Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs Microsoft Entra Permissions Management comparison

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and Microsoft Entra Permissions Management are both solutions in the Microsoft Security Suite category. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is ranked #34 with an average rating of 7.5, while Microsoft Entra Permissions Management is ranked #29 with an average rating of 7.0. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management holds a 0.2% mindshare in Microsoft Security Suite, compared to Microsoft Entra Permissions Management’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Microsoft Entra Permissions Management users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender External...

Read 2 Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management reviews

108 Views
69 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Entra Permissions...

Read 2 Microsoft Entra Permissions Management reviews

474 Views
370 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender External...

Microsoft Entra Permissions...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and Microsoft Entra Permissions Management based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Microsoft Security Suite solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Entra Permissions Management Report (Updated: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Entra Permissions Management

February 2025

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Helped 845,849 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

Microsoft Defender External...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

34th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Attack Surface Management (ASM) (12th)

Microsoft Entra Permissions...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

29th

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra Permissions Management is 0.5%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

AndyChan3

General manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Enhanced visibility and exposes vulnerabilities but needs more integration

I am currently in the pilot stage of implementing Microsoft External Attack Surface Management (EASM). My organization is transitioning to a comprehensive track of Microsoft solutions, and we will move to full-scale production in another year, maybe Microsoft External Attack Surface Management…

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Sameer Bhat

Vice President at Goldman Sachs

Provides resource-based access and security, but time-bound access can be a problem

Entra ID is the core of the identity management that we have. This is the key product that we are using. I am currently also looking into Entra Private Access because we are planning to deploy about 50,000 desktops into Azure and use Azure Virtual Desktop. We would like to give access to the users from the desktop to on-premises applications. I learned that Entra Private Access is a good solution. That is not yet GA, but that is what we are looking for. Entra provides a single pane of glass for managing user access, but because our company also integrates with Nebula API, only administrators use Entra's pane. A normal person who wants to get onboarded can do self-service using Nebula. The features for whitelisting and other things are definitely there. That is what we use specifically. Application IDs, enterprise applications, and all those things are already there, so we have more efficiency. There is also security because we usually do not allow user identities to get direct access to Azure resources. Usually, we use the service principles from Entra ID, so this way, it increases security. Entra has helped to save time for our IT administrators. We tend to automate a lot of things. We can do automation using Graph APIs and save time. It is hard to quantify the time savings, but there has been a medium amount of time savings. Entra has helped to save our organization money. We care about security and risk more than money, but it also saves money. We are premium customers, and because we have a commit-to-consume contract with Microsoft of multi-million dollars, the money does not come into it because we have to consume those resources.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft External Attack Surface Management helps improve the visibility of my exposed vulnerabilities and provides an overview of my security posture across the globe."

"It seems to be better at protecting from cyberattacks."

"Multifactor authentication is valuable."

"The solution integrates well with our infrastructure and other systems without any issues."

Cons

"Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement."

"With Microsoft, support is always crazy, it's not easy to get support."

"The integration is not as seamless compared to competitors like Palo Alto."

"The solution's pricing and support services need improvement."

"We use a third-party API called Nebula API to integrate the account for authorization. The time-bound access area in Entra can be a problem. It can be improved in terms of the granularity of the permissions."

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"We are a Fortune 500 company, so we always negotiate with Microsoft."

"The product cost is in the mid to high range."

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845,849 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

I rate the pricing of the solution as eight out of ten.

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement. Introduction of more AI automation into the products would also be beneficial. The integration is not as seamless co...

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What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Entra Permissions Management?

Multifactor authentication is valuable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Entra Permissions Management?

The product cost is in the mid to high range. You need to have a good budget to implement it, so it is considered fairly expensive for our market. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Entra Permissions Management?

The solution's pricing and support services need improvement.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

Bitsight vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Compared 12% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Compared 12% of the time

Mandiant Advantage vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

Compared 10% of the time

More Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management Competitors

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs Microsoft Entra Permissions Management

Compared 35% of the time

Saviynt vs Microsoft Entra Permissions Management

Compared 35% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Entra Permissions Management

Compared 17% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Microsoft Entra Permissions Management

Compared 14% of the time

More Microsoft Entra Permissions Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Attack Surface Management (ASM)

April 2025

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management report

Download Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)

April 2025

Microsoft Entra Permissions Management report

Download Microsoft Entra Permissions Management product report

Also Known As

No data available

CloudKnox Permissions Management

Overview

In this era of hybrid work, shadow IT creates an increasingly serious security risk. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management helps cloud security teams see unknown and unmanaged resources outside the firewall.

Microsoft

Microsoft Entra Permissions Management is a cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) solution that provides comprehensive visibility into permissions assigned to all identities – users and workloads – actions, and resources across cloud infrastructures. It detects, right-sizes, and monitors unused and excessive permissions and enables Zero Trust security through least privilege access in Microsoft Azure, AWS, and GCP.

Microsoft

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Entra Permissions Management

February 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Entra Permissions Management

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Entra Permissions Management and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.

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