Compare cloud security vendors side by side

By The Cloud Map Desk. Published 8 Oct 2026, updated 3 Nov 2026.

Desk research from public vendor pages. Vendor facts read September 2026, updated 2026-11-03. Profiles follow our published method; we did not run the products.

Their labels, side by side

The same rows for each vendor you picked.

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

crowdstrike.com

Categories described6 of 6

CNAPPYes

CSPMYes

CWPPYes

CIEMYes

DSPMYes

Vulnerability managementYes

AgentsAgentless + agent

Clouds namedAWS, Azure, GCP, OCI

Code scanningPartly

AI securityYes

FedRAMPHigh

Air-gappedNot stated

On-premisesNot stated

Open sourceNone named

Public priceMarketplace listing

* Not found on the pages we read; it may exist. Facts as the vendor states them on its own pages and marketplace listings, read September 2026, checked 3 Nov 2026. Not a measure of how well anything works.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

azure.microsoft.com

Categories described6 of 6

CNAPPYes

CSPMYes

CWPPYes

CIEMYes

DSPMYes

Vulnerability managementYes

AgentsAgentless + agent

Clouds namedAzure, AWS, GCP

Code scanningPartly

AI securityPartly

FedRAMPHigh

Air-gappedNot stated

On-premisesYes

Open sourceNone named

Public pricePublished

From each vendor's own pages, read in September 2026 and updated on 2026-11-03. Differs marks rows where the selected vendors' recorded status or value is not the same.
Fact	CrowdStrike	Defender for Cloud
Category map	CNAPP CSPM CWPP CIEM DSPM VM	CNAPP CSPM CWPP CIEM DSPM VM
Positioning	CrowdStrike's cloud security module, which pairs agentless posture with the same Falcon sensor used on endpoints.	Microsoft's cloud security product: a free posture tier, paid posture and server plans billed per resource, across Azure, AWS and Google Cloud.
Agent approach	Agentless parts, agent for depth Agentless CSPM; workload protection is split between agentless scanning and the Falcon sensor. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	Agentless parts, agent for depth Agentless VM, secrets and Kubernetes scanning exist, but only in the paid Defender CSPM plan and Defender for Servers Plan 2. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Cloud CSPM plans, read 27 Sep 2026.
Runtime sensor	The CrowdStrike Falcon sensor, the same agent used for endpoints. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	Defender for Servers Plan 1 and Plan 2 bring Microsoft Defender for Endpoint EDR to servers. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Servers overview, read 27 Sep 2026.
Clouds namedDiffers	AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI The Falcon Cloud Security page links to AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and OCI pages; Alibaba Cloud is not named. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security (re-read), read 11 Oct 2026.	Azure, AWS, GCP Azure, AWS and Google Cloud, plus on-premises machines through Azure Arc. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Servers overview, read 27 Sep 2026.
CNAPP	Described Combines CSPM, workload protection, CIEM, ASPM and AI-SPM under Falcon Cloud Security. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	Described Posture (Defender CSPM) and workload protection (Defender for Servers) are separate plans in one product; the full set needs paid plans. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Cloud CSPM plans, read 27 Sep 2026.
CSPM	Described Agentless CSPM enriched with adversary intelligence. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	Described Foundational CSPM is free; Defender CSPM adds attack path analysis and the cloud security explorer. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Cloud CSPM plans, read 27 Sep 2026.
CWPP	Described Cloud workload protection with agent and agentless options. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	Described Defender for Servers Plan 1 and Plan 2, with file integrity monitoring and just-in-time access in Plan 2. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Servers overview, read 27 Sep 2026.
CIEM	Described CIEM is listed. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	Described Defender for Cloud includes native CIEM, supporting Microsoft Entra ID, AWS IAM and Google Cloud IAM. Source: Microsoft Learn: CIEM in Defender for Cloud, read 11 Oct 2026.
DSPM	Described DSPM is named: discover, classify and protect cloud data. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security (re-read), read 11 Oct 2026.	Described DSPM is part of the paid Defender CSPM plan. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Cloud CSPM plans, read 27 Sep 2026.
Vulnerability management	Described AI-driven vulnerability management is named. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security (re-read), read 11 Oct 2026.	Described Agentless VM vulnerability scanning is in the paid Defender CSPM plan and Defender for Servers Plan 2. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Cloud CSPM plans, read 27 Sep 2026.
Code security	ASPM maps business applications onto cloud infrastructure; source-code scanning is not the focus of the pages we read. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	Code-to-cloud mapping in the paid Defender CSPM plan. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Cloud CSPM plans, read 27 Sep 2026.
AI securityDiffers	AI-SPM covers AI infrastructure. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	AI-SPM in the paid Defender CSPM plan; Defender for AI Services is billed per 1,000 tokens. Source: Azure: Defender for Cloud pricing, read 27 Sep 2026.
Kubernetes runtimeDiffers	Workload protection for cloud workloads through the Falcon sensor and agentless scanning. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	Agentless Kubernetes discovery in the paid Defender CSPM plan. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Cloud CSPM plans, read 27 Sep 2026.
Private cloud or on-premisesDiffers	Not in our sources	On-premises machines through Azure Arc. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Servers overview, read 27 Sep 2026.
Disconnected environments	Not in our sources	Not in our sources
Compliance reportingDiffers	Not in our sources	Compliance standards include CIS, PCI DSS v4.0.1, HIPAA, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, SOC 2023, NIST CSF v2.0 and NIST SP 800-53, assignable to Azure subscriptions, AWS accounts and GCP projects. Source: Microsoft Learn: regulatory compliance standards, read 11 Oct 2026.
Public-sector authorization	CrowdStrike lists Falcon Cloud Security, Falcon Cloud Security for Containers and for Managed Containers among its FedRAMP High authorized products. Source: Securing Critical Systems: CrowdStrike Achieves FedRAMP High Authorization, read 3 Nov 2026.	Microsoft lists Defender for Cloud in FedRAMP High audit scope for Azure and Azure Government. Source: Azure and other Microsoft cloud services compliance scope, read 3 Nov 2026.
PriceDiffers	Not published AWS Marketplace pay-as-you-go listing that combines Falcon Cloud Security with Next-Gen SIEM: runtime host protection (EC2, WorkSpaces) $0.023 per hour per running host; container cluster and node protection $0.054 per hour per running worker node; Fargate container protection $0.01 per hour per Fargate instance; 30-day free trial with up to $500 in usage credits. CrowdStrike's own pricing page lists endpoint bundles only. Source: AWS Marketplace: CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM and Cloud Security (pay as you go), read 11 Oct 2026.	Foundational CSPM is free. Defender CSPM is $5.11 per billable resource per month (8 functions or web apps count as 1 resource). Defender for Servers is $4.906 per server per month for Plan 1 and $14.60 for Plan 2. Defender for Containers is $6.8693 per vCore per month. USD list prices, East and Central US; free for the first 30 days. Source: Azure: Defender for Cloud pricing (re-read), read 11 Oct 2026.
Open source	None named	None named
Ownership	CrowdStrike. Source: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, read 27 Sep 2026.	Microsoft. Source: Microsoft Learn: Defender for Cloud CSPM plans, read 27 Sep 2026.

Head-to-heads for this selection

CrowdStrike vs Defender for Cloud

Frequently asked questions

Why can I only pick five?

Beyond five columns the table stops being readable on a laptop. Use the vendor profiles for the full detail on each.

Why is there no total or score?

We do not score vendors. The table shows recorded facts; the finder applies your own constraints.

Can I share a comparison?

Yes. The selection is in the address bar, so copy the URL.