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Hunters vs Microsoft Defender XDR comparison

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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

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Net...
Sponsored
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
122
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (4th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (5th), Ransomware Protection (2nd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
Hunters
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
33rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (37th), SOC as a Service (6th)
Microsoft Defender XDR
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (9th), Microsoft Security Suite (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Extended Detection and Response (XDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is 4.7%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hunters is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 3.5%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks4.7%
Microsoft Defender XDR3.5%
Hunters0.9%
Other90.9%
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
 

Featured Reviews

ABHISHEK_SINGH - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Process Expert at A.P. Moller - Maersk
Gained full visibility and streamlined threat detection through behavior-based insights and AI integration
Initially, we got to have a lot of false positives when we onboarded, but nowadays it's quite smooth. We have fine-tuned our security policies and allowed different levels of policies to get rid of those false positives. Currently, we are getting a fairly good amount of incidents that are not false positives or benign, but actionable items. The process is streamlined. In the initial days, the operations used to get involved in a lot of benign and other activities, but now the process is streamlined. We are leveraging the auto-detection and remediation plans. The operations teams are now more involved in other business roles as well, not just looking into the logs and fetching out what's happening there. They have fixed a lot of things. Initially, they didn't have IAC code drift detection, cloud posture management, or security posture management, but they have those now. They purchased different vendors and did a merger with that. They have now Prisma Cloud that gets integrated and now they are working with Cortex Cloud. Everything that was negative has now been addressed, and the product altogether looks to be in a very better and mature shape now. Currently, it's more or less detecting the workloads with AI-based best practices. Since most organizations are consuming AI agents and other things, we are looking forward to seeing what other feature enhancements Palo Alto can support in that.
VikramSingh8 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Delivery Manager at Accenture
Advanced detectors streamline threat monitoring with many use cases
Hunter support is functional yet not exceptional. Their support engineers could be more advanced and faster in providing solutions. Their turnaround time could improve to match other tools. When feedback is provided, they consider it and indicate if it is in the development stage. They commit to fixing bugs and developing the module or feature, however, take quite a lot of time. I would rate their customer support as needing improvement. Another area needing improvement is integration capabilities, as they are not yet fully compatible. Users still have to rely on third-party software or integration tools. Furthermore, they should incorporate more GenAI capabilities, a current buzzword, and enable predictive use cases. Their tools should be capable of reading the environment, making adaptations, and automatically tweaking settings as per client or environmental needs, similar to capabilities provided by other SIEM tools.
reviewer2812758 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infosec at a government with 10,001+ employees
Integrated defenses have unified threat hunting, phishing simulations, and identity investigations
I appreciate Microsoft Defender XDR's MDE, Microsoft Defender tool, which has Attack Simulator. Instead of doing a phishing campaign and getting a separate tool, Microsoft Defender XDR does it all. These features of Microsoft Defender XDR have helped us conduct a phishing campaign quarterly, which has been beneficial. I also appreciate the fact that it has Defender for Office integrated, Defender for Identity, and everything integrated together. I would describe the process of using Microsoft Defender XDR to prioritize incidents in my security operations as quite decent. I appreciate the automatic alerting system where any incidents or alerts we receive come directly to our email. From there, we can open the email, go directly to Microsoft Defender XDR, and start our investigations and remediations. I perceive the integration of security and identity access management in Microsoft Defender XDR as affecting my identity protection strategies very well because it is well integrated with Purview, integrated well with Entra ID, and integrated well with Exchange. I especially appreciate MDO, the Office product. If anything happens and I want to conduct an investigation, it takes me directly to Exchange, where I can also investigate any emails or phishing incidents. Instead of going to different portals, everything can be done from Microsoft Defender XDR. If necessary for further investigation, Microsoft Defender XDR then directs me to that environment. I would assess the integration of AI in guiding security actions within Microsoft Defender XDR as quite positive. Recently, Security Copilot went big, and it is beneficial that I can use that, especially to write KQL. I can do threat hunting features and intelligence all within using Microsoft's Security Copilot. It also has a nice AI feature for threat hunting. I know that all the Defender logs go to Sentinel, and I can pull it up from Microsoft Defender XDR or from Sentinel. The fact that I can actually do all that within Microsoft Defender XDR is a nice feature. In the top module, I can do threat lookups, and I can actually type KQLs in Microsoft Defender XDR and look up incidents. Predictive shielding has had a nice impact on my proactive security measures. It is beneficial that it has, similar to Entra ID, a secure score. For me to improve the product, the secure score helps me out. If I rate it from highest to lowest, I can see what things I can improve. Secure score helps me see what areas I can improve in Microsoft Defender XDR to increase my score and bring it to 80 or more. Knowing Microsoft Defender XDR from using it since 2019, before COVID days, I know that they have improved significantly. It is much more user-friendly and has a very nice vulnerability feature that I find handy and useful. The fact that this feature integrates into Intune is also very decent.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Implementing Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks has had a significant impact on my security analyst workload because it becomes much easier."
"The tool's use cases are relevant to security."
"It's very stable. I've never experienced downtime for the ASM console or ASM core."
"The one feature of Palo Alto Networks Traps that our organization finds most valuable is the App ID service."
"One major outcome our organization achieved with Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is that it is a good tool for analysis, remediation, and incident response, with no negative points in terms of budget and overall effectiveness."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the user interface."
"Once you become familiar with it, Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is a more powerful tool and I would say that I prefer it over MDE because it is a stronger tool for me."
"Stability is a primary factor, and then there's the ease of distribution and policy management; Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is very easy to work with, and we're quite happy with them."
"Hunter proactively provides a set of five to six hundred use cases, categorized based on cloud use cases, endpoint use cases, parameter use cases, and malicious use cases."
"Other SIEM tools base their license cost on the volume of data processed, often charging by how much TB or GB data is processed. Hunter, however, charges based on the number of data sources and the number of data entities integrated, which saves money."
"The unified view of the threat landscape on a central dashboard is the most valuable feature."
"Microsoft 365 Defender is simple to upgrade."
"We are able to consolidate licences and make use of many Microsoft products using this solution, and if we have any Microsoft customers, we encourage them to use this solution for enterprise defence."
"Microsoft Defender is stable."
"The biggest return on investment when using Microsoft Defender XDR for me is saving time for the most part."
"The ability to isolate and address viruses is the most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender XDR."
"The integration with other Microsoft solutions is the most valuable feature."
"One of the most valuable features of Microsoft Defender XDR is its ability to provide preemptive reports regarding excessive privileged access."
 

Cons

"Cortex XDR is trickier to configure than other Palo Alto products. This is one area where we are not so satisfied."
"The GUI could be improved."
"Additionally, I think the price is very high, and if it can be adjusted, I believe it will be a very good solution."
"The solution should add unwanted malicious hash values to a block list so that whenever the action is triggered, it will automatically prevent the malicious content."
"One thing that was missing was the integration part. Currently, they don't have out-of-box integration with IBM QRadar, or if they have the integration, the integration doesn't work well."
"Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks is not only pricey; it is extremely expensive."
"Cortex XDR could be improved with more GUI features."
"It would be better if they could educate the customers more. Some sort of seminars and roadshows will help educate the customers and show what the product can do. The price could be better. It would also help if they had a team for deployment and support."
"Hunter support is functional yet not exceptional. Their support engineers could be more advanced and faster in providing solutions."
"Hunter support is functional yet not exceptional."
"My client would like the solution to be more customizable without using code. You can only build on the default console, but we're not allowed to change it."
"Microsoft tends to provide too many features, which makes the solution prone to bugs."
"I would like more of the features in Defender for 365 to be included in the smaller licenses. Even if I buy a small license and don't need everything, security shouldn't be a question. Security is one of the main aspects of all projects from our side, so it would be nice to have more features in the smaller licenses."
"The solution does not offer a unified response and standard data."
"The Defender agent itself is more compatible with Windows 10 and Windows 11. Other than these two lines, there are so many compatibility issues. Security is not only about Microsoft. The core technical aspects of it are quite good, but it would be good if they can better support non-Microsoft solutions in terms of putting the agents directly into VMware and other virtualization solutions. There should be more emphasis on RHEL and other operating systems that we use, other than Windows, in the server category."
"Improving scalability, especially for very large tenants, could be beneficial for Microsoft Defender XDR."
"The price should be adjustable by region."
"One of the biggest downsides of Microsoft products, in general, is that the menus are often difficult to find, as they tend to move from place to place between versions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am using the Community edition."
"Very costly product."
"Our license will require renewal in August, after which the maintenance will continue as usual."
"It is cost-effective compared to similar solutions. It fits for the small businesses through to the big businesses."
"We didn't have to pay any additional fee for the cloud instance. It just came with the renewal, which was nice."
"The pricing is a little high. It is per user per year."
"We pay about $50,000 USD per year for a bundle that includes Cortex XDR."
"It's the most expensive solution, but features-wise, it's quite strong. It's very good for protection, so the results are very good in the case of protection. I would rate it a two out of ten in terms of pricing."
Information not available
"Microsoft Defender falls within a mid-tier price range compared to other security solutions."
"On average, we pay around 55 euros per user for the services and features we receive."
"Licensing is somewhat confusing, particularly when presenting our pitch decks to stakeholders and leveraging key features in premium SKUs, but we managed with some assistance from Microsoft."
"Microsoft Defender XDR is priced high."
"Microsoft is not competitive with the pricing of the solution. The competitors are able to offer lower discounts. The price of the solution is higher."
"Sometimes 365 Defender is expensive, but it can be moderate, depending on the organization's size and the license type. We're satisfied with the cost because it gives us a product that protects our entire environment with DLP. To compromise some cost, of course, we are to complete the most secure environment."
"Microsoft 365 Defender offers competitive pricing."
"We've managed to navigate it effectively through our enterprise agreement, and Microsoft's academic discounts have proven to be quite generous."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise57
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise41
 

Questions from the Community

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. Sentinel One
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. SentinelOne SentinelOne offers very detailed specifics with regard to risks or attacks. ...
Comparing CrowdStrike Falcon to Cortex XDR (Palo Alto)
Cortex XDR by Palo Alto vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Both Cortex XDR and Crowd Strike Falcon offer cloud-based solutions th...
How is Cortex XDR compared with Microsoft Defender?
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface,...
What needs improvement with Hunters?
Hunter support is functional yet not exceptional. Their support engineers could be more advanced and faster in provid...
What is your primary use case for Hunters?
Hunter is a very new SIEM in the market. It is definitely a broad market for us as they are trying to establish a new...
What advice do you have for others considering Hunters?
Their knowledge base is good. When starting with Hunter, ensure you have one or two sessions to understand navigation...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?
My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Defender XDR is that we are on an E5 license,...
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?
From my perspective, Microsoft Defender XDR can be improved with better visibility in certain areas where I can trigg...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft 365 Defender?
My main use cases for Microsoft Defender XDR are telemetry, advanced hunting, and the ability to perform host isolati...
 

Also Known As

Cyvera, Cortex XDR, Palo Alto Networks Traps
Hunters.AI
Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CBI Health Group, University Honda, VakifBank
We're happy to support organizations like Booking.com, ChargePoint, Yext, Red Ventures and Cimpress who leverage Hunters SOC Platform to transform their security teams' operations.
Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.
Find out what your peers are saying about SentinelOne, TrendAI, Palo Alto Networks and others in Extended Detection and Response (XDR). Updated: October 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.