Cloud Security Tools Compared

Cloud security platforms protect AWS, Azure, and GCP environments through configuration scanning, workload protection, vulnerability management, and identity. Side-by-side comparison across 4 tools — descriptive only, no recommendations.

6 min read Data verified: July 2026 4 tools compared

Wiz

CNAPP

Paid

$50K-$300K+/yr enterprise asset-based or cluster-based custom pricing

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Prowler

CSPM

Free / OSS

Free (Apache 2.0 open source CLI) Prowler SaaS from ~$79/mo

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Trivy

Container Security

Free / OSS

Free (Apache 2.0 open source) commercial Aqua Security platform builds on Trivy with additional capabilities

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Orca Security

CNAPP

Paid

$30K-$200K+/yr enterprise typically positioned ~20-30% below comparable CNAPP enterprise pricing

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Comparing →

Wiz

CNAPP

Prowler

CSPM

Trivy

Container Security

Orca Security

CNAPP

$ Pricing & plans

5 dimensions

Pricing model

Custom enterprise pricing

deployments commonly $50K-$300K+/yr based on cloud asset count and modules

CLI is free under Apache 2.0

Prowler SaaS starts at ~$79/mo with cloud-managed dashboards, scheduling, ticketing, and team features

Free under Apache 2.0

Aqua Security commercial platform (built on Trivy) is separately licensed for enterprise capabilities

Custom enterprise pricing

typical deployments $30K-$200K+/yr; commonly positioned ~20-30% below comparable enterprise CNAPP

Pricing tier

Paid

Free / OSS

Paid

Free tier / trial

Free tier

No free consumer tier; free 30-day enterprise trial and a free cloud risk assessment via sales engagement; entry 'Wiz Go' bundle for SMBs, otherwise custom enterprise pricing

Free tier

CLI permanently free; Prowler SaaS offers free trial

Free tier

Software permanently free; Aqua Security offers commercial trial

Trial only

Free risk assessment scan available; 30-day enterprise trial via sales

Volume discounts

Negotiated by asset count and module bundle

multi-year commitments common

Not applicable for CLI (free)

SaaS pricing scales with assets

Not applicable (free)

Aqua commercial pricing scales with workloads

Negotiated based on cloud asset count and modules

multi-year terms common

Hidden costs

Wiz Sensor (optional runtime agent), Wiz Code (code-to-cloud), Sensitive Data…

Discovery, and Container Scanning may be priced as add-on modules

Operational time for CLI scheduling/automation, custom report generation,…

ticketing integration (or use SaaS for managed experience)

Operational time for CI/CD integration, custom policy tuning, false positive triage

consider commercial product for managed experience

Add-on modules for advanced capabilities (e.g., sensitive data discovery,…

container vulnerability prioritization) may be priced separately

↗ Deployment & integrations

3 dimensions

Deployment

Agentless SaaS

Wiz connects to cloud accounts via read-only API integration; no agents required for core scanning

Self-run CLI on workstation, CI/CD, or scheduled compute

Prowler SaaS for managed cloud deployment

Self-run CLI, Docker container, Kubernetes Job

native integrations with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI, Jenkins; Trivy Operator for K8s

Fully agentless SaaS using SideScanning (patented)

scans cloud workloads via snapshot analysis without deploying agents or in-account compute

Typical deployment time

Hours to days

agentless scan of a cloud account typically completes within 24 hours of connection

Minutes for CLI

hours for SaaS connection and configuration

Minutes — single binary, single command to scan

Hours — SideScanning typically delivers initial results within hours of cloud…

account connection

Key integrations

AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, Kubernetes, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jira, ServiceNow,…

Slack, Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk, CrowdStrike, Snyk

AWS Security Hub, Microsoft Sentinel, Slack, PagerDuty, S3 export, Jira,…

ServiceNow (via SaaS); CI/CD pipelines via GitHub Actions/GitLab CI

GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, CircleCI, Tekton, Argo, Harbor, Quay,…

Docker Hub, Microsoft Defender for Containers; SARIF output for security tooling

AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, Kubernetes, Jira, ServiceNow, Slack, PagerDuty, Splunk,…

Microsoft Sentinel, GitHub, Terraform Cloud

☁ Cloud Security-specific evaluation

7 dimensions

Scanning approach

Agentless via cloud APIs and snapshot scanning

optional Wiz Sensor for runtime agent telemetry

Agentless API-based scanning via cloud provider read-only credentials

no agents required

Local CLI scanning of images, filesystems, Git repos, Kubernetes clusters

no agent required

SideScanning (patented)

snapshot-based agentless scanning; no in-account compute or persistent agent required

Clouds supported

AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, Alibaba Cloud

Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE, self-managed)

AWS (deepest coverage, 572+ checks), Azure, GCP, Kubernetes

expanding to other platforms

Cloud-agnostic

scans container images and IaC for AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes; AWS Bedrock model scanning available

AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, Alibaba Cloud

Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE, self-managed)

Vulnerability detection

Vulnerability scanning of VMs, containers, serverless via agentless snapshot scanning

correlates CVEs with reachability and exposure

Configuration vulnerabilities and posture issues; not a CVE vulnerability scanner

pair with Trivy or commercial CNAPP for workload CVEs

CVE scanning across OS packages (Alpine, Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, etc.) and…

language packages (npm, pip, gem, etc.); secrets detection

Vulnerability scanning of VMs, containers, serverless via SideScanning

correlates CVEs with workload context and attack path analysis

Cloud entitlements (CIEM)

Native CIEM in core platform

identity risk graph maps human and machine identity entitlements to sensitive resources

Identity-related checks for AWS IAM, Azure RBAC, GCP IAM

not a full CIEM platform

Not a CIEM tool

CIEM included in unified platform

maps identity entitlements and toxic combinations across cloud accounts

Container / Kubernetes

Native Kubernetes security posture, workload risk, admission control via Wiz…

Admission Controller, registry scanning

Kubernetes security posture checks via prowler kubernetes provider

container-focused depth is less mature than dedicated container security tools

Core strength

container image scanning, Kubernetes manifest scanning, Trivy Operator for continuous K8s scanning, admission control

Kubernetes security posture management, workload risk, image scanning, runtime…

protection via lightweight sensors (optional)

IaC scanning

Terraform, CloudFormation, Helm, Kubernetes manifests via Wiz Code

pre-deployment policy enforcement

Not core to Prowler (focused on running infrastructure)

IaC scanning typically paired with tools like Trivy or Checkov

Terraform, CloudFormation, Helm, Kubernetes manifests, Dockerfile

misconfiguration detection via Rego policies

Terraform, CloudFormation, Kubernetes manifests

shift-left scanning integrated with CI/CD pipelines

Compliance frameworks

CIS Benchmarks, NIST, PCI DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, FedRAMP, CSA CCM,…

custom frameworks; built-in compliance reporting

41+ frameworks including CIS, NIST CSF, ENS, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, ISO…

27001, FedRAMP, MITRE ATT&CK; custom frameworks supported

CIS Docker/Kubernetes Benchmarks, NIST, PCI DSS, K8s security benchmarks

SBOM generation in SPDX and CycloneDX formats

CIS Benchmarks, NIST CSF, PCI DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, FedRAMP, CSA…

CCM, custom frameworks

✓ Compliance & certifications

1 dimension

Compliance certifications

FedRAMP Moderate, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA-aligned

Software has no specific certifications

supports compliance reporting for 41+ frameworks (CIS, NIST, ENS, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, MITRE ATT&CK)

Software has no specific certifications

produces compliance reports for CIS, NIST, PCI DSS, K8s benchmarks

SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR

HIPAA and PCI DSS-aligned customer configurations

◧ Positioning

3 dimensions

Target deployment

Mid-market to enterprise multi-cloud environments wanting unified CNAPP

DevSecOps teams, security engineers, AWS-heavy environments, compliance…

auditing on a budget

DevSecOps teams, CI/CD pipeline scanning, Kubernetes admission control, IaC scanning

Mid-market to enterprise multi-cloud environments wanting agentless CNAPP at…

competitive cost

Strengths cited

Agentless scanning across AWS/Azure/GCP/OCI, unified risk graph correlating…

vulnerabilities/misconfigs/identities/sensitive data, rapid time-to-value; widely recognized cloud security leader; acquired by Google (closed March 2026)

Free open source with 13,000+ GitHub stars, 572+ AWS checks, 41+ compliance…

frameworks supported, multi-cloud coverage (AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes), permissive Apache 2.0 license

Free open source with 34,600+ GitHub stars, all-in-one scanner…

(vulnerabilities, misconfigs, secrets, SBOM, licenses), broad target support (containers, K8s, repos, filesystems, IaC), easy integration into CI/CD

Patented SideScanning agentless approach (no in-account compute or agents),…

full workload visibility within hours, unified data model across vulnerabilities/misconfigs/identities/data/malware, often positioned at lower price point than top-tier CNAPP competitors

Where it fits less well

Enterprise-tier pricing

some advanced capabilities (sensitive data scanning, code-to-cloud) are add-on modules

CLI-first design

visualization, reporting, and ticketing workflows are more polished in commercial CNAPP products; SaaS version adds dashboards but at additional cost

GitHub Action security incidents in early 2026 (publicly disclosed and…

remediated by maintainers) prompted broader scrutiny of CI/CD supply chain practices; users should follow current pinning and verification guidance

Smaller partner ecosystem than the top market leader

some practitioners cite the runtime/in-account telemetry depth as an area where competitors with optional agents offer more

Head-to-head comparisons

2 pairs

◧ Bottom line

Last updated 6 July 2026

How this category breaks down This page compares 4 CNAPP tools. Open-source / free-tier options: Prowler, Trivy. Commercial platforms: Wiz, Orca Security. Use the comparison table above to match each tool’s stated best-fit to your environment.

Frequently asked questions

3 questions

Which CNAPP tools does this comparison cover?

This comparison covers 4 CNAPP tools: Wiz, Prowler, Trivy, Orca Security.

Which CNAPP tools are open-source or offer a free tier?

Open-source or free-tier options: Prowler, Trivy.

Which CNAPP tools are commercial (paid)?

Commercial / paid options: Wiz, Orca Security.

Methodology Comparison data synthesized from publicly available vendor documentation, MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluations, AV-TEST results, Gartner Peer Insights, G2/Capterra/TrustRadius reviews, anonymized transaction data (Vendr, CostBench, CheckThat.ai), and publicly reported pricing as of May 2026. defend.network is independent and has no commercial relationship with the vendors compared.