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Huntress Managed EDR vs Microsoft Defender for Business comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

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
7.3
Huntress Managed EDR offers high ROI with cost savings and efficiency, boosting reputation security and enabling higher charges.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender boosts productivity and security, integrating seamlessly with Office tools for significant budget savings despite ROI challenges.
Using Microsoft Defender for Business results in cost reductions as it consolidates various features under one product, saving around 20% to 30% of the budget.
It is pretty good because it offers various features such as Exchange, OfficeSuite, OneDrive, and SharePoint.
The value I see in Microsoft Defender for Business is in its ability to track and respond to application usage and security threats through its CASB and automation features, which are cost-beneficial.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.0
Users commend Huntress Managed EDR for prompt, personalized, and friendly customer service, rating it highly despite occasional delays.
Sentiment score
5.2
Users have mixed reviews of Microsoft Defender's support, noting contact difficulties and inconsistent technical assistance despite good onboarding.
I felt it was important to raise awareness about this new technique where attackers use legitimate applications to gain remote access and control of computers.
They are thorough and ensure the problem is addressed without pushing responsibilities onto me unnecessarily.
For technical support, I would rate Huntress a ten out of ten, and in truth, they are better than that.
It is rated ten out of ten for its quality and assistance.
The onboarding support is exceptional, ensuring seamless integration and implementation.
Faster support is needed for endpoint security solutions.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Huntress Managed EDR offers effortless scalability for enterprises, supporting rapid addition of endpoints with reliable, cloud-based flexibility.
Sentiment score
8.2
Microsoft Defender for Business is scalable and effective across diverse environments, though special configurations might impact growth speed.
I know other techs with thousands deployed, so scalability isn't an issue.
Scaling Huntress is simple; I can manage up to a thousand devices without issue.
I can easily scale from one machine to thousands without any fuss.
The cloud-based nature of the solution ensures high scalability.
The scalability of Microsoft Defender for Business is rated as ten, indicating it is very scalable.
In terms of scalability, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Business a ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Huntress Managed EDR is praised for stability, minimal issues, lightweight performance, with occasional minor compatibility concerns.
Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Defender for Business is stable and reliable, with minimal crashes, but some report occasional bugs impacting stability.
We have not experienced any issues with lagging, crashing, or downtime.
I never experienced issues, but once there was an instance with false positives with their Rio service, which was quickly resolved by customer service.
It barely takes up resources on the computer, and I have had no issues with lagging or crashing.
No customer complaints about its functionality or reliability.
Although it generally works, there are occasional issues and errors that sometimes require a complete system format to rectify.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Business with a three out of ten, where one is very bad.
 

Room For Improvement

Huntress Managed EDR needs better reporting, API access, Mac support, third-party integrations, and user-friendly interfaces and customizations.
Microsoft Defender for Business needs better reporting, integration, simplified interface, and enhanced features to address various limitations and concerns.
A more transparent way for the support team at Huntress and our IT team to collaborate to make it faster and easier would be beneficial.
Since we support customers in different countries, expanding the language options for their training would be beneficial.
Their EDR is pretty mature in terms of what it does.
Microsoft should provide batch management solutions with the application, integrating pass management with roles.
Features related to Advanced Persistent Threat detection vectors and cyber kill chain integrations are not available out-of-the-box.
There can be improvements in the user interface to make it more intuitive.
 

Setup Cost

Huntress Managed EDR provides cost-effective pricing with transparent billing, appealing to enterprises despite incremental price increases.
Microsoft Defender for Business offers competitive pricing with enterprise value, though some users find costs high compared to competitors.
The savings from utilizing the included Windows Defender offset the cost of Huntress Managed EDR, making it an affordable solution overall.
It is not too expensive or too cheap. It is just right.
It can get expensive for small to medium businesses if large license quantities are not purchased.
Single-year pricing remains good.
The pricing is quite affordable at the enterprise level with no extra expenses noted.
The package with Business Premium is good for what you get for the price.
 

Valuable Features

Huntress Managed EDR offers 24/7 threat-hunting, easy deployment, and robust protection, effectively replacing traditional antivirus solutions.
Microsoft Defender for Business integrates seamlessly with Microsoft products, offering comprehensive security, scalability, and user-friendly features for effective threat management.
What stands out most is their human element: when faced with an unknown threat, real people, not just automated processes, are investigating it, and they're people we trust.
They provide detailed remediation steps, explaining why an issue is a problem and what steps to take.
Previously, I could not modify it unless I had special Microsoft licensing, so it was beneficial to control Windows Defender through a central console to add policies and things like that.
The threat detection capabilities are robust, with a dedicated research team and a continuously updated threat feed.
Its vulnerability management is regarded as one of the best in the industry.
The most effective features of Microsoft Defender for Business include its threat detection and response capabilities in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.
 

Categories and Ranking

Huntress Managed EDR
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (6th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (2nd)
Microsoft Defender for Busi...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (19th), Microsoft Security Suite (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Huntress Managed EDR and Microsoft Defender for Business aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Huntress Managed EDR is designed for Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and holds a mindshare of 10.5%, up 8.3% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP), holds 2.0% mindshare, up 1.4% since last year.
Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
 

Featured Reviews

Anto Baharian - PeerSpot reviewer
Never misses anything and has an attractive price point and a simple interface
One thing they could improve is evolving from an EDR to an MDR, like Blackpoint. This transition would enable automatic remediation of anything that looks dangerous, including within Microsoft 365. For instance, when one of my clients' Microsoft 365 account was breached, Blackpoint identified suspicious activity and disabled the account. It was in Dallas, and we are in California. Blackpoint knew something was wrong there, and they went in and disabled the account. Developing more automated remediation features would elevate them to an MDR level, but I understand that it might affect pricing. They are trying to keep it at a good price point because once they go to MDR, it is probably going to double the price. For now, I find the current features satisfactory, as they continue to add improvements. They have added security awareness training and then log collectors. They are adding pillars as they move along, and I assume they are going to have an option for MDR.
Takayuki-Umehara - PeerSpot reviewer
Product deployment protects assets but needs improvement in system support
I am doing maintenance for Microsoft Defender for Business, and I'm currently working with it. We don't need to use the latest version of Microsoft Defender for Business. We still use the latest virus definition file that Microsoft Defender for Business has automatically updated. We implement a basic update mechanism. Our compliance division manages how many servers and PCs we have and whether those servers have antivirus solutions. I am not certain about how Microsoft Defender for Business helps with AI-driven security strategies. I just use it normally and don't know if it uses AI technology. I rate Microsoft Defender for Business a six out of ten.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solutions are best for your needs.
862,077 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
7%
Retailer
6%
Computer Software Company
20%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Retailer
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Huntress?
It is very easy to use. It is a great solution. They are one of the better vendors that I have ever worked with since I have been in the industry.
What needs improvement with Huntress?
We would love for Huntress Managed EDR to ingest logs from Microsoft Sentinel. Microsoft Sentinel is another SIM tool that produces logs, and we would want Huntress to be able to ingest those so th...
What is your primary use case for Huntress?
We use Huntress Managed EDR for threat hunting with our clients to try to keep their environment safe and make sure that if there's any kind of bad activity going on, we can try to find out about i...
What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Business?
A few things are valuable. One is the alerting we see when any kind of intrusion is happening, any kind of malware is being deployed across the endpoints, or any kind of suspicious activity is goin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Business?
Our thoughts on the pricing for Microsoft Defender for Business are that we wish it could be better. If the pricing was a little better, we would definitely increase what we currently have.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Business?
Microsoft Defender for Business could improve by offering more of their offerings available in the basic tenants since not everyone has a budget for higher-level licenses, but everyone needs securi...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Huntress Managed EDR vs. Microsoft Defender for Business and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
862,077 professionals have used our research since 2012.