From code to cloud, a cloud native application protection platform (CNAPP) provides end-to-end security coverage across the entire lifecycle of cloud-based applications—from initial development stages through to live production environments. A CNAPP can also simplify security operations, improve developer experience, and automate compliance.
But choosing the features and functionality your organization needs in a CNAPP isn’t simple. In this post, we’ll look at why CNAPP solutions are gaining momentum, then outline essential features to look for before drilling down into five widely referenced CNAPP offerings based on publicly available industry reviews (sources and ratings can change over time).
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The cloud security challenge and CNAPP solution
Cloud-native architectures multiply security challenges, expanding the attack surface compared to traditional development. That’s because today’s applications make extensive use of distributed microservices with APIs, dynamic scaling, and continuous deployment. Workloads for containers and serverless are ephemeral, and deployment is automated using infrastructure as code (IaC). Beyond all this, shared responsibility models across multiple providers create complexity in understanding and managing cloud configuration.
One reason traditional security tools—along with some modern ones—have a hard time keeping up is that they take a fragmented approach. If your vulnerability scanner is separate from your SAST or CSPM tools, then this can create a number of problems.
Without coherent visibility across development, infrastructure, and runtime, you’re going to end up with security blind spots. And when these siloed apps don’t permit communication between security, development, and cloud architecture teams, your teams will experience alert fatigue from uncoordinated, unprioritized findings. They also won’t be able to effectively prioritize real risk because of all the noise from uncoordinated security tools.
A CNAPP solves these issues, providing complete cloud-native security in three dimensions:
Code security: Shifts security left to the development phase
Cloud security: Manages configuration, identity, and data risks
Runtime security: Detects and responds to active threats
Gartner® Market Guide for Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
In this report, Gartner offers insights and recommendations to analyze and evaluate emerging CNAPP offerings.
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Essential CNAPP capabilities: What to look for
Wiz believes that an effective CNAPP unifies security from code to runtime, covering three essential pillars: Secure Cloud Development, Secure Cloud Infrastructure, and Cloud Detection and Response. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect under each pillar.
Secure Cloud Development
Embed security seamlessly into the software delivery lifecycle to catch risks early and accelerate safe development.
Key capabilities:
Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) Security: Detect misconfigurations and policy issues in IaC templates prior to deployment.
Code Vulnerability and Dependency Scanning: Perform deep scans on source code and dependencies to identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and malware. Generate software bills of materials (SBOM) to track components precisely.
Secrets Detection: Identify and prevent exposure of sensitive secrets (API keys, tokens, passwords) within code repositories, container images, and CI/CD pipelines.
CI/CD Pipeline Protection: Secure build pipelines by continuously auditing configuration settings and enforcing security policies during each stage of development and deployment.
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Secure Cloud Infrastructure
Ensure ongoing security and compliance across cloud environments through continuous monitoring, configuration management, and identity governance.
Key capabilities:
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM): Continuously scan cloud resources to detect misconfigurations, compliance violations, and security gaps across AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes environments.
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM): Provide identity and permissions visibility, identify excessive privileges, and enforce least-privilege access across cloud services, significantly reducing identity-related risks.
Cloud Workload Protection (CWP): Maintain runtime visibility and protection for cloud workloads including VMs, containers, and serverless functions, detecting vulnerabilities and runtime threats.
Data Security Posture Management (DSPM): Discover, classify, and protect sensitive data stored in cloud environments, proactively identifying exposure risks and ensuring data remains secured according to compliance standards.
Cloud Detection and Response
Rapidly detect, prioritize, and respond to cloud threats and incidents with comprehensive visibility and intelligent automation.
Key capabilities:
Real-Time Threat Detection: Leverage behavioral analytics and threat intelligence to monitor cloud environments for malicious activity such as anomalous access, lateral movement, or data exfiltration attempts.
Attack Path Analysis: Map and analyze attack vectors across cloud assets to visualize and prioritize risks, enabling quick identification and closure of critical security gaps.
Risk-Based Prioritization: Contextually prioritize alerts and vulnerabilities based on actual business impact, allowing security teams to focus remediation efforts on the highest-risk threats.
Automated Remediation and Incident Response: Enable automated playbooks for rapid response, containment, and mitigation of threats and incidents, minimizing manual intervention and accelerating recovery times.
An overview of common CNAPP solutions
In this section, we’ll explore five CNAPP solutions (in no specific order), highlighting their unique strengths, architectures, and core capabilities. Consider leveraging a proof of concept (PoC)—such as a demo or trial—to determine the best fit for your enterprise.
Wiz CNAPP
Platform philosophy
Agentless, unified, and context-driven cloud security from code to runtime, powered by a centralized security graph.
Architecture and key differentiators
Agentless-first architecture enabling deployment in minutes with immediate, comprehensive visibility.
Unified security graph connecting vulnerabilities, identities, configurations, and sensitive data to enable context-driven security analysis.
Risk prioritization engine focusing remediation efforts on exploitable attack paths, significantly reducing alert fatigue.
High-performance eBPF runtime sensor delivering lightweight, effective threat detection without operational overhead.
Single-pane management: Unified data model, policies, workflows, and user interface across multiple clouds and environments.
Core capabilities
Wiz CNAPP is built around three core capability pillars:
Wiz Code:
Software composition analysis and dependency scanning
Repository scanning and pull request integration
Container image scanning and registry integration
Infrastructure-as-code scanning (Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM)
CI/CD pipeline integration and build-time security controls
Supply chain security with SBOM generation
Wiz Cloud:
Cloud configuration and compliance monitoring
Identity and entitlement risk analysis
Attack path analysis with the Wiz Security Graph
Data security posture management
Network exposure analysis
Automated policy enforcement
Wiz Defend:
Real-time threat detection and response for cloud workloads
Container and Kubernetes runtime protection
Malware and cryptominer detection
Cloud-focused threat intelligence
Behavioral anomaly detection
Host and container intrusion detection
Review scores
Public review snapshots (G2, PeerSpot, Gartner Peer Insights) as reported at the time of writing; ratings and counts change over time.
| Rating Source | Aggregated Rating | Number of Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.7 stars | 702 reviews |
| Peerspot | 4.5 stars | 22 reviews |
| Gartner | 4.7 stars | 225 reviews |
2025 IDC MarketScape for CNAPP
Learn why Wiz was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) 2025 Vendor Assessment
CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security
Platform philosophy
Extension of endpoint security leadership into cloud environments with a unified console
Architecture and key differentiators
This platform’s combination of agent and agentless architecture may require more deployment coordination
Integration with broader Falcon endpoint protection platform
Threat intelligence from CrowdStrike's global sensor network
Single console for endpoint and cloud security management
Core capabilities
Cloud security posture management across major providers
Container and Kubernetes protection
Runtime protection for cloud workloads
Identity threat detection and prevention
Cloud infrastructure entitlement management
Cloud detection and response
Review scores
Public review snapshots (G2, PeerSpot, Gartner Peer Insights) as reported at the time of writing; ratings and counts change over time.
| Rating source | Aggregated rating | Number of reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.5 stars | 69 reviews |
| Peerspot | 4.1 stars | 29 reviews |
| Gartner | 4.5 stars | 41 ratings |
Top CrowdStrike Alternatives & Competitors in 2025
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Orca Security
Platform philosophy
SideScanning technology for agentless visibility with a focus on cloud assets
Architecture and key differentiators
Agentless SideScanning technology leveraging cloud provider APIs
Risk prioritization focused on exposure and business impact
Broad coverage of cloud assets and resources
Automated compliance reporting for major frameworks
Core capabilities
Cloud security posture management
Cloud infrastructure entitlement management
Data security posture management
Compliance automation and reporting
Container and serverless security
Review scores
Public review snapshots (G2, PeerSpot, Gartner Peer Insights) as reported at the time of writing; ratings and counts change over time.
| Rating source | Aggregated rating | Number of reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.6 stars | 218 reviews |
| Peerspot | 4.5 stars | 20 reviews |
| Gartner | 4.6 stars | 143 ratings |
SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security
Platform philosophy
AI-driven detection and response with an offensive security approach
Architecture and key differentiators
SentinelOne’s Offensive Security Engine simulates attack paths
Verified Exploit Paths methodology for risk prioritization
AI-powered detection and response capabilities
Integration with endpoint detection platform
Core capabilities
Cloud security posture management
Runtime workload protection with behavioral AI
Vulnerability and risk management
Automated threat hunting and response
Container and Kubernetes protection
Compliance reporting and management
Review scores
Public review snapshots (G2, PeerSpot, Gartner Peer Insights) as reported at the time of writing; ratings and counts change over time.
| Rating source | Aggregated rating | Number of reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.7 stars | 183 reviews |
| Peerspot | 4.4 stars | 107 ratings |
| Gartner | 4.8 stars | 13 ratings |
Fortinet Lacework FortiCNAPP
Platform philosophy
Machine learning–based anomaly detection with Fortinet integration
Architecture and key differentiators
Machine learning for behavior-based detection
Polygraph visualization for relationship mapping
Combined agent and agentless architecture
Integration with Fortinet security fabric
Core capabilities
Cloud configuration assessment
Container security with Kubernetes integration
Behavioral anomaly detection for workloads
Compliance monitoring and reporting
Cloud account security monitoring
Identity and access governance
Review scores
Public review snapshots (G2, PeerSpot, Gartner Peer Insights) as reported at the time of writing; ratings and counts change over time.
| Rating source | Aggregated rating | Number of reviews |
|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.3 stars | 382 reviews |
| Peerspot | 4.3 stars | 10 reviews |
| Gartner | 4.3 stars | 145 ratings |
How to evaluate and choose the right CNAPP
Before beginning the buying process, it helps to form a cross-functional evaluation team with representatives from all areas that will be using the platform: security operations, cloud security, application security, development and/or DevOps, and cloud platform engineers.
Define your organization's specific requirements:
Which cloud environments you’ll need to secure (AWS, Azure, GCP, multi-cloud)
Development pipeline integration needs
Applicable compliance requirements (CIS, NIST, PCI, HIPAA, etc.)
Current security gaps and most critical risks
Runtime protection needs (agent vs. agentless)
Team collaboration workflows
Together, this evaluation team will identify key evaluation criteria, including some or all of the following:
Unified vs. modular architecture
Deployment model and time to value (TTV)
Agent requirements and performance impact
API and integration capabilities
User experience for different personas
Risk prioritization effectiveness
Visibility across cloud accounts and resources
Actionable remediation guidance
Creating an effective proof of concept comes next. That means setting clear success criteria, testing with real-world workloads, measuring false positives, evaluating remediation workflows, and assessing the developer experience of each solution you’re testing.
Finally, consider your contract with the vendor. Shorter-term contracts, for instance, give you more flexibility. You’ll want to understand each vendor’s pricing models (e.g., per resource, per user, etc.), along with your own potential future growth and scaling costs. Try to hear from existing customers about the vendor’s support and professional services as well.
Take the next step toward unified cloud security
Choosing a CNAPP should align cloud security objectives with how your development and operations teams work. The most reliable way to evaluate fit is through hands-on testing – seeing how a platform integrates with your workflows, supports security operations, and addresses your cloud risks end-to-end.
If you’re interested in learning how Wiz approaches CNAPP, you can explore a guided walkthrough of the platform. It highlights how visibility, development-lifecycle integrations, and threat detection and response work together in a unified experience.
Schedule a live Wiz demo and see how unified cloud security accelerates your development, strengthens your infrastructure, and stops threats in real time →
