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Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Entra ID Protection 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
7.4
Microsoft Defender XDR enhances efficiency, reduces costs, and improves security through streamlined operations and faster threat detection.
Sentiment score
4.4
Microsoft Entra ID Protection offers efficient password management, simplifying access and providing full ROI in three years.
We can quarantine and isolate a device within minutes.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Defender XDR has saved me at least 50% of my time.
House security operator at Cypress Creek Renewables
It helped stop multiple intrusion points where we would have had millions in lost revenue if the attackers got in.
Network Technician at T. Baker Smith, LLC
There is a return on investment in terms of time-saving, control, and ease of manageability of the environment.
Software Solutions Account Manager at First Distribution
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Defender XDR's support receives mixed feedback; premium users report efficiency, while others face delays and first-line inadequacies.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Entra ID Protection support is mixed; premium praised, free options slow, consistency issues, and varied third-party experiences.
You get stuck in low-level support for way longer than you should, instead of them escalating the issue up the chain.
Enterprise Application Engineer at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's critical to escalate SEV B issues immediately to a domestic engineer.
Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group
Once issues are escalated to the second or third layer, the support is much better.
Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
We classified it as a critical problem, and they accepted our classification and helped us quickly.
Founder at AiALL
They often refer to internal blogs, which doesn't offer much new information and can limit our capabilities in troubleshooting.
AI Solution Architect at Bitscape Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
Tickets often bounce from person to person, requiring the sharing of information multiple times.
Software Solutions Account Manager at First Distribution
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Defender XDR offers excellent scalability and stability, seamlessly integrating with Azure and third-party systems for large deployments.
Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Entra ID Protection efficiently scales with organization sizes, though additional licenses may be needed as businesses grow.
My concern is about the scale of events and alerts being generated, and the product is doing a very good job of only surfacing the important items for us.
Vice President, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees
It has a very good integration system that integrates with all Azure services, all threat intelligence data models, and integrates very well with other systems such as Palo Alto.
Infosec at a government with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Defender XDR shows tremendous scalability, much more so than on-premises solutions.
Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group
Since it is a cloud computing product, it can accommodate a range of company sizes, from a few users to large businesses.
Security Analyst at UPCI
There are no issues with scalability up to your license limitations.
Senior Solution Architect Data Center & Cloud at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We haven't experienced problems with Microsoft Entra ID Protection.
Founder at AiALL
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Microsoft Defender XDR is highly stable and reliable, with minimal bugs and consistently positive user feedback on performance.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Entra ID Protection is highly stable, with minor bugs, offering reliable performance even in large organizations.
The service has remained consistently online, with any issues isolated to specific components, suggesting a well-designed and modular architecture.
Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The services within our ecosystem have been reliable, meeting their SLAs.
Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group
It provides high-fidelity signals.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender XDR requires better integration, simpler UI, enhanced threat intelligence, streamlined onboarding, improved documentation, and more affordable pricing.
Microsoft Entra ID Protection requires identity enhancements, better integration, improved scalability, and streamlined user experiences for competitiveness.
The licensing process needs improvement and clarification.
Owner at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Improvements are needed in automated response capabilities.
Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
If you have a central location where you perform one isolation method, all other potentially affected systems that have been touched may also be isolated simultaneously.
CISO at Loeb & Loeb LLP
If there was some level of backup mechanism available with quick restore functionality, that would be beneficial.
Senior Solution Architect Data Center & Cloud at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Microsoft has not offered control over how they calculate high or low-risk scenarios.
AI Solution Architect at Bitscape Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
There is no write-back feature from the cloud to local, which would allow me to use my own credentials from the cloud tenant securely.
Security Operations Team Leader at Yalla Security Srl
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender XDR offers low setup costs but complex pricing, requiring careful planning to manage licensing and regional updates.
Microsoft Entra ID Protection pricing is competitive but may be costly and complex, especially for smaller markets or businesses.
There are certainly savings when using Microsoft Defender XDR, which can range from 30%, 40%, and even up to 50%.
Director, Sales at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
I would rate the pricing as eight out of ten, indicating it is a reasonable cost for the product.
Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs.
Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Entra ID Protection is not badly priced, but some clients, especially in medium to smaller scale companies in third-world countries, find it quite expensive.
Software Solutions Account Manager at First Distribution
Microsoft Entra ID requires additional licensing components.
AI Solution Architect at Bitscape Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
The pricing for Microsoft Entra ID protection is not expensive.
Security Analyst at UPCI
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender XDR enhances security with cross-domain correlation, automation, integration, centralized management, and multi-tenant capabilities.
Microsoft Entra ID Protection enhances identity security with conditional access, multifactor authentication, and seamless integration, offering scalability and compliance.
With Microsoft threat intelligence information, it detects various types of threats, including insider attacks, malicious content, and data exfiltration.
Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
This allows us to secure our systems in advance and proactively improve security, rather than waiting for incidents to occur.
Works at Hometrack
Once we have it on the security dashboard, we can see a real-time storyline.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
Having a single sign-on feature with Entra ID ensures seamless access to various applications, even those with significant security constraints.
AI Solution Architect at Bitscape Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
These features ease the job of security analysts, providing a better vision of user activities and potential risks.
Security Operations Team Leader at Yalla Security Srl
We use automated remediation for logon purposes and error purposes. It remediates issues and provides just-in-time access when applicable.
Senior Solution Architect Data Center & Cloud at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender XDR
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (8th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (5th)
Microsoft Entra ID Protection
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
10th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (7th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 5.3%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID Protection is 2.4%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR5.3%
Microsoft Entra ID Protection2.4%
Other92.3%
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2812758 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infosec at a government with 10,001+ employees
Integrated defenses have unified threat hunting, phishing simulations, and identity investigations
I appreciate Microsoft Defender XDR's MDE, Microsoft Defender tool, which has Attack Simulator. Instead of doing a phishing campaign and getting a separate tool, Microsoft Defender XDR does it all. These features of Microsoft Defender XDR have helped us conduct a phishing campaign quarterly, which has been beneficial. I also appreciate the fact that it has Defender for Office integrated, Defender for Identity, and everything integrated together. I would describe the process of using Microsoft Defender XDR to prioritize incidents in my security operations as quite decent. I appreciate the automatic alerting system where any incidents or alerts we receive come directly to our email. From there, we can open the email, go directly to Microsoft Defender XDR, and start our investigations and remediations. I perceive the integration of security and identity access management in Microsoft Defender XDR as affecting my identity protection strategies very well because it is well integrated with Purview, integrated well with Entra ID, and integrated well with Exchange. I especially appreciate MDO, the Office product. If anything happens and I want to conduct an investigation, it takes me directly to Exchange, where I can also investigate any emails or phishing incidents. Instead of going to different portals, everything can be done from Microsoft Defender XDR. If necessary for further investigation, Microsoft Defender XDR then directs me to that environment. I would assess the integration of AI in guiding security actions within Microsoft Defender XDR as quite positive. Recently, Security Copilot went big, and it is beneficial that I can use that, especially to write KQL. I can do threat hunting features and intelligence all within using Microsoft's Security Copilot. It also has a nice AI feature for threat hunting. I know that all the Defender logs go to Sentinel, and I can pull it up from Microsoft Defender XDR or from Sentinel. The fact that I can actually do all that within Microsoft Defender XDR is a nice feature. In the top module, I can do threat lookups, and I can actually type KQLs in Microsoft Defender XDR and look up incidents. Predictive shielding has had a nice impact on my proactive security measures. It is beneficial that it has, similar to Entra ID, a secure score. For me to improve the product, the secure score helps me out. If I rate it from highest to lowest, I can see what things I can improve. Secure score helps me see what areas I can improve in Microsoft Defender XDR to increase my score and bring it to 80 or more. Knowing Microsoft Defender XDR from using it since 2019, before COVID days, I know that they have improved significantly. It is much more user-friendly and has a very nice vulnerability feature that I find handy and useful. The fact that this feature integrates into Intune is also very decent.
Luis Gabriel Mieles Benavides - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Architect at Sonda S.A.
Identity protection has strengthened daily access control and improved passwordless security
The best features of Microsoft Entra ID Protection include the password dictionary, which we do not have in Active Directory. Conditional access is excellent because we can select the location from which users authenticate, and this is the best feature for me. Another valuable feature is the ability to identify critical or suspicious computers. If computers are too old or too suspicious, the system does not allow authentication, which is excellent. The effectiveness of automated remediation for handling identity threats is great. I use passwordless authentication with cellular phone authentication, which is excellent because we do not always need a password. Microsoft Entra ID Protection is a great solution overall because it improves security in the company through identity management. It improves integration with other solutions such as Google, Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook, and Facebook. We can create different applications and integrate with different services.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise41
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?
My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Microsoft Defender XDR is that we are on an E5 license, so it is incorporated there. It is part of our Microsoft package.
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?
From my perspective, Microsoft Defender XDR can be improved with better visibility in certain areas where I can trigger host isolation on one machine. It should at least provide the option to isola...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft 365 Defender?
My main use cases for Microsoft Defender XDR are telemetry, advanced hunting, and the ability to perform host isolation if there is potential malware. I believe the incidents prioritized using Micr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
The pricing for Microsoft Entra ID protection is not expensive. It varies based on the company's size and quality.
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
I do not think there are any areas that could be improved with Microsoft Entra ID Protection at this time.
What is your primary use case for Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
I use Microsoft Entra ID Protection and provide support for features such as multifactor authentication and conditional access. I work with this solution every day.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender
Azure Active Directory Identity Protection, Azure AD Identity Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Entra ID Protection and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.