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Microsoft Defender for Identity vs NetMon comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (8th), Microsoft Security Suite (4th)
NetMon
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
16th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (51st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Identity is 11.1%, down from 19.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetMon is 1.0%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity11.1%
NetMon1.0%
Other87.9%
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
 

Featured Reviews

RK
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Protect on-premises and hybrid environments with advanced threat detection and seamless integration
Our Active Directory implementation is a hybrid one. The advanced threat protection is one of the strengths of Microsoft Defender for Identity, as it utilizes user and entity analytics and can detect indicative attacks. It identifies lateral movements, privilege escalations, and alerts on potential attacks. The tool is also used for security posture assessment. The seamless integration with other Microsoft solutions within our Microsoft-centric environment is also a major advantage.
SR
Pan India IT Infrastructure Management / End-user Services at Tata Group
Has supported real-time event detection and reporting accuracy while database integration has required extra effort
Sometimes it may be difficult to incorporate new additional databases in NetMon, and we faced some challenges at that time. However, currently, it is not giving many challenges.It is difficult to integrate NetMon with other databases. We can customize NetMon's monitoring views, but it is done by the team who handles it, as it is outsourced.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Defender for Identity include real-time information for threat detection, its inclusion of behavioral analytics, and vulnerability management."
"It is easy to set up. Based on the number of devices you would like to set up, you can use scripts, Group Policy, etc. It takes five minutes to set up."
"The solution’s alerting is fairly efficient."
"This solution has advanced a lot over the last few years."
"Defender for Identity has not affected the end-user experience."
"We do not see any issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Identity. I can say it is 100% stable."
"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."
"It has a very strong artificial intelligence engine."
"The initial setup is straightforward because we can deploy an open server."
"NetMon's best feature is traffic analysis."
"The protocols with which you see the traffic for a particular website that a client has in their environment, for example, are valuable. We can monitor whether the traffic is up to the mark or whether they need to add more bandwidth. Also, we can see if we're able to get real-time environment data as well. The customization dashboard is really good. LogRhythm NetMon has its own in-built dashboards which are helpful in guiding customization."
"LogRhythm NetMon's most impressive feature is that it's a bundled package, so you're not just relying on monthly data; you get a six-month view for more comprehensive indicators of compromise. This dual approach is precious. We implement LogRhythm NetMon in our cybersecurity strategy mainly for compliance and correlation of network, user, and decision activities, particularly for network firewalls and access control."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"Visibility is a valuable feature, the ability to see even if the traffic is not going into the firewall"
"The most valuable feature is the log, which can be analyzed by our SIEM solution."
 

Cons

"The impact of the sensors on the domain controllers can be quite high depending on your loads. I don't know if there's any room for improvement there, but that's one of the things that might be improved."
"One area that needs improvement is the number of alerts generated, leading to alert fatigue."
"The solution should provide more detailed data regarding anomaly detections."
"Feedback on sync issues with the Microsoft portal highlighted its slow nature, with syncs sometimes taking eight hours."
"Microsoft Defender for Identity does not save me time, but I think it is the way that I secure the data."
"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. You need to go into the system to fix it instead."
"I can't say that I've seen a return on investment since we have Microsoft Defender for Identity because we also have another security solution in place."
"The platform's integration features often need to be improved."
"LogRhythm NetMon's pricing model is an area of concern that should be made a little bit cheaper in comparison to the other players in the market currently."
"There is an issue with tunneling in relation to how the connectivity is established between the end devices and where NetMon is installed. On the console, I often observe that there's a difference of a few seconds or maybe a minute, and this lag time should not be there."
"The main concern is that LogRhythm has not improved NetMon but instead introduced a separate product, which many customers, including us, would prefer to be integrated into a single platform for easier management."
"Sometimes it's hard to find the network devices' self-audit logs."
"The training for this product is not very good and needs to be improved."
"Some of the automated tasks we can perform on QRadar cannot be performed on LogRhythm because the solution has limitations."
"Sometimes it may be difficult to incorporate new additional databases in NetMon, and we faced some challenges at that time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"It is very affordable considering that other SIEM solutions are much more expensive and have many more licensing restrictions and fees."
"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."
"Pricing is okay. There were some competitors that were extremely expensive and there were some which were really inexpensive but LogRhythm stayed in the middle of them."
"The product is expensive for smaller companies."
"LogRhythm's licensing part is something that depends on the license you want since they offer it on a perpetual and subscription basis."
"NetMon's licensing costs about $85k per year, with some extra costs for support."
"I don't have visibility into the pricing of LogRhythm NetMon as it's handled through our commercial partnerships."
"The price of this solution is too high, so it should be made more practical and more valuable for the customer."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Transportation Company
19%
Performing Arts
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
 

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...
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...
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...
What do you like most about LogRhythm NetMon?
It has a very strong artificial intelligence engine.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for LogRhythm NetMon?
I don't have visibility into the pricing of LogRhythm NetMon as it's handled through our commercial partnerships.
What needs improvement with LogRhythm NetMon?
Sometimes it may be difficult to incorporate new additional databases in NetMon, and we faced some challenges at that time. However, currently, it is not giving many challenges.It is difficult to i...
 

Also Known As

Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity
LogRhythm Network Monitor
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.
Sera-Brynn
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. NetMon and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.