification. I used Vanta to establish a HITRUST certification for a telecommunications organiz...
What advice do you have for others considering Vanta?
I would tell others looking into using Vanta to use it for HITRUST E1 and I1 assessments, as the R2 assessments are s...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.
Care Directives, Shortcut , Nayya, Heizenrader, Treasury Prime
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Vanta and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.