Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager comparison

Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager

July 2025

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Helped 866,956 peers since 2012

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

6.7

Microsoft Defender XDR provides high ROI by consolidating security tools, streamlining operations, and enhancing security, despite licensing costs.

Sentiment score

7.8

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager reduces costs by 50%, streamlines tasks, and is included in Office 365 E5 licensing.

We can quarantine and isolate a device within minutes.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees

Microsoft Defender XDR has saved me at least 50% of my time.

Kunle Oluwadiya

House security operator at Cypress Creek Renewables

Ever since we turned on the M5 feature set back in June, we have seen a reduced number of potentially malicious clicks and faster alerting when incidents occur.

reviewer2595618

Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The process is reduced from weeks to a day, showcasing a solid nine for return on investment.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager report

Head of Technology Operations at Pobl Group

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.2

Microsoft Defender XDR's support is timely and responsive, yet smaller organizations experience slower, less effective assistance than larger ones.

Sentiment score

4.7

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager support faces mixed reviews, citing long resolution times and outsourced staff inefficiencies.

You get stuck in low-level support for way longer than you should, instead of them escalating the issue up the chain.

Darrell Carr

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.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group

Once issues are escalated to the second or third layer, the support is much better.

Ankit-Joshi

Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees

Since I approach them with more complicated issues, it takes quite a bit of time to get through those two support tiers.

Tadas Semionovas

Senior security analyst at MB Cybermode

The support staff, who are often outsourced, seem not adequately equipped to handle issues quickly and efficiently.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager report

Information Technology Auditor at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

The quality of support is affected because most support staff seem focused on obtaining five-star ratings rather than resolving problems thoroughly.

Adeboye Oyemade

System Administrator at Templars

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.6

Microsoft Defender XDR scales well for various organizations, efficiently supporting growth and flexibility despite some network deployment challenges.

Sentiment score

7.7

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager excels in scalable deployment across environments but faces constraints in crafting detailed policies.

Microsoft Defender XDR shows tremendous scalability, much more so than on-premises solutions.

Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group

Microsoft Defender XDR scales pretty well.

Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees

It is suitable for enterprise-level deployment but has room for improvement.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Security manager at Accenture

As services increase, eDiscovery capabilities also increase, allowing easy deployment.

Digital Forensic Investigator at Los Angeles Unified School District

It is straightforward since it scans everything, covering all aspects needed in our operations.

Head of Technology Operations at Pobl Group

While the solution is scalable in terms of user numbers, there are limitations when creating more granular level policies.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager report

Information Technology Auditor at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.0

Microsoft Defender XDR is praised for high stability, reliable performance, minimal issues, frequent updates, and prompt issue resolution.

Sentiment score

7.9

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is reliable but needs improved eDiscovery and search functionality despite regular updates and changes.

The service has remained consistently online, with any issues isolated to specific components, suggesting a well-designed and modular architecture.

reviewer2595618

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.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees

Despite stability, it needs to be more user-friendly and competitive compared to other eDiscovery tools.

Digital Forensic Investigator at Los Angeles Unified School District

It is reliable and I can depend on it.

Head of Technology Operations at Pobl Group

In terms of latency, stability is not an issue.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager report

Information Technology Auditor at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender XDR requires enhancements in speed, integration, automation, AI, ease-of-use, and industry-specific threat intelligence.

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager needs integration, UI improvements, cost reduction, and enhanced policy and monitoring features for better usability.

The licensing process needs improvement and clarification.

reviewer2595324

Owner at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Improvements are needed in automated response capabilities.

Security manager at Accenture

Some inconsistencies exist between blades, which could be improved for a more seamless user and UI experience.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group

Microsoft Copilot Security converts human language to search queries using its AdLM language model.

Digital Forensic Investigator at Los Angeles Unified School District

The speed and accessibility, particularly in the user interface, require significant work.

Tadas Semionovas

Senior security analyst at MB Cybermode

The Purview Compliance Portal's log management could be more user-friendly, making data retrieval, like email logs, challenging.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager report

Information Technology Auditor at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender XDR pricing is seen as complex but fair, with high costs alleviated in bundled Microsoft 365 packages.

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager offers cost-efficient pricing, especially for existing Microsoft users, and is notably cheaper than competitors.

There are certainly savings when using Microsoft Defender XDR, which can range from 30%, 40%, and even up to 50%.

Clay Bowlin

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.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Security manager at Accenture

Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs.

reviewer2595618

Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees

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.

Head of Technology Operations at Pobl Group

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is priced at 60% to 70% compared to some competitors.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager report

Information Technology Auditor at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender XDR integrates tools for comprehensive security, offering threat detection, automation, identity protection, and enhanced efficiency.

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager streamlines multi-cloud data protection and compliance, enhancing visibility and integrating seamlessly with Microsoft 365.

With Microsoft threat intelligence information, it detects various types of threats, including insider attacks, malicious content, and data exfiltration.

Security manager at Accenture

This allows us to secure our systems in advance and proactively improve security, rather than waiting for incidents to occur.

A Roy

Works at Hometrack

Once we have it on the security dashboard, we can see a real-time storyline.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager's eDiscovery is essential for organizations using Outlook as their email service.

Digital Forensic Investigator at Los Angeles Unified School District

The most valuable feature is data classification retention since I deal with terabytes of data, and managing and monitoring it simplifies the process.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager report

Head of Technology Operations at Pobl Group

The best aspect is that it requires little to no time for implementation if I am using all of Microsoft's tools.

Tadas Semionovas

Senior security analyst at MB Cybermode

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender XDR

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

102

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (5th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (2nd)

Microsoft Purview Complianc...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

25th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Governance (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 6.5%, up from 5.9% 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 Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR	6.5%
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager	1.3%
Other	92.2%

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

MohtesanShaikh

Business Development Executive at TechnoFirrm

Experience improves security management and simplifies threat protection

I have created automated investigations, and while they work, they operate rather slowly in the Microsoft portal. If I automate something, it takes considerable time; if I do it manually, I can complete it in a quarter of the time. The automation response being slow is the main concern; when an incident occurs or if I run a remediation, it takes significant time to complete the remediation. There are some limitations regarding the scalability of Microsoft Defender XDR with specific licensing. For SMB customers, there is only Microsoft Defender for Business, and if they want more features such as XDR features and automation investigation or incident response, they need to purchase Defender for Endpoint. We are currently using the EDR.

Read full review

Streamlined data management and improved compliance with efficient document classification

Head of Technology Operations at Pobl Group

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.

Read full review

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866,956 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Healthcare Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	46
Midsize Enterprise	23
Large Enterprise	37

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Defender?

Microsoft Defender XDR provides strong identity protection with comprehensive insights into risky user behavior and potential indicators of compromise.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?

The pricing for Microsoft Sentinel operates on a pay-as-you-go model based on data ingestion. I recall that Defender XDR pricing is based on the number of endpoints.

What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?

For Microsoft Defender XDR ( /categories/extended-detection-and-response-xdr ), there is currently no ability to reset passwords for on-premises accounts, which is a key challenge. Incident managem...

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?

When I tried to set up Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager for my organization to ensure people are not sending PII documents, especially payment cards, using keywords for flagging, it disrupted o...

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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

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OneTrust DataGovernance vs Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager

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erwin Data Intelligence vs Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager

Compared 6% of the time

Varonis Platform vs Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Download Microsoft Defender XDR product report

Microsoft Defender XDR

August 2025

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager

August 2025

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager report

Download Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager product report

Also Known As

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender

Microsoft Compliance Manager

Overview

Microsoft Defender XDR is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect against threats in the Microsoft 365 environment.

It offers robust security measures, comprehensive threat detection capabilities, and an efficient incident response system. With seamless integration with other Microsoft products and a user-friendly interface, it simplifies security management tasks.

Users have found it effective in detecting and preventing various types of attacks, such as phishing attempts, malware infections, and data breaches.

Watch the Microsoft demo video here: Microsoft Defender XDR demo video.

Microsoft

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is a feature in the Microsoft 365 compliance center that helps you manage your organization’s compliance requirements with greater ease and convenience. Compliance Manager can help you throughout your compliance journey, from taking inventory of your data protection risks to managing the complexities of implementing controls, staying current with regulations and certifications, and reporting to auditors.

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.

Information Not Available