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Gurucul UEBA vs Microsoft Defender for Identity comparison

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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) (10th)
Microsoft Defender for Iden...
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (7th), Microsoft Security Suite (6th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (1st)
 

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 3.0%, down 3.1% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender for Identity, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR), holds 9.6% mindshare, down 19.6% since last year.
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Gurucul UEBA3.0%
Exabeam8.8%
IBM Security QRadar7.4%
Other80.8%
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity9.6%
SentinelOne Singularity Identity6.0%
Varonis Platform5.9%
Other78.5%
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.
CM
Technology Coordinator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Helps detect threats faster and prioritize critical security tasks with increased visibility
The feature I value most about Microsoft Defender for Identity is the ability to see where people are attempting to log in from. 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. I can see where everything is at. Microsoft Defender for Identity helps me prioritize important tasks. If I get an alert for a user who downloaded an application that is not sanctioned, I normally go straight to that user's computer device to find the device name and the user. Now I can get to them much faster. Microsoft Defender for Identity saves me time overall. I can quantify the time saved by Microsoft Defender for Identity as maybe 25 minutes, or if expressed as a percentage, maybe 20 to 25%. Some of the learning curve and actually learning what these products do takes time to figure out. Microsoft Defender for Identity definitely helps decrease the time of detection and response.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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, and I also liked the ability to create dynamic rules in the environment."
"The feature I like most is that you can create your own customized detection rules. It has a lot of default alerts and rules, but you can customize them according to your business needs."
"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 solution offers excellent visibility into threats."
"The most valuable aspect is its connection to Microsoft Sentinel and Defender for Endpoint, and giving exact timelines for incidents and when certain events occured during an incident."
"All the integration it has with different Microsoft packages, like Teams and Office, is good."
"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."
"I think that for a defensive view, it can give most administrators absolutely amazing insight into what's happening in the network that they probably never had before."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"The support could improve. I would rate the support from Gurucul a two out of five."
"It could be more stable. Sometimes when working in multiple customer environments, there were some issues with features."
"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."
"Microsoft Defender for Identity does not save me time, but I think it is the way that I secure the data."
"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."
"The solution could improve how it handles on-premises Android-related attacks."
"The areas of Microsoft Defender for Identity that can be improved include its cost, which is quite expensive when integrated into Sentinel. Additionally, there is room for improvement in its integration with non-Microsoft applications and systems."
"Fixing the solution isn't very seamless."
"One improvement I would recommend is the integration of an admin application within Teams, allowing easy access to attack information on a mobile platform to promptly alert affected users and their friends."
"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."
 

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."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
6%
University
6%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise15
 

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 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

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 One Identity, Exabeam, IBM and others in User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA). Updated: August 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.