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Huntress Managed EDR vs Microsoft Defender for Identity comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

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
6.5
Huntress Managed EDR provides cost-effective, efficient security, reducing staffing and tool expenses while enhancing integration, installation, and support.
Sentiment score
4.4
Microsoft Defender for Identity is cost-effective and efficient, offering incident prevention and resolution without complex hardware setups.
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
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.0
Huntress Managed EDR provides exceptional 24/7 support with prompt, knowledgeable service, achieving high customer satisfaction ratings between 8-10.
Sentiment score
6.9
Opinions on Microsoft Defender for Identity support vary, highlighting responsiveness, but issues include delays, contact challenges, and false positives.
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
Generally, the support is more effective than other providers like Oracle.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
The quality of support is very good, but troubleshooting can take time due to complex setups and the need to provide many logs.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The people I normally use for support are very knowledgeable, especially when they help remote in and get to where I need to go and show me much faster and help me understand what I should be doing.
Technology Coordinator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Huntress Managed EDR offers scalable, cloud-based endpoint protection, ideal for SMBs with easy deployment, automatic scripts, and responsive integration.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Defender for Identity efficiently integrates and scales globally, supporting diverse organizational needs within Microsoft’s ecosystem effectively.
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
In a Microsoft-centric organization, especially with Azure infrastructure and Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Identity is scalable.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Users praise Huntress Managed EDR for stability and efficiency, with minor issues quickly addressed and consistent performance observed.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Defender for Identity is highly reliable, with minimal incidents, seamless operation, and consistent ratings between seven and nine.
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
Microsoft Defender for Identity is quite robust and built on Azure hyperscale infrastructure, with a 99% availability.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We do not see any issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Identity.
Deputy Manager at Servion Global Solutions
Having recently started using it, reliability is affirmed, but manual investigation is often performed to verify if alerts identified by auto-remediation are accurate.
Instrumentation Engineer at Toyo Engineering Corp
 

Room For Improvement

Huntress Managed EDR requires enhanced reporting, integration, platform support, and UI improvements to boost functionality and user satisfaction.
Microsoft Defender for Identity users seek improved cloud integration, user-friendly features, better support, and streamlined processes for enhanced threat management.
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
If Microsoft could develop a feature that indicates when impossible travel is caused by VPN connections, it would prevent unnecessary password resets and session disruptions, especially for VIP users in organizations.
CyberSecurity Engineer | Information Security Management at Self Employed
One improvement I would recommend is the integration of an admin application within Teams, allowing easy access to attack information on a mobile platform.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
Reducing false positives is something we've been working on with Microsoft.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Huntress Managed EDR offers cost-effective, transparent endpoint pricing, valued by MSPs for efficiency and Managed Defender integration benefits.
Microsoft Defender for Identity is cost-effective with E5 licenses despite complex pricing and competitive against other security solutions.
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.
If they can reduce the costs, organizations will be happy, and it will compensate for using the Azure environment, which is more expensive on the infrastructure as a service side.
CyberSecurity Engineer | Information Security Management at Self Employed
Ensuring a fair price according to market standards.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
From an organization perspective, using E5 licenses is value for money, especially if Azure and Office 365 are already in use.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Huntress Managed EDR offers efficient threat-hunting, low false positives, and significant ROI for SMBs replacing traditional antivirus.
Microsoft Defender for Identity integrates with Azure to offer comprehensive threat detection, identity protection, and advanced real-time security insights.
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
We receive an advance report of risky users, allowing us to take preemptive action before an attack causes damage to organization details.
Instrumentation Engineer at Toyo Engineering Corp
The most valuable feature is its hybrid artificial intelligence, which gathers forensic data to track and counteract security threats, much like the CSI series in effect.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
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.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Huntress Managed EDR
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (5th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (1st)
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 (5th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (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 6.6%, down 10.5% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender for Identity, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR), holds 11.4% mindshare, down 18.8% since last year.
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Huntress Managed EDR6.6%
CrowdStrike Falcon Complete MDR6.9%
SentinelOne Vigilance6.3%
Other80.2%
Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity11.4%
CrowdStrike Falcon14.0%
Microsoft Entra ID Protection7.1%
Other67.5%
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
 

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.
OA
CyberSecurity Engineer | Information Security Management at Self Employed
Automation and threat intelligence streamline threat response and user management
In Microsoft Defender for Identity, I would appreciate improvements in providing information on conditional access. They have added more control that can be put in place, which was not present years ago. They have also integrated Azure Information Protection where policies can be configured. The Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) allows users to reset their passwords, which is a valuable tool for remote workers. They have added more features into conditional access that integrate with other components, including SSPR and Identity Information Protection, trusted IPs, and locations. These configurations in trusted IP addresses are integrated into conditional access and control the applications I want to secure. Regarding impossible travel scenarios, I can either block the user or grant access while requesting multi-factor authentication. 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. If Microsoft could develop a feature that indicates when impossible travel is caused by VPN connections, it would prevent unnecessary password resets and session disruptions, especially for VIP users in organizations.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solutions are best for your needs.
885,667 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business55
Midsize Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Huntress?
One downside of Huntress Managed EDR, compared to the CrowdStrike agent, is that it takes a longer time to push it out to all of our endpoints and ensure everything is configured correctly. My team...
What is your primary use case for Huntress?
Our current use cases for Huntress Managed EDR involve replacing CrowdStrike as our endpoint protection in our K-12 school. We use it to ensure that our devices are secure, compliant, and that any ...
What advice do you have for others considering Huntress?
Huntress Managed EDR is a great tool for the SMB market. There were many customizations and features I initially didn't know how to use, which are ideal for larger teams. However, as a user now, I ...
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

Information Not Available
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 Huntress Managed EDR vs. Microsoft Defender for Identity and other solutions. Updated: November 2024.
885,667 professionals have used our research since 2012.