CSPM vs CNAPP

What CSPM does (and doesn’t do)

Cloud Security Posture Management monitors your cloud infrastructure configuration against security best practices and compliance standards. It connects to your AWS, Azure, or GCP accounts through read-only API access, inventories every resource, and checks each one against a policy library.

A CSPM tool answers questions like: Are any S3 buckets publicly accessible? Do any IAM roles have admin privileges? Are all databases encrypted? Is CloudTrail enabled in every region? Are security groups exposing sensitive ports to the internet?

CSPM continuously monitors for drift. Someone changes a security group through the AWS console instead of Terraform. A developer creates a new S3 bucket without encryption. CSPM catches these changes within minutes and alerts the responsible team.

What CSPM covers well

Cloud infrastructure misconfigurations. This is the core use case. Storage, compute, networking, IAM, logging, encryption – CSPM covers managed cloud services well across all three major providers.

Compliance mapping. CIS Benchmarks, SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST 800-53, GDPR. CSPM maps findings to specific compliance controls so you can demonstrate adherence and track gaps.

Multi-cloud visibility. Third-party CSPM tools normalize findings across AWS, Azure, and GCP into a single dashboard. You see the same misconfiguration types regardless of which provider the resource lives in.

What CSPM does not cover

CSPM looks at infrastructure configuration. It does not look inside workloads. It cannot tell you whether a container is running a vulnerable version of Log4j, whether a Lambda function has a code injection vulnerability, or whether an IAM role’s effective permissions create an escalation path to sensitive data.

CSPM does not protect workloads at runtime. It cannot detect a cryptominer running inside an EC2 instance or a compromised pod making lateral moves across your Kubernetes cluster. It monitors what you deployed, not what is happening inside what you deployed.

What CNAPP adds beyond CSPM

CNAPP (Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform) includes everything CSPM does, plus several additional security layers. For more detail, see our What is CNAPP guide.

Workload protection (CWPP)

CNAPP scans the software running inside your cloud workloads. Container images get checked for OS and application vulnerabilities. VM instances are assessed for outdated packages and missing patches. Serverless functions are analyzed for vulnerable dependencies. This is the visibility that CSPM cannot provide.

Identity and entitlement management (CIEM)

CIEM analyzes the effective permissions of every identity in your cloud environment. Not just what an IAM policy says, but what a role can actually do when you factor in trust relationships, permission boundaries, session policies, and cross-account access. CIEM finds privilege escalation paths that a simple IAM policy review misses.

Container and Kubernetes security

CNAPP scans container registries for vulnerable images, monitors running containers for anomalous behavior, and checks Kubernetes configurations against security benchmarks. CSPM does not reach into the container layer. CNAPP does. For more on Kubernetes security, see our Kubernetes Security Hardening guide.

IaC scanning (shift-left)

Most CNAPP platforms include IaC scanning that catches misconfigurations in Terraform, CloudFormation, and other templates before they are deployed. This catches issues before they reach production. See our Terraform Security Scanning guide for more on IaC scanning tools and practices.

Runtime threat detection

CNAPP can detect active threats: lateral movement, unusual API calls, data exfiltration patterns, cryptomining processes. Some platforms use agent-based monitoring; others use agentless techniques to analyze workload behavior. This is the detective control that complements CSPM’s preventive checks.

Risk graph

The defining feature of CNAPP is correlation. A vulnerable container image is a finding. A vulnerable container image that is internet-facing, running with admin privileges, and connected to a database with customer PII is a critical attack path. CNAPP connects these dots across layers. CSPM, looking only at infrastructure configuration, cannot make that connection.

Feature-by-feature comparison

The pattern is clear: CSPM covers the infrastructure layer. CNAPP covers infrastructure plus workloads plus identities plus runtime.

When CSPM is enough

CSPM can be the right choice when your environment and risk profile are straightforward.

VM-centric environments. If your cloud workloads are primarily EC2 instances and managed services (RDS, Lambda, S3) without containers or Kubernetes, CSPM covers the main risk surface. The infrastructure layer is where most of your misconfigurations live.

Single cloud provider. If you are AWS-only, Azure-only, or GCP-only, the cloud provider’s native CSPM tools may be sufficient. AWS Security Hub with Config rules, Azure Defender for Cloud, or GCP Security Command Center provide solid misconfiguration detection at low or no cost.

Small team, limited budget. CSPM is cheaper than CNAPP. If your security team is one or two people managing a small cloud footprint, the additional visibility from CNAPP may not justify the cost and operational overhead.

Already using IaC scanning separately. If you run Checkov or Trivy in CI/CD for Terraform scanning and have a separate container scanning pipeline, you have some of the layers that CNAPP consolidates. CSPM fills the remaining gap for runtime infrastructure monitoring.

Compliance-driven requirements. If your primary need is passing compliance audits (SOC 2, PCI DSS), CSPM’s compliance mapping features may cover the reporting requirements. Many auditors accept CSPM evidence for infrastructure-level controls.

When you need CNAPP

CNAPP becomes necessary when your environment crosses certain complexity thresholds.

Running containers in production. Container workloads add a layer that CSPM cannot see into. You need image scanning, runtime monitoring, and Kubernetes security assessment. CNAPP rolls these into the same platform as your cloud posture management. See our Container Image Security guide for more on securing container workloads.

Multi-cloud environments. When you run workloads across AWS, Azure, and GCP, the complexity of managing separate native CSPM tools for each provider becomes unwieldy. CNAPP provides a unified view.

Complex identity environments. Organizations with hundreds of IAM roles, cross-account access patterns, and federated identity providers need CIEM to understand effective permissions. CSPM tells you a role has a wildcard policy. CIEM tells you that role can escalate to admin through a chain of assume-role permissions across three accounts.

Security team maturity. When your team has moved past basic misconfiguration detection and needs attack path analysis, risk prioritization based on exposure and exploitability, and runtime threat detection, CSPM’s scope is too narrow.

Tool consolidation. If you currently run separate tools for CSPM, container scanning, IaC scanning, and runtime monitoring, CNAPP consolidates them into one platform. Fewer tools means fewer dashboards, fewer integrations, and lower operational overhead.

Native cloud tools vs third-party platforms

Every major cloud provider includes some CSPM capability. The question is whether native tools are enough or whether you need a third-party solution.

AWS Security Hub

Aggregates findings from GuardDuty (threat detection), Inspector (vulnerability scanning), IAM Access Analyzer, Macie (data classification), and Config rules. Free for basic use; costs increase with finding volume and enabled services. Works well for AWS-only environments.

Limitations: AWS only. Limited attack path analysis. No container registry scanning. No CIEM beyond IAM Access Analyzer’s scope. Findings from different services are aggregated but not correlated into unified attack paths.

Azure Defender for Cloud

Microsoft’s CSPM and CWPP offering. The free tier covers CSPM basics (Secure Score, recommendations). Paid Defender plans add workload protection, vulnerability scanning, and Kubernetes security. Best fit for Azure environments.

Limitations: Azure-first. Multi-cloud support (AWS, GCP) exists but is less mature. The platform is complex to configure and the number of recommendations can overwhelm small teams.

GCP Security Command Center

Google’s native security platform. Scans for misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and threats across GCP. Premium tier adds attack path simulation and compliance reporting. Tightly integrated with GCP services.

Limitations: GCP only. No cross-cloud support. The most limited of the three major cloud-native options.

Third-party CNAPP platforms

Wiz, Prisma Cloud, Orca Security, and Lacework provide multi-cloud coverage, deeper correlation, and features that native tools lack. The tradeoff is cost: third-party platforms are significantly more expensive than native tools.

Choose native tools when: you are single-cloud, have a limited budget, and primarily need misconfiguration detection and compliance reporting.

Choose third-party when: you are multi-cloud, run containers at scale, need attack path analysis, or want unified visibility across infrastructure, workloads, and identities.

Cost and complexity tradeoffs

The CSPM vs CNAPP decision has a real cost dimension.

CSPM costs

Cloud-native CSPM (Security Hub, Defender for Cloud, SCC) has free or low-cost tiers that cover basic posture management. Third-party CSPM tools (standalone products) range from $5,000 to $30,000 per year for small to mid-size environments. Pricing usually scales with the number of cloud accounts or resources monitored.

CNAPP costs

CNAPP pricing is higher because the scope is larger. Most vendors price by the number of workloads, cloud accounts, or a combination. Entry-level deployments start around $20,000 per year. Enterprise deployments with hundreds of cloud accounts and thousands of workloads can reach $100,000-$500,000+ per year.

Get quotes from at least three vendors. CNAPP pricing is highly negotiable, especially for multi-year commitments.

Operational complexity

CNAPP platforms are complex to deploy and operationalize. The initial scan of a large environment produces thousands of findings. Without clear ownership, triage processes, and integration with your ticketing system, those findings become noise.

Budget for onboarding time. A CNAPP deployment typically takes 2-6 weeks to reach steady state: connecting cloud accounts, tuning policies, suppressing false positives, setting up integrations, and training the team.

Build vs buy

Some organizations assemble a “DIY CNAPP” from open-source tools: Trivy for image and IaC scanning, Checkov for Terraform policies, Falco for runtime detection, cloud-native CSPM for posture management. This is cheaper in licensing costs but more expensive in engineering time for integration, maintenance, and correlation.

The build approach works well for engineering-heavy organizations that prefer to control their tooling. The buy approach works better when the security team is small and cannot maintain multiple tools.

For more on the CNAPP market, see our What is CNAPP guide and the Cloud Infrastructure Security hub.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Written by

Suphi Cankurt

Suphi Cankurt is an application security enthusiast based in Helsinki, Finland. He reviews and compares 129 AppSec tools across 10 categories on AppSec Santa. Learn more.