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Fortinet FortiEDR vs Microsoft Defender XDR comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
4.6
Fortinet FortiEDR offers enhanced security and ROI with minimal weekly effort, boosting visibility and customer satisfaction over four years.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Defender XDR provides high ROI by consolidating security tools, streamlining operations, and enhancing security, despite licensing costs.
We can quarantine and isolate a device within minutes.
Microsoft Defender XDR has saved me at least 50% of my time.
Ever since we turned on the M5 feature set back in June, we have seen a reduced number of potentially malicious clicks and faster alerting when incidents occur.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.5
Fortinet FortiEDR's customer service is responsive but faces occasional delays due to broader reach and non-integrated support.
Sentiment score
6.2
Microsoft Defender XDR's support is timely and responsive, yet smaller organizations experience slower, less effective assistance than larger ones.
For setting up some proper solutions for issues at the customer site, it can take about one week.
You get stuck in low-level support for way longer than you should, instead of them escalating the issue up the chain.
It's critical to escalate SEV B issues immediately to a domestic engineer.
Once issues are escalated to the second or third layer, the support is much better.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.0
Fortinet FortiEDR is highly scalable for enterprises, though some limitations exist with external integrations and cloud environments.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender XDR scales well for various organizations, efficiently supporting growth and flexibility despite some network deployment challenges.
When implemented in a Fortinet environment with an existing firewall, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiManager, it is straightforward to install and scale by adding more EDR for endpoints.
Microsoft Defender XDR shows tremendous scalability, much more so than on-premises solutions.
Microsoft Defender XDR scales pretty well.
It is suitable for enterprise-level deployment but has room for improvement.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Fortinet FortiEDR is stable and reliable but requires maintenance, with occasional issues like memory concerns and false alerts.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Defender XDR is praised for high stability, reliable performance, minimal issues, frequent updates, and prompt issue resolution.
After that, I stopped scanning the Cisco AnyConnect and switched to Fortinet VPN. Everything worked fine afterward.
The service has remained consistently online, with any issues isolated to specific components, suggesting a well-designed and modular architecture.
The services within our ecosystem have been reliable, meeting their SLAs.
It provides high-fidelity signals.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiEDR needs improved cloud security, automation, and user interface for better market acceptance and competitive advantage.
Microsoft Defender XDR requires enhancements in speed, integration, automation, AI, ease-of-use, and industry-specific threat intelligence.
Fortinet could consider reducing the minimum order quantity for EDR, currently set at 500 pieces.
The licensing process needs improvement and clarification.
Improvements are needed in automated response capabilities.
Some inconsistencies exist between blades, which could be improved for a more seamless user and UI experience.
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiEDR offers competitive pricing but may have high setup costs, with potential savings through Fortinet's channel model.
Microsoft Defender XDR pricing is seen as complex but fair, with high costs alleviated in bundled Microsoft 365 packages.
It's reasonably priced compared to other vendors' similar products.
There are certainly savings when using Microsoft Defender XDR, which can range from 30%, 40%, and even up to 50%.
I would rate the pricing as eight out of ten, indicating it is a reasonable cost for the product.
Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs.
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiEDR offers robust EDR capabilities, efficient resource use, and seamless integration, ensuring scalable, user-friendly cybersecurity for organizations.
Microsoft Defender XDR integrates tools for comprehensive security, offering threat detection, automation, identity protection, and enhanced efficiency.
With Microsoft threat intelligence information, it detects various types of threats, including insider attacks, malicious content, and data exfiltration.
This allows us to secure our systems in advance and proactively improve security, rather than waiting for incidents to occur.
Once we have it on the security dashboard, we can see a real-time storyline.
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiEDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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 (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiEDR is 3.8%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 3.0%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR3.0%
Fortinet FortiEDR3.8%
Other93.2%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

Jovan Jovanovic - PeerSpot reviewer
Collects valuable endpoint data with good analytics and helpful scalability
This is a question for the partners who implement and install it. I am not involved in the implementation process, so I cannot suggest improvements. As mentioned, this is a query for my presales team, not me. I am part of the security team lead, focusing mainly on sales. Regarding the product, Fortinet could consider reducing the minimum order quantity for EDR, currently set at 500 pieces. In smaller markets like Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Slovenia, it can be challenging to find customers with 500 endpoints. My suggestion to Fortinet would be to lower this minimum order quantity to one.
MohtesanShaikh - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise37
 

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between Fortinet's FortiEDR and FortiClient?
I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection because it continually scans servers for emerging vulnerabilities, which gives...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiEDR?
We have FortiEDR installed on all our systems. This protects them from any threats.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiEDR?
It's reasonably priced compared to other vendors' similar products.
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.
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.
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?
For Microsoft Defender XDR ( /categories/extended-detection-and-response-xdr ), there is currently no ability to reset passwords for on-premises accounts, which is a key challenge. Incident managem...
 

Also Known As

enSilo, FortiEDR
Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Financial, Healthcare, Legal, Technology, Enterprise, Manufacturing ... 
Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiEDR vs. Microsoft Defender XDR and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.