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Microsoft Defender XDR vs Trellix Active Response comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 9, 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
6.7
Microsoft Defender XDR provides high ROI by consolidating security tools, streamlining operations, and enhancing security, despite licensing costs.
Sentiment score
3.8
Trellix Active Response improved threat detection, reduced incident response times, increased efficiency, and enhanced productivity with an intuitive interface.
We can quarantine and isolate a device within minutes.
Microsoft Defender XDR has saved me at least 50% of my time.
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.
While we haven't yet quantified the financial benefits, we recognize that there has been a return on investment, particularly with operational efficiencies provided by the alerts.
 

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
7.8
Trellix Active Response's customer support is generally positive, but availability and contact speed could improve, rated seven out of ten.
You get stuck in low-level support for way longer than you should, instead of them escalating the issue up the chain.
It's critical to escalate SEV B issues immediately to a domestic engineer.
Once issues are escalated to the second or third layer, the support is much better.
I would rate technical support from Trellix Active Response as a seven because sometimes we face difficulties finding engineers quickly, leading to customer frustration.
 

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
4.1
Trellix Active Response is scalable, integrates easily, handles large data seamlessly, and maintains performance and security with minimal latency.
Microsoft Defender XDR shows tremendous scalability, much more so than on-premises solutions.
Microsoft Defender XDR scales pretty well.
It is suitable for enterprise-level deployment but has room for improvement.
The scalability of Active Response is satisfactory.
 

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
4.6
Trellix Active Response is praised for reliability, efficient data handling, quick threat detection, adaptability, and stability with minimal downtime.
The service has remained consistently online, with any issues isolated to specific components, suggesting a well-designed and modular architecture.
The services within our ecosystem have been reliable, meeting their SLAs.
It provides high-fidelity signals.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender XDR requires enhancements in speed, integration, automation, AI, ease-of-use, and industry-specific threat intelligence.
Trellix Active Response needs better resource management, advanced analytics, and improved integrations for efficient monitoring and AI features.
The licensing process needs improvement and clarification.
Improvements are needed in automated response capabilities.
Some inconsistencies exist between blades, which could be improved for a more seamless user and UI experience.
We would like Trellix to optimize the technology for these systems similarly to how it is deployed for normal endpoints.
There is room for improvement in the platform area and security area to make the dashboard visibility clearer and easier for customers to monitor malicious activities occurring in their environment.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender XDR pricing is seen as complex but fair, with high costs alleviated in bundled Microsoft 365 packages.
There are certainly savings when using Microsoft Defender XDR, which can range from 30%, 40%, and even up to 50%.
I would rate the pricing as eight out of ten, indicating it is a reasonable cost for the product.
Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs.
Based on our evaluations, Trellix Active Response's pricing was the most feasible from a cost perspective.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender XDR integrates tools for comprehensive security, offering threat detection, automation, identity protection, and enhanced efficiency.
Trellix Active Response enhances analytics, user insights, and incident handling, excelling in detection and response with holistic EDR benefits.
With Microsoft threat intelligence information, it detects various types of threats, including insider attacks, malicious content, and data exfiltration.
This allows us to secure our systems in advance and proactively improve security, rather than waiting for incidents to occur.
Once we have it on the security dashboard, we can see a real-time storyline.
They notify us immediately of any vulnerabilities on the endpoints, allowing us to deploy a response quickly.
The most valuable feature of Trellix Active Response is that whenever any incident occurs, it allows us to disconnect from that particular network or area and shut down the system using commands.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender XDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (4th)
Trellix Active Response
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
47th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 2.9%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trellix Active Response is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR2.9%
Trellix Active Response0.3%
Other96.8%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

MohtesanShaikh - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Abdullah Al Hadi - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers comprehensive incident visualization and quick response capabilities but requires clearer dashboard interface
I am an Information Security Engineer at NHQ Distribution Limited and a partner of Trellix. I work with different products in Trellix, including Trellix EDR, SDR, and MDR. Trellix Active Response is the EDR solution from Trellix that has moved from an on-premise solution to a cloud solution. The Trellix MDR solution is helpful for SOC analysis and is integrated with Trellix EDR and SDR capabilities, providing full visibility of threat detection and hunting and detection response correlating with other solutions like endpoint security and encryption. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Trellix Active Response an eight.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business46
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise37
No data available
 

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?
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 com...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for McAfee Active Response?
Based on our evaluations, Trellix Active Response's pricing was the most feasible from a cost perspective. I rate the pricing between a six and an eight. It is justified.
What needs improvement with McAfee Active Response?
For Trellix Active Response, there is room for improvement in the platform area and security area to make the dashboard visibility clearer and easier for customers to monitor malicious activities o...
What is your primary use case for McAfee Active Response?
The typical use case for Trellix Active Response is to provide quick incident response, as the product collects and correlates logs with the ePO dashboard, allowing customers to get visibility of t...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender
McAfee Active Response
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.
Liquor Control Board of Ontario
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Trellix Active Response and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.