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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management 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
7.1
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 improves efficiency and security, reducing costs and breaches through automation and integrated features.
Sentiment score
6.6
Microsoft Purview boosted ROI by enhancing data protection, efficiency, and compliance, reducing false positives, and involving external agencies.
Successful phishing incidents and credential compromise attempts dropped noticeably after enabling Safe Links, Safe Attachments, and impersonation protection, enabling the SOC and messaging teams to manage higher email threat volumes without increasing operational headcounts significantly.
Assistant Technical Manager at Softcell Technologies Limited
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
Technology support manager at Alfred State College
Overall, cost of owning and operating our system goes down.
Designation Chief Consultant at Avtow
Purview saved us from potential lawsuits and the loss of confidential information, preventing legal issues.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
The one example that I provided was worth significant attention, as the FBI and other organizations became involved, so I am assuming it was really important.
IC Sharepoint Administrator at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.7
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers varying support experiences, with quick resolutions for simple issues but delays for complex cases.
Sentiment score
4.8
Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management's support varies by tier, with premium support praised and regular service facing challenges.
Over the past two years, there have been no critical problems.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
we opened tickets, and they typically resolve them quickly.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
With a subscription for Microsoft Defender for Office 365, it is an eight. Without it, it is a six.
Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Premium support provides excellent service, but it can be challenging for customers who cannot afford it.
Director at Scybers
Overall, I had a few issues, so I would rate the service a nine for Purview.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales efficiently, adapting to various environments, providing robust security for organizations of all sizes.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management is praised for scalability, automation, policy creation, and multi-location efficiency despite alert speed concerns.
We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
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.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales with the growing needs of my company well.
Senior Client Director and Advisory Service Leader at Crossfuze
The capability of creating policies to facilitate detections and responses improved.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
I believe Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management scales well with the growing needs of the organization.
IC Sharepoint Administrator at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is praised for stability, efficient operation, high reliability, and intelligent threat detection despite minor bugs.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management is stable, dependable, and quickly resolves issues, with improved integration over time.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as 10 over 10 because it's highly available, it works, and it does the job it is meant to do.
Cloud Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues because of Defender.
Technology Associate at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
We have experienced minimal downtime, with Microsoft resolving issues within five to ten minutes maximum.
Director at Scybers
I would assess the stability and reliability of Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management as having improved.
IC Sharepoint Administrator at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 needs improvements in threat detection, user interface, and clearer licensing with better support and integration.
Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management needs better alert customization, simplified UI, affordable pricing, optimized ML components, and non-Microsoft integration.
Stronger third-party email security integration visibility and more granular policy tuning options for Safe Links, impersonation protection, and automated remediation workflows are also needed.
Assistant Technical Manager at Softcell Technologies Limited
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
Infrastructure and Security Lead at Vedanta
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
Microsoft's pricing is very expensive.
Director at Scybers
I feel Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management can be improved by being able to identify patterns and practices of users to determine whether or not they fit the normal use case of a developer, an architect, and other roles.
IC Sharepoint Administrator at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It could be improved in terms of producing reports to provide information to the C-suite or others.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers great value for enterprises but has complex licensing, challenging for smaller businesses.
We've likely saved 30% of costs.
Designation Chief Consultant at Avtow
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
Infrastructure and Security Lead at Vedanta
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enhances security with features like Safe Links, threat detection, automation, and Microsoft integration.
Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management enhances threat detection and prevention with advanced analytics, role-based access, and seamless investigations.
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
Technology support manager at Alfred State College
It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
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.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
It has saved us money on lawsuits and the loss of important confidential information that could lead to legal issues.
Manager, Information Technology Security Compliance at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
The scoring mechanism is exceptional because it eliminates the need to reinvent criteria for identifying risks, misconfigurations, or vulnerabilities.
Director at Scybers
We were able to remediate the fact that we had a North Korean spy working for us.
IC Sharepoint Administrator at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Email Security (2nd), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (2nd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Microsoft Purview Insider R...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
27th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Insider Risk Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 3.8%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management is 2.2%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Office 3653.8%
Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management2.2%
Other94.0%
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

Emeka Ndulu - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Improves threat visibility and response while reducing manual tasks and training users against phishing
I appreciate the attack simulation feature whereby I get to train users and educate them on how to identify phishing emails and spam emails, as well as the anti-spam protection. It gives me visibility into my threat environment and threat landscape to ensure that I am one step ahead of any likelihood of threats within my environment. I get to detect it and respond, so the threat intelligence is very effective. Microsoft security solutions save my time. It saves money because once I protect my environment, I don't lose money. It has decreased my detection time and my time to respond.
Karthik Ekambaram - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Scybers
Have consistently built secure internal environments while implementing compliance tools for diverse customer needs
The customizable alerts system needs improvement. The detection rules are not extensive enough. There should be more possibilities for creating alerts based on additional criteria. While rules can be customized, the available criteria for creating detection rules should be expanded. Microsoft's pricing is very expensive. The Business Premium offering should be extended to enterprise customers, as it's currently limited to 300 users. There should be a tier below E5 that includes Microsoft Purview and other features. Currently, E5 licensing costs approximately 6,000 INR per user per month including taxes. Competitive solutions offer similar functionality at about 50% of Microsoft's cost. Email DLP is included in Business Premium or P1 licenses, while P2 licenses cover endpoint DLP and additional channels. Microsoft should introduce an intermediate tier below E5 that covers all P1 licenses, as customers often need coverage across the entire M365 suite.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Media Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise32
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My experience with pricing, setup, and licensing is that it's actually quite reasonable even on the licensing side as a standalone product. It's very competitive compared to what competitors are ch...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
I think Microsoft Defender for Office 365 can be improved by creating more educational pieces about not just looking for malware. We are seeing a lot more malware-less emails that Defender for Offi...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My main use cases for Microsoft Defender for Office 365 include email hygiene.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management?
I feel Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management can be improved by being able to identify patterns and practices of users to determine whether or not they fit the normal use case of a developer, a...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management?
My main use cases involve identifying issues related to problems with the current software deployments and whether or not it is being utilized correctly.
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management?
My advice to another organization that is considering using Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management is to make sure they plan out their deployment very carefully because the biggest sticking poin...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Microsoft Insider Risk Management
 

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 for Office 365 vs. Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.