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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Red Canary comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

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
6.9
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers strong ROI through security enhancements, cost savings, and improved company productivity despite measurement challenges.
Sentiment score
8.5
Red Canary improved security ROI by efficiently detecting threats, reducing incident response times, and offering detailed alerts and cost savings.
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
It's hard to quantify the return on investment we've seen from Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 users rate support highly, praising its responsiveness and 24/7 availability, despite occasional documentation and communication issues.
Sentiment score
8.5
Red Canary's customer service is excellent, offering swift support with on-call availability and monthly alert discussions.
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
In emergencies, there is an on-call person available to resolve issues immediately.
SOC Analyst at Valorant
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers scalable, efficient protection for large enterprises, ensuring seamless growth across diverse industries.
Sentiment score
6.4
Red Canary excels in scalability, seamlessly managing large data sets, integrating with systems, and maintaining performance in growing operations.
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides 99.9% uptime with minor issues, ensuring reliable performance and seamless cloud integration.
Sentiment score
8.2
Red Canary is praised for robust reliability and consistent performance, with users reporting smooth, glitch-free operation.
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
 

Room For Improvement

Users call for enhanced virus detection, cross-platform support, and pricing transparency in Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
Red Canary can improve by offering on-premise options, expanding language support, enhancing firewall integration, and addressing pricing concerns.
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
There is a different console for different things; I just want one consolidated console.
Senior Director, Security Architecture & Engineering at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees
Red Canary's pricing spectrum may not be ideal for smaller financial institutions.
SOC Analyst at Valorant
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing is seen as flexible but potentially expensive, offering value in comprehensive security features.
Red Canary's pricing, at $100 per device, is seen as fair but users desire lower costs, ideally $50.
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
The services are higher priced.
SOC Analyst at Valorant
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enhances email security with anti-phishing, anti-malware, threat intelligence, and seamless integration for efficient management.
Red Canary offers seamless EDR integration, fast alerts, automation, threat detection, and supports compliance with key standards.
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
Red Canary detects threats and attack patterns, allowing us to assess any significant damage caused to the banking environment, particularly if protected data has been damaged or corrupted.
SOC Analyst at Valorant
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Email Security (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (10th), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (1st)
Red Canary
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
25th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (39th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (11th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 9.7%, down from 16.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Canary is 1.2%, up from 0.2% 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 3659.7%
Red Canary1.2%
Other89.1%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

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.
SB
SOC Analyst at Valorant
Monitors traffic effectively and assists in compliance decision-making for quick response
Red Canary detects threats and attack patterns, allowing us to assess any significant damage caused to the banking environment, particularly if protected data has been damaged or corrupted. It is valuable for security teams in banking industries that need to make informed decisions quickly. Red Canary solutions are useful for compliance with standards like FFIEC and PCI and are employed in medical operations for HIPAA compliance.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) solutions are best for your needs.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise31
No data available
 

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 needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
The inbuilt analysis of false positives can be faster. It's not slow, but it can be faster.
What needs improvement with Red Canary MDR?
Red Canary's pricing spectrum may not be ideal for smaller financial institutions.
What is your primary use case for Red Canary MDR?
We use Red Canary ( /products/red-canary-reviews ) to monitor incoming and outgoing traffic. For example, when we receive an alert that data from our internal IP address to an external IP address h...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Red Canary Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
DuPont, Quanta Services, Microchip Technology, Hopkins Public Schools, Henny Penny, Schumacher Homes
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Red Canary and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.