Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs Microsoft Purview Information Protection comparison

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and Microsoft Purview Information Protection 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 Information Protection is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.1. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management holds a 0.8% mindshare in Microsoft Security Suite, compared to Microsoft Purview Information Protection’s 1.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Microsoft Purview Information Protection 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 Informati...

Read 20 Microsoft Purview Information Protection reviews

2,212 Views
708 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender External...

Microsoft Purview Informati...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and Microsoft Purview Information Protection 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 Information Protection Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview Information Protection

December 2025

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Helped 881,114 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 Informati...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Governance (7th), Data Privacy Management Software (3rd)

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 Information Protection is 1.8%, up from 1.1% 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 Information Protection	1.8%
Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management	0.8%
Other	97.4%

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

Abhi T

Associate Director at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech

Achieve comprehensive data protection with reliable performance and room for enhanced discovery accuracy

The product is still in a growing phase. I could see that many use cases in their product are not capable enough in terms of detecting or protecting. Compared to other products, they are in the middle of bringing their solution up to the mark, so it is not a full-grown solution. They have to get more accurate results in terms of data discovery and classification. The second thing is their support; support from Microsoft takes a lot of time to get a response from their support team. The third thing is their OCR capability is not that great in terms of identifying the documents. We would love to see response times of less than 24 hours. Additionally, there is no way to check the policy's current status in terms of whether it got synced or not. You have to wait and test the use cases after 24 hours or after 48 hours, and once it starts working, then it appears the policy got implemented.

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

"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."

"The features my clients request most are sensitivity labels and data loss prevention. Additionally, I am trying to interest them in risk management and insider risk management, although those features are considered more advanced."

"The features I like the most about Microsoft Purview Information Protection include the ability to set different retention policies, which have benefited my organization by being crucial in maintaining taxpayer anonymity when communicating with government employees."

"The user interface is nice and it's very user-friendly on that front."

"My favorite feature about Microsoft Purview Information Protection is how it applies to everything generally, so I don't have to do it manually."

"I created training materials for end users on applying different labels, explaining their purposes, and providing examples. This was crucial since end users would apply the labels in different protection scenarios. The implementation helped the organization in several ways."

"Microsoft Purview Information Protection integrates with the productivity and security tools that my customers use regularly, allowing them to avoid using multiple information protection solutions."

"The UI is user-friendly, and I have observed that it improves further each year."

"Before using it, we had a lot of unlabeled data, and the tool helped us quickly and accurately label a large number of documents."

More Microsoft Purview Information Protection pros

Cons

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

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

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

"I rate Microsoft support six out of 10. Response times are a challenge. It's hard to be an ambassador for a product when you know it will be hard to get support."

"Purview could better integrate with third-party tools, but I don't have a specific use case for that because It's currently integrated into the managed services we offer to Microsoft customers using E5 licenses."

"There is potential for more integration in the use of AI."

"I had experience with previous versions of Microsoft Purview Information Protection as well. The new version doesn't have all the features that were present in the previous native clients and functionalities. For example, the ability to track documents - knowing where your document is, who is accessing it, when and where. You could even revoke access to a particular document if needed, which was a cool feature. These aren't available right now, although Microsoft is working on bringing them back, which might take some time."

"We don't trust Microsoft Purview Information Protection yet."

"I wouldn't recommend Microsoft Purview Information Protection for petabytes of documents as performance might be affected."

"I assess its ability to classify data and identify sensitive information as an area where we have not really gotten a lot of progress yet."

"There is room for improvement with the policy tips feature."

More Microsoft Purview Information Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Initially, Purview's cost seemed quite high because it was for personal use. I was scanning a tiny tenant and thinking, "If I extrapolate this to an enterprise-scale tenant, it will be quite costly." However, I talked to people who had compared it to other products on the market, and they're spending five figures to get started. At least, Purview has a free trial, so you can try some of the features early on."

"The price is determined by the enterprise licensing, either the E3 or E5 licensing or the EMS plus security and other feature licensing."

"The tool's pricing is not a problem for customers because they often purchase it as part of a bundle. With an E5 license, for example, users get access to the entire functionality. This is one of the main reasons why many customers are choosing Microsoft."

"The product is affordable, and our clients agree. Sensitivity labels come with the MIP license at an additional $2 a month per user, an excellent deal for auto-labeling capabilities."

"The tool's pricing is fairly low, less than 100,000 for a year."

"The pricing and setup costs are transferred to my clients, who find it affordable and are satisfied with what they receive."

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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

18%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	12

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Information Protection?

In my experience with Microsoft Purview Information Protection, the experience of pricing, setup costs, and licensing is confusing, especially knowing what I have to do for add-ons with buying SCUs...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Information Protection?

I think the role of sensitivity labels in guiding AI interaction with Microsoft Purview Information Protection is pretty good, but for us, it's too general. It says, "Here's a dataset" and because ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Information Protection?

My main use case for Microsoft Purview Information Protection is sensitivity labeling, as I use it for exposing labeling for inside Teams and outside Teams.

See all answers

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Compared 6% of the time

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs Microsoft Purview Information Protection

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Purview Data Governance vs Microsoft Purview Information Protection

Compared 6% 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 Information Protection

January 2026

Microsoft Purview Information Protection report

Download Microsoft Purview Information Protection product report

Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft Information Protection

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

Implement Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) to help you discover, classify, and protect sensitive information wherever it lives or travels.

MIP capabilities are included with Microsoft 365 Compliance and give you the tools to know your data, protect your data, and prevent data loss.

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview Information Protection

December 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview Information Protection

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

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