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FortiXDR vs Microsoft Defender XDR 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

FortiXDR
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
28th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender XDR
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (7th), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Extended Detection and Response (XDR) category, the mindshare of FortiXDR is 1.3%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 4.9%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR4.9%
FortiXDR1.3%
Other93.8%
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
 

Featured Reviews

LL
Integration capabilities enhance compatibility across various cloud environments
I have extensive experience using Fortinet solutions, especially FortiXDR. I have implemented perimeter security in Azure, utilizing features such as web application firewall, application control, and security management.  I specialize in security for data centers, using various Fortinet solutions…
KO
House security operator at Cypress Creek Renewables
Advanced threat hunting saves significant time in tracking and responding to incidents
Microsoft Defender XDR could be improved with a lower price. My main suggestion would essentially be what Copilot is providing, which is a single pane of glass, so I don't have to go to different windows. That's just a workflow consideration for me. It would be great to have all the information centralized into one particular data app. If I need to open up extra ones, I can, however, I would appreciate a future where everything I need is right there on one single pane of glass. Beyond that, there's really nothing else I see that I would want Microsoft to improve.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of FortiXDR is its ability to block clients, providing comprehensive endpoint protection."
"FortiXDR is valuable for its integration capabilities with one hundred percent compatibility with other vendors in cloud environments like Google, Oracle, and Microsoft."
"The most valuable feature of FortiXDR is it integrates well with other Fortinet solutions, such as Fortinet firewall, FortiMail, FortiSandbox, Forti Fabric, switches, and access points. Whatever the flow of the traffic comes in or goes out, the entire traffic can be managed and monitored properly."
"The product is stable enough."
"FortiXDR is valuable for its integration capabilities with one hundred percent compatibility with other vendors in cloud environments like Google, Oracle, and Microsoft."
"Our customers are satisfied with FortiXDR."
"The most valuable feature of FortiXDR is its ability to block clients, providing comprehensive endpoint protection."
"The advantage of Microsoft Defender XDR has over other XDRs in the market is that it's easy to use. You can quickly differentiate between alerts, incidents, devices, software, etc. It's easier to investigate an incident, and you have so many options. You can automate investigations and use playbooks. There's also the live response session, which is something you can't find in any other XDR."
"Microsoft 365 Defender is a good solution and easy to use."
"The stability has been great."
"The proactive remediation aspects and the surfacing of suspicious activity for investigation and escalation are the key aspects we appreciate most."
"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 Email Explorer feature has proven invaluable, offering a broader perspective than automated alerts and incidents alone."
"The summarization of emails is a valuable feature."
"For me, the advanced hunting capabilities have been really great. It allowed querying the dataset with their own language, which is KQL or Kusto Query Language. That has allowed me to get much more insight into the events that have occurred. The whole power of 365 Defender is that you can get the whole story. It allows you to query an email-based activity and then correlate it with an endpoint-based activity."
 

Cons

"They could change their licensing costs to make it more affordable for smaller businesses."
"Improvement is needed in the intuitiveness and integration measures of FortiXDR, especially in terms of compatibility."
"The pricing of FortiXDR should be improved."
"Many of the solutions, such as CrowdStrike have an MDR solution where remediation can be provided by the vendor. For example, if there is any zero data threat found, a new threat that the customer is not able to recognize, fix, or understand what needs to be done this feature has to be added in FortiXDR so that the customer feels comfortable."
"The pricing of FortiXDR should be improved. It's a point of concern for us."
"Improvement is needed in the intuitiveness and integration measures of FortiXDR, especially in terms of compatibility."
"They could change their licensing costs to make it more affordable for smaller businesses."
"Just like in any solution, the price can always be cheaper."
"Microsoft could improve on threat hunting and build more on threat detection and handling. The cybersecurity and cloud security posture features are a bit lesser than standard security products."
"Troubleshooting in Microsoft 365 Defender can be inefficient."
"The technical support from Microsoft Defender XDR has been disappointingly slow, to the point that I am considering not renewing my unified support contract."
"Offboarding latency should be reduced. Even after a device has been successfully offboarded using a particular offboarding script, it still shows up as onboarded."
"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 blades, which could be improved for a more seamless user and UI experience."
"Every now and then, Microsoft Defender XDR seems to go through and aggregates almost a week's worth of incidents and wraps them up, indicating a huge problem."
"When we do investigations, it would be better if Microsoft could populate the host dashboard more. When we open any host for investigation, we want the entire timeline of what is happening on the host, including all the users logging in, their hardware, Windows version, etc."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an expensive solution compared to other vendors, such as Check Point."
"I believe that the pricing of the licensing is fair."
"It can be complex to navigate since customers have varying licensing agreements across Microsoft. If they go straightforward with E5 for all users, it's simple, but combinations based on budget constraints can complicate things."
"It has consistently offered highly appealing academic pricing, with distinct rates for higher education and general educational purposes."
"It is 15 dollars per server per month. It is worth it, but it can be costly. It depends on the company's size."
"Understanding the subscription model has been a bit challenging, as every feature or requirement comes with an additional cost."
"Its licensing and pricing are handled by someone else. My role is limited to incidents or issues with the portal, but you get what you pay for. It is worth the cost."
"Microsoft purposely makes its license combinations complex and includes combinations like Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, and Office 365 E1, so you get confused. Microsoft tries to sell you a bundle of a lot of things together."
"The most valuable licensing option is expensive, so pricing could be improved. Licensing options for this solution also need to be consolidated, because they frequently change."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise38
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FortiXDR?
Comparing to the enterprise level, the pricing is reasonable. However, for some companies, it might be a little high.
What needs improvement with FortiXDR?
They could change their licensing costs to make it more affordable for smaller businesses.
What is your primary use case for FortiXDR?
We are a system integrator and cloud service provider. Although I am in sales and not technical, I am involved with these products to sell them to our customers.
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?
My experience with pricing, setup, costs, and licensing of Microsoft Defender XDR is tied to our E5 subscription, which is very straightforward for us. We also purchase the uplift for our mobile us...
What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?
I am not aware of a mobile app that would be available for my team. With a single analyst, if she is ever away, it would be beneficial to have easier access. While she can use the web portal, the e...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.
Find out what your peers are saying about FortiXDR vs. Microsoft Defender XDR and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,346 professionals have used our research since 2012.