Microsoft Defender for Identity vs Microsoft Entra Verified ID comparison

Microsoft Defender for Identity and Microsoft Entra Verified ID are both solutions in the Microsoft Security Suite category. Microsoft Defender for Identity is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.7, while Microsoft Entra Verified ID is ranked #21 with an average rating of 8.3. Microsoft Defender for Identity holds a 5.5% mindshare in Microsoft Security Suite, compared to Microsoft Entra Verified ID’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft Defender for Identity users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Microsoft Entra Verified ID users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender for Iden...

Read 28 Microsoft Defender for Identity reviews

6,602 Views
3,169 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Read 8 Microsoft Entra Verified ID reviews

1,131 Views
645 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Iden...

Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender for Identity and Microsoft Entra Verified ID 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 for Identity vs. Microsoft Entra Verified ID Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Microsoft Entra Verified ID

February 2026

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Helped 885,286 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 Iden...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (8th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (3rd)

Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

21st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Identity is 5.5%, down from 6.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra Verified ID is 1.6%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity	5.5%
Microsoft Entra Verified ID	1.6%
Other	92.9%

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

Oluwa Adetunji

CyberSecurity Engineer | Information Security Management at Self Employed

Automation and threat intelligence streamline threat response and user management

In Microsoft Defender for Identity, I would appreciate improvements in providing information on conditional access. They have added more control that can be put in place, which was not present years ago. They have also integrated Azure Information Protection where policies can be configured. The Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) allows users to reset their passwords, which is a valuable tool for remote workers. They have added more features into conditional access that integrate with other components, including SSPR and Identity Information Protection, trusted IPs, and locations. These configurations in trusted IP addresses are integrated into conditional access and control the applications I want to secure. Regarding impossible travel scenarios, I can either block the user or grant access while requesting multi-factor authentication. They should improve the automation for impossible travel detection. When connected to Wi-Fi and then to VPN, the system sometimes interprets the IP address change as impossible travel. If Microsoft could develop a feature that indicates when impossible travel is caused by VPN connections, it would prevent unnecessary password resets and session disruptions, especially for VIP users in organizations.

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MuhammadWaqar

IT Director at Interwood Mobel Pvt Ltd

Supports user management and authentication but needs simpler hybrid integration for broader adoption

I believe there should be an easy provision for the on-premises and for the hybrid environment in Microsoft Entra Verified ID, as there seems to be some difficulty with hybrid implementations, especially in a country like Pakistan where most are transitioning to cloud but not fully migrating, instead opting for hybrid solutions. An ease for hybrid integration would greatly help the technical teams. I believe the policy implementation is a little bit complex on the Microsoft side; there should be a simpler way to implement policies, utilizing standardized templates for compliance, such as industry-specific templates for the service industry, which would be helpful for HIPAA and other compliances.

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

"All the integration it has with different Microsoft packages, like Teams and Office, is good."

"Microsoft is a big company."

"It gives companies a lot of insights that they didn't have before and has increased the security posture significantly."

"It gives you a holistic view of everything happening in your organization, and you can use it to do a lot of monitoring."

"This solution has advanced a lot over the last few years."

"The best feature is security monitoring, which detects and investigates suspicious user activities. It can easily detect advanced attacks based on the behavior. The credentials are securely stored, so it reduces the risk of compromise. It will monitor user behavior based on artificial intelligence to protect the identities in your organization. It will even help secure the on-premise Active Directory. It syncs from the cloud to on-premise, and on-premise modifications will be reflected in the cloud."

"One of our users had the same password for every personal and company account. That was a problem because she started receiving phishing emails that could compromise all of her accounts. Defender told us that the user was not changing their password."

"In the security portfolio that we manage, Microsoft Defender for Identity is very important because it is the professional service that we sell the most."

More Microsoft Defender for Identity pros

"The most valuable features of the solution are mainly in the areas of security and auditing."

"I would recommend this solution to others because it's simple enough to deploy."

"I like the Microsoft Authenticator app since it comes with two-factor authentication."

"Microsoft Entra Verified ID has smoothed out our identity verification process and made it easier for us to authenticate users, making us more confident about our users being who they say they are so we can trust that we have secure logins for all our users."

"I find Microsoft Dynamics 365 very easy and useful because most of the users on our end are using Microsoft, thus they are very familiar with the Microsoft Office stack, and some of SharePoint and Teams."

"Entra allows us and our customers to access workloads on Azure and Office 365 securely, and we've integrated it with other applications to provide a single pane of glass for user identification, eliminating the need for multiple IDs."

"The MFA number matching feature effectively prevents unauthorized access by phishing bad actors who might obtain email credentials. This feature requires users to verify a number on their screen, ensuring they only approve genuine requests."

"Microsoft Entra Verified ID has helped reduce fraud or impersonation attacks because if you are using a government-sanctioned ID, what is more secure than that?"

More Microsoft Entra Verified ID pros

Cons

"They should improve the automation for impossible travel detection. When connected to Wi-Fi and then to VPN, the system sometimes interprets the IP address change as impossible travel."

"I would like to be able to do remediation from the platform because it is just a scanner right now. If you onboard a device, it shows you what is happening, but you can't use it to fix things."

"There is no option to remedy an issue directly from the console. If we see an alert, we can't fix it from the console. Instead, we must depend on other Microsoft products, such as MDE. That is a significant drawback. It simply works as a scanner, which can sometimes put enough load on the sensors. Immediate actions should be possible from the dashboard because. It can prevent issues from spreading further."

"The solution could be better at using group-managed access and they could replace it with broad-based access controls."

"The solution could improve how it handles on-premises Android-related attacks."

"Defender for Identity gives us visibility, but we often get false positives from Azure that take us down the garden path. We go through 30 incidents each day and most of those are false positives or benign positive alerts. Occasionally, we get true positive alerts."

"Microsoft should look at what competing vendors like CrowdStrike and Broadcom are doing and incorporate those features into Sentinel and Defender. At the same time, I think the intelligence inside the product is improving fast. They should incorporate more zero-trust and hybrid trust approaches. They need to build up threat intelligence based on threats and methods used in attacks on other companies."

"And when you are working in a priority IP address, Identity is not able to know that those IPs are from the company. It sees that the IPs are from Taiwan or from Hong Kong or from India, even though they are internal IPs, resulting in a lot of false positives."

More Microsoft Defender for Identity cons

"There are issues with the integration of Microsoft Entra Verified ID and MFA. Sometimes, the MFA process doesn't succeed, requiring users to sign out and log back in."

"While Microsoft continues to improve the solution, integrating the ID with biometric features could be enhanced, especially in terms of standard B2C flows for multi-factor authentication. Improvements in remembering devices and the timing of MFA triggers could also be beneficial."

"I still feel the pricing is on the higher side for larger customers."

"I must do two-factor authentication when I sign in from a different location. It creates friction. It's not personalized for the end user. I would like to see specific insights."

"I have not really seen return on investment with Microsoft Entra Verified ID."

"There is room for improvement in Microsoft Entra Verified ID, particularly in the integration with other platforms, as they could do better with the API, for example."

"Microsoft products basically have no support other than the knowledge base, so I would give it a two out of 10."

"Standard support could be improved, as it's often not as responsive."

More Microsoft Entra Verified ID cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You won't be able to change your tenants from where you deploy them. For example, if you select Canada, they will charge you based on Canadian pricing. If you are also in London, when you deploy in Canada, the pound is higher than Canadian dollars, but your platform resources are billable in Canadian dollars. Using your pounds to pay for any of these things will be cheaper. Or, if you deploy in London, they will charge you based on your local currency."

"Microsoft Defender for Identity comes as part of the Microsoft E5 licensing stack."

"Defender for Identity is a little more expensive than other Microsoft products. Identity and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are both a bit costly."

"The product is costly, and we had multiple discussions with accounting to receive a discounted rate. However, on the open market, the tool is expensive."

"It is very affordable considering that other SIEM solutions are much more expensive and have many more licensing restrictions and fees."

"I still feel the pricing is on the higher side for larger customers. They don't pay anything for on-prem Active Directory. Although we receive additional features with Microsoft’s SSO, pricing is an area Microsoft can work on."

"If one is cheap and ten is very expensive, I rate the product price as seven."

"The pricing and setup are standard. With Entra, you choose between P1 and P2 licenses. We recommend having at least one P2 license in a company for better alert management, even though P2 is more expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Identity?

I really would have to sit down to think about how Microsoft Defender for Identity can be improved. I didn't take stock in what needs to be improved because I appreciated having the tools right the...

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What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Identity?

My main use cases for Microsoft Defender for Identity include Conditional Access, checking risky users, remediating risky users, and user sign-ins. I can easily remediate or determine what the user...

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What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Defender for Identity?

I don't really use Microsoft Defender for Identity a lot because my new role doesn't allow me to take time to do so. I don't really use the threat intelligence feature of Microsoft Defender for Ide...

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra Verified ID?

It is hard for me to say how Microsoft Entra Verified ID can be improved. I really do not know the extent of how that can benefit everything. I am trying to learn that here at the Ignite conference.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Entra Verified ID?

My main use cases for Microsoft Entra Verified ID are verifying the end user saying who they are and being able to back that up with government-issued proof.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Entra Verified ID?

My organization has not implemented the Face Check feature yet; we are using YubiKeys. My organization's trust in digital interactions really has not changed since implementing Microsoft Entra Veri...

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Comparisons

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 7% of the time

BloodHound Enterprise vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Identity Competitors

Okta Platform vs Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Compared 16% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Compared 9% of the time

Auth0 Platform vs Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Purview Data Governance vs Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Compared 8% of the time

Omada Identity vs Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Entra Verified ID Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity

March 2026

Download Microsoft Defender for Identity product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Entra Verified ID

March 2026

Download Microsoft Entra Verified ID product report

Also Known As

Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Identity offers real-time threat detection and protection for hybrid Active Directory environments. It integrates with Microsoft 365 components for seamless security and monitors advanced behaviors, enhancing identity protection across cloud and on-premises environments.

Microsoft Defender for Identity provides detailed threat insights and user behavior analytics to detect unauthorized access and notify anomalies. It allows setting custom detection rules, enhancing threat response automation. While it needs improvements in cloud security, SIEM integration, and access controls, users leverage its ability to mitigate identity threats like suspicious logins and ransomware. Enhanced integration with Microsoft security products ensures a coordinated threat response for identity control and privilege management.

What are the key features of Microsoft Defender for Identity?

Active Directory Federation: Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft 365 for comprehensive security.
Real-time Security Monitoring: Provides immediate insights into advanced user behaviors and potential threats.
Threat Insights: Delivers detailed analysis of threats with the ability to customize detection rules.
User Behavior Analytics: Analyzes user activities to detect anomalies and potential risks.
Identity Protection: Offers comprehensive protection in both cloud and on-premises environments.

What benefits should users expect from reviews of Microsoft Defender for Identity?

Unauthorized Access Prevention: Identifies potential unauthorized activities with advanced detection mechanisms.
Anomaly Notification: Alerts users to unexpected activities within their environments.
Threat Response Automation: Facilitates rapid response to threats with automated solutions.
Enhanced Cloud Security: Strengthens identity management across hybrid and cloud frameworks.

In specific industries, organizations implement Microsoft Defender for Identity to secure on-premises and hybrid Active Directory environments through user and entity behavior analytics, malicious activity detection, and integration with Microsoft security tools. This approach enhances security posture assessment and helps mitigate identity threats like identity harvesting and unauthorized access.

Microsoft

Microsoft Entra Verified ID is a managed verifiable credential service that lets organizations build unique user-owned identity scenarios designed for trustworthy, secure, and efficient interactions between people and organizations. Transform the way you perform identity verification with verifiable credentials.

Face Check with Microsoft Entra Verified ID is a premium privacy-respecting facial matching feature powered by Azure AI services that unlocks high-assurance identity verification at scale. It matches a user's real-time selfie with a trusted identity document – such as a driver’s license or a passport – without ever passing or storing personal data, providing secure, trustworthy verifications for organizations and a quick, simple experience for users.

Learn more about Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Microsoft Entra Verified ID

February 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Microsoft Entra Verified ID and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

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