--- title: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Reviews meta_title: 'Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 53 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 53 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-09' parent_category: name: Security url: https://www.g2.com/categories/security --- # Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Reviews **Vendor:** Microsoft **Category:** [Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/cloud-access-security-broker-casb) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 53 ## About Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is an enterprise-grade security for cloud apps. ## Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users commend the **robust security protection** offered by Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, enhancing privacy and system integrity. (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users feel Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is **expensive** and should be more affordable for greater accessibility. (1 reviews) ## Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Reviews ### 1. Solid and reliable cloud security tool **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consulting | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 21, 2024 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** It is a solid, efficient, and reliable security tool with the best feature being the real time updates about threats and also the seamless integration with other tools like ServiceNow **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Learning how to use Microsoft Defender at first can be a little challenging especially the architecture and integration into other apps like XDR, could be more user friendly **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Helps secure local employees' systems and client sanctioned cloud systems for building data management related development projects ### 2. Get in-depth insight before it goes red **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sunil A. | SRE Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2023 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** One of the critical strengths of Microsoft Defender is its integration with Windows, which allows it to run smoothly in the background without causing any noticeable impact on system performance. It also comes with various advanced features, such as real-time protection, cloud-based protection, and automatic updates, to protect users against the latest threats. Another notable aspect of Microsoft Defender is its ease of use. It comes pre-installed on all Windows 10 devices, which means users don't have to worry about downloading and installing any third-party antivirus software. The user interface is simple and easy to navigate, making it a great choice for users who are not tech-savvy. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Limited support for third-party cloud apps. Need Azure AD for integration. Setting up Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps requires a degree of technical expertise and can be challenging for users who are not familiar with cloud security tools. The tool can require significant configuration, including setting up policies, configuring data loss prevention rules, and enabling integrations with other security tools. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Shadow IT: One of the biggest challenges that organizations face when it comes to cloud security is the issue of shadow IT. Employees may use cloud applications that are not sanctioned or monitored by the IT department, which can leave the organization vulnerable to security risks. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps helps to identify and manage these unapproved cloud applications, giving IT teams greater visibility and control over their organization's cloud environment. Data loss and leakage: Cloud applications can be a source of data loss and leakage, particularly when employees share sensitive data or files inappropriately. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps provides data loss prevention capabilities that allow organizations to identify and prevent the unauthorized sharing of sensitive data within cloud applications. Cyber attacks and malware: Cloud applications can be vulnerable to cyber attacks and malware, which can result in data breaches and other security incidents. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps helps to protect against these threats by providing advanced threat detection and response capabilities, including real-time monitoring of cloud application activity and automated remediation of security incidents. Overall, the benefits of using Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps include improved visibility and control over an organization's cloud environment, enhanced security and compliance, and reduced risk of data loss and cyber attacks. By addressing these critical security challenges, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps can help organizations to operate more securely and efficiently in the cloud. ### 3. Great product, a comprehensive cloud-native security solution **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aak P. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 04, 2023 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** It provides comprehensive visibility, threat detection, and data protection capabilities, addressing various security concerns in cloud environments. Also, has good integration especially if you are using Microsoft products. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** The configuration could be complex sometimes. While integration with Microsoft products is boon, it can prove to be disadvantageous as well, because integration with other products could be difficult. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** It assists with cloud application security.There is better visibility and control.It also assists with compliance and governance. Helps in integration and centralized management. ### 4. Review on MCAS **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tiyasa B. | Assistant System Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 20, 2023 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** This CASB solution by Microsoft is a really great product to detect threat and shadow IT discoveries, it provides rich information to investigate any alerts, it help to find different Oauth applications in your organisation which is getting used by uses **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** There is not much to dislike about defender for cloud apps or MCAS **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps in shadow IT discoveries, As a security administrator I can monitor which O auth application is getting used by users in my organisation ### 5. MDCA helps to monitor and to restrict usage of cloud apps in the organization. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 06, 2023 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** MDCA helps to detect atypical and undesired activities occurring in cloud apps within the Azure AD / Microsoft 365 ecosystem. For example, malware uploaded into SharePoint / Teams / OneDrive, or bulk deletion activities. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** The CASB functionality, e.g. to intercept the user session in SharePoint / Teams and to restrict the user activities by blocking file downloads on untrusted devices or by applying sensitivity labels on downloaded files, has a huge user impact and really slows down the performance of SharePoint / Teams. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** MDCA provides a good overview of the usage of cloud apps across the organization. Within an additional integration with MDE, MDCA allows to detect shadow IT. In addition, MDCA not only provides reporting about cloud apps but also allows to restrict and even block activities in cloud apps under certain conditions. For this purpose, MDCA provides a rich set of built-in policies and actions in case an alert occurs. ### 6. MDCA Good but some room for improvement **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Fahwad M. | M365 Security Specialist, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 15, 2022 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Being able to add granular control to apps to ensure data and users are safe when using Cloud Apps. Implementation some controls like file policy, Session policy. enables the best controls for apps. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** The limitation of adding users to be excluded from the policy. Also, the number of built-in connectors is limited as well. This should be increased so connectors can be implemented. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has enabled us to monitor cloud apps and usage. We are a large enterprise organisation and need to ensure we monitor, protect, and secure all corporate data critical to our business. ### 7. A Strong CASB product to protect cloud workloads **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Prashant N. | Manager IT (Global), Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2023 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Conditional Access with stepped up authentication makes to protech the workloads as and when necessary depdning upon the resource that is accessing the workloads and hence a contextually awareness **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Require time to setup, not many cloud apps are protected within the available intergrations, need to work with vendors to get them onboarded correctly and knowsn, documented methods of bypass **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Contextual awareness and device security posture are the key things that are helping us solve the right access from right user and right device, hence a perfect combination ### 8. Microsoft Defender review as user **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gangadharam K. | Senior Software Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 01, 2023 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Cloud apps security for multiple clouds and help to enforce policies and detect threats **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** The problems while using the other clouds like aws. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Detect and manage suspicious activities in the azure cloud and investigate risky users and oAuth apps ### 9. Using product with DLP **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Raymond G. | Sr Enterprise Systems Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 09, 2023 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Like the various functionalities and features that it provides **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Would like it to be a little more comprehensive when creating a rule **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Beginning to use it to protect data from unmanaged devices. ### 10. Defender used on azure **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** aswath k. | System Administrator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 16, 2023 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Able to monitor cloud traffic. Block suspicious activity or traffic in servers. Suggestion to secure cloud apps **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** UI is little tough to understand. Not preety straight forward process. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Able to secure our cloud deployments on azure ### 11. It provide the best services **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** yanamala n. | Cloud management plataform Test engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 10, 2023 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** The cloud apps provide lot of services and security **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Nothing specific. Its user friendly and easy to use. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** As its providing the best security can protect my data ### 12. Good, straight forward tool. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer & Network Security | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 14, 2022 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Good overview of incidents, connectors and connected apps are visible and the whole user experience is straight forward. Custom rules can be created to some extend. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Integration with Sentinel is not perfect, some incidents do not get closed automatically if they get closed in Sentinel. More insight into the rule creation/ customization options would be nice because file movement incidents are usually false/positive. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Overview of connected apps and their permissions, helps monitor what access connected apps have in your environment. Monitors file movement and alerts ### 13. in build solution by Microsoft **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lalit K. | Sr. specialist- Network Security, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 04, 2022 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** all have same desuction feature dont think so anything is deferent to others. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** this is not managed by a single console and also does not have the WEB APP USB block feature. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** service restart ### 14. Impressive Security Coverage but could be more User-Friendly **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2021 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** I have found Microsoft Cloud App Security to be quite beneficial and has helped me to maintain a sufficient level of security. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** However, I feel that it doesn't always seem user-friendly, so overall, it I could use a more user-friendly interface. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm solving the issue of remote management of security apps, I can manage the suspcription and any privacy issues remotely which is great! ### 15. Microsoft Cloud App Security Review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christopher J. K. | Manager, Compensation & Business Analytics, Financial Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 14, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** The dashboard is very easy to navigate by providing clear views of activities + files monitored, as well as any activity flagged as suspicious. Linking other apps like Salesforce and Microsoft Office 365 is also very intuitive. The ability to create custom policies from scratch is also useful, in that our business is constantly changing. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** The risk assessments used from tracking firewalls and proxies sometimes seem to flag things as suspicious and or concerning, when they are mostly harmless. We are working to try and refine what factors are considered in the risk assessment metrics. **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps:** I would look to receive on-site training from a Microsoft professional. In the beginning, it can be somewhat difficult to understand what is being flagged in each application. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Our main purpose is to track all our SAS apps and make sure that they are secure. We use Microsoft Cloud to mitigate risk across a number of platforms/services. ### 16. good value for a good service **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 14, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** The service provided good security and piece of mind over important information **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** I had some issues on occasion including my computer freezing **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** solving the issue of storing my information in the cloud while feeling secure that it would be encrypted ### 17. Average experience in line with product expectations **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 07, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Experience in line with expectations for the products **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Had to continue to submit websites that I would allow pop ups from **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Feel more secure in storing my information in the cloud while also keeping data organized and easily accessible ### 18. Good experience with Microsoft Cloud App Security **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Semiconductors | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 15, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** It's deeply integrated with Office 365, providing security management and transparency capabilities **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** pricing is pretty high compare to competitive solution **Recommendations to others considering Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps:** Microsoft Cloud App Security is applicable to verticals **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** it's easily integrated with existing microsoft platforms we have been using ### 19. Complete Control **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 26, 2018 **What do you like best about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** I like the ability to regulate all the different apps that my team members use, while being able see what the activity is. **What do you dislike about Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?** Connecting the SIEM agent to Cloud App Security can be buggy, and can only be resolved (in my experience) by contacting support. I would prefer to be able to troubleshoot myself, but it could definitely be worse. **What problems is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps solving and how is that benefiting you?** Full visibility in a business where employees are working largely from the cloud ## Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Discussions - [What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-microsoft-defender-for-cloud-apps-used-for) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What does Microsoft Cloud App Security do?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-does-microsoft-cloud-app-security-do) - 1 comment - [View Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-defender-for-cloud-apps/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=4§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-12+23%3A23%3A27+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=a3232066-6a28-4e0d-a84b-9f63b2b525c3&secure%5Btoken%5D=140362bc9e658c0d69d44d393e9d69229178204f69ea48a9577ca46620277c8a&format=llm_user) ## Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Features **Analysis** - User Analytics - Cloud Gap Analytics - Anomoly Detection - Reporting/Analytics - Usage Tracking/Analytics **Security** - Encrypted Storage - Anomoly Detection - Data loss Prevention - Policy Enforcement **Cloud Visibility** - Data Discovery - Cloud Registry - Cloud Gap Analytics **Functionality** - SSO - Cloud Registry - Mobile Device Mangement **Administration** - Reporting and Monitoring - Breadth of Partner Applications - Auditing **Access Control** - User, Role, and Access Management - Access Rights - User Analytics - Compliance Monitoring **Security** - Data Security - Data loss Prevention - Security Auditing - Real-Time Data - Cloud Application Security - SSL Security **Security** - Governance - Data loss Prevention - Data Encryption/Security - Access Control - Cloud Encryption - Network Security - Cloud Application Security - Data Leak Prevention - Data Governance **Additional Functionality** - Multi-Cloud Management - Risk Scoring - Device Auto Discovery - API - Real-time Alerts - Configuration Management - Third-Party Integrations - User Management - Compliance Tracking - Risk Analysis - User Activity Monitoring - Threat Protection - Cloud Security Policy Management - Generative AI - Device Management - Audit Management - Activity Dashboard - Alerts/Notifications - Performance Analysis - AI Copilot - Compliance Management **Identity** - SSO - Governance - User Analytics - Real-Time Analytics - Visual Analytics - Reporting/Analytics **Additional Functionality** - Alerts/Notifications - AI Copilot - Access Controls/Permissions - Endpoint Management - Intrusion Detection System - Compliance Management - HIPAA Compliant - Search/Filter - API - Two-Factor Authentication - Data Visualization - Risk Assessment - Real-Time Monitoring - Event Logs - Activity Dashboard - Audit Management - Cloud Security Policy Management - Vulnerability Protection - Anti Virus - Incident Management - Threat Intelligence - Real-Time Reporting - Reporting & Statistics - User Management - Encryption - Vulnerability Scanning - Generative AI - Status Tracking - Third-Party Integrations - Real-Time Notifications - Patch Management - Monitoring - Cloud Encryption ## Top Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Alternatives - [Netskope One Platform](https://www.g2.com/products/netskope-one-platform/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (91 reviews) - [Check Point Email Security](https://www.g2.com/products/check-point-email-security/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (487 reviews) - [Trend Micro Cloud App Security](https://www.g2.com/products/trend-micro-cloud-app-security/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (43 reviews)