Microsoft Defender for Identity vs Rapid7 InsightIDR comparison

The compared Microsoft and Rapid7 solutions aren't in the same category. Microsoft is ranked #3 in ITDR , with an average rating of 8.7, and holds a 9.7% mindshare in the category. Rapid7 is ranked #23 in SIEM , with an average rating of 7.5, and holds a 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Rapid7 users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender for Iden...

Read 29 Microsoft Defender for Identity reviews

7,343 Views
3,525 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Read 32 Rapid7 InsightIDR reviews

9,277 Views
4,639 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Iden...

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender for Identity and Rapid7 InsightIDR based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR Report (Updated: July 2023).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR

July 2023

Download the complete report

Helped 892,646 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 for Iden...

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (8th), Microsoft Security Suite (5th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (3rd)

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (23rd), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (10th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (39th), Threat Deception Platforms (6th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (23rd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Security Systems solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft Defender for Identity is designed for Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) and holds a mindshare of 9.7%, down 18.0% compared to last year.
Rapid7 InsightIDR, on the other hand, focuses on Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), holds 2.1% mindshare, down 2.5% since last year.

Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity	9.7%
CrowdStrike Falcon	12.8%
Huntress Managed ITDR	6.9%
Other	70.6%

Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Rapid7 InsightIDR	2.1%
Splunk Enterprise Security	7.1%
IBM Security QRadar	5.2%
Other	85.6%

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Featured Reviews

Shivam Dhang

IT Infrastructure & Cloud Manager at Softcell Technologies Limited

Advanced identity analytics have given us rapid detection of lateral movement and credential abuse

Microsoft Defender for Identity's detection is strong, but alert tuning or noise reduction could be better because some environments still see false positives that need manual baselining. The UI/UX can also improve because the investigation sometimes requires switching between portals including Defender, Entra, and Sentinel, instead of a single unified view. More custom detection rules and response actions would help as well, since it is currently less flexible compared to full SIEM or SOAR setups. I would appreciate Microsoft Defender for Identity to have better coverage for non-DC assets, including member servers, without relying on different Defender products, as the visibility is heavily DC-centric.

Read full review

SohailHyder

Head Of Cyber Security at Super Secure

Has supported compliance needs for mid-sized organizations but lacks customization and advanced integration

If we pitch Rapid7 InsightIDR against solutions such as SIEMs from Splunk or LogRhythm, it is not as customizable as a SIEM solution is. This is where it can improve if we keep in front the feature sets of a complete SIEM solution. Most common in the market is QRadar, but it is depleting now. It has been taken over by some other products such as Splunk and LogRhythm. If we compare these things with Rapid7 InsightIDR, then there are definitely some gaps that need to be filled. Data retention is also one concern because Rapid7 InsightIDR is cloud-based and operates on a subscription model. Whatever data you want to retain, it has to be paid for separately or it has a cost. Other solutions that are on-premises can have their own infrastructure or they provide some data retention for a month or in some capacity-wise, they provide that solution to them which makes them more attractive.

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

"It automates routine testing and helps automate the finding of high-value alerts."

"The feature I like most is that you can create your own customized detection rules. It has a lot of default alerts and rules, but you can customize them according to your business needs."

"We use AD Connect to sync on-premises AD to Azure AD, and so far, it has been effective."

"In the security portfolio that we manage, Microsoft Defender for Identity is very important because it is the professional service that we sell the most."

"The advanced threat protection is one of the strengths of Microsoft Defender for Identity, as it utilizes user and entity analytics and can detect indicative attacks."

"The basic security monitoring at its core feature is the most valuable aspect. But also the investigative parts, the historical logging of events over the network are extremely interesting because it gives an in-depth insight into the history of account activity that is really easy to read, easy to follow, and easy to export."

"We do not see any issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Identity. I can say it is 100% stable."

"Microsoft Defender for Identity has significantly improved my visibility into identity-based attacks, and I can now detect lateral movement and credential abuse in real time, which I previously missed."

More Microsoft Defender for Identity pros

"InsightIDR has allowed us to find potential security issues that we did not know existed, and get remediation quickly."

"User behavioral analytics allows us to pinpoint abnormal or suspicious behavior among millions of events every day."

"InsightIDR’s ability to process millions of transactions per day, and to notify me of the most critical ones, is priceless. InsightIDR has the alerts tuned, and has the ability to quickly drill down to determine the threat level."

"Log search allows us to dive deep into aggregated logs and query all event types at once."

"The solution is very cost-effective because they are not charging based on the EPS but on the number of assets."

"It improved my organization by building a security alerting program."

"Features for user behavior analytics and the rules for attack review are good."

"We were able to identify criminals attempting to login from China and put a stop on their IP locations."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR pros

Cons

"One potential area for improvement could be exploring flexibility in the installation of Microsoft Defender for Identity agents."

"The impact of the sensors on the domain controllers can be quite high depending on your loads. I don't know if there's any room for improvement there, but that's one of the things that might be improved."

"When the data leaves the cloud, there are security issues."

"Defender for Identity gives us visibility, but we often get false positives from Azure that take us down the garden path. We go through 30 incidents each day and most of those are false positives or benign positive alerts. Occasionally, we get true positive alerts."

"They should improve the automation for impossible travel detection. When connected to Wi-Fi and then to VPN, the system sometimes interprets the IP address change as impossible travel."

"Fixing the solution isn't very seamless."

"Microsoft Defender for Identity does not save me time, but I think it is the way that I secure the data."

"The technical support needs significant improvement. Documentation for more minor issues in the form of guides or walkthroughs could help to resolve this issue. The number of tickets raised would decrease, removing some pressure from the support team and making it easier to clear the remaining tickets."

More Microsoft Defender for Identity cons

"The APIs can be further improved in Rapid7."

"Customised alert recipients need to be added to allow better first-line action and quicker response. Configurable honeypots would be a welcome addition."

"Cloud risk assessment is one area where I think they need a lot of improvement."

"There are certain limitations with Rapid7 that I am working on."

"The interface for doing investigation needs to be enhanced with minor improvements that would make it more useful."

"I'd like to see a mobile application included and some feature related to the generality of segregation for internal users that access the application."

"If we pitch Rapid7 InsightIDR against solutions such as SIEMs from Splunk or LogRhythm, it is not as customizable as a SIEM solution is."

"Cloud risk assessment is one area where I think they need a lot of improvement."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Defender for Identity is a little more expensive than other Microsoft products. Identity and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are both a bit costly."

"Microsoft Defender for Identity comes as part of the Microsoft E5 licensing stack."

"It is very affordable considering that other SIEM solutions are much more expensive and have many more licensing restrictions and fees."

"The product is costly, and we had multiple discussions with accounting to receive a discounted rate. However, on the open market, the tool is expensive."

"You won't be able to change your tenants from where you deploy them. For example, if you select Canada, they will charge you based on Canadian pricing. If you are also in London, when you deploy in Canada, the pound is higher than Canadian dollars, but your platform resources are billable in Canadian dollars. Using your pounds to pay for any of these things will be cheaper. Or, if you deploy in London, they will charge you based on your local currency."

"The team is very willing to work with companies. My suggestion is to call the Rapid7 sales department and see how they can help."

"The solution has a mid-range price point in the market"

"It is more reasonably priced than other vendors."

"Licensing is by endpoint and amount of retention time (at least ours is). Default retention was one year, but we are able to push the retention further if needed. There's also a provide-your-own-S3 option for longer retention if you don't want to pay for the additional retention years in your Rapid7 agreement."

"Rapid7 InsightIDR is a cheaply priced product. On a scale of one to ten, where one is very expensive, and ten is very cheap, I rate the product's price at seven or eight."

"It is on a yearly basis. For our own company, for about 250 users, it was 16,000 euros a year."

"Accurately predict your licensing counts as this is a subscription based product."

"I rate Rapid7 InsightIDR's price a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

892,646 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	6

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Identity?

I really would have to sit down to think about how Microsoft Defender for Identity can be improved. I didn't take stock in what needs to be improved because I appreciated having the tools right the...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Identity?

My main use cases for Microsoft Defender for Identity include Conditional Access, checking risky users, remediating risky users, and user sign-ins. I can easily remediate or determine what the user...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Defender for Identity?

I don't really use Microsoft Defender for Identity a lot because my new role doesn't allow me to take time to do so. I don't really use the threat intelligence feature of Microsoft Defender for Ide...

See all answers

What SOC product do you recommend?

For tools I’d recommend: -SIEM- LogRhythm -SOAR- Palo Alto XSOAR Doing commercial w/o both (or at least an XDR) is asking to miss details that are critical, and ending up a statistic. Also, rememb...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 InsightIDR?

The product pricing is very cheap.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Rapid7 InsightIDR?

See all answers

Comparisons

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 5% of the time

Huntress Managed ITDR vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 4% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Identity vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Identity Competitors

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft Sentinel vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 4% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 3% of the time

Adlumin Security Operations vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 3% of the time

SIEMStorm vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 3% of the time

More Rapid7 InsightIDR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity

April 2026

Download Microsoft Defender for Identity product report

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 InsightIDR

April 2026

Download Rapid7 InsightIDR product report

Also Known As

Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity

InsightIDR

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Identity offers real-time threat detection and protection for hybrid Active Directory environments. It integrates with Microsoft 365 components for seamless security and monitors advanced behaviors, enhancing identity protection across cloud and on-premises environments.

Microsoft Defender for Identity provides detailed threat insights and user behavior analytics to detect unauthorized access and notify anomalies. It allows setting custom detection rules, enhancing threat response automation. While it needs improvements in cloud security, SIEM integration, and access controls, users leverage its ability to mitigate identity threats like suspicious logins and ransomware. Enhanced integration with Microsoft security products ensures a coordinated threat response for identity control and privilege management.

What are the key features of Microsoft Defender for Identity?

Active Directory Federation: Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft 365 for comprehensive security.
Real-time Security Monitoring: Provides immediate insights into advanced user behaviors and potential threats.
Threat Insights: Delivers detailed analysis of threats with the ability to customize detection rules.
User Behavior Analytics: Analyzes user activities to detect anomalies and potential risks.
Identity Protection: Offers comprehensive protection in both cloud and on-premises environments.

What benefits should users expect from reviews of Microsoft Defender for Identity?

Unauthorized Access Prevention: Identifies potential unauthorized activities with advanced detection mechanisms.
Anomaly Notification: Alerts users to unexpected activities within their environments.
Threat Response Automation: Facilitates rapid response to threats with automated solutions.
Enhanced Cloud Security: Strengthens identity management across hybrid and cloud frameworks.

In specific industries, organizations implement Microsoft Defender for Identity to secure on-premises and hybrid Active Directory environments through user and entity behavior analytics, malicious activity detection, and integration with Microsoft security tools. This approach enhances security posture assessment and helps mitigate identity threats like identity harvesting and unauthorized access.

Microsoft

Rapid7 InsightIDR is a cloud-based security information and event management solution known for its user behavior analytics, offering rapid detection and response capabilities while facilitating seamless integration across systems.

Rapid7 InsightIDR is designed to enhance threat detection and investigation through its efficient user behavior analytics and advanced threat intelligence framework. The platform's cloud-based deployment ensures rapid setup and comprehensive event monitoring across diverse IT environments, including endpoints and Office 365. Its intuitive interface supports seamless data collection, honing in on threat detection through honeypot utilization and intelligent alerting. However, it is noted for lacking some customization features and better integration, especially with Microsoft and ITSMs.

What are the key features of Rapid7 InsightIDR?

User Behavior Analytics: Detects threats by analyzing patterns and anomalies.
Cloud Deployment: Enables quick setup and scalability.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Monitors events across systems and platforms like Office 365.
Honeypots and Alerting: Utilizes honeypots to reduce false positives and alert fatigue.
Threat Intelligence Framework: Supports effective threat hunting and remediation.

What benefits should users consider in reviews when evaluating Rapid7 InsightIDR?

Enhanced Detection: Improves threat detection with user behavior analysis.
Easy Integration: Integrates across systems for a streamlined security approach.
Rapid Response: Facilitates quick action against identified threats.
Operational Efficiency: Offers a cohesive view of security operations.

Rapid7 InsightIDR is prominently used in security operation centers to manage events, detect threats, and respond effectively. Industries apply it for network behavior monitoring, compliance, and vulnerability management. Companies integrate it with security tools to boost threat investigation, ensuring full SIEM functionalities and robust log management capacities. Its application spans behavioral and intrusion analytics, aiding in monitoring and addressing malicious activities.

Rapid7

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.

Liberty Wines, Pioneer Telephone, Visier

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR

July 2023

Free Report: Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR and other solutions. Updated: July 2023.

DOWNLOAD NOW

892,646 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Rapid7 InsightIDR report.

We monitor all Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) 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.