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IBM Security QRadar vs Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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

IBM Security QRadar
Ranking in Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
219
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (7th), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (3rd), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (17th), Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (4th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (11th)
Microsoft Defender Experts ...
Ranking in Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
19th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Managed Detection and Response (MDR) category, the mindshare of IBM Security QRadar is 1.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is 1.6%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Security QRadar1.0%
Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting1.6%
Other97.4%
Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
 

Featured Reviews

HarshBhardiya - PeerSpot reviewer
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
Have managed daily asset and alert monitoring effectively but have encountered limitations with manual processes and interface usability
It's still very manual and doesn't work on its own. It's still in an early stage and not on par where we can consider it a really successful detection system. The accuracy is not there. The UI could be better when compared to Sentinels where we can use flags and tagging. It could be much more user-friendly. IBM Security QRadar has all features and is fully competitive with other SIEM tools, but when it comes to user-friendliness, a new user takes time to get used to it. More intuitive, user-friendly interfaces and more helpful documentation would be beneficial. The query searching and data fetching could be faster. In large to very large organizations with around 5,000 or 6,000 assets or beyond, even with proper configurations and RAM and hardware backing up, the query is fairly slow.
Mondher-Smii - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Manager at Insomea
Has supported clients in managing incidents through clear pricing and hybrid deployment options
What really stands out about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is that it's easy to use. The cost is clear, and the pricing is transparent. The onboarding of the product on the customer's environment is straightforward. We can use it in a hybrid environment, in the cloud, or on-premise environment. This is the main advantage regarding this product. If it's configured correctly, everything will be good, resilient, and secure, which supports threat mitigation efforts depending on the configuration on the tenant and the parameters on Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting. Threat intelligence updates have some impact on our overall security posture. They give us external eyes regarding threat actors, which is good. It's very helpful to enrich the SIEM, which is Microsoft Sentinel. It's a good feature that we can include threat intel on the product.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I am generally satisfied with the product."
"It has improved comprehensive visibility for what is going on in the perimeters, and on the inside, as well."
"The tool is already automated in many ways, but there are some additional functions which should be automated, like sending an email, mobile notification, and integration of XFS."
"Senses, tracks, and links significant incidents and threats."
"The ability to add extensions is the most valuable feature. For example, extensions that provide valuable test ports."
"IBM Security QRadar has significantly improved our incident response procedures."
"The scalability is very good. It's not a problem."
"A nice benefit is when we go to the process of selecting our youth cases, they go by building blocks. QRadar links it to building blocks."
"What really stands out about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is that it's easy to use, the cost is clear, and the pricing is transparent, with straightforward onboarding in hybrid, cloud, or on-premise environments."
"The solution helps to detect some suspicious items for us and our clients."
"What really stands out about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is that it's easy to use, the cost is clear, and the pricing is transparent, with straightforward onboarding in hybrid, cloud, or on-premise environments."
"Easy to use is what my customers say is the biggest benefit of Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting for them."
"The best feature of this solution is that it is an integrated and comprehensive solution for the entire Microsoft ecosystem."
 

Cons

"The solution lacks vendor support."
"There should be more opportunity for community kind of distribution where, for example, if there was a zero-day threat targeting companies."
"IBM Qradar could improve the reporting. The tool is not designed to report. It's a great operational monitoring tool. You put it on a screen and you watch it. If you want to have analytics out of it, that's a whole different story. You're going to need more people and tools. What should be added is reporting and integration into Power BI, into some capability that produces analytical reports from the source data. IBM does not seem to care to add these features."
"You can scale IBM QRadar User Behavior Analytics, but it has room for improvement."
"Its architecture is very complicated."
"The implementation of the solution's technology needs to be simplified."
"We are considering some roadmaps to get out of IBM Security QRadar right now; that's the truth."
"The price of IBM Security QRadar is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"There is a lot of change in a small period. This might not be helpful for IT administrators and users."
"The solution’s user interface could be improved."
"We tried the proactive threat hunting feature, but it was not a good experience with Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting. It created more trouble than expected with false positives and non-expected answers."
"There is a lot of change in a small period. This might not be helpful for IT administrators and users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is priced in a competitive manner. The tool's price is dependent on the installation and the product size, but it is competitive in the marketplace."
"The pricing is always fine."
"The solution's pricing is based on the EPS model."
"Go through a vulnerability assessment review for price breaks. A virtualized solution will also cut down on cost."
"We pay approximately $40,000 to use the solution annually. This solution is a lot less expensive than Splunk."
"think the pricing is quite flexible."
"The license is not subscription-based."
"It could be cheaper, but the value itself is far more important for us than the price. Typically, our clients have yearly subscriptions."
Information not available
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Comparison Review

VS
Manager, Enterprise Risk Consulting at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jun 28, 2015
Qradar vs. ArcSight
Continuing with the SIEM posts we have done at Infosecnirvana, this post is a Head to head comparison of the two Industry leading SIEM products in the market – HP ArcSight and IBM QRadar Both the products have consistently been in the Gartner Leaders Quadrant. Both HP and IBM took over niche SIEM…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business91
Midsize Enterprise39
Large Enterprise105
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest differences between Securonix UEBA, Exabeam, and IBM QRadar?
It mostly depends on your use-cases and environment. Exabeam and Securonix have a stronger UEBA feature set, friendlier GUI and are not licensed based on capacity (amount of logs and information in...
What SOC product do you recommend?
For tools I’d recommend: -SIEM- LogRhythm -SOAR- Palo Alto XSOAR Doing commercial w/o both (or at least an XDR) is asking to miss details that are critical, and ending up a statistic. Also, rememb...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Security QRadar?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is great compared to the other vendor.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting?
Microsoft now changes a lot in products, which might be a disadvantage right now. There is a lot of change in a small period. This might not be helpful for IT administrators and users. New features...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting?
Right now we manage some firewalls using Microsoft products. In regard to Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting, I have been working with this product so far. Mainly and basically for incident han...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting?
The pricing, engineers behind Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting, changes, and support services make the difference compared to other products. In terms of pricing, the solution is good, and th...
 

Also Known As

IBM QRadar, QRadar SIEM, QRadar UBA, QRadar on Cloud, IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Clients across multiple industries, such as energy, financial, retail, healthcare, government, communications, and education use QRadar.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security QRadar vs. Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.