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Microsoft Defender for Identity vs Red Canary comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

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
6.7
Microsoft Defender for Identity improves incident management, reduces costs, enhances ROI, and saves time despite unclear financial benefits.
Sentiment score
8.5
Red Canary improved security ROI by efficiently detecting threats, reducing incident response times, and offering detailed alerts and cost savings.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.4
Microsoft Defender for Identity's support receives mixed feedback, with users praising premium service but noting poorer lower-tier support responses.
Sentiment score
8.5
Red Canary's customer service is excellent, offering swift support with on-call availability and monthly alert discussions.
The quality of support is very good, but troubleshooting can take time due to complex setups and the need to provide many logs.
Generally, the support is more effective than other providers like Oracle.
In emergencies, there is an on-call person available to resolve issues immediately.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.6
Microsoft Defender for Identity is scalable, efficiently supports large networks, and integrates well into Microsoft-centric environments with minimal effort.
Sentiment score
6.4
Red Canary excels in scalability, seamlessly managing large data sets, integrating with systems, and maintaining performance in growing operations.
In a Microsoft-centric organization, especially with Azure infrastructure and Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Identity is scalable.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender for Identity is stable and reliable, though occasional sensor restarts occur, generally scoring 6-9/10 in stability.
Sentiment score
8.2
Red Canary is praised for robust reliability and consistent performance, with users reporting smooth, glitch-free operation.
Microsoft Defender for Identity is quite robust and built on Azure hyperscale infrastructure, with a 99% availability.
Having recently started using it, reliability is affirmed, but manual investigation is often performed to verify if alerts identified by auto-remediation are accurate.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Identity needs better integration, usability, and support, with improved detection and cost efficiency highlighted by users.
Red Canary can improve by offering on-premise options, expanding language support, enhancing firewall integration, and addressing pricing concerns.
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.
Reducing false positives is something we've been working on with Microsoft.
One improvement I would recommend is the integration of an admin application within Teams, allowing easy access to attack information on a mobile platform.
Red Canary's pricing spectrum may not be ideal for smaller financial institutions.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Identity is cost-effective within E5, offering flexibility compared to standalone purchases or E3 add-ons.
Red Canary's pricing, at $100 per device, is seen as fair but users desire lower costs, ideally $50.
If they can reduce the costs, organizations will be happy, and it will compensate for using the Azure environment, which is more expensive on the infrastructure as a service side.
From an organization perspective, using E5 licenses is value for money, especially if Azure and Office 365 are already in use.
Ensuring a fair price according to market standards.
The services are higher priced.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Identity excels in integration, real-time detection, privilege management, AI analytics, and comprehensive security monitoring features.
Red Canary offers seamless EDR integration, fast alerts, automation, threat detection, and supports compliance with key standards.
We receive an advance report of risky users, allowing us to take preemptive action before an attack causes damage to organization details.
The most valuable features of Microsoft Defender for Identity include its automatic remedies, possibilities for avoiding incidents, the privilege manager, and the generation of logs that facilitate a safer environment.
The integration into the Microsoft Defender ecosystem is the most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Identity.
Red Canary detects threats and attack patterns, allowing us to assess any significant damage caused to the banking environment, particularly if protected data has been damaged or corrupted.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Iden...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (5th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (3rd)
Red Canary
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
23rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (36th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (13th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Identity is 7.1%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Canary is 0.5%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

ROBERT-CHRISTIAN - PeerSpot reviewer
Integration within the ecosystem enhances collaboration and automates functionalities
The integration into the Microsoft Defender ecosystem is the most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Identity. It fits very nicely with all the other Defender tools, allowing for excellent collaboration among them. It also fits seamlessly into Microsoft Sentinel SIEM. Furthermore, Microsoft security solutions can save time as they allow the automation of numerous functionalities, and the reporting inside the Microsoft ecosystem is commendable.
Sagar Shekhar - PeerSpot reviewer
An open-source tool that offers great automation capabilities
Red Canary MDR generates a lot of output, so it would be good if, in the end, it generates a summary of all the previous attacks and what was the outcome of a single attack, especially so that it becomes easy for the user to see the summary and analyze the whole thing. In general, the solution currently fails to provide a summary to its users.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) solutions are best for your needs.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Educational Organization
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Identity?
Microsoft Defender for Identity provides excellent visibility into threats by leveraging real-time analytics and data intelligence.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Identity?
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 year...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Identity?
The main use cases for Microsoft Defender for Identity involve working with security and signing risk aspects. I work with conditional access, though I have not implemented this task yet.
What do you like most about Red Canary MDR?
The most valuable feature of the solution is its automation part.
What needs improvement with Red Canary MDR?
Red Canary's pricing spectrum may not be ideal for smaller financial institutions.
 

Also Known As

Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity
Red Canary Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.
DuPont, Quanta Services, Microchip Technology, Hopkins Public Schools, Henny Penny, Schumacher Homes
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Red Canary and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,129 professionals have used our research since 2012.