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Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence [EOL] vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 16, 2025

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
7.3
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is praised for enhancing security, reducing costs, and improving productivity with integrated threat protection.
Sentiment score
8.2
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence offers cost-effective security, saving 62% on budgets and reducing analyst needs with comprehensive threat intel.
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
Overall, cost of owning and operating our system goes down.
It's hard to quantify the return on investment we've seen from Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
It's a value-for-money product.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 support is mixed, praised for responsiveness but criticized for delays and outdated documentation.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender's customer service is mostly satisfactory, with excellent technical support, but some users experience delays and access issues.
Over the past two years, there have been no critical problems.
we opened tickets, and they typically resolve them quickly.
Customer service and support have been fantastic.
Level two support is knowledgeable and knows how the product works, which is very good.
I would give Microsoft an eight for their technical support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 seamlessly scales for global users, enabling effective cybersecurity with adaptable cloud-based capabilities and careful planning.
Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is scalable, adaptable, and cloud-managed, providing seamless expansion for large organizations with positive user feedback.
We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales transparently for us, as we grew from 1,000 users to 3,000 users, and we didn't notice much difference.
If there were some customizations available, I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is praised for its stability, reliability, operational effectiveness, and high user satisfaction despite minor issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is stable and reliable, praised for high performance despite occasional regional outages.
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
I would assess the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as very stable, with barely any issues.
Overall, the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 are good.
It provides a high level of security and avoids phishing and scam emails.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 needs better virus blocking, integration, threat detection, user-friendly configuration, and competitive pricing improvements.
Microsoft Defender faces challenges with pricing, integration, AI enhancements, false positives, support, documentation, licensing, and compatibility improvements.
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published.
There is a different console for different things; I just want one consolidated console.
Providing code customization would help keep pace with new vulnerabilities and threats.
The main area of improvement for Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is related to how information is conveyed.
From the telemetry data standpoint, I would prefer Defender data to be more open in future updates.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers comprehensive security, valued for integration with E3/E5 licenses, despite varied perceptions on cost.
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence pricing is bundled in Microsoft 365, seen as cost-effective but complex or pricey when standalone.
We've likely saved 30% of costs.
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides comprehensive security features, enhancing protection and efficiency across platforms with real-time threat detection.
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence integrates with Microsoft tools, offering real-time threat insights, seamless deployment, and advanced security features.
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection.
The value of the DLP feature is significant to us because we have internal data, sometimes sensitive, and the users may not always be aware of security and privacy, which might lead them to send out information mistakenly to external parties.
If it wasn't for that real-time threat detection on the vulnerability, I think we would not have survived the attack.
One of the best features is that it provides a certain level of customization, allowing us to set our spam confidence levels.
Our threat detection is enhanced due to the AI agents in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence, which helps in detecting automatically.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
2nd
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Email Security (1st), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Microsoft Defender Threat I...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
10th
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
16th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 7.7%, down from 12.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence [EOL] is 2.1%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Office 3657.7%
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence2.1%
Other90.2%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

Tolu Omolaja - PeerSpot reviewer
Great URL scanning and attachment scanning, but I would like more proactive threat analysis
The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning. URL scanning involves an automatic scan of links and emails. When a user clicks on a link within an email, the system promptly checks the link's safety. If the link is deemed safe, access is granted automatically. However, if it is flagged as unsafe, we receive feedback and notification to caution us about the potentially harmful link. At this point, we are presented with the option to proceed or return. I have personally witnessed the system identify a few unsafe links, making this the primary advantage of using the solution. The second crucial aspect is the scanning of attachments. When an email containing an attachment arrives, we receive a notification of the new email, along with information that the attachment is being scanned for threats. This additional layer of security provides peace of mind for our organization. While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers numerous features, these two stand out as particularly impressive and valuable to us.
Charles Mokoena - PeerSpot reviewer
Has strengthened our ability to detect threats in real time and improved internal security decision-making
The features that I find most valuable in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence include the Sentinel part of it. There are several features we've looked at, including Sentinel as well as extended Defender, which is XDR. I've used those two, and that's what I've found quite useful for us, especially in the hardening and analysis part of the whole threat analysis. We use the real-time threat detection features in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. If it wasn't for that real-time threat detection on the vulnerability, I think we would not have survived the attack. The integration capabilities of Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence with other Microsoft security tools have benefited our organization's threat management process by initially being quite a challenge, especially coming from other security tools such as Fortinet and Check Point. However, once you've gotten used to it, it's quite easy and user-friendly. The dashboard, especially the threat analysis dashboard, is quite detailed in terms of providing a view of which areas in our environment need attention, making it quite useful.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
13%
Educational Organization
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise27
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the indi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
I think that Microsoft Defender for Office 365 could be improved if it could use VirusTotal to compare the programs or anything that I download. VirusTotal helps to identify viruses, malware, troja...
What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
It just runs in the background. I don't have to worry about, making sure it's Intelligence. So, you know, this kind of makes it very easy, have to worry about installing. It is easy to use.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
From the telemetry data standpoint, I would prefer Defender data to be more open in future updates.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
We have tried Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. I have expertise with Microsoft Defender products. I am not familiar with Microsoft Defender for IoT because we did not use that in our environ...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence [EOL] vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
870,623 professionals have used our research since 2012.