We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Microsoft Exchange Online Protection based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: The main difference between the two solutions is that Microsoft Defender for Office 365 lacks protection against threats. Regarding all other categories, users share similar opinions.
"I like its investigation capabilities, as that is what is most important to me. It is fairly simple with a user-friendly interface."
"Safe attachments, safe links, policies, and the ability to protect from zero-day threats are the most valuable features."
"Threat Explorer is one of the features that I very much like because it is a real-time report that allows you to identify, analyze, and trace security attacks."
"It also gives the vulnerability status according to the versions you have selected. Let's say you have Google Chrome. It mentions the versions it has, and it updates. Within two hours of an update, it is reflected in the dashboard. That's really nice to have."
"The initial setup is straightforward. You just add the license, click it, and then you can set up the rules. It is quite simple."
"The risk level notifications are most valuable. We get to know what kind of intrusion or attack is there, and we can fix a problem on time."
"Defender enables us to secure all 365-related activity from a single place. It gives us visibility into everything happening in Outlook, protecting us against phishing and other email-based threats. Defender helps us detect any suspicious behaviors."
"I would say that 90% of the spam and phishing attack emails get blocked right off the bat."
"The product's most valuable feature is third-party integrations."
"In general, my company is happy with Microsoft support...My company hasn't faced any stability issues with the solution."
"I like the product's ZAP feature."
"Microsoft Exchange Online Protection has features like DLP (data loss protection), Safe Attachment, and Safe Links."
"Online Protection's most valuable feature is its admin interface."
"We use the solution to receive emails. We do not use the calendar function as our clients are slow adaptors to the latest features."
"You can use the product to create special accounts."
"We can migrate seamlessly without any disruptions to our operations."
"There needs to be an improvement in integrating the product to work across multiple operating systems, and to have better support for non-Microsoft file types."
"Configuration requires going to a lot of places rather than just accessing one tab."
"The XDR dashboard has room for improvement."
"This product's effectiveness could be improved, in terms of detecting unwanted spam or even malware between the emails, compared to other products."
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 must improve the overall management style, including the GUI. It also needs to change the filters so that it is easy to whitelist and blacklist data."
"They can improve their security in a way where a customer can know if all their attachments are safe or not to open through a report. The solution does its job perfectly, but it never reports to the customer whether those attachments have been stopped before or not."
"Microsoft wants its well-paying customers to finish testing some of its half-baked products, find bugs, and report bugs back to Microsoft's team, which is a little frustrating for those who have to manage it and roll it up to thousands of people across the organization."
"There's room for improvement regarding the time frame for retrieving emails."
"The tool is not 100% stable."
"Not all settings can be configured automatically and most still require manual configuration. However, there is an automation tool available that can be used to input all the configurations either as a script or a tool it would be helpful."
"I would like to get reports about vulnerable connections from our clients with information about domains, public IPs, etc. That would be highly useful."
"The solution can be complex at times. It would be nice to have the on-server version. It needs to improve the stability as well."
"We have experienced issues while migrating from on-prem to the cloud. The tool needs to improve its stability."
"The biggest issue that I experience is that Microsoft keeps moving things around, and it's very inconsistent as to where you find the information when you're trying to work on different pieces."
"The licensing can be on the expensive side, especially in the cloud space."
"I think the implementation could be more streamlined."
More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pricing and Cost Advice →
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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is ranked 1st in Email Security with 41 reviews while Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is ranked 4th in Email Security with 34 reviews. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is rated 8.4, while Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 writes "Allows for easy reporting of problems, valuable anti-phishing, and anti-malware support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) writes "An effective email security solution that provides DLP, Safe Attachment, and Safe Links". Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is most compared with Proofpoint Email Protection, Mimecast Email Security, Barracuda Email Security Gateway, Cisco Secure Email and Microsoft Defender for Business, whereas Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) is most compared with Proofpoint Email Protection, Cisco Secure Email, Mimecast Email Security, Fortinet FortiMail and Barracuda Email Security Gateway. See our Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) report.
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We monitor all Email Security 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.