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Huntress Managed EDR vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.2
Huntress Managed EDR boosts ROI by lowering labor and security costs while enhancing efficiency and threat management.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances ROI by improving security, productivity, and cost efficiency, despite perceived licensing costs.
We have to provide endpoint security as a core part of our service as an MSP and using Huntress Managed EDR has saved us approximately a thousand dollars a month over using other more expensive, less effective solutions.
CTO at Limetree Labs
My advice to others looking into using Huntress Managed EDR is that if they're looking for an easy-to-use and manage solution, Huntress Managed EDR is a good fit for a small to medium company.
Director, Information Technology at Middletown Medical
I have seen a return on investment mainly through time savings, as we know all the endpoints are protected 24/7, and we understand the value of the SOC team, with the human SOC team being very valuable.
Managing Director at HTL 365 LLC
Defender proactively indexes and analyzes documents, identifying potential threats even when inactive, enhancing preventative security.
Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees
Identifying potential vulnerabilities has helped us avoid costly data losses.
Manager at CBTS
Compared to not having Microsoft Defender for Cloud in place, we definitely saw an advantage by not having downtime due to a security threat.
Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.9
Huntress Managed EDR's customer service is praised for quick, knowledgeable, proactive support with high availability and excellent ratings.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Defender for Cloud support is knowledgeable with effective documentation, but first-tier delays impact overall satisfaction.
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.
Owner at Phenicie Business Management
They are thorough and ensure the problem is addressed without pushing responsibilities onto me unnecessarily.
Senior Systems Engineer at NetSmart, Inc.
For technical support, I would rate Huntress a ten out of ten, and in truth, they are better than that.
President at Cyber5
Since security is critical, we prefer a quicker response time.
Manager at CBTS
The support team was very responsive to queries.
Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
They understand their product, but much like us, they struggle with the finer details, especially with new features.
Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Huntress Managed EDR is scalable, cost-effective for SMBs, easy to deploy, manage, and suits diverse client needs efficiently.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is highly scalable, seamlessly integrates across platforms, and efficiently handles growth, with room for feature improvement.
I know other techs with thousands deployed, so scalability isn't an issue.
Business Owner at Royal IT
Scaling Huntress is simple; I can manage up to a thousand devices without issue.
Owner at Phenicie Business Management
I can easily scale from one machine to thousands without any fuss.
Owner at Antra Tech
As we have reduced our on-premises infrastructure, it is about how we can migrate workloads to the cloud to make it easier, and then having everything fully encompassed and secured within that area makes it much easier for us to scale as needed and grow.
Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge
We are using infrastructure as a code, so we do not have any scalability issues with Microsoft Defender for Cloud implementation because our cloud automatically does it.
Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse
It has multiple licenses and features, covering infrastructures from a hundred to five hundred virtual machines, without any issues.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Huntress Managed EDR is stable and reliable, quickly addressing issues with minimal system impact despite minor compatibility challenges.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is stable and reliable, though minor update issues occur with older systems and internet latency.
About stability, we have not seen any lagging, crashing, downtime, or any sort of instability with Huntress Managed EDR.
Security Specialist at a healthcare company with 201-500 employees
We have not experienced any issues with lagging, crashing, or downtime.
CTO at Accent Consulting
I never experienced issues, but once there was an instance with false positives with their Rio service, which was quickly resolved by customer service.
Business Owner at Royal IT
Defender's stability has been flawless for us.
Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
I have not experienced any crashes or downtime.
Head Of IT at Cirrus Response
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very stable.
Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Huntress Managed EDR requires better reporting, integration, UI improvements, and expanded platform, language, and automation capabilities.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud needs improved customization, automation, UI performance, policy management, integration, AI functions, and reduced licensing complexities.
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.
VCIO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Huntress Managed EDR indicated this is a normal behavior, but I would prefer to be alerted whenever there is any incident involving Windows Defender on any machines, regardless of the status of the incident.
Managing Director at KAN iT
Since we support customers in different countries, expanding the language options for their training would be beneficial.
CTO at Accent Consulting
Microsoft, in general, could significantly improve its communication and support.
Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees
It would be beneficial to streamline recommendations to avoid unnecessary alerts and to refine the severity of alerts based on specific environments or environmental attributes.
Works at Coca-Cola HBC
The artificial intelligence features could be expanded to allow the system to autonomously manage security issues without needing intervention from admins.
Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG
 

Setup Cost

Huntress Managed EDR offers cost-effective pricing, appreciated by users for its value and flexible structure, justifying investment.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers flexible pricing but gets complex and costly, requiring careful evaluation, especially for advanced plans.
The savings from utilizing the included Windows Defender offset the cost of Huntress Managed EDR, making it an affordable solution overall.
Managing Director at Fluent2 Ltd
It is not too expensive or too cheap. It is just right.
Owner at Antra Tech
It can get expensive for small to medium businesses if large license quantities are not purchased.
Senior Systems Engineer at NetSmart, Inc.
Security has essentially no cost when compared to the cost of a breach.
Director, Cloud and Modern Workplace at Informanix Technology Group
Every time we consider expanding usage, we carefully evaluate the necessity due to cost concerns.
Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license.
Manager, Microsoft Technology Alliance at Silverfort
 

Valuable Features

Huntress Managed EDR offers 24/7 monitoring, threat hunting, and cost-effective security solutions, ideal for SMBs needing minimal maintenance.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances security and compliance with AI-powered threat intelligence, automation, and multi-cloud integration for improved protection.
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.
CTO at Accent Consulting
They provide detailed remediation steps, explaining why an issue is a problem and what steps to take.
Business Owner at Royal IT
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.
Owner at Antra Tech
The most valuable feature for me is the variety of APIs available.
Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
This feature significantly aids in threat detection and enhances the user experience by streamlining security management.
Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG
The most valuable feature is the recommendations provided on how to improve security.
Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Huntress Managed EDR
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (5th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (1st)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (5th), Container Management (7th), Container Security (4th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (7th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Huntress Managed EDR is designed for Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and holds a mindshare of 5.1%, down 10.8% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP), holds 13.2% mindshare, down 13.5% since last year.
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Huntress Managed EDR5.1%
SentinelOne Wayfinder Threat Detection and Response6.8%
CrowdStrike Falcon Complete MDR5.4%
Other82.7%
Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud13.2%
AWS GuardDuty10.4%
Wiz9.3%
Other67.1%
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
 

Featured Reviews

JefferyGiddens - PeerSpot reviewer
Director, Information Technology & Cybersecurity at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Improving alert visibility and reporting has reduced workload and strengthened security posture
Huntress Managed EDR could be improved by providing more visibility into each alert that comes in and what action was taken on it. There have been times when an alert was received through Microsoft Defender indicating an account was accessed, when in reality it was blocked by a conditional access policy, yet when checking the Huntress portal, that event does not appear at all, lacking indication that it was raised and investigated as not a threat. The reporting in Huntress Managed EDR is fairly basic, as the only available report is effectively an executive summary. Although it contains useful information, other platforms have reporting engines that are much more robust and customizable, functionality that appears to be missing in Huntress.
RW
Head Of IT at Cirrus Response
Cloud security has cut investigation time and now reveals threats faster but needs simpler oversight
When deploying AI applications, my key security concerns with Microsoft Defender for Cloud are data loss, leakage of data, and guardrails around the actual AI, and I am hoping that this is going to help me put those guardrails in place and identify data exfiltration. Microsoft Defender for Cloud has not helped me manage and secure multi-cloud environments, as we are 100 percent Microsoft and have not really got it in any other environment at all. I am not yet using the unified AI-powered security feature offered by Microsoft Defender for Cloud, but that is coming. I am not yet using the integrated XDR feature of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, but that is coming. I am not yet utilizing the GenAI threat protection features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud. That is also coming and a lot of that will come from learning it here. I have enabled the agentless scanning in my cloud environment with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Assessing the impact on my workload protection without needing to install agents with Microsoft Defender for Cloud makes it a lot easier, but it also identifies a lot more, which puts more load on me sometimes. I would advise another organization considering Microsoft Defender for Cloud that it is the most logical route to follow if their whole ecosystem is Microsoft. It is easy to implement and it is very self-explanatory when doing it, making sense to just follow the steps as it is too simple, really. I would rate this review a 7.5 out of 10.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business60
Midsize Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise49
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Huntress?
I believe that the new support feature they've added, the managed endpoint protection and response, should be included as part of Huntress Managed EDR. It doesn't make sense for those to be two sep...
What is your primary use case for Huntress?
My main use case for Huntress Managed EDR is that it lets me sleep at night, knowing that the Huntress team is making sure that all of our devices are protected, and monitoring those alerts means t...
What advice do you have for others considering Huntress?
The twenty-four hour per day human-led SOC support from Huntress Managed EDR is probably the biggest reason why we're on Huntress, so we are keeping that. My advice to others looking into using Hun...
How is Prisma Cloud vs Azure Security Center for security?
Azure Security Center is very easy to use, integrates well, and gives very good visibility on what is happening across your ecosystem. It also has great remote workforce capabilities and supports a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing was that the license cost was the only consideration. Setup and support had no issues.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Cloud?
To improve Microsoft Defender for Cloud, I think pricing-wise, the license price is a little bit higher from an ingestion cost perspective. Depending on what license you choose, you might have to p...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Huntress, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne and others in Managed Detection and Response (MDR). Updated: June 2026.
900,125 professionals have used our research since 2012.