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Adaptive Shield vs Microsoft Defender for Identity comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Adaptive Shield
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
24th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (5th)
Microsoft Defender for Iden...
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (8th), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) category, the mindshare of Adaptive Shield is 1.5%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Identity is 8.9%, down from 17.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity8.9%
Adaptive Shield1.5%
Other89.6%
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
 

Featured Reviews

Asaf Rozenblum - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber security engineer at Checkmarx
Provides not only visibility but also remediation information and is helpful in working with people who are not in security-oriented roles
For compliance security checks, it identifies and tells you about a specific compliance, but it would be better if they also attach a link to the rule of the compliance they are referring to. That will be a lot more clear. You won't have to leave the platform every time to find information on the web. They do have a lot of things that keep you inside the app and give you clarity, but there are a couple of little things that got missed. One feature about which I have talked to them multiple times is related to being able to rescan or do a recheck on a specific security issue. Currently, when you fix something and you want to check if it is fixed, you need to power off the integration and then power it on. If there is a clickable button that can re-scan and do a single check or even the whole security check, without powering off and powering on, it will be easier and more efficient.
Peter Arabomen - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Engineer at Fidelity Bank Plc
Has supported hybrid identity management while integrating well with cloud directory services
The only challenge I have with Microsoft Defender for Identity is the latency. I may not put that entirely on Microsoft, because latency could be network related. At times when trying to authenticate, the prompt is delayed. We tried implementing passwordless authentication, especially for on-premises workloads, but we haven't been able to achieve that. Passwordless authentication is part of the identity functionalities, particularly when it comes to enforcing passwordless for on-premises workloads. In terms of improvements, you can't create OUs on Azure AD. Regarding giving users privileges on what they can do across different OUs, I haven't seen that feature on Microsoft Defender for Identity. Microsoft Defender for Identity needs to be able to plug into third-party applications that are not Microsoft. For instance, with a human resource application used to manage users and leave requests, when staff leaves the organization, they are first exited from that application before AD. Integration between Azure AD and third-party applications would allow automatic syncing when removing staff. The initial setup of Microsoft Defender for Identity is not hard. However, setup is one thing, and getting value from the application end-to-end is another. It can be set up and running from the first day but not functioning optimally. Initially, when we did the setup, it wasn't optimal. Over time, with continuous improvement, which we're still doing, we've gotten to a comfortable level, but there's still room for improvement.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is very good, and I would recommend it to anybody."
"The security checks are valuable because you need to understand what can be improved. There is a remediation tab inside the security check, So, you don't need to go and search how to fix those things. It gives you step-by-step information for all different apps, which is a really strong feature."
"The solution offers excellent visibility into threats."
"I would rate Microsoft Defender for Identity at nine out of ten."
"This solution has advanced a lot over the last few years."
"All the integration it has with different Microsoft packages, like Teams and Office, is good."
"I recommend Microsoft Defender for Identity because it is easy to implement."
"The basic security monitoring at its core feature is the most valuable aspect. But also the investigative parts, the historical logging of events over the network are extremely interesting because it gives an in-depth insight into the history of account activity that is really easy to read, easy to follow, and easy to export."
"It gives companies a lot of insights that they didn't have before and has increased the security posture significantly."
"It is easy to set up. Based on the number of devices you would like to set up, you can use scripts, Group Policy, etc. It takes five minutes to set up."
 

Cons

"One feature about which I have talked to them multiple times is related to being able to rescan or do a recheck on a specific security issue. Currently, when you fix something and you want to check if it is fixed, you need to power off the integration and then power it on. If there is a clickable button that can re-scan and do a single check or even the whole security check, without powering off and powering on, it will be easier and more efficient."
"Currently, when you fix something and you want to check if it is fixed, you need to power off the integration and then power it on."
"When the data leaves the cloud, there are security issues."
"Fixing the solution isn't very seamless."
"One potential area for improvement could be exploring flexibility in the installation of Microsoft Defender for Identity agents."
"The solution should provide more detailed data regarding anomaly detections."
"The documentation provided by Microsoft is often seen as a waste of time."
"I would like to be able to do remediation from the platform because it is just a scanner right now. If you onboard a device, it shows you what is happening, but you can't use it to fix things. You need to go into the system to fix it instead."
"Defender for Identity gives us visibility, but we often get false positives from Azure that take us down the garden path. We go through 30 incidents each day and most of those are false positives or benign positive alerts. Occasionally, we get true positive alerts."
"An area for improvement is the administrative interface. It's basic compared to other administrative centers. They could make it more user-friendly and easier to navigate."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm not sure about the pricing, but it is worth it."
"Microsoft Defender for Identity comes as part of the Microsoft E5 licensing stack."
"You won't be able to change your tenants from where you deploy them. For example, if you select Canada, they will charge you based on Canadian pricing. If you are also in London, when you deploy in Canada, the pound is higher than Canadian dollars, but your platform resources are billable in Canadian dollars. Using your pounds to pay for any of these things will be cheaper. Or, if you deploy in London, they will charge you based on your local currency."
"It is very affordable considering that other SIEM solutions are much more expensive and have many more licensing restrictions and fees."
"Defender for Identity is a little more expensive than other Microsoft products. Identity and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are both a bit costly."
"The product is costly, and we had multiple discussions with accounting to receive a discounted rate. However, on the open market, the tool is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
25%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Identity?
I really would have to sit down to think about how Microsoft Defender for Identity can be improved. I didn't take stock in what needs to be improved because I appreciated having the tools right the...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Identity?
My main use cases for Microsoft Defender for Identity include Conditional Access, checking risky users, remediating risky users, and user sign-ins. I can easily remediate or determine what the user...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Defender for Identity?
I don't really use Microsoft Defender for Identity a lot because my new role doesn't allow me to take time to do so. I don't really use the threat intelligence feature of Microsoft Defender for Ide...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Huntress and others in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR). Updated: May 2026.
900,125 professionals have used our research since 2012.