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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Microsoft Entra External ID 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enhances email protection, reduces costs, and increases productivity, offering invaluable data security.
Sentiment score
5.3
Microsoft Entra External ID simplifies identity management despite integration challenges and higher costs, offering time benefits and potential savings.
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 has led to cost savings as well as time savings because I can use a single solution for all applications.
Companies can leverage it for setting up external identities without needing to develop their own solutions.
In terms of return on investment, prior to using this product, our company managed our own mail server with all internal authentication happening on premises, resulting in a ROI in the thousands every year.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.9
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers reliable support, praised for responsiveness, despite some challenges with clarity and third-party resolutions.
Sentiment score
5.3
Microsoft Entra External ID support receives mixed feedback, with response times, expertise, and accessibility varying across user experiences.
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.
Companies without a Microsoft license for Entra ID or Azure portal cannot add Azure AD B2C, creating logistical issues for some of my clients who are unable to evaluate the platform.
The support for business applications, infrastructure support, and Entra has been mostly positive with highly skilled technicians.
The documentation is very thorough, reducing the need for support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales seamlessly across configurations, supporting thousands of users with effortless integration and optimal performance.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Entra External ID is scalable and useful for large companies, but lacks customizable authentication and faces cloud latency.
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.
This is one of EID's weak points compared to Azure AD B2C, which offers customizable authentication options, including attribute and password combinations.
End-user workloads experience increased latency in a cloud environment compared to on-premises resources.
Microsoft Entra External ID is quite scalable, and I would rate its scalability between eight and nine out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is highly reliable, offering stable performance, quick issue resolution, and high user satisfaction ratings.
Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Entra External ID is highly stable and reliable, with users praising its performance and SaaS-only simplicity.
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.
The stability of this solution is very good.
I have not encountered any stability issues with Microsoft Entra External ID.
Unless such major incidents occur, it is stable and reliable.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 needs enhanced virus protection, compatibility, UI, integration, reporting, and cost transparency to improve user experience.
Microsoft Entra External ID needs improved synchronization, cost transparency, support, software integration, alerting, security, and customization features.
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.
This is particularly challenging during enterprise agreement renewals, as it's difficult for customers to review costs leading to lengthy negotiations.
Enhanced customizable login options and the ability to use attribute password logins are critical features that are required for Microsoft Entra External ID to gain dominance in the authentication market.
I would like to see a more detailed alert system that provides a summary of why alerts are generated, who is generating them, and the reasons behind it.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing complex but valuable due to integration with Office 365 features.
Microsoft Entra External ID's costs escalate with growth, complexity in licensing, and heavy dependency on Azure pricing structure.
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.
Regarding pricing, the cost seems high for single sign-on, especially for external applications like Oracle.
Microsoft's pricing is complex and difficult to fathom due to a range of different licensing options.
The cost can be a factor for Microsoft Entra External ID, but in general, it offers a scalable and efficient solution compared to deploying individual solutions.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers comprehensive security with real-time updates and automated threat response, enhancing multi-platform enterprise safety.
Microsoft Entra External ID streamlines management with easy setup, integration, and robust security, enhancing efficiency for diverse application needs.
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.
It is crucial for hybrid environments, especially for integrating existing on-site infrastructures with cloud-based Active Directory, such as in Office 365 implementations.
EID unifies workforce users with external business partners, which is a very strong feature.
Microsoft's reliability in providing a clear roadmap for the solution is very important, especially at a time when cybersecurity is a risk in every company.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Microsoft Entra External ID
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
21st
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (10th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 2.8%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra External ID is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite
 

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.
Corrado Vigano - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution integrates well with existing systems while being easy to use
The fact that it is quite integrated into the entire Microsoft environment makes it quite easy to use. Furthermore, Microsoft's reliability in providing a clear roadmap for the solution is very important, especially at a time when cybersecurity is a risk in every company. The solution is easy to reuse and not difficult to find expertise for in the market because it is widespread. It is gaining attention even from partners and from the market on the offering side. This serves as a good starting point for customers who can develop internal competence on the solution. Additionally, the presence of reliable partners who know the solution and can provide internal knowledge is the best aspect for them.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published. It's essential to enhan...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Entra External ID?
The cost totally depends on Azure's pricing structure. If you have sufficient background knowledge about the features and functionality, it can be cost-effective. However, if you need support or as...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra External ID?
Integration could be improved when it comes to legacy tools.The support engineers are not as skilled as our engineers. When they say something would not work, or there is no solution, we usually he...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Entra External ID?
Currently we use some of the AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ) solutions and Google Solutions and few of Alibaba Cloud ( /products/alibaba-cloud-reviews ). That totally depends on time to time a...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Azure Active Directory External Identities
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Microsoft Entra External ID and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.