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Unified cloud security

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Start protecting your hybrid and multicloud environments with unified security across the full application lifecycle, from code to runtime.
Get the latest news

Redefining security for the AI era

Explore the latest Defender for Cloud innovations—from protecting AI workloads to unified posture management across multicloud environments.
Overview

Help secure your hybrid and multicloud
environments with confidence

Strengthen your security posture, help protect cloud and AI workloads from evolving cyberthreats, and build more secure applications with Defender for Cloud.
  • Gain end-to-end visibility across your hybrid and multicloud environments, prioritize your most critical risks with contextual insights, and remediate at scale from code to runtime with built-in workflows.
  • Get multicloud protection across your infrastructure, apps, and sensitive business data with intelligent, cloud-native cyberthreat detection and response integrated into the Microsoft Defender portal.
  • Streamline collaboration between development and security teams to fix security issues at the source—helping prevent vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and secrets from reaching production with unified DevOps security across multicloud and multi-pipeline environments.
Market Statistics

The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Get faster threat remediation and fewer false positives. Defender for Cloud boosts SecOps efficiency and delivers measurable productivity gains.
Use cases

See Defender for Cloud in action

Help simplify security with a unified cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that provides end-to-end visibility and protection across hybrid and multicloud environments.

Improve the security of your software supply chain and prevent vulnerabilities and secrets in code.

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Unify cloud security—from code to runtime

Strengthen the security of your cloud and AI applications from code to runtime with unified visibility, contextual risk insights, and near real-time threat detection and response.
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Integrations

Products and solutions integrated with Defender for Cloud

Protect your cloud-native applications across hybrid and multicloud environments. Learn how these products and solutions work together with Defender for Cloud to deliver comprehensive cloud security.

GitHub Advanced Security

Empower developers and security teams to work together to accelerate the delivery of secure software.

Microsoft Security Exposure Management

Reduce risk and optimize your security posture with comprehensive visibility into your attack surface and exposure to cyberthreats.

Microsoft Defender XDR

Empower developers and security teams to work together to accelerate the delivery of secure software.

Microsoft Sentinel

Confidently secure your multicloud, multiplatform environment with an innovative, AI-powered security and information and event management (SIEM) solution.

Microsoft Security Copilot

Help protect your organization at the speed and scale of AI with a generative AI-powered assistant for daily operations in security and IT.

Defender External Attack Surface Management

See your business the way a cyberattacker does—with visibility across your resources and multicloud environment.

Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR

Stop attackers with always-on, AI-accelerated managed extended detection and response (MXDR), expert-led and natively integrated in Microsoft Defender.
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Pricing

Flexible plans and transparent pricing

Start your 30-day free trial of Defender for Cloud with a new or existing Azure account. Then choose between commitment tiers for greater cost savings, or a pay-as-you-go model.
Industry recognition

Recognition and research by top industry analyst firms

  • Learn why Microsoft is named a Leader in IDC MarketScape for Unified AI Governance Platforms.2
  • Learn why Microsoft is named an overall leader in KuppingerCole Analysts Leadership Compass for Generative AI Defense.3
  • Learn why Microsoft was named a Leader in the IDC Marketscape: Worldwide Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform 2025 Vendor Assessment.4
  • Read The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, a commissioned study by Forrester Consulting, January 2025.1
Customer stories

What customers are saying

Frequently asked questions

  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud is an integrated cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that helps protect your applications and infrastructure across hybrid and multicloud environments. It delivers unified security across the application lifecycle with cloud security posture management (CSPM), workload protection, and DevOps security capabilities—empowering organizations to detect threats, reduce risk, and stay compliant from code to runtime.
  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers both free and paid tiers, depending on the features and scope of protection you need.
  • You can get started with a free 30-day trial of Defender for Cloud. After the trial, choose pay-as-you-go pricing or save up to 22% when you pre-purchase Microsoft Defender for Cloud Commit Units. Both free and paid tiers are available depending on your needs.
  • Yes. Azure Security Center was renamed Microsoft Defender for Cloud in 2021 to better reflect its expanded capabilities and support for protecting hybrid and multicloud environments.
  • Defender for Cloud is a unified cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that provides cloud security posture management, DevOps security management, and cloud workload protection across hybrid and multicloud environments. Defender for Cloud Apps is a comprehensive software-as-a-service (SaaS) security solution that enables organizations to prevent and protect against SaaS-related threats by combining SaaS app discovery, security posture management, app-to-app protection, and integrated threat protection.

Get started

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Start protecting your cloud environments

Get started with Defender for Cloud by signing in to your Azure account or creating a new account for free.
  1. [1]
    The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, August 2024, updated January 2025.

    To understand benefits, costs, and risks, Forrester interviewed five representatives with experience using Defender for Cloud. For the purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the results from these customers into a single composite organization.
  2. [2]
    IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Unified AI Governance Platforms 2025–2026 Vendor Assessment, by David Schubmehl and Raghunandhan Kuppuswamy, December 2025, IDC #US53514825e.
  3. [3]
    Generative AI Defense, by Jonathan Care, KuppingerCole Analysts, December 2, 2025.
  4. [4]
    IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform 2025 Vendor Assessment, by Philip Bues and Frank Dickson, June 2025, IDC #US53549925.

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