HailBytes ASM vs Microsoft Defender EASM
A self-hosted EASM alternative for security teams that want recon ownership, multi-cloud deployment, and AI-agent orchestration without lock-in to the Microsoft Defender stack.
TL;DR
Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management (the rebranded RiskIQ acquisition) lives inside the Defender stack and bills per discovered asset per day. HailBytes ASM is a self-hosted alternative that deploys on AWS or Azure, prices on infrastructure rather than asset count, and ships with a built-in MCP server for AI-agent orchestration plus white-label output for MSSPs and pen-test firms.
- Pick HailBytes ASM if you want multi-cloud freedom, white-label client deliverables, AI-agent orchestration, or unlimited active scanning at a fixed VM cost.
- Stay with Defender EASM if you’re standardized on Microsoft Defender XDR/Sentinel and want EASM data piped into the same pane of glass with no extra integration.
Pricing & Cost Model
| Dimension | HailBytes ASM | Microsoft Defender EASM |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing axis | Infrastructure ($0.24/vCPU/hour) | Per discovered asset per day (Azure consumption) |
| Annual cost (small surface) | $11,760 (8 vCPU; $16,800 list) — Defender EASM is cheaper across this band | ~$4,000–$10,000 |
| Annual cost (mid surface, ~10K assets) | $11,760–$23,520 (8–16 vCPU; $16,800–$33,600 list) — a clear win at 8 vCPU; at 16 vCPU all-in ($40,320 at list) it only just meets the ~$40,000 Defender figure | ~$40,000+ |
| Annual cost (large surface, 50K+ assets) | $23,520–$47,110 (16–32 vCPU; $33,600–$67,300 list) | $200,000+ |
| Free trial | 30 days via AWS / Azure Marketplace | 30-day Azure free trial |
| Procurement path | AWS or Azure Marketplace (counts toward EDP / MACC) | Azure consumption (MACC drawdown only) |
HailBytes figures are the 1-year commitment price — delivered as an AWS or Azure private offer, not a discount on the published meter — with list alongside, so the comparison sits on the same annual-contract basis as the competitor column. 8 vCPU ($16,800 list) is the entry size. The meter covers software only; the VM, storage, and networking run in your own cloud account and are billed separately at roughly $35/vCPU/month — $280/month at 8 vCPU, $560 at 16, $1,120 at 32 — so scale that line to the size on the row you are reading, not to 8 vCPU. All-in at 8 vCPU that is about $20,160/year at list or $15,120 on a 1-year commitment, and every break-even quoted on this page is calculated on that all-in basis. Full pricing.
Sizing above 8 vCPU: ASM sizes its scan worker from the host, so a larger instance scans proportionally faster — a 16 vCPU deployment gives the scan engine twice the cores an 8 vCPU one does. Instances deployed before August 2026 pick this up on the next update, when the installer rewrites the worker limits to match the machine.
Be straight about where the line falls. The crossover is our all-in 8 vCPU floor — software plus your own cloud bill, about $15,120/year at 8 vCPU on a 1-year commitment and $20,160 at list — and Defender EASM is genuinely cheaper than HailBytes while your metered Azure spend stays under that. Above it, per-asset-per-day billing climbs steeply as discovery expands, while HailBytes stays flat to VM size.
Architecture & Control
| Dimension | HailBytes ASM | Defender EASM |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Self-hosted in your AWS or Azure account | Azure-resident SaaS |
| Source code access | Ships with the deployment; auditable under NDA | Closed source |
| Cloud freedom | AWS, Azure, GovCloud, Azure Gov | Azure only |
| Custom scan logic / wordlists | ✅ Full control | ❌ |
| Per-tenant isolation | One VM per tenant (clean MSSP boundary) | Resource group / workspace-level |
Capability Comparison
| Capability | HailBytes ASM | Defender EASM |
|---|---|---|
| Subdomain enumeration | ✅ Multi-source | ✅ Seed-based discovery |
| Active port & service scanning | ✅ Full | 🟡 Mostly passive |
| CVE matching | ✅ | ✅ |
| Unlimited scans | ✅ | ❌ Per-asset billing |
| Custom wordlists | ✅ Unlimited | ❌ |
| AI-powered analysis | ✅ OpenAI + Ollama (local GPU) | 🟡 Defender XDR Copilot (separate license) |
| MCP server / AI-agent tooling | ✅ Built-in (Claude / Cursor / Windsurf) | ❌ |
| SIEM integration | ✅ Splunk, Sentinel, Elastic, Chronicle | ✅ Sentinel-native, others via connectors |
| Government cloud | ✅ AWS GovCloud + Azure Gov | 🟡 Limited |
| White-label for client deliverables | ✅ Built-in | ❌ |
When HailBytes ASM Wins
- Multi-cloud or AWS-first orgs. Defender EASM is Azure-only; HailBytes runs on either.
- MSSPs and pen-test firms. Fixed per-instance pricing combined with white-label output is what makes resold continuous monitoring profitable.
- You hit per-asset billing pain in Defender EASM. Once discovery expands into thousands of assets, per-asset billing turns punishing.
- AI-agent recon workflows. A built-in MCP server gives Claude, Cursor, and Windsurf direct control of scans and triage without custom glue code.
When Defender EASM Wins
- Pure-Microsoft shops. Native Sentinel ingestion and XDR correlation are real conveniences.
- Azure consumption commits. If you have unspent MACC, Defender EASM consumes against it directly.
- Small, slow-moving surfaces that keep metered Defender EASM spend under roughly $15,120/year (our all-in 8 vCPU cost on a commitment; $20,160 at list), where per-asset pricing undercuts the HailBytes floor.
Try HailBytes ASM
The marketplace listings on AWS and Azure each ship with a 30-day trial that includes the VM.
Related Comparisons
Other vendor-bundled and best-of-breed EASM platforms usually evaluated alongside Defender EASM:
- vs CrowdStrike Falcon Surface — Falcon-bundled EASM.
- vs Cortex Xpanse — Palo Alto enterprise EASM.
- vs Detectify — SaaS web-app surface monitoring.
- vs Censys — internet-wide certificate and port intelligence.
- Full ASM comparison matrix — every vendor side by side, plus the HailBytes ASM product page.
See HailBytes ASM in Action
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Try HailBytes ASM Free
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