Fortinet FortiSIEM vs Microsoft Defender XDR comparison

The compared Fortinet and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. Fortinet is ranked #8 in SIEM , with an average rating of 7.8, and holds a 3.3% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #5 in XDR , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 9.6% mindshare. Additionally, 82% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiSIEM

Read 73 Fortinet FortiSIEM reviews

4,840 Views
3,251 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender XDR

Read 96 Microsoft Defender XDR reviews

7,094 Views
5,434 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiSIEM

Microsoft Defender XDR

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiSIEM and Microsoft Defender XDR based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortinet FortiSIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR Report (Updated: May 2023).

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiSIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

May 2023

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Helped 831,158 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:

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiSIEM

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (8th)

Microsoft Defender XDR

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Fortinet FortiSIEM is designed for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and holds a mindshare of 3.3%, up 3.3% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender XDR, on the other hand, focuses on Extended Detection and Response (XDR), holds 9.6% mindshare, up 7.4% since last year.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

Featured Reviews

Oliver Jackson

Network Engineer at Laminar Communications Pty Ltd

Systems monitoring enhanced by firewall and intrusion detection features

My primary use case for Fortinet FortiSIEM is systems monitoring and alerting. I use it for standard functions like log monitoring, incident detection, and notification. My customers are mostly medium-sized enterprises ranging from engineering companies, mining companies, independent schools, and…

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Gabor Nyerd

Enterprise mobility and security evangelist at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Includes four services and four products, which can help organizations a lot

We found that sometimes integrations work, but testing them can take some time. Sometimes, configurations take much longer than expected. We have a configuration in place that needs to be synchronized with another server. However, the servers are four hours apart, so this can cause delays. In general, I believe that the time it takes to configure and test a service should be shorter. Sometimes, it can take a couple of hours to test a single configuration setting. Other times, it is only ten or fifteen minutes, which is normal. However, sometimes, even immediate actions can be triggered by configuration changes, and some settings can take up to eight hours to complete. I believe that this time can be improved. Microsoft is making a lot of improvements to its services in a short period of time. This is a good thing, as it means that the services are constantly being updated and improved. However, it can be challenging for customers to keep up with the changes. For example, a customer may read about an update, understand it, and share it with their colleagues and boss. However, it may take days or weeks to test the update and get the necessary approvals. This can be especially challenging for large customers with many users or machines. In some cases, Microsoft may change a service before the customer has had a chance to implement the previous update. This can be frustrating for customers, as it means that they have to constantly learn new things and adjust their workflows. On the one hand, it is important for Microsoft to keep updating and improving its services. This helps to ensure that the services are meeting the customers' needs and that they are staying ahead of the competition. Microsoft should also be mindful of the challenges that these changes can create for customers. One way to address this challenge is to provide customers with more time to implement changes. Microsoft could also provide more information about upcoming changes so that customers can plan ahead. Ultimately, Microsoft needs to strike a balance between keeping its services up-to-date and providing customers with a smooth transition to new features.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"To add workers and even collectors is pretty easy."

"FortiSIEM's log correlation is good."

"The most valuable feature is the dashboard. CMDB database collects data from a lot of pre-configured devices."

"Fortinet FortiSIEM's most valuable feature is the simplicity in handling multi-tenancy and the ability to switch between different clients at the same time. That was handled flawlessly."

"The advanced agents used to collect logs have been most valuable. We have also made use of the advanced intelligence this solution offers."

"The solution is very stable. It's run for years without the need to do anything except, add new patches when they are available, which are always a good idea to install."

"FortiSIEM helped us discover all the threats at the time that were attacking the IT services of the company. We now have multiple-level authentication."

"Some of our customers who use this solution have seen improvement in their connection with load balancing on both connections."

More Fortinet FortiSIEM pros

"The EDR features are valuable. By getting the EDR features, we have more control over the device. We have information about events in real-time and more protection against zero-day threats and zero-day vulnerabilities. We can monitor every event or action that a device is going through. We can get an idea if it is something malicious or if we have to take any actions."

"Microsoft Defender XDR is scalable."

"The portal is quite user-friendly. There is integration with Office, Intune, and other products from the same portal. From there, we can see which policies are installed on a particular machine. We also can manage devices, groups, and tagging."

"The most valuable features are spam filtering, attachment filtering, and antivirus protection."

"The most valuable feature is probably the aggregation and correlation of the different telemetry points with Defender for Identity, Defender for Endpoint, and Defender for Cloud Apps. All of these various things are part of that portal. We've wanted that single pane of glass for years."

"It reduces the risk of users accidentally clicking on phishing emails."

"I like that Defender is easy to use and the alerts are all in one central location."

"The visibility into threats is also very impressive because Microsoft helps you predict things and provides analytics to help you really improve your security. And all of this technology works across the domain, so it is pretty helpful in terms of threat analytics."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pros

Cons

"The product does not have Security Orchestration and Automation Response, I would recommend adding this feature."

"Fortinet FortiSIEM could improve by having a signature update."

"The graphs on the user interface could be improved as we often experience glitches."

"The built-in APIs in Fortinet FortiSIEM are somewhat lacking and could be improved for better integration with external ITSM products."

"The performance can be improved. Sometimes it takes a long time to fetch data."

"The interface needs some improvements because it's a bit cumbersome when you're trying to view items. It takes some time to get used to. Additionally, sometimes the scrolling does not work."

"They could work on their documentation. If there's anything about the solution that needs improvement, it's that. For example, documentation already is on a very high level but specifically on the CLI there are tons of features which can be fine-tuned and thousands of commands are very difficult to document. If they could make this easier, it would improve the overall solution."

"Its training can be improved. Its price also needs to be improved."

More Fortinet FortiSIEM cons

"For some scenarios, it provides good visibility into threats, and for some scenarios, it doesn't. For example, sometimes the URLs within the emails have destinations, and you do get a screenshot and all further details, but it's not always the case. It would be good if they did a better job of enabling that for all the emails that they identified as malicious. When you get an email threat, you can go into the email and see more details, but the URL destination feature doesn't always show you a screenshot of the URL in that email. It also doesn't always give you the characteristics relating to that URL. It would be quite good if the information is complete where it says that we identified this URL, and this is what it looks like. There should be some threat intel about it. It should give you more details."

"The solution can improve the rules and privileges it offers."

"365 Defender has multiple subsets, including Defender for Cloud Apps. When integrating Defender for Cloud Apps with apps on third-party cloud platforms like AWS or GCP, there are limitations on our ability to control user activities. If Microsoft added more control over third-party products, that would be a game-changer and help us quite a lot."

"From an integration standpoint, it is always improving overall. With Security Copilot coming out, as partners, we are waiting for the GDAP support so that we can actually see Security Copilot on behalf of customers if they subscribe to it."

"Generally, antivirus products provide a central control to manage every device in terms of who is installing it or who is trying to disable it, but Microsoft doesn't have such a control center for the antivirus product it provides."

"The support team is not competent or responsive."

"Troubleshooting in Microsoft 365 Defender can be inefficient."

"There is definitely scope for improvement in the automation area. Because the solution is a SaaS platform, we don't have the overall ability to automate stuff.... There is no direct way to go ahead because it's a SaaS platform."

More Microsoft Defender XDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay for a license for FortiSIEM. We pay for the license and renewal."

"We bought the perpetual license, so we own the product, but there is a three-year support renewal fee for that."

"The price of Fortinet FortiSIEM was reasonable compared to other solutions."

"Its price can be better. We are Fortinet partners, so we can get discounts, but its price can be an issue at the beginning for others. There is a licensing scheme for every case. There are three licensing schemes that we can choose from."

"Fortinet FortiSIEM is not an expensive solution."

"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the product. The free version license of the product is available for two months."

"The tool is really expensive. For what the tool does for our team, the price is fair."

"The price of Fortinet FortiSIEM is a lot less when compared to other solutions."

More Fortinet FortiSIEM pricing and cost advice

"Licensing is somewhat confusing, particularly when presenting our pitch decks to stakeholders and leveraging key features in premium SKUs, but we managed with some assistance from Microsoft."

"All I can say again is the E5 gives you all the capabilities that it offers. It also gives Office 365 and one terabyte of storage. All in all, the E5 license model makes sense. There are some people who say it's quite costly, but rather than paying different vendors, it makes sense to go all in with Microsoft if you've got that licensing. From that perspective, it's cost-effective, but I can't comment much on that."

"I believe that the pricing of the licensing is fair."

"Purchasing Microsoft Defender XDR as part of a Microsoft 365 bundle can be cost-effective, but acquiring it as a standalone product may be more expensive."

"The solutions price is fair for what they offer."

"Defender plan 1 is tenant-wise, and Defender plan 2 is per-user, which makes it more expensive. To have certain features, you would need to purchase the E5 license. For all of the capabilities that the tool provides, the price, though it can be high, is fair."

"Microsoft is not competitive with the pricing of the solution. The competitors are able to offer lower discounts. The price of the solution is higher."

"Microsoft should provide lower-level licensing options. They should do it in such a way that even an individual could purchase a license, and it should be entirely flexible."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions are best for your needs.

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831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiSIEM?

Fortinet FortiSIEM needs to provide better API integrations to users.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSIEM?

As a service, the cost is reasonable and affordable with scalable pricing based on the number of monitored devices. However, setting it up for oneself as an enterprise-licensed product can be quite...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiSIEM?

The built-in APIs in Fortinet FortiSIEM are somewhat lacking and could be improved for better integration with external ITSM products. Improving software stability and reducing bugs will make it a ...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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

Licensing is somewhat confusing, particularly when presenting our pitch decks to stakeholders and leveraging key features in premium SKUs, but we managed with some assistance from Microsoft.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?

It would be beneficial to reduce the number of clicks required to navigate between blades, as the current navigation and breadcrumb system can be a bit confusing. Some inconsistencies exist between...

See all answers

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiSIEM

January 2025

Download Fortinet FortiSIEM product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender XDR

January 2025

Download Microsoft Defender XDR product report

Also Known As

FortiSIEM, AccelOps

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender

Learn More

Fortinet

Microsoft

Overview

FortiSIEM (formerly AccelOps 4) provides an actionable security intelligence platform to monitor security, performance and compliance through a single pane of glass.

Companies around the world use FortiSIEM for the following use cases:

Threat management and intelligence that provide situational awareness and anomaly detection
Alleviating compliance mandate concerns for PCI, HIPAA and SOX
Managing “alert overload”
Handling the “too many tools” reporting issue
Addressing the MSPs/MSSPs pain of meeting service level agreements

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.

Sample Customers

FortiSIEM has hundreds of customers worldwide in markets including managed services, technology, financial services, healthcare, and government. Customers include Aruba Networks, Compushare, Port of San Diego, Cleveland Indians, Infoblox, Healthways, and Referentia.

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

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiSIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

May 2023

Free Report: Fortinet FortiSIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiSIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.

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831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Fortinet FortiSIEM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR report.

We monitor all Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.