Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Azure Key Vault vs Microsoft Defender for Identity 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
8.4
Azure Key Vault offers cost-effective security, regulatory compliance, and streamlined secret management, reducing internal development efforts and enhancing operations.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Defender for Identity offers cost-effective breach prevention and efficient management, enhancing client satisfaction and reducing hardware costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
Azure Key Vault offers reliable support, though reaching specific experts can be challenging despite Microsoft's helpful advisory services.
Sentiment score
8.4
Microsoft Defender for Identity support is generally praised but can experience delays and inefficiencies, especially for complex issues.
The skill level of the support staff is also questionable.
I have a strong relationship with Microsoft since we are one of their best clients in Spain.
The quality of support is very good, but troubleshooting can take time due to complex setups and the need to provide many logs.
Generally, the support is more effective than other providers like Oracle.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Azure Key Vault excels in scalability, meeting diverse organizational needs and adapting well to different platforms and environments.
Sentiment score
8.8
Microsoft Defender for Identity provides scalable deployment for global enterprises, supporting numerous users and seamless integration in Microsoft environments.
In a Microsoft-centric organization, especially with Azure infrastructure and Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Identity is scalable.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Azure Key Vault is highly dependable and stable, though some users note rare access issues and occasional performance decreases.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Defender for Identity is generally stable, with users appreciating its reliability despite occasional incidents and technical issues.
Microsoft Defender for Identity is quite robust and built on Azure hyperscale infrastructure, with a 99% availability.
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Key Vault requires enhanced accessibility, improved security, scalable pricing, and better user support for diverse business needs.
Microsoft Defender for Identity requires improvements in integration, threat intelligence, UI, and seeks enhanced documentation, support, and deployment flexibility.
My security area wants to rotate passwords every day, every week, or every month, depending on the services.
The skill level of the support staff is also questionable.
One of our certificates was not getting deployed, and during that time, the support team was unsure and had to connect with the back-end team for assistance.
Reducing false positives is something we've been working on with Microsoft.
One improvement I would recommend is the integration of an admin application within Teams, allowing easy access to attack information on a mobile platform.
There is room for improvement in delivering knowledge to technical users, especially regarding what we can gain from the solution and how to apply it.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users have mixed views on Azure Key Vault pricing; it's seen as both cost-effective and expensive with high transaction volumes.
Microsoft Defender for Identity offers affordable pricing, especially with E5 licenses, providing great value despite its complexity.
I would classify it as low priced.
We are planning to buy protection for Entra.
the Microsoft Defender Suite is quite expensive, especially when integrated into Sentinel.
Ensuring a fair price according to market standards.
From an organization perspective, using E5 licenses is value for money, especially if Azure and Office 365 are already in use.
 

Valuable Features

Azure Key Vault provides secure, scalable management of secrets and keys with seamless Azure integration and user-friendly features.
Microsoft Defender for Identity enhances security by integrating advanced detection, real-time alerts, and automation for efficient threat prevention.
It also helps me increase my security posture and assists with regulatory and compliance requirements.
All secrets are in the Key Vault, and access is managed by the integrated management in ITT, which Azure provides to the services.
It integrates well with Azure services and is easy to use and quick to provision.
The seamless integration with other Microsoft solutions within our Microsoft-centric environment is also a major advantage.
The most valuable features of Microsoft Defender for Identity include its automatic remedies, possibilities for avoiding incidents, the privilege manager, and the generation of logs that facilitate a safer environment.
The integration into the Microsoft Defender ecosystem is the most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Identity.
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Key Vault
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Password Managers (1st), Certificate Management Software (1st)
Microsoft Defender for Iden...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
7th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (5th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Key Vault is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Identity is 6.6%, up from 6.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

RituparnaBhattacharya - PeerSpot reviewer
Secret storage and certificate management have been streamlined
I am not on the developer's end. I am primarily the main infrastructure person. I'm not sure what needs improvement. Sometimes, we face issues that the support team is not aware of, necessitating investigation from their end. For example, one of our certificates was not getting deployed, and during that time, the support team was unsure and had to connect with the back-end team for assistance. Improvements can be made in this area, however, it's understandable that not everything can be perfect.
Sachin Vinay - PeerSpot reviewer
Easily detects advanced attacks based on user behavior
The best feature is security monitoring, which detects and investigates suspicious user activities. It can easily detect advanced attacks based on the behavior. The credentials are securely stored, so it reduces the risk of compromise. It will monitor user behavior based on artificial intelligence to protect the identities in your organization. It will even help secure the on-premise Active Directory. It syncs from the cloud to on-premise, and on-premise modifications will be reflected in the cloud. Identity harvesting is the most common threat. Legacy Microsoft solutions and Amazon face the same issues in the cloud. Users don't implement other security mechanisms in the cloud. In an on-premise environment, we would have multiple security devices like firewalls and several layers of security. Cloud users are less bothered because cloud features are there and only need to be configured. Microsoft Defender for Cloud is the best solution because all threats are completely visible, and it has a great dashboard. The dashboard displays each threat and score, so we can identify the threat rating and act efficiently to avoid compromising user identities. We have a single sign-on feature on the cloud. If we lose a single set of identities, it can compromise the entire organization, including cloud and on-premise. The same identities are being used everywhere. The user activity has to be completely visible on the dashboard, and it has to generate a pattern. It will notify us if there is any security breach. It is a complete monitoring set. Minor changes in the user identity can lead to data leakage. If a password is changed in the cloud, it will be reflected automatically in the on-premise. This minor change will trigger an alert in Microsoft Defender for Identity. It ensures that each cloud identity is well protected from spoofing. It has a comprehensive database of well-known spoofing techniques, enabling us to provide cloud identity protection completely. It has a vast scope because it is completely single sign-on. In the emerging industry, we use single sign-on because users need to authenticate, but it's challenging to remember multiple passwords. Once your user signs in, you can access all the data. An identity compromise would lead to various issues and affect the data on-premises. Defender maintains a constantly updated database with the latest signatures, attack models, and threats. If it detects one threat, it will monitor the suspicious event and give us frequent alerts. Identity protection is vital because we use an identity mechanism for everything, including firewall-related activities. The exact identity used in the cloud is used in the most complex firewalls. We require an excellent migration technique to regain this user credential if something gets compromised. Blocking this requires a massive set of procedures. Microsoft Defender comprehensively monitors identity and provides frequent alerts regarding any issue, so we don't need to think of anything else. Defender's bidirectional sync capabilities are helpful because we need to sync data from multiple directions, including tenant-to-tenant, on-premise-to-cloud, and cloud-to-cloud syncing. As a university, we have multiple tenants, so we need to sync or access data across platforms. That way, everything is more secure, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud also provides ample security for cloud transfers. The bidirectional sync capabilities are flawless—10 out of 10. Our on-premise Active Directory is perfectly synced with the Azure AD. Everything is synced with on-premise, and changes are reflected in minutes. If a problem with identity is addressed on the cloud, the fix will be mirrored on-premise and vice versa. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Identity are bundled. If we have these two solutions, we don't need to worry about anything else or third-party antivirus. Microsoft Defender for Identity acts as a link to all the Microsoft security features that require identity-based validation. Microsoft Defender instantly provides identity security for all our applications, and users need not worry about typing their passwords. Even in situations with less complex encryption mechanisms, users don't need to worry about typing in their passwords. Defender will check and monitor if there are any flaws in that, and it will let us know if there are any issues. We're a Microsoft shop, so everything works together. If one feature isn't working, everything will be affected. If Defender isn't working, half of our Microsoft security features will be dead. Without identity security, user data can easily be compromised, and data can fall into the hands of intruders or other hackers. The solutions have to complement each other. If anything got wrong, the entire setup would have flaws. Microsoft security has a legacy security mechanism. A while back, we might have gone with Defender for Endpoint, but Microsoft has also grown into the face of the cloud. The same Defender solution is completely maintaining cloud security. We can imagine Microsoft's vast scale and how Defender can protect the cloud environment from vulnerabilities and attacks. We are definitely delighted with Microsoft products. The dashboard features are fantastic because it provides a comprehensive overview. It has a great alert mechanism and log inspector that tracks when users access various servers. With this kind of identity validation, we can control which servers the users can access. We have total visibility from the dashboard. We can track identity usage even if there are no issues. That is an essential advantage.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Microsoft Security Suite solutions are best for your needs.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Azure Key Vault or AWS Secrets Manager?
Azure Key Vault is a SaaS solution. You can easily store passwords and secrets securely and encrypt them. Azure Key Vault is a great solution to ensure you are compliant with security and governanc...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Key Vault?
With Azure Key Vault, we can generate our own keys and then import them inside the system, which provides a higher level of security than provider-managed keys.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Key Vault?
The setup cost is low, as my usage is not extensive. I would classify it as low priced.
What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Identity?
Microsoft Defender for Identity provides excellent visibility into threats by leveraging real-time analytics and data intelligence.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Identity?
One area that needs improvement is the number of alerts generated, leading to alert fatigue. Reducing false positives is something we've been working on with Microsoft.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Identity?
Microsoft Defender for Identity ( /products/microsoft-defender-for-identity-reviews ) is used to protect our on-premises and hybrid Active Directory environment. Our organization has a hybrid infra...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Azure Key Vault, MS Azure Key Vault
Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Adobe, DriveTime, Johnson Controls, HP, InterContinental Hotels Group, ASOS
Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Key Vault vs. Microsoft Defender for Identity and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.