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 8.0, and holds a 3.1% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #4 in XDR , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 7.3% 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

4,591 Views
3,105 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender XDR

Read 96 Microsoft Defender XDR reviews

7,297 Views
5,518 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiSIEM

Microsoft Defender XDR

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

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

Download the complete report

Helped 842,672 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) (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd)

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 3.1%, up 3.1% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender XDR, on the other hand, focuses on Extended Detection and Response (XDR), holds 7.3% mindshare, up 6.6% 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…

Read full review

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

"The product's initial setup phase was easy."

"We find the solution to be stable."

"The ability to write my own parsers for the devices that are not supported by Fortinet is the most valuable feature."

"Fortinet FortiSIEM is highly scalable. I would rate its scalability nine out of ten."

"The event correlation is pretty robust. The GUI is pretty good."

"Fortinet FortiSIEM is less costly than other products and is available 24/7."

"I like FortiSIEM because it integrates natively with our other Fortinet solutions and the Fortinet Fabric, but it also integrates with Cisco, Palo Alto and other security fabrics."

"It works well with medium to large-scale enterprises."

More Fortinet FortiSIEM pros

"The most valuable features are machine learning, AI, and auto-remediation of none malicious alerts."

"The best feature is probably the alert generation. When I do a security reset, the other session triggers instantly from the Defender console, and I can work on it. The policies are three times, but they are also ready to install it."

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

"It has been great for us. Previously, we didn't have a solution to protect us, especially from malware, whereas now, we are getting protection up front, especially from the malware attacks coming through emails or endpoints."

"The most valuable feature is the network security."

"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."

"I rate Microsoft Defender XDR 10 out of 10."

"There is also one dashboard that shows us the status of many controls at once and the details I can get... It gives a great overview of many areas, such as files, emails, chats, and links. Even with the apps, it gives you a great overview. In one place you can see where you should look into things more deeply..."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pros

Cons

"The solution's interface could be modernized and improved."

"The challenge I face with Fortinet FortiSIEM is the lack of support."

"The backup and recovery process for this solution needs improvement."

"Sometimes, if there are changes made by a user on a database server, it can be difficult to get that information on the fly. I would like to see a situation where once I specify a user with the database server I need, and with the changes they have performed on that, I don't need to continue my search pattern to drill down just to get the information."

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

"The policy editing should be easier. Right now, it's too hard."

"Fortinet FortiSIEM could improve by having better integration and extensions. This would benefit by allowing us to give more rules."

"Their technical support is horrible. By horrible, I mean a train wreck of a disaster that has fallen off a bridge and caught fire."

More Fortinet FortiSIEM cons

"The dashboard should be easier to use. There is also improvement needed in the reporting when it comes to exporting or scheduling reports."

"Microsoft could improve on threat hunting and build more on threat detection and handling."

"This solution could be improved if it included features such as those offered by Malwarebytes."

"When discussing the secure score, which includes overviews and recommended actions, some of these recommended actions are not applicable to us, particularly those related to Microsoft Internet Explorer, which we do not use in any of our environments."

"Defender's AI for identifying suspicious activity could be improved. Also, I do a lot of home updates. Maybe there is a way to set it up faster. For example, let's say that I want to automatically update seven computers, servers, etc. I wouldn't do it to a user, but maybe the server. I don't mind if the server restarts automatically."

"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."

"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 price could be better. It'll also help if they can continuously update and upgrade the solution. Every day there's a new virus uploaded into the network, and we have to keep updating it to identify all these things."

More Microsoft Defender XDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fortinet FortiSIEM is very cost-efficient compared to other SIEM solutions."

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

"Fortinet FortiSIEM is cheaper compared to other products."

"If one is cheap and ten is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight out of ten. Compared with Splunk or Oracle, Fortinet is cheap."

"FortiSIEM's licensing is based on EPS, and its pricing is competitive in the market."

"The solution is available for both, perpetual and subscription licenses."

"Pricing is determined based on the customer's budget."

"Fortinet FortiSIEM is not an expensive solution."

More Fortinet FortiSIEM pricing and cost advice

"We have a lot of problems in Latin America regarding the price of Microsoft 365 Defender, because the relationship between dollars and the money of the different countries, it's is a lot. Many customers that have small businesses say that they would like the solution but it is too expensive. However, large companies do not find the cost an issue."

"While the standalone price of Defender XDR might seem high, its value becomes clear when considering the ease of implementation and smooth integration with our existing Microsoft infrastructure, especially when bundled with other Microsoft products."

"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."

"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 Defender falls within a mid-tier price range compared to other security solutions."

"There are no issues with pricing, but sometimes, the clarity in licensing is a concern."

"Microsoft Defender XDR is included in our license."

"The bundling of software makes it easier to manage our setup, but Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs."

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.

See recommendations

842,672 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Comms Service Provider

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

Comparisons

IBM Security QRadar vs Fortinet FortiSIEM

Compared 13% of the time

Wazuh vs Fortinet FortiSIEM

Compared 13% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Fortinet FortiSIEM

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Sentinel vs Fortinet FortiSIEM

Compared 8% of the time

Trellix ESM vs Fortinet FortiSIEM

Compared 2% of the time

More Fortinet FortiSIEM Competitors

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 25% of the time

Wazuh vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 9% of the time

Trend Vision One vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender XDR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiSIEM

March 2025

Download Fortinet FortiSIEM product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender XDR

March 2025

Download Microsoft Defender XDR product report

Also Known As

FortiSIEM, AccelOps

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender

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

Fortinet

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

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.

DOWNLOAD NOW

842,672 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.