Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Varonis Platform comparison

Microsoft and Varonis are both solutions in the Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) category. Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.1, while Varonis is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 10.9% mindshare in DSPM, compared to Varonis’s 9.0% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Varonis users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Read 79 Microsoft Defender for Cloud reviews

20,047 Views
5,012 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Varonis Platform

Read 14 Varonis Platform reviews

9,243 Views
3,050 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Varonis Platform

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 7, 2025

Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Varonis Platform compete in the security management segment. Microsoft Defender has the advantage due to its seamless integration with Azure and cost-competitive pricing.

Features: Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers exceptional integration with Azure, robust AI and ML detections, and comprehensive monitoring and compliance features. Varonis Platform excels in data access governance, providing deep insights into sensitive data, behavior monitoring, and managing data exposure.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Defender for Cloud could improve by reducing false positives, refining recommendations for third-party integrations, and simplifying its pricing model. Documentation and support could be enhanced. Varonis Platform's reliance on on-premises deployment limits cloud-native potential. The complex interface and high licensing costs could be reduced to attract smaller enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Cloud requires familiarity with Microsoft services for optimal deployment and has variable support quality. Issues with onboarding and support consistency are reported. Varonis Platform, traditionally on-premises, is complex to deploy, but cloud migration simplifies setup. Customer service is good but varies in detail of guidance needed during implementation.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers flexible pricing tiers, including a free version. Although comprehensive services seem costly, users report significant ROI from security enhancements and efficiency. Varonis Platform, with a modular licensing structure and additional infrastructure requirements, appears expensive but provides value in data protection and security for large enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Varonis Platform Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Varonis Platform

September 2025

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Helped 868,787 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 Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)

4th

Ranking in Compliance Management

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (7th), Container Management (9th), 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 (8th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (2nd)

Varonis Platform

Ranking in Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)

3rd

Ranking in Compliance Management

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Email Security (20th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (9th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (7th), Data Governance (4th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (5th), Ransomware Protection (10th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (7th), Insider Risk Management (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 10.9%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Varonis Platform is 9.0%, up from 5.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Varonis Platform	9.0%
Microsoft Defender for Cloud	10.9%
Other	80.1%

Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)

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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Frederic Delos

Senior Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Offers the ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data

The most effective feature for me is its ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data, provided you have access, to determine whether it's a false positive or a true positive. That's the best thing for me, out of all of it. It's got everything, like other ones, but I like to be able to look at something if I'm doing forensics on the alert and say, "Okay, do I really need to do something with this?" For example, we don't want sensitive data in our OneDrive. So it identifies the sensitive data that's possibly in the OneDrive. And what I can do is look at it and identify whether it's actually sensitive data in Datalert or whether it looks like sensitive data, but I know it's a false positive. If it is a false positive, I can basically say ignore this pattern based on X, Y, and Z, you know, whether it's Redjax or keyword proximity. So I like that. With other tools, I gotta go through a whole process because it's a little bit more complex. Here, I can tag it and bag it in one shot. And the next good time I scan, it slips over it. So it helps in that.

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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

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

"We saw improvement from a regulatory compliance perspective due to having a single dashboard."

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

"The first valuable feature was the fact that it gave us a list of everything that users were surfing on the web. Having the list, we could make decisions about those sites."

"It works seamlessly on the Azure platform because it's a Microsoft app. Its setup is similar, so if you already have a Microsoft account, it just flows into it."

"It is very intuitive when it comes to policy administration, alerts and notifications, and ease of setting up roles at different hierarchies. It has also been good in terms of the network technology maps. It provides a good overview, but it also depends on the complexity of your network."

"The feature of Microsoft Defender for Cloud that I have found most valuable is the alerts, which are pretty standard for security."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

"That alerting and reporting service is great."

"The solution has significantly improved data security and compliance posture by allowing us to track and monitor activities. We can see who accesses data and when files are created and understand what's happening in our environment."

"The telemetry to capture everything and the reports are very easy to configure without having a developer degree."

"There's also a 90-day policy where if a user is not using the warehouse, it will automatically delete that username."

"The solution's classification engine is highly configurable and efficient."

"The solution ensures that users have not accidentally shared sensitive information with the wrong people or too many people."

"On the Varonis side, technical support is phenomenal. Their ability to explain is very good, and they seem to be very knowledgeable. When I get an alert that doesn't quite make sense, they dive in there and kind of take me through it. That's very useful and very good. There are some false alerts, but it is better to have a false alert than no alert at all."

"The 24/7 support is the most valuable feature. They have been able to answer support questions pretty quickly."

More Varonis Platform pros

Cons

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

"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."

"When you work with it, the only problem that we're struggling with is that we have 21 different subscriptions we're trying to apply security to. It's impossible to keep everything organized."

"The pricing could be improved, as it is somewhat high for smaller companies."

"With the new Copilot functionality available everywhere, it is challenging to pinpoint areas for improvement. If I put in a lot of thought, I might identify things, but right now, nothing significant pops into my mind, but there is always room for more transparency, especially in pricing."

"Early on, the lack of transparency is a challenge. Microsoft does not tell you the cost when they launch something."

"Microsoft Defender for Cloud could be improved by adding capabilities for NetApp files and more PaaS resources from other vendors, not just Microsoft."

"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."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

"For unstructured data monitoring, it's one of the top ones, if not the top one, due to its usability."

"It is significantly complex."

"There is one thing that if I add something manually, I get so many alerts. That's the biggest bad thing."

"I would like it to have cloud integration."

"The GUI should be more functional. There should be a process for connecting through Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc."

"The remediation process can be improved. There will be no existing permission group for the McAfee channel domains. We can create a new permissions group for the required folder."

"Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety."

More Varonis Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"This solution is more cost-effective than some competing products. My understanding is that it is based on the number of integrations that you have, so if you have fewer subscriptions then you pay less for the service."

"I'm not privy to that information, but I know it's probably close to a million dollars a year."

"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 are using the free version of the Azure Security Center."

"Azure Defender is definitely pricey, but their competitors cost about the same. For example, a Palo Alto solution is the same price per endpoint, but the ground strikes cost a bit more than Azure Defender. Still, it's pricey for a company like ours. Maybe well-established organizations can afford it, but it might be too costly for a startup."

"The pricing and licensing of Microsoft Defender for Cloud have been good for us. We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

"Varonis Platform wasn't certainly the cheapest solution."

"It's expensive, kind of, really expensive."

"Licensing is on an annual basis. Maintenance and renewal fees are separate. Varonis Datalert is quite expensive."

"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."

"The platform is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."

"The pricing is good. It neither expensive nor cheap. It is average."

"You could do a subscription, where you pay yearly, or you could purchase it outright. The licensing cost is based on the number of users on the system that you are monitoring."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	45

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

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

See all answers

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

The pricing is pretty standard.

See all answers

What do you like most about Varonis Platform?

The solution has significantly improved data security and compliance posture by allowing us to track and monitor activities. We can see who accesses data and when files are created and understand w...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Varonis Platform?

Varonis started as an on-premises solution and is transitioning to cloud. It hasn't fully moved yet, which is an area for improvement. Varonis requires more access permissions for its core function...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Varonis Platform?

The primary use case for Varonis Platform is data discovery, specifically for discovering sensitive data in our organization to protect it. We are looking for a solution that can scan our repositor...

See all answers

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

Orca Security vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 21% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

BigID vs Varonis Platform

Compared 8% of the time

Wiz vs Varonis Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Purview Information Protection vs Varonis Platform

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

September 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Varonis Platform

September 2025

Download Varonis Platform product report

Also Known As

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

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Interactive Demo

Microsoft

Demo not available

Varonis

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

Varonis Platform enhances data security and governance with advanced analytics, identifying unusual access patterns and sensitive areas. Its centralized interface manages permissions across systems, offering essential capabilities for alerting and reporting.

Varonis Platform provides continuous data protection and monitoring by identifying and alerting on unauthorized data access. It offers comprehensive insights into file access and user activities, supporting data classification and simplifying compliance with tracking and monitoring capabilities. Integration with storage systems enables users to manage permissions and access effectively. Room for improvement includes cloud integration and simplifying its interface and calculation engine for ease of use. Challenges include on-premises dependency, licensing costs, and a need for enhanced DLP capabilities.

What are the primary features of Varonis Platform?

24/7 Technical Support: Ensures continuous assistance and issue resolution.
Advanced Analytics: Identifies unusual data access patterns for increased security.
Centralized Permission Management: Manages access permissions across systems.
Data Classification: Categorizes data to enhance protection measures.
Integration with Storage Systems: Simplifies compliance through tracking and monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Increased Security: Protects against unauthorized data access.
Compliance Simplification: Offers comprehensive tracking and monitoring to meet compliance standards.
Efficient Permission Management: Simplifies access controls across platforms.
Enhanced Alerting: Provides timely notifications of potential security breaches.

In finance, Varonis aids in safeguarding sensitive financial data, while in healthcare, it secures patient records. Legal industries utilize it for protecting client information, and retail sectors manage sensitive customer data. These industries benefit from Varonis' ability to prevent unauthorized access and streamline compliance.

Varonis

Sample Customers

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

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Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Varonis Platform

September 2025

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