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Gurucul UEBA 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

Gurucul UEBA
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (8th)
Microsoft Defender for Iden...
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (8th), Microsoft Security Suite (4th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Gurucul UEBA is designed for User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) and holds a mindshare of 2.9%, down 3.2% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender for Identity, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR), holds 11.1% mindshare, down 19.1% since last year.
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Gurucul UEBA2.9%
Exabeam7.5%
IBM Security QRadar6.8%
Other82.8%
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity11.1%
CrowdStrike Falcon13.4%
Microsoft Entra ID Protection7.3%
Other68.2%
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2506872 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Specialist - UEBA SIEM Admin at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Smooth and fast search capabilities with customizable dashboards enhance user experience
For improvement, I have requested three enhancement tickets, which are already lodged with the Gurucul support team. The first request is to add a visualization option in reports for charts or graphs. I have also requested new dashboard features. In the query box, there's a bug where taking an attribute at the end does not return data, but placing it elsewhere does. The support system could be more equipped.
RK
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Protect on-premises and hybrid environments with advanced threat detection and seamless integration
Our Active Directory implementation is a hybrid one. The advanced threat protection is one of the strengths of Microsoft Defender for Identity, as it utilizes user and entity analytics and can detect indicative attacks. It identifies lateral movements, privilege escalations, and alerts on potential attacks. The tool is also used for security posture assessment. The seamless integration with other Microsoft solutions within our Microsoft-centric environment is also a major advantage.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If you are genuinely looking for a UEBA solution, you should choose Gurucul confidently if your need is strictly UEBA."
"The reporting feature was the key differentiator. I also liked the ability to create dynamic rules in the environment."
"The most valuable feature of Gurucul is the ability to customize and it is on the Hadoop platform that has a lot of flexibility."
"I appreciate the comprehensive categorization of devices based on their intended use, such as those for DNS."
"I recommend Microsoft Defender for Identity because it is easy to implement."
"Auto-remediation is a valuable feature applied to Microsoft Defender for Identity, reducing the burden of investigating false positives."
"It automates routine testing and helps automate the finding of high-value alerts."
"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."
"The advanced threat protection is one of the strengths of Microsoft Defender for Identity, as it utilizes user and entity analytics and can detect indicative attacks."
"Microsoft Defender for Identity helps me automate routine tasks and find alerts that I set up to receive, so it helps me get where I'm trying to go easier and faster."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Defender for Identity include real-time information for threat detection, its inclusion of behavioral analytics, and vulnerability management."
"I would rate Microsoft Defender for Identity at nine out of ten."
 

Cons

"Gurucul can improve on the online documentation. They should educate the end users more to allow them to do everything themselves."
"Regarding the prioritization of threats, Gurucul UEBA needs to enhance its alert severity assignment process within the system."
"Technical support is good but can improve. I would rate it six to seven out of ten. The main issue is response time, which can take three to four hours even for simple queries."
"It could be more stable."
"I can't say that I've seen a return on investment since we have Microsoft Defender for Identity because we also have another security solution in place."
"The tracking instance needs to be configured appropriately."
"The impact of the sensors on the domain controllers can be quite high depending on your loads. I don't know if there's any room for improvement there, but that's one of the things that might be improved."
"One area that needs improvement is the number of alerts generated, leading to alert fatigue."
"We observe a lot of false positives. Sometimes, when we go for a coffee break, we lock our screens. Locking the screen has a separate Windows event ID and sometimes I see it is detected as a failed login."
"They should improve the automation for impossible travel detection. When connected to Wi-Fi and then to VPN, the system sometimes interprets the IP address change as impossible travel."
"Microsoft should look at what competing vendors like CrowdStrike and Broadcom are doing and incorporate those features into Sentinel and Defender. At the same time, I think the intelligence inside the product is improving fast. They should incorporate more zero-trust and hybrid trust approaches. They need to build up threat intelligence based on threats and methods used in attacks on other companies."
"One potential area for improvement could be exploring flexibility in the installation of Microsoft Defender for Identity agents."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is fair. In fact, I believe it was on the cheaper side when compared to the competition."
"The price of Gurucul is competitive."
"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."
"Microsoft Defender for Identity comes as part of the Microsoft E5 licensing stack."
"Defender for Identity is a little more expensive than other Microsoft products. Identity and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are both a bit costly."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Photography Company
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Gurucul?
For improvement, I have requested three enhancement tickets, which are already lodged with the Gurucul support team. The first request is to add a visualization option in reports for charts or grap...
What is your primary use case for Gurucul?
Regarding the use cases, I have created many use cases in Gurucul UEBA. It's easy to create use cases based on behaviors.
What advice do you have for others considering Gurucul?
If you are genuinely looking for a UEBA solution, you should choose Gurucul confidently if your need is strictly UEBA. If you're looking for both theme and UEBA, you might consider other vendors. F...
What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Identity?
Microsoft Defender for Identity provides excellent visibility into threats by leveraging real-time analytics and data intelligence.
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...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Global semi-conductor company
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 IBM, Exabeam, Varonis and others in User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA). Updated: December 2025.
879,927 professionals have used our research since 2012.