Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery comparison

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

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:

ROI

Sentiment score

6.9

Microsoft Defender for Cloud boosts security and efficiency, integrates with Azure, reduces costs, prevents breaches, and offers proactive defense.

Sentiment score

7.7

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery boosts ROI by improving data efficiency, compliance, risk management, and reducing legal and IT workloads.

Defender proactively indexes and analyzes documents, identifying potential threats even when inactive, enhancing preventative security.

Preston Cleary

Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees

Identifying potential vulnerabilities has helped us avoid costly data losses.

SaulPatino

Manager at CBTS

Compared to not having Microsoft Defender for Cloud in place, we definitely saw an advantage by not having downtime due to a security threat.

Jason_Lane

Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

We have seen a 100% return on investment.

Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The ease of accessing necessary information promptly is the biggest return on investment.

John Alvis

Manager, Information Technology Operations & Security at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees

It's hard to quantify the ROI in a dollar amount, but we realize value by doing more tasks in less time than we did before.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview eDiscovery report

Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.3

Microsoft Defender for Cloud support is responsive at higher levels, but experiences vary with mixed satisfaction due to delays.

Sentiment score

7.6

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is praised for responsive support, despite some mixed experiences with wait times and outcomes.

Since security is critical, we prefer a quicker response time.

SaulPatino

Manager at CBTS

The support team was very responsive to queries.

reviewer2564271

Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

They understand their product, but much like us, they struggle with the finer details, especially with new features.

Preston Cleary

Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

I would rate Microsoft Purview eDiscovery's customer service and technical support a ten.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview eDiscovery report

Is admin at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.4

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is scalable, integrating across environments effortlessly, suitable for all enterprise sizes with flexible performance.

Sentiment score

7.9

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is scalable and efficient, seamlessly integrating with cloud infrastructures but lacks some search functions.

As we have reduced our on-premises infrastructure, it is about how we can migrate workloads to the cloud to make it easier, and then having everything fully encompassed and secured within that area makes it much easier for us to scale as needed and grow.

Jason_Lane

Principal Microsoft Consultant at MicroAge

We are using infrastructure as a code, so we do not have any scalability issues with Microsoft Defender for Cloud implementation because our cloud automatically does it.

Vibhor Goel

Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse

It has multiple licenses and features, covering infrastructures from a hundred to five hundred virtual machines, without any issues.

Syed Abid

Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

It scales with us seamlessly.

Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees

With the E3 licensing, I would rate the scalability of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery as a six because it lacks certain critical search functionalities.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview eDiscovery report

Is admin at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.5

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is stable and reliable, with minimal issues mainly during updates, ensuring strong user satisfaction.

Sentiment score

8.6

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is generally stable, with minor slowdowns, but users seek more transparency on performance issues.

Defender's stability has been flawless for us.

reviewer2595948

Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very stable.

Martin Welen

Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Microsoft sometimes changes settings or configurations without transparency.

Vibhor Goel

Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Deutsche Börse

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

For us, it has been one hundred percent reliable.

John Alvis

Manager, Information Technology Operations & Security at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is highly reliable.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview eDiscovery report

Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Cloud users seek better automation, clarity, integration, AI features, and comprehensive analytics for improved security management.

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery needs faster, more efficient features, better integration, NLP for queries, and affordable pricing for users.

Microsoft, in general, could significantly improve its communication and support.

Preston Cleary

Endpoint management at a government with 10,001+ employees

It would be beneficial to streamline recommendations to avoid unnecessary alerts and to refine the severity of alerts based on specific environments or environmental attributes.

John Tzamtzis

Works at Coca-Cola HBC

The artificial intelligence features could be expanded to allow the system to autonomously manage security issues without needing intervention from admins.

Javier_Rodriguez

Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

Adding more features, as Microsoft continues to expand their cloud offerings, would be beneficial.

Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees

Defining what constitutes a credit card because that is where I get the most false positives.

Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees

We find that many critical functions are available only to E5 license holders.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview eDiscovery report

Is admin at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is scalable, offering free and paid versions with costs averaging $15 monthly per server.

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery pricing is complex, with E5 costly yet beneficial, while E3 is cheaper but limited.

Security has essentially no cost when compared to the cost of a breach.

David Birhange

Director, Cloud and Modern Workplace at Informanix Technology Group

Every time we consider expanding usage, we carefully evaluate the necessity due to cost concerns.

reviewer2564271

Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

We appreciate the licensing approach based on employee count rather than a big enterprise license.

Antonio Andres

Manager, Microsoft Technology Alliance at Silverfort

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

With CSP or MCE-style agreements with Microsoft, the process is streamlined since we have reps from both Microsoft and CDW working together.

Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees

As an M3, I find the Purview pricing of 1250 per user worthwhile.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview eDiscovery report

Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The pricing and licensing with Microsoft can be complex, and licensing is known to be a challenge because it changes frequently.

reviewer2596452

Enterprise Content Mamagement Lead Developer at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhances security with AI-based threat detection, multi-cloud support, and a unified portal for comprehensive management.

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery ensures efficient data retrieval with multi-platform integration, automation, compliance visibility, and adherence to global data privacy laws.

The most valuable feature for me is the variety of APIs available.

reviewer2564271

Programme Manager- Cyber Fusion- Group CISO at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

This feature significantly aids in threat detection and enhances the user experience by streamlining security management.

Javier_Rodriguez

Cloud Consultant at i-Community AG

The most valuable feature is the recommendations provided on how to improve security.

Martin Welen

Cloud architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender for Cloud report

The most valuable feature of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is its ability to search across various platforms, including Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive.

Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees

Purview can connect to iOS, Mac, Android, and SaaS apps, which is critical for capturing SMS and MMS text message data.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview eDiscovery report

Is admin at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Purview's inclusion of global regulations is critical because we're heavily regulated by FERC, Sarbanes-Oxley, and the SEC.

reviewer2596452

Enterprise Content Mamagement Lead Developer at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (6th), Container Management (7th), Container Security (7th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (1st), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (4th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (4th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (5th), Compliance Management (4th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (2nd)

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

22nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

eDiscovery (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is 5.5%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is 1.5%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Cloud	5.5%
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery	1.5%
Other	93.0%

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

David Birhange

Director, Cloud and Modern Workplace at Informanix Technology Group

Brings together cloud security insights through a unified view and supports agentless protection for virtual machines

Copilot and similar features are already being used, though not necessarily for Microsoft Defender for Cloud specifically. We are trying to get more experience before rolling out most of Microsoft Defender for Cloud's AI capabilities. This is definitely on our to-do list, and the priority is urgent as we seek to learn more about these capabilities. The GenAI threat protection from Microsoft Defender for Cloud has not been enabled yet. There are many unknowns with AI applications. AI agents will operate while you're not present, whether you are sleeping or awake, and it's unclear whether there would be any exfiltration of data or how data is being managed. Microsoft Purview is being used extensively, and there is significant development going on with DSPM that will be rolled out to address security concerns. Data labeling and proper demarcation for sensitivity of data before it is received are being actively pursued.

Read full review

Has made it significantly easier to handle rare litigation requests

Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The speed of it is valuable. I am able to search even 10,000 mailboxes for specific content. It helps search and accommodate the often limited information provided by users regarding what they need. It provides a solid starting point, and then we are able to refine the data from there. That has been very helpful because we do not always get enough information from our users to know what to look for. For example, a user is missing an email from x date but does not know anything else. In such a case, I give them a list of emails to look at so that they can tell me what they are missing. It is not a lack of the tool. It is more of a lack of the user providing info.

Read full review

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881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	27
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	49

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

How is Prisma Cloud vs Azure Security Center for security?

Azure Security Center is very easy to use, integrates well, and gives very good visibility on what is happening across your ecosystem. It also has great remote workforce capabilities and supports a...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Microsoft Defender for Cloud was pretty straightforward. We did have a consultation with a third party to go over different tiers and produ...

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

Microsoft Defender for Cloud can be improved. An additional feature that should be included in the next release is Zero Trust, similar to ThreatLocker software.

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

The setup process was very straightforward. We acquired pricing through our reseller in NASDAQ, eliminating the need to search for prices ourselves.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

The query language can be time-consuming to figure out if you don't know it initially. While there are options with dropdowns to select criteria, having a natural language feature would be benefici...

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

I sometimes use it for legal holds or to find lost items, and to determine what is going on. However, most of the time, my use case is legal-related.

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Product Reports

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

January 2026

Download Microsoft Defender for Cloud product report

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

January 2026

Download Microsoft Purview eDiscovery product report

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender

No data available

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for cloud workloads. It offers real-time visibility into the security posture of cloud environments, enabling organizations to quickly identify and respond to potential threats. With its advanced machine learning capabilities, Microsoft Defender for Cloud can detect and block sophisticated attacks, including zero-day exploits and fileless malware.

The solution also provides automated remediation capabilities, allowing security teams to quickly and easily respond to security incidents. With Microsoft Defender for Cloud, organizations can ensure the security and compliance of their cloud workloads, while reducing the burden on their security teams.

Efficiently respond to legal matters or internal investigations with intelligent capabilities that reduce data to only what’s relevant. Discover data where it lives. Discover and collect data in place, within your Microsoft Purview boundary. Manage workflows efficiently. Streamline your eDiscovery process with an end-to-end workflow from one platform. Accelerate your process. Get insights quickly with built-in capabilities, reducing review time and costs.

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

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.

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