Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs Microsoft Purview Data Governance comparison

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and Microsoft Purview Data Governance are both solutions in the Microsoft Security Suite category. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is ranked #33 with an average rating of 7.5, while Microsoft Purview Data Governance is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.8. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management holds a 0.8% mindshare in Microsoft Security Suite, compared to Microsoft Purview Data Governance’s 4.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of Microsoft Purview Data Governance users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender External...

Read 2 Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management reviews

1,123 Views
225 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Purview Data Gove...

Read 59 Microsoft Purview Data Governance reviews

14,875 Views
2,678 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender External...

Microsoft Purview Data Gove...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and Microsoft Purview Data Governance based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Microsoft Security Suite solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview Data Governance Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview Data Governance

December 2025

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Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

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

Microsoft Defender External...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

33rd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Attack Surface Management (ASM) (14th)

Microsoft Purview Data Gove...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

8th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Governance (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Data Governance is 4.5%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Purview Data Governance	4.5%
Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management	0.8%
Other	94.7%

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

AndyChan3

General manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Enhanced visibility and exposes vulnerabilities but needs more integration

I am currently in the pilot stage of implementing Microsoft External Attack Surface Management (EASM). My organization is transitioning to a comprehensive track of Microsoft solutions, and we will move to full-scale production in another year, maybe Microsoft External Attack Surface Management…

Read full review

Ayinampudi Srikanth

Tech lead at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Automated data discovery has streamlined management while configuration remains complex

Compared to Big-ID, Microsoft Purview Data Governance looks complicated to me. I do not feel it has a good user-level UI. The interface feels a little complicated compared to Big-ID. I did not appreciate the configuration part. It felt complex, whereas when I went for a Big-ID demo, the interface looked better and was easier to understand for any user.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft External Attack Surface Management helps improve the visibility of my exposed vulnerabilities and provides an overview of my security posture across the globe."

"It seems to be better at protecting from cyberattacks."

"Microsoft External Attack Surface Management helps improve the visibility of my exposed vulnerabilities and provides an overview of my security posture across the globe."

"One way that Microsoft Purview has benefited our organization is by preventing data leakage, which saves the company money on fines and protects its reputation."

"Microsoft Purview Data Governance enables us to show our compliance in real time."

"Their data labeling or data classification is particularly valuable because we want to categorize all of our data into confidential, public, or internal."

"The cataloging tool is definitely the most valuable... It tells you about all the data you have in your tables, which helps people understand our data. We now know what data we have."

"The sensitivity labeling is the most valuable feature because it is the foundation for automating the encryption process and ensuring proper data handling across the organization."

"The most valuable aspect of Purview is its PowerShell connectivity, enabling automation."

"One of the best features is the classification rules, especially the scan rule sets. They are really useful, especially when we need to understand the current data the company has to ensure that all the problematic data can be put under someone's responsibility."

"I like Purview's data discovery features. It automatically scans and identifies all the fields. In the last project, the customer required us to have some of the codes we specified in this, and we had to structure the codes in a specific way. We can define the structure."

More Microsoft Purview Data Governance pros

Cons

"With Microsoft, support is always crazy, it's not easy to get support."

"The integration is not as seamless compared to competitors like Palo Alto."

"Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement."

"Although you can explore the data, that creates a great interest in data lineage or the data flow. How does it go from a source to a platform to a Power BI report, for example? It is possible, to some extent, to see that with Purview, but the lineage feature requires some manual work on the development side or more work from Microsoft to improve on it."

"The current event-based retention management is very poor."

"There are negatives to the compliance aspect of Purview in that you get a lot of false positives with some of the native scanning and rules in the platform. A lot of them need tweaking to get a more realistic handle on what data there is."

"As Microsoft Purview got a little more mature, the deployments got a little more complex, as we were kind of seeing that there are a lot of ways, like there were a hundred ways to do one thing or less."

"Reflecting organizational changes within Purview is impractical."

"Data quality has been a highly requested feature among customers."

"Another area for improvement is in managing the business glossary terms. If they could provide the same type of method that we use to configure the scan rule sets, that would be helpful. Currently, there is no option like this, so we have to do it manually. Automatic detection would be great."

"There are some limitations with regard to the lineage of data from different parts of the system."

More Microsoft Purview Data Governance cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"People often and unjustly say that Microsoft product pricing is not in the scope of reality, that it's just too expensive at times. I do not feel that is the case at all... If I'm able to let go of 30 to 70 percent of my IT administration staff, that makes up for a lot of money."

"The pricing is reasonable because it's part of the 365 E3 or E5 license you buy."

"It's not cheap. I'm not exactly sure how much our license costs, but it is very expensive."

"Microsoft Purview is a subscription-based service, so we need either an E3 or E5 license to use it."

"The pricing depends on the client's requirements and the number of applications."

"The pricing is decent. It is neither too low nor too high. Given its capabilities, the pricing is justified."

"Microsoft Purview requires a Microsoft 365 license and is included with an E5 license."

"Price-wise, I think it's very generous and accessible to not just enterprises but small to medium-sized companies as well. I think it's very fair in terms of how they break apart the storage and the actual computing, and that makes it very accessible. So, that is a very big plus for Purview."

More Microsoft Purview Data Governance pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Outsourcing Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	31

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

I rate the pricing of the solution as eight out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement. Introduction of more AI automation into the products would also be beneficial. The integration is not as seamless co...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Purview?

It is designed to seamlessly connect to various data sources, which is particularly beneficial for our customers who primarily use Microsoft technologies.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Purview?

Microsoft Purview Data Governance is quite affordable compared to other market solutions, which have high initial costs. It allows for a cost-effective start with negligible initial cost. However, ...

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Purview?

See all answers

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Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Attack Surface Management (ASM)

January 2026

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management report

Download Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Purview Data Governance

January 2026

Microsoft Purview Data Governance report

Download Microsoft Purview Data Governance product report

Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft Purview, MS Azure Purview

Overview

In this era of hybrid work, shadow IT creates an increasingly serious security risk. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management helps cloud security teams see unknown and unmanaged resources outside the firewall.

Microsoft

The new Microsoft Purview portal offers an enhanced governance experience, serving as a unified platform for managing and governing data across various sources, including Azure, Microsoft 365, on-premises, and multicloud environments. Designed to streamline governance, compliance, risk, and security efforts, the new portal provides a user-friendly interface and unlocks advanced features like live view and preset scans. Existing users of Microsoft Purview can upgrade to this enhanced experience, gaining access to improved user interface, enhanced capabilities, and consolidated management of data assets. Additionally, the upgrade sets the stage for future developments, including account consolidation and fine-grained access control.

Microsoft

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview Data Governance

December 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview Data Governance

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview Data Governance and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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