Find out in this report how the two Microsoft Security Suite solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Bastion vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Report (Updated: May 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Bastion vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

May 2024

Download the complete report

Helped 787,061 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

Azure Bastion

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

17th

Average Rating

8.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (32nd), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (9th)

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (7th), Container Management (10th), Container Security (3rd), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (3rd), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (3rd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (3rd), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (3rd), Compliance Management (2nd)

Market share comparison

As of June 2024, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the market share of Azure Bastion is 1.7% and it increased by 21.3% compared to the previous year. The market share of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 8.0% and it decreased by 45.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite

Unique Categories:

Network Monitoring Software

0.1%

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)

0.7%

Vulnerability Management

5.8%

Container Management

0.9%

Featured Reviews

Ashadeep Parida

Manager at Capgemini

Mar 28, 2023

Provides good security and saves licensing costs

Implementation-wise, a little bit of improvement is required because the tips they have provided are a little bit tricky. There are some challenges because Bastion is more compatible with Edge but not with the other browsers. As an organization, it doesn't make sense that we have to use only Edge. We should be able to access Bastion over Chrome, Mozilla, or Opera. It should be our choice. A little bit of improvement is required for Linux because we can add Bastion on the Windows machine, but PuTTY is implemented for Linux. We have to log in to Bastion, and through that, we have to go to the PuTTY service.

Read full review

Ellwood S

CEO at Wood IT Security

Aug 28, 2023

Gives insight into potential avenues for attack paths, but it is expensive, and the user interface must be improved

The solution is deployed on-premise as well as on the public cloud. Our cloud providers are Azure and AWS. We also have some GCP assets. We have around 20,000 total devices. They don’t always correspond to an end user. Of those, maybe 12,000 to 13,000 are enrolled in Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Other devices we have are either outdated Linux or outdated Windows. We’re trying to migrate all the ones we can, and then some of them will be those narrow use-case devices where it wouldn't really make sense or be feasible for them to have a definitive cloud. They're limited processing power devices, like iPads and tablets.

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 ability to operate the product with scripting is excellent."

"The product's setup is easy."

"The connection to virtual machines is very useful."

"The most significant advantage lies in its runbook features, particularly beneficial for our infrastructure team."

"The interface is available in the edit portal."

"Azure Bastion makes it easy to provide quick virtual machine access to our customers."

"As an Azure consultant, for me, it is the best way to give the administrator access as you can manage the permission - including who can access Bastion."

"It provides all the security to us. Without getting on the internet, we can access our servers. We can access our desktop through our web browser. We don't need to run the mstsc command and login to the VM. All those things are not required."

"Provides a very good view of the entire security setup of your organization."

"Everything is built into Azure, and if we go for cross-cloud development with Azure Arc, we can use most of the features. While it's possible to deploy and convert third-party applications, it is difficult to maintain, whereas Azure deployments to the cloud are always easier. Also, Microsoft is a big company, so they always provide enough support, and we trust the Microsoft brand."

"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."

"One important security feature is the incident alerts. Now, with all these cyberattacks, there are a lot of incident alerts that get triggered. It is very difficult to keep monitoring everything automatically, instead our organization is utilizing the automated use case that we get from Microsoft. That has helped bring down the manual work for a lot of things."

"Defender is a robust platform for dealing with many kinds of threats. We're protected from various threats, like viruses. Attacks can be easily minimized with this solution defending our infrastructure."

"The integration with Logic Apps allows for automated responses to incidents."

"It isn't a highly complex solution. It's something that a lot of analysts can use. Defender gives you a broad overview of what's happening in your environment, and it's a great solution if you're a Microsoft shop."

"It's quite a good product. It helps to understand the infections and issues you are facing."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pros

Cons

"We are not able to copy and paste files directly into the server over the patch host. We have to transfer files over to Azure Storage."

"While general support is valuable, having a detailed breakdown of the specific issues would contribute to a more streamlined and efficient resolution process."

"There are some challenges because Bastion is more compatible with Edge but not with the other browsers. As an organization, it doesn't make sense that we have to use only Edge. We should be able to access Bastion over Chrome, Mozilla, or Opera. It should be our choice."

"When you have a boot issue on Windows, you cannot use Azure Bastion to fix it. You have to use the Azure console or the VM console, and it is very limited."

"The protocol speed could be faster."

"The solution breaks down sometimes."

"You are charged for retrieving your own data."

"The product was a bit complex to set up earlier, however, it is a bit streamlined now."

"No possibility to write or edit any capability."

"Microsoft Defender could be more centralized. For example, I still need to go to another console to do policy management."

"One of the main challenges that we have been facing with Azure Security Center is the cost. The costs are really a complex calculation, e.g., to calculate the monthly costs. Azure is calculating on an hourly basis for use of the resource. Because of this, we found it really complex to promote what will be our costs for the next couple of months. I think if Azure could reduce the complex calculation and come up with straightforward cost mapping that would be very useful from a product point of view."

"I felt that there was disconnection in terms of understanding the UI. The communication for moving from the old UI to the new UI could be improved. It was a bit awkward."

"The product must improve its UI."

"The initial setup is not actually so complex but it feels complex because there are many add-ons. There are many options and my team needs to be aware of all of these changes happening on the backend which is a distraction."

"If a customer is already using Okta as an SSO in its entire environment, they will want to continue with it. But Security Center doesn't understand that and keeps making recommendations. It would help if it let us resolve a recommendation, even if it is not implemented."

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Bastion's pricing is good."

"The pricing is a lower decision point than high-quality security for our organization. Better security comes at a cost, but it's worth it, and that's what we tell our customers."

"It does not save money for us."

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

"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."

"Pricing depends on your workload size, but it is very cheap. If you're talking about virtual machines, it is $5 or something for each machine, which is minimal. If you go for some agent-based solution for every virtual machine, then you need to pay the same thing or more than that. For an on-premises solution like this, we were paying around $30 to $50 based on size. With Defender, Microsoft doesn't bother about the size. You pay based on the number of machines. So, if you have 10 virtual machines, and 10 virtual machines are being monitored, you are paying based on that rather than the size of the virtual machine. Thus, you are paying for the number of units rather than paying for the size of your units."

"The cost of the license is based on the subscriptions that you have."

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

"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."

"Its pricing is a little bit high in terms of Azure Security Center, but the good thing is that we don't need to maintain and deploy it. So, while the pricing is high, it is native to Azure which is why we prefer using this tool."

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

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Azure Bastion?

Azure Bastion makes it easy to provide quick virtual machine access to our customers.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Bastion?

The product costs around $150 per month. It does not save money for us.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Bastion?

We are not able to copy and paste files directly into the server over the patch host. We have to transfer files over to Azure Storage.

See all answers

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?

Our clients complain about the cost of Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Microsoft needs to bring the cost down. What we're doing to their detriment is simply lowering the amount of log retention we're...

See all answers

Comparisons

Azure Firewall vs Azure Bastion

Compared 34% of the time

Azure Front Door vs Azure Bastion

Compared 25% of the time

TeamViewer Remote Management vs Azure Bastion

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Sentinel vs Azure Bastion

Compared 8% of the time

More Azure Bastion Competitors

AWS GuardDuty vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 19% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 9% of the time

Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Bastion

June 2024

Download Azure Bastion product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

May 2024

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

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

Learn More

Microsoft

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Microsoft

Overview

Azure Bastion is a service you deploy that lets you connect to a virtual machine using your browser and the Azure portal. The Azure Bastion service is a fully platform-managed PaaS service that you provision inside your virtual network. It provides secure and seamless RDP/SSH connectivity to your virtual machines directly from the Azure portal over TLS. When you connect via Azure Bastion, your virtual machines do not need a public IP address, agent, or special client software.

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.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

Buyer's Guide

Azure Bastion vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

May 2024

Free Report: Azure Bastion vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Bastion vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.

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