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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager 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
7.2
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides enhanced security, yielding financial savings and efficiency gains through improved threat detection and data protection.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager offers cost-effective compliance, reducing expenses, processing time, and enhancing security within Office 365 E5.
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
It's hard to quantify the return on investment we've seen from Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
The process is reduced from weeks to a day, showcasing a solid nine for return on investment.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 generally offers efficient support, but improvements in responsiveness and handling complex scenarios are desired.
Sentiment score
4.7
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager's support is slow and inefficient, with delays in resolving compliance issues, especially for smaller organizations.
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.
Since I approach them with more complicated issues, it takes quite a bit of time to get through those two support tiers.
The support staff, who are often outsourced, seem not adequately equipped to handle issues quickly and efficiently.
Users have no specific forum for addressing queries, which impacts the overall support experience.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 excels in scalability, accommodating any organization size with efficient cloud-based performance and seamless updates.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager scales well but faces limitations with detailed policy configurations in large deployments.
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.
As services increase, eDiscovery capabilities also increase, allowing easy deployment.
It is straightforward since it scans everything, covering all aspects needed in our operations.
While the solution is scalable in terms of user numbers, there are limitations when creating more granular level policies.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 boasts 99.9% availability, resolving issues quickly, with users rating its reliability highly.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is reliable and stable but needs enhanced usability and competitiveness, especially for Outlook users.
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
Overall, the stability and reliability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 are good.
Despite stability, it needs to be more user-friendly and competitive compared to other eDiscovery tools.
It is reliable and I can depend on it.
In terms of latency, stability is not an issue.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 requires enhancements in virus-blocking, compatibility, integration, phishing detection, and global support.
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager needs better integration, automation, monitoring, and cost-effective features for improved user experience, especially for non-profits.
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.
We still see many false positives from time to time with Microsoft Defender for Office 365, so it would be good if we can reduce those false positives.
Microsoft Copilot Security converts human language to search queries using its AdLM language model.
The speed and accessibility, particularly in the user interface, require significant work.
The Purview Compliance Portal's log management could be more user-friendly, making data retrieval, like email logs, challenging.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is cost-effective with extensive features but may be costly for smaller organizations with limited budgets.
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is competitively priced, benefiting from existing licenses and often cheaper than previous solutions and competitors.
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.
I rate the pricing as a one since it is included in what I am already paying for, as part of the Microsoft 365 E5 licensing.
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is priced at 60% to 70% compared to some competitors.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides integrated threat protection, risk notifications, and productivity enhancements through a single management console.
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager simplifies multi-cloud data protection with automation, real-time visibility, and extensive compliance and 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.
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager's eDiscovery is essential for organizations using Outlook as their email service.
The most valuable feature is data classification retention since I deal with terabytes of data, and managing and monitoring it simplifies the process.
The best aspect is that it requires little to no time for implementation if I am using all of Microsoft's tools.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Microsoft Purview Complianc...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Data Governance (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 2.4%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is 1.3%, down from 1.6% 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.
Peter-Murphy - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlined data management and improved compliance with efficient document classification
The most valuable feature is data classification retention since I deal with terabytes of data, and managing and monitoring it simplifies the process. Additionally, the system provides a dashboard showing our compliance status, which aids in managing compliance tasks. The compliance score feature allows me to assess and compare our compliance across organizations. I've also noticed efficiency gains, especially in handling subject access requests. Previously, these tasks were manual and time-consuming, but now they are streamlined, reducing the process from weeks to just a day.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Healthcare Company
7%
Government
7%
 

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?
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 ( /products/office-365-reviews ) suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro. Although Defender is free, you have to pay separately f...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process. There are many conditions to be met, making it challenging to ensure every system is protected. Troubleshooting ...
What do you like most about Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager?
We have more visibility of data and how it is being shared.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager?
While not cheap, Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is priced at 60% to 70% compared to some competitors. Additional costs may involve OCR page scanning.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager?
I am primarily using Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager for data leakage prevention, blocking USBs, and monitoring data sharing through OneDrive and web-based interfaces.
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Microsoft Compliance Manager
 

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 Purview Compliance Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,076 professionals have used our research since 2012.