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IRONSCALES vs Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence [EOL] comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 16, 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
5.6
Businesses find IRONSCALES offers significant ROI by saving time, reducing intervention, and enhancing cybersecurity with minimal licensing costs.
Sentiment score
8.2
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence enhances security, saves on budgets, and improves detection, offering significant ROI and value.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
IRONSCALES customer service is praised for responsiveness, knowledgeable staff, and high satisfaction, despite minor delays.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender support is rated very good, with knowledgeable level two assistance, competent partners, and a helpful community platform.
Customer support for IRONSCALES is outstanding.
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I would rate their technical support as very good, as they respond promptly when my team opens a ticket.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Level two support is knowledgeable and knows how the product works, which is very good.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would give Microsoft an eight for their technical support.
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
IRONSCALES offers seamless scalability, easy integration, and cloud-based flexibility, supporting growing businesses without performance issues or maintenance burdens.
Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is highly scalable, adaptable for businesses of all sizes, and supports thousands of endpoints efficiently.
If there were some customizations available, I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
IRONSCALES is praised for its stability, reliability, minimal downtime, and improved performance, enhancing operational workflows for users.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is seen as stable and secure, with high reliability and effective phishing prevention despite occasional outages.
It provides a high level of security and avoids phishing and scam emails.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

IRONSCALES needs better Google Suite integration, intuitive UI, enhanced features, multilingual support, and improved email detection accuracy.
Microsoft Defender needs price adjustments, improved integration, better accuracy, enhanced AI, and smoother user experience for evolving cybersecurity.
If there were clickable drill downs on specific users or specific correspondence to relate them to certain types of mails, that would be beneficial.
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Having a more user-friendly UI would make it easier to identify features and options when using the tool.
SOC LEAD at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Though this isn't problematic for our users, the content could be updated more frequently.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Providing code customization would help keep pace with new vulnerabilities and threats.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
If Microsoft could direct critical messages regarding updates or vulnerabilities affecting users' environments, it would help users understand the importance of security updates.
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
From the telemetry data standpoint, I would prefer Defender data to be more open in future updates.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
 

Setup Cost

IRONSCALES offers valuable email security with high pricing, involving annual licensing and fees, considered worthwhile for phishing prevention.
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is cost-effective in bundles, but SMEs face challenges with standalone pricing and evolving licensing.
While I don't specifically oversee the pricing details, I understand that IRONSCALES is in the range of similar solutions while offering better results.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

IRONSCALES enhances email security with AI detection, Microsoft 365 integration, user-friendly features, and mobile app incident management.
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence excels in integration, threat detection, user interface, data retention, real-time protection, and analytics.
IRONSCALES has positively impacted my organization by making email security simple in terms of controlling mails, understanding where the threats are, and protecting the organization itself.
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The best features of IRONSCALES are that most alerts are validated through AI, which reduces the fatigue of alerts that need to be worked on by the team handling the alerts investigation part.
SOC LEAD at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
When attackers employ social engineering and prepare their real attack, IRONSCALES effectively detects these intentions.
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
If it wasn't for that real-time threat detection on the vulnerability, I think we would not have survived the attack.
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
Our threat detection is enhanced due to the AI agents in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence, which helps in detecting automatically.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
One of the best features is that it provides a certain level of customization, allowing us to set our spam confidence levels.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

IRONSCALES
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (14th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (16th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (5th)
Microsoft Defender Threat I...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2770017 - PeerSpot reviewer
Email Security Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Has improved threat analysis by providing clear email correspondence history and reporting tools
The best features IRONSCALES offers are the investigation tabs, headers, and correspondence history, which stand out the most for me. The investigation tabs are valuable for my work because reporting goes a long way in terms of playbooks and having a full investigation. The investigation tab knows exactly how to put the information in a way that makes it very easy for reports to get done fast. Security awareness training is a big part of IRONSCALES. The platform offers a broad spectrum in terms of what campaigns can be run for security awareness for users as well as reporting back on how users interact with their mails and understanding where the vulnerabilities lie. IRONSCALES has positively impacted my organization by making email security simple in terms of controlling mails, understanding where the threats are, and protecting the organization itself.
Charles Mokoena - PeerSpot reviewer
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
Has strengthened our ability to detect threats in real time and improved internal security decision-making
The features that I find most valuable in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence include the Sentinel part of it. There are several features we've looked at, including Sentinel as well as extended Defender, which is XDR. I've used those two, and that's what I've found quite useful for us, especially in the hardening and analysis part of the whole threat analysis. We use the real-time threat detection features in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. If it wasn't for that real-time threat detection on the vulnerability, I think we would not have survived the attack. The integration capabilities of Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence with other Microsoft security tools have benefited our organization's threat management process by initially being quite a challenge, especially coming from other security tools such as Fortinet and Check Point. However, once you've gotten used to it, it's quite easy and user-friendly. The dashboard, especially the threat analysis dashboard, is quite detailed in terms of providing a view of which areas in our environment need attention, making it quite useful.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Educational Organization
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IRONSCALES?
The solution captures a bit more of the unknown, quantifies it, and applies intelligence to it to pick out and stop a lot of phishing emails that come through.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IRONSCALES?
While I don't specifically oversee the pricing details, I understand that IRONSCALES is in the range of similar solutions while offering better results.
What needs improvement with IRONSCALES?
I would really prefer to drill down more on correspondence history. It provides detailed background information to actually understand what's going on. If there were clickable drill downs on specif...
What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
It just runs in the background. I don't have to worry about, making sure it's Intelligence. So, you know, this kind of makes it very easy, have to worry about installing. It is easy to use.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
From the telemetry data standpoint, I would prefer Defender data to be more open in future updates.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
We have tried Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. I have expertise with Microsoft Defender products. I am not familiar with Microsoft Defender for IoT because we did not use that in our environ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Allegheny Millwork, Ayrshire College, Nium, Orris, Paramount School District, Pres Les, PRT Staffing, Recovery Unplugged, Telit, WebHelp
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