

Microsoft Defender for Identity and Varonis Platform are leading solutions in identity protection and data security, respectively. Microsoft Defender is often favored for its seamless cloud integration and comprehensive monitoring, while Varonis is recognized for its robust data governance and precise data control.
Features: Microsoft Defender for Identity seamlessly integrates with Microsoft 365, offering in-depth analytics and monitoring for hybrid environments, ensuring comprehensive identity protection. It highlights potential security risks, ensuring that privileged user accounts are secure. Varonis Platform provides superior data visibility and access control, efficiently managing data governance and offering clear insights into data usage and security issues.
Room for Improvement: Microsoft Defender for Identity users report occasional false positives and find technical support complex, with a need for better Azure ID integration. Improving alerts and reducing fatigue is also noted. Varonis Platform users find its interface complex and deployment less flexible, with high licensing costs posing challenges. Improving data processing speed and cloud capabilities is recommended.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender for Identity is praised for its cloud and hybrid integration, though customer support experiences vary, with some facing delayed responses. However, direct support channels in Microsoft’s ecosystem are beneficial. Varonis offers straightforward support, yet the deployment process is often seen as complex by users, requiring thorough technical assistance.
Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender for Identity provides competitive pricing when bundled with E5 licenses, offering cost-effectiveness for Azure and Office 365 users, with high user satisfaction noted despite initial costs. Varonis Platform requires a significant financial commitment due to high licensing costs, suitable for larger organizations. Its ROI is seen in enhanced data security, highlighting the platform’s comprehensive capabilities.
I definitely say that we have had time savings by using the DataVantage module and also time savings using the AD module when we are dealing with different incidents.
Generally, the support is more effective than other providers like Oracle.
The quality of support is very good, but troubleshooting can take time due to complex setups and the need to provide many logs.
Technical support from Microsoft rates an eight on a scale of 1 to 10 for response time.
The customer support is above par; it is what I think other organizations should look at to be comparable to.
They respond quickly to anything we need, which is not common among platforms.
In a Microsoft-centric organization, especially with Azure infrastructure and Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Identity is scalable.
Varonis's scalability as eight to eight point five out of ten.
Microsoft Defender for Identity is quite robust and built on Azure hyperscale infrastructure, with a 99% availability.
We do not see any issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Identity.
Having recently started using it, reliability is affirmed, but manual investigation is often performed to verify if alerts identified by auto-remediation are accurate.
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.
One improvement I would recommend is the integration of an admin application within Teams, allowing easy access to attack information on a mobile platform.
Reducing false positives is something we've been working on with Microsoft.
Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety.
A phishing email module would be great; I look forward to when that comes out.
It would be beneficial if the reporting in Varonis Platform could use PDFs instead of Excel for better graphs.
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.
Ensuring a fair price according to market standards.
From an organization perspective, using E5 licenses is value for money, especially if Azure and Office 365 are already in use.
Varonis is known for its high licensing cost, which can include the cost of multiple servers required for its operations, called collectors.
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 feature is its hybrid artificial intelligence, which gathers forensic data to track and counteract security threats, much like the CSI series in effect.
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.
Varonis is excellent for scanning unstructured data sources like file shares, OneDrive, SharePoint, Azure Blob Storage, and S3s.
We have created automatic scripts in case there is a chance that it is a ransomware malicious actor, and it will automatically disable the user, log them out, and disable the actual workstation.
In my experience, the best features that Varonis Platform offers are data labeling, data classification, along with all the integrations and its easy-to-use platform.


| Product | Market Share (%) | 
|---|---|
| Microsoft Defender for Identity | 14.6% | 
| Varonis Platform | 5.5% | 
| Other | 79.9% | 


| Company Size | Count | 
|---|---|
| Small Business | 7 | 
| Midsize Enterprise | 3 | 
| Large Enterprise | 14 | 
| Company Size | Count | 
|---|---|
| Small Business | 2 | 
| Midsize Enterprise | 2 | 
| Large Enterprise | 12 | 










Microsoft Defender for Identity integrates with Microsoft tools to monitor user activity, providing advanced threat detection and analysis using AI. It enhances proactive threat response and security visibility, making it essential for securing on-premises and cloud environments like Active Directory.
Microsoft Defender for Identity offers comprehensive monitoring and AI-driven user behavior analysis. It detects threats through real-time alerts and identifies lateral movements and entity tagging, ensuring robust security management. With excellent visibility via its dashboard, it supports customized detection rules and seamlessly integrates with SIEM platforms. While SecureScore and SecureScan provide robust environment security, there is room for improvement in cloud security, on-premises application integration, and remediation capabilities. Azure integration is limited, and the administrative interface could be more user-friendly. Users experience frequent false positives, affecting threat detection efficiency.
What key features stand out in Microsoft Defender for Identity?In specific industries such as education and finance, Microsoft Defender for Identity is crucial for securing on-premises Active Directory and Azure Active Directory environments. It effectively detects suspicious activities and manages conditional access policies, offering user and entity behavior analytics, endpoint detection and response capabilities. This helps prevent unauthorized access and strengthens overall security, making it an invaluable asset for organizations aiming to safeguard their digital infrastructure.
Varonis Platform enhances data security and governance with advanced analytics, identifying unusual access patterns and sensitive areas. Its centralized interface manages permissions across systems, offering essential capabilities for alerting and reporting.
Varonis Platform provides continuous data protection and monitoring by identifying and alerting on unauthorized data access. It offers comprehensive insights into file access and user activities, supporting data classification and simplifying compliance with tracking and monitoring capabilities. Integration with storage systems enables users to manage permissions and access effectively. Room for improvement includes cloud integration and simplifying its interface and calculation engine for ease of use. Challenges include on-premises dependency, licensing costs, and a need for enhanced DLP capabilities.
What are the primary features of Varonis Platform?
What benefits and ROI should users expect?
In finance, Varonis aids in safeguarding sensitive financial data, while in healthcare, it secures patient records. Legal industries utilize it for protecting client information, and retail sectors manage sensitive customer data. These industries benefit from Varonis' ability to prevent unauthorized access and streamline compliance.
We monitor all Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.