ConnectWise SIEM vs Microsoft Defender XDR comparison

ConnectWise and Microsoft are both solutions in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category. ConnectWise is ranked #57 with an average rating of 6.0, while Microsoft is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4. ConnectWise holds a 0.3% mindshare in EDR, compared to Microsoft’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 66% of ConnectWise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

ConnectWise SIEM

Read 3 ConnectWise SIEM reviews

1,087 Views
402 Comparison Views

66% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender XDR

Read 102 Microsoft Defender XDR reviews

10,986 Views
5,932 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

ConnectWise SIEM

Microsoft Defender XDR

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 2024

ConnectWise SIEM and Microsoft Defender XDR compete in the cybersecurity solutions category. Microsoft Defender XDR seems to have the upper hand due to its broader feature set and advanced capabilities, despite being more expensive.

Features: ConnectWise SIEM provides strong threat detection, robust log management, and effective security incident analysis. Microsoft Defender XDR stands out with its comprehensive integration with other Microsoft products, advanced threat detection algorithms, and seamless automation capabilities.

Room for Improvement: ConnectWise SIEM needs better integration capabilities, improved scalability, and smoother user experience. Microsoft Defender XDR requires better documentation, a more streamlined onboarding process, and simplified configuration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ConnectWise SIEM is known for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. Microsoft Defender XDR has more complex deployment due to extensive configuration options but also offers reliable customer service.

Pricing and ROI: ConnectWise SIEM is more affordable with a quicker ROI. Microsoft Defender XDR, although pricier, offers significant value due to its extensive capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed ConnectWise SIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ConnectWise SIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

September 2025

Download the complete report

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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

ConnectWise SIEM

Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

57th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (51st), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (23rd), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (27th)

Microsoft Defender XDR

Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

102

Ranking in other categories

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of ConnectWise SIEM is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 2.9%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR	2.9%
ConnectWise SIEM	0.3%
Other	96.8%

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Featured Reviews

Giulio Valeri

Owner at SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS SRL

Efficiently monitoring and detecting suspicious activities

One valuable feature of ConnectWise Fortify is the ability to add other teams and receive notifications when customers make changes or remove multi-factor authentication in Microsoft or SAP environments. For instance, once we were connecting different parts in China, and we had to reserve resources for the blue source of the login of task no v. ConnectWise Fortify successfully mitigated the issue and monitored any suspicious activity in the Microsoft environment. Despite the inconvenience, the Microsoft environment is still active and susceptible to cyber threats. We do a lot of research and utilize ConnectWise Fortify to restart and restore the system. It's essential to have a solution like ConnectWise Fortify to protect against cyber threats.

Read full review

MohtesanShaikh

Business Development Executive at TechnoFirrm

Experience improves security management and simplifies threat protection

I have created automated investigations, and while they work, they operate rather slowly in the Microsoft portal. If I automate something, it takes considerable time; if I do it manually, I can complete it in a quarter of the time. The automation response being slow is the main concern; when an incident occurs or if I run a remediation, it takes significant time to complete the remediation. There are some limitations regarding the scalability of Microsoft Defender XDR with specific licensing. For SMB customers, there is only Microsoft Defender for Business, and if they want more features such as XDR features and automation investigation or incident response, they need to purchase Defender for Endpoint. We are currently using the EDR.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One valuable feature of ConnectWise Fortify is the ability to add other teams and receive notifications when customers make changes or remove multi-factor authentication in Microsoft or SAP environments."

"We have found the solution has great functionality and it is easy to use."

"The integration capabilities of ConnectWise SIEM are off the shelf, making it easy to buy and use; you just unpack it and use it."

"I like that it's fully integrated with Windows, Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, and Outlook. It is better than other antivirus solutions because it's fully integrated with all Microsoft products. It's easy to integrate them and onboard all Windows devices from SCCM."

"The summarization of emails is a valuable feature."

"The EDR and the way it automatically responds to ransomware and other attacks are valuable features."

"The portal is quite user-friendly. There is integration with Office, Intune, and other products from the same portal. From there, we can see which policies are installed on a particular machine. We also can manage devices, groups, and tagging."

"Microsoft Defender is stable."

"The most valuable feature depends on the scenario. For compliance, I like Microsoft Purview Information Protection and Data Loss Prevention. Sentinel is the most helpful feature for security. 365 Defender helps us prioritize threats across an enterprise. It's a crucial feature for the managed services team."

"The advantage of Microsoft Defender XDR has over other XDRs in the market is that it's easy to use. You can quickly differentiate between alerts, incidents, devices, software, etc. It's easier to investigate an incident, and you have so many options. You can automate investigations and use playbooks. There's also the live response session, which is something you can't find in any other XDR."

"Advanced hunting is good. I like that. We can drill down to lots of details."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pros

Cons

"ConnectWise Fortify could work on covering more areas, like phishing messages, which have become more complicated to detect."

"ConnectWise SIEM is primarily focused on notifications and is limited in that aspect, while Wazuh can automate the elimination process."

"The manage portion of the solution is complicated and should be simplified by having different versions to meet the needs of different size companies."

"When we do investigations, it would be better if Microsoft could populate the host dashboard more. When we open any host for investigation, we want the entire timeline of what is happening on the host, including all the users logging in, their hardware, Windows version, etc."

"Generally, antivirus products provide a central control to manage every device in terms of who is installing it or who is trying to disable it, but Microsoft doesn't have such a control center for the antivirus product it provides."

"Improving scalability, especially for very large tenants, could be beneficial for Microsoft Defender XDR."

"The only issue I've had is, when it comes to deployment, the steps I must take around policy setup. That is challenging."

"Microsoft Defender XDR could be improved in terms of speed, especially backend speed."

"Automated playbooks and automated dashboards would be preferable to the way the data is currently being presented."

"The solution could improve by having better machine learning and AI. Additionally, the interface, documentation, and integration could be better."

"The support could be more knowledgable to improve their offering."

More Microsoft Defender XDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"They have moved from a licensing model to pay-per-use... The question is: What happens if, for any reason, there's not enough budget to accept this model? That could be a great problem."

"With the little idea I have about the costs, I can say that XDR tools tend to be a bit expensive. If you are using Microsoft Defender XDR, then you need to go for a subscription-based pricing model."

"I believe the pricing is fair and acceptable. I consider it to be reasonable and satisfactory."

"Microsoft should provide lower-level licensing options. They should do it in such a way that even an individual could purchase a license, and it should be entirely flexible."

"Microsoft Defender XDR's licensing is complicated."

"I find the pricing to be quite competitive, especially considering its inclusion in our E5 subscription, which provides a comprehensive set of functionalities."

"365 Defender is billed per account. I don't know the exact price, but my supervisor told me that Microsoft Defender is cheaper than the alternatives. It's bundled, so you get all the features in one place."

"Microsoft Defender XDR is priced high."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	46
Midsize Enterprise	23
Large Enterprise	37

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with ConnectWise Fortify?

I haven't utilized the advanced threat intelligence capabilities with ConnectWise SIEM. Advanced threat intelligence is an option, but I haven't explored this feature yet. The advanced threat intel...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ConnectWise Fortify?

I do not have experience with ConnectWise SIEM for RMM, as I mostly work on Wazuh, and I have a team that handles ConnectWise SIEM. I'm linking with them, serving as the bridge. I am solely working...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering ConnectWise Fortify?

The review can be made anonymous if just my name and not the company name is used. I would assess the real-time visibility for my organization as somewhat real-time, but it's not fully real-time. T...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Defender?

Microsoft Defender XDR provides strong identity protection with comprehensive insights into risky user behavior and potential indicators of compromise.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?

The pricing for Microsoft Sentinel operates on a pay-as-you-go model based on data ingestion. I recall that Defender XDR pricing is based on the number of endpoints.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?

See all answers

Comparisons

Huntress Managed EDR vs ConnectWise SIEM

Compared 34% of the time

Wazuh vs ConnectWise SIEM

Compared 29% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon Complete MDR vs ConnectWise SIEM

Compared 25% of the time

Cynet vs ConnectWise SIEM

Compared 11% of the time

More ConnectWise SIEM Competitors

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 11% of the time

Wazuh vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

Trend Vision One vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender XDR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

September 2025

Download ConnectWise SIEM product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender XDR

September 2025

Download Microsoft Defender XDR product report

Also Known As

ConnectWise Security Management, ConnectWise Fortify, Continuum Fortify, ConnectWise SIEM, ConnectWise SASE

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender

Overview

IT solution providers are the first—and often only—line of defense for every kind of business in every part of the world. Whether managing mom-and-pop businesses or high-profile clients, providing preventive security measures is a must-have in today’s cybersecurity landscape. Security information and event management (SIEM) solutions offer an additional layer of security for your clients; however, most SIEM solutions are routinely difficult to manage, expensive to deploy, and require a significant amount of in-house cybersecurity expertise.

ConnectWise SIEM offers a powerful alternative to expand your security perspective to both prevention and detection. The solution includes comprehensive, flexible SIEM software that streamlines safety and security across your network without additional full-time employee costs or complicated implementations.

ConnectWise

Microsoft Defender XDR is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect against threats in the Microsoft 365 environment.

It offers robust security measures, comprehensive threat detection capabilities, and an efficient incident response system. With seamless integration with other Microsoft products and a user-friendly interface, it simplifies security management tasks.

Users have found it effective in detecting and preventing various types of attacks, such as phishing attempts, malware infections, and data breaches.

Watch the Microsoft demo video here: Microsoft Defender XDR demo video.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Techvera, Syrex, Clark Integrated Technologies

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.

Buyer's Guide

ConnectWise SIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

September 2025

Free Report: ConnectWise SIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

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