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Huntress Managed EDR vs Microsoft Defender XDR comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

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
6.9
Huntress Managed EDR boosts ROI by improving security, reducing costs, and streamlining workflows, enabling focus on core tasks.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Defender XDR provides high ROI by consolidating security tools, streamlining operations, and enhancing security, despite licensing costs.
We have to provide endpoint security as a core part of our service as an MSP and using Huntress Managed EDR has saved us approximately a thousand dollars a month over using other more expensive, less effective solutions.
CTO at Limetree Labs
My advice to others looking into using Huntress Managed EDR is that if they're looking for an easy-to-use and manage solution, Huntress Managed EDR is a good fit for a small to medium company.
Director, Information Technology at Middletown Medical
I have seen a return on investment mainly through time savings, as we know all the endpoints are protected 24/7, and we understand the value of the SOC team, with the human SOC team being very valuable.
Managing Director at HTL 365 LLC
We can quarantine and isolate a device within minutes.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Defender XDR has saved me at least 50% of my time.
House security operator at Cypress Creek Renewables
It helped stop multiple intrusion points where we would have had millions in lost revenue if the attackers got in.
Network Technician at T. Baker Smith, LLC
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.9
Huntress Managed EDR offers exceptional customer service with prompt, knowledgeable support, proactive communication, and efficient issue resolution.
Sentiment score
6.1
Microsoft Defender XDR's support is timely and responsive, yet smaller organizations experience slower, less effective assistance than larger ones.
I felt it was important to raise awareness about this new technique where attackers use legitimate applications to gain remote access and control of computers.
Owner at Phenicie Business Management
They are thorough and ensure the problem is addressed without pushing responsibilities onto me unnecessarily.
Senior Systems Engineer at NetSmart, Inc.
For technical support, I would rate Huntress a ten out of ten, and in truth, they are better than that.
President at Cyber5
You get stuck in low-level support for way longer than you should, instead of them escalating the issue up the chain.
Enterprise Application Engineer at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's critical to escalate SEV B issues immediately to a domestic engineer.
Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group
Once issues are escalated to the second or third layer, the support is much better.
Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Huntress Managed EDR is scalable, responsive, cost-effective, easy to deploy, integrates seamlessly, and is ideal for SMBs.
Sentiment score
6.9
Microsoft Defender XDR scales well for various organizations, efficiently supporting growth and flexibility despite some network deployment challenges.
I know other techs with thousands deployed, so scalability isn't an issue.
Business Owner at Royal IT
Scaling Huntress is simple; I can manage up to a thousand devices without issue.
Owner at Phenicie Business Management
I can easily scale from one machine to thousands without any fuss.
Owner at Antra Tech
My concern is about the scale of events and alerts being generated, and the product is doing a very good job of only surfacing the important items for us.
Vice President, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees
Microsoft Defender XDR shows tremendous scalability, much more so than on-premises solutions.
Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group
Microsoft Defender XDR scales pretty well.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Huntress Managed EDR is highly stable and efficient, with minor issues resolved quickly and no significant system impact.
Sentiment score
8.1
Microsoft Defender XDR is praised for high stability, reliable performance, minimal issues, frequent updates, and prompt issue resolution.
About stability, we have not seen any lagging, crashing, downtime, or any sort of instability with Huntress Managed EDR.
Security Specialist at a healthcare company with 201-500 employees
We have not experienced any issues with lagging, crashing, or downtime.
CTO at Accent Consulting
I never experienced issues, but once there was an instance with false positives with their Rio service, which was quickly resolved by customer service.
Business Owner at Royal IT
The service has remained consistently online, with any issues isolated to specific components, suggesting a well-designed and modular architecture.
Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The services within our ecosystem have been reliable, meeting their SLAs.
Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group
It provides high-fidelity signals.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Huntress Managed EDR requires improvements in integration, UI, reporting, security features, and support for diverse platforms and tools.
Microsoft Defender XDR requires enhancements in speed, integration, automation, AI, ease-of-use, and industry-specific threat intelligence.
A more transparent way for the support team at Huntress and our IT team to collaborate to make it faster and easier would be beneficial.
VCIO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Huntress Managed EDR indicated this is a normal behavior, but I would prefer to be alerted whenever there is any incident involving Windows Defender on any machines, regardless of the status of the incident.
Managing Director at KAN iT
Since we support customers in different countries, expanding the language options for their training would be beneficial.
CTO at Accent Consulting
The licensing process needs improvement and clarification.
Owner at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Improvements are needed in automated response capabilities.
Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Some inconsistencies exist between blades, which could be improved for a more seamless user and UI experience.
Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group
 

Setup Cost

Huntress Managed EDR provides cost-effective, straightforward pricing per endpoint, balancing quality service and industry-standard costs for enterprises.
Microsoft Defender XDR pricing is seen as complex but fair, with high costs alleviated in bundled Microsoft 365 packages.
The savings from utilizing the included Windows Defender offset the cost of Huntress Managed EDR, making it an affordable solution overall.
Managing Director at Fluent2 Ltd
It is not too expensive or too cheap. It is just right.
Owner at Antra Tech
It can get expensive for small to medium businesses if large license quantities are not purchased.
Senior Systems Engineer at NetSmart, Inc.
There are certainly savings when using Microsoft Defender XDR, which can range from 30%, 40%, and even up to 50%.
Director, Sales at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
I would rate the pricing as eight out of ten, indicating it is a reasonable cost for the product.
Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs.
Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Huntress Managed EDR offers 24/7 SOC, threat hunting, and integration with Microsoft, enhancing security and reducing costs for SMBs.
Microsoft Defender XDR integrates tools for comprehensive security, offering threat detection, automation, identity protection, and enhanced efficiency.
What stands out most is their human element: when faced with an unknown threat, real people, not just automated processes, are investigating it, and they're people we trust.
CTO at Accent Consulting
They provide detailed remediation steps, explaining why an issue is a problem and what steps to take.
Business Owner at Royal IT
Previously, I could not modify it unless I had special Microsoft licensing, so it was beneficial to control Windows Defender through a central console to add policies and things like that.
Owner at Antra Tech
With Microsoft threat intelligence information, it detects various types of threats, including insider attacks, malicious content, and data exfiltration.
Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
This allows us to secure our systems in advance and proactively improve security, rather than waiting for incidents to occur.
Works at Hometrack
Once we have it on the security dashboard, we can see a real-time storyline.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Huntress Managed EDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
7th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (1st)
Microsoft Defender XDR
Ranking in Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category, the mindshare of Huntress Managed EDR is 3.0%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 2.7%, down from 3.3% 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 XDR2.7%
Huntress Managed EDR3.0%
Other94.3%
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
 

Featured Reviews

Anto Baharian - PeerSpot reviewer
Owner at Antra Tech
Never misses anything and has an attractive price point and a simple interface
One thing they could improve is evolving from an EDR to an MDR, like Blackpoint. This transition would enable automatic remediation of anything that looks dangerous, including within Microsoft 365. For instance, when one of my clients' Microsoft 365 account was breached, Blackpoint identified suspicious activity and disabled the account. It was in Dallas, and we are in California. Blackpoint knew something was wrong there, and they went in and disabled the account. Developing more automated remediation features would elevate them to an MDR level, but I understand that it might affect pricing. They are trying to keep it at a good price point because once they go to MDR, it is probably going to double the price. For now, I find the current features satisfactory, as they continue to add improvements. They have added security awareness training and then log collectors. They are adding pillars as they move along, and I assume they are going to have an option for MDR.
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.
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879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise38
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Huntress?
It is very easy to use. It is a great solution. They are one of the better vendors that I have ever worked with since I have been in the industry.
What needs improvement with Huntress?
In terms of room for improvement for Huntress Managed EDR, I think that if they could work with maybe other antivirus vendors to sort of work together with those, it would be beneficial because I k...
What is your primary use case for Huntress?
Our use case is to fill some security gaps that we have, especially regarding the antivirus suite that we use, which doesn't have the full capabilities of Huntress Managed EDR. Huntress Managed EDR...
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 Huntress Managed EDR vs. Microsoft Defender XDR and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.