Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Rapid7 InsightIDR comparison

Microsoft and Rapid7 are both solutions in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category. Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3, while Rapid7 is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 9.5% mindshare in EDR, compared to Rapid7’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Rapid7 users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender for Endp...

Read 198 Microsoft Defender for Endpoint reviews

35,345 Views
18,026 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Read 31 Rapid7 InsightIDR reviews

6,825 Views
1,911 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Endp...

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 2024

Rapid7 InsightIDR and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are leading security solutions. Reviews indicate Rapid7 InsightIDR is favored for pricing and support while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is preferred for its comprehensive features, making users feel it is worth the investment.

Features: Rapid7 InsightIDR is user-friendly and known for strong threat detection. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is known for integration with Microsoft tools and advanced threat protection. InsightIDR's incident detection is simpler, while Defender's integration capabilities are more versatile for larger ecosystems.

Room for Improvement: Rapid7 InsightIDR users desire enhanced analytics and deeper threat intelligence. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint users seek improvements in system performance and fewer false positives. Performance optimization in Defender is more frequently noted.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Rapid7 InsightIDR has a quick deployment process and responsive support. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides efficient deployment but has some complexity due to integration. Customer services are well-regarded, with Rapid7's support slightly more praised for its promptness.

Pricing and ROI: Rapid7 InsightIDR is considered cost-effective with a favorable ROI due to lower setup costs and reliable performance. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, although more expensive, offers a higher ROI through robust features and extensive security measures. Users feel the higher price is justified by its advanced capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR

September 2025

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Helped 872,837 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 for Endp...

Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

198

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (2nd), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

25th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (14th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (5th), Threat Deception Platforms (4th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (17th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 9.5%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rapid7 InsightIDR is 1.2%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint	9.5%
Rapid7 InsightIDR	1.2%
Other	89.3%

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Featured Reviews

NaySan @ Suraj Verma

Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies

Has effectively blocked sophisticated attacks and malicious activities while providing excellent support

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is very good, but one suggestion is that in some products, we may need to configure security-related settings, whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint works completely differently, providing automatic recommendations and actions that we may need to perform ourselves. Regarding the pricing of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, during the last three years, we set up the product and sold it, but we faced difficulties because Microsoft pricing is always the same. For example, whether I purchase Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for one year or for the next three years, the pricing remains constant with no discounts available. In contrast, competing products offer reduced pricing for long-term commitments, which makes it difficult for us in that environment. Microsoft should consider this option to remain competitive, but otherwise, everything else is fine.

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Asim Naeem

Principal IT Security & Compliance at IBEX Holdings Ltd

Providing comprehensive insight into alerts while working towards AI enhancement

I definitely recommend Rapid7 InsightIDR. It is becoming better, with improvements being continuously made to the product. Right now, I do not have any advice about Rapid7 for other users because every organization or user has different criteria or multiple use cases, so I refrain from commenting on that. I rate the overall solution seven out of ten.

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 shows us the risky sign-ins, and if a user's password has been compromised."

"Provides good vulnerability assessment."

"I enjoy using the live response feature, which allows me to remotely access different endpoints and investigate malicious files, such as malware that people may have downloaded, and other related issues."

"What I like most is the protection against phishing emails and anti-spam."

"It has Kusto Query Language (KQL), so we can use our own queries to find anything."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is easy to load and it runs quietly in the background, unlike other solutions."

"We found that because the endpoint devices are based on Microsoft Windows devices and Windows Defender is integrated with the foundation and the core layer, it makes it more integrated and more agile in terms of responding to any security threats or changes or development"

"The best part is that it is built into Windows, whether it is a server base or a desktop base, which gives more control over the operating system. Because Defender, the operating system, and the Office solution are by Microsoft, everything is working like hand-in-glove. Its administrative overhead is less because a desktop user has already got some experience of how to handle a Microsoft Defender notification or administer it."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pros

"I have seen that Rapid7 InsightIDR provides security to the networks and endpoints in the company."

"The solution's initial setup is easy."

"InsightIDR helps us investigate an environment to discover information about incidents."

"User behavioral analytics allows us to pinpoint abnormal or suspicious behavior among millions of events every day."

"The UI is very good."

"Dashboards, including the main screen, provide much-needed information at a glance, without hours of coding and sifting through logs to find it. In case of an actual security incident, I have faith that insightIDR has retained all logs in a secure manner that prevents log tampering as well."

"Intelligent alerting to avoid the common problem of alert fatigue associated with traditional SIEMs."

"InsightIDR’s ability to process millions of transactions per day, and to notify me of the most critical ones, is priceless. InsightIDR has the alerts tuned, and has the ability to quickly drill down to determine the threat level."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR pros

Cons

"It is currently more suitable for end-users rather than enterprises with lots of other processes and third-party tools. It needs improvement on that front. We had many issues while integrating it with our enterprise solutions, such as Splunk, and third-party tools. It provides everything via APIs. Other vendors provide integration with third-party tools, but Microsoft doesn't do that. It is also logging too much and is not serialized from the process aspect. It has all the data, but it is not in a proper format or not properly indexed, which doesn't make it easier for enterprises to use this data. Other vendors provide troubleshooting information that can be used to troubleshoot issues, but Microsoft doesn't provide anything like that."

"We'd like the stability to be better."

"There's scanning going on that occasionally topples the memory, causing everything to freeze. This should be fixed."

"Auto recovery is the most important feature that we would need from this solution. For decryption, similar to Malwarebytes, there should be something to be able to recover the data up to the last normal status. Its ability to recover data to the last normal copy must not exceed 5 to 10 minutes."

"In India at least, it seems to be a bit more expensive than other options."

"I don't think it's scalable at this moment. It is doing what it's supposed to do, but Microsoft Defender for Endpoint isn't there yet."

"The initial setup can be a bit complex."

"The log searches for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are pretty difficult to navigate. It needs a better UI or more intuitive search and filter mechanisms to make it easy to get through and filter through all the data logs."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint cons

"Sometimes, it is hard to get the right queries to use. Currently, the tool lacks a pre-made set of queries."

"InsightIDR is only available in a cloud version. Some of our customers prefer an on-prem solution because they want to manage the security within their environment."

"The interface for doing investigation needs to be enhanced with minor improvements that would make it more useful."

"The APIs can be further improved in Rapid7."

"Inability to get access to compliance reports within the solution."

"The integration capabilities of the solution have certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"One of the things that could be better is digital forensics. It is there, but it can be better. They could provide more on the endpoint detection level."

"There is a future in AI with Rapid7, however, it is not fully operated. There are certain limitations with Rapid7 that I am working on."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution comes free with Microsoft Windows 10."

"You just pay Windows 10 prices, then you have antivirus software. As a price comparison, Defender's costs are very low."

"The licensing fee is a function of your Office 365 license. The feature set you get is a function of the license as well. There is probably an E2 version, an E3 version, and an E5 version. There are several versions, and not all features are the same. So, you might want to check what features you're expecting because you might get shocked. If you only have an E3 license, the capability isn't the same."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is an expensive solution."

"The solution is free."

"The solution comes as a part of Windows 10 and it is covered under its license."

"Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comes with Windows 10, and it's free. But for you to be able to manage it in the cloud and use the console, you need to have either an Office 365 E5 subscription or a Microsoft M365 subscription. You need to buy an extra license."

"There is not a license required for this particular solution."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint pricing and cost advice

"The team is very willing to work with companies. My suggestion is to call the Rapid7 sales department and see how they can help."

"Rapid7 InsightIDR's pricing is reasonable but we have challenges with the Minimum Order Quantity. It is not reasonable for customers who have less than one hundred devices. If they can reduce Minimum Order Quantity, it is good. You have to pay around 5000-6000 dollars per year for the product. The pricing includes maintenance and support costs."

"It is on a yearly basis. For our own company, for about 250 users, it was 16,000 euros a year."

"Rapid7 InsightIDR is priced very well and is cost-effective."

"Licensing is by endpoint and amount of retention time (at least ours is). Default retention was one year, but we are able to push the retention further if needed. There's also a provide-your-own-S3 option for longer retention if you don't want to pay for the additional retention years in your Rapid7 agreement."

"Rapid7 InsightIDR charges us based on the endpoints we connect to."

"Rapid7 InsightIDR is a cheaply priced product. On a scale of one to ten, where one is very expensive, and ten is very cheap, I rate the product's price at seven or eight."

"It is a reasonably priced solution."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	79
Midsize Enterprise	34
Large Enterprise	87

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	6

Questions from the Community

How is Cortex XDR compared with Microsoft Defender?

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface, applies behavioral-based endpoint protection and response, and includes risk-ba...

See all answers

Which offers better endpoint security - Symantec or Microsoft Defender?

We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior solution. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security s...

See all answers

How does Microsoft Defender for Endpoint compare with Crowdstrike Falcon?

The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never push your machine hardware to "test", you don't have the usual "scan now" feature ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Rapid7 InsightIDR?

During simulations or demonstrations, the tool generates alerts, providing details such as the specific application, its origin, and potential threats. For instance, it can identify if an applicati...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 InsightIDR?

The product pricing is very cheap.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 6% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 5% of the time

F-Secure Total vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

Symantec Endpoint Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 4% of the time

Trellix Endpoint Security Platform vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Competitors

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Sentinel vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 7% of the time

Darktrace vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 7% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Security QRadar vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 2% of the time

More Rapid7 InsightIDR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

October 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for Endpoint product report

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 InsightIDR

October 2025

Download Rapid7 InsightIDR product report

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus

InsightIDR

Interactive Demo

Microsoft

Demo not available

Rapid7

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for organizations. It offers real-time protection against various types of cyber threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

With its powerful machine-learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks before they can cause any harm. The solution also includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly investigate and respond to security incidents. It provides detailed insights into the attack timeline, enabling security teams to understand the scope and impact of an incident.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also offers proactive threat hunting, allowing organizations to proactively search for and identify potential threats within their network. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security solutions, such as Microsoft Defender XDR, to provide a unified and holistic security approach. With its centralized management console, organizations can easily deploy, configure, and monitor the security solution across their entire network.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust and scalable security solution that helps organizations protect their endpoints and data from evolving cyber threats.

Microsoft

Parsing hundreds of trivial alerts. Managing a mountain of data. Manually forwarding info from your endpoints. Forget that. InsightIDR instantly arms you with the insight you need to make better decisions across the incident detection and response lifecycle, faster.

Rapid7

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health

Liberty Wines, Pioneer Telephone, Visier

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR

September 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR

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