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 11.4% mindshare in the category. Rapid7 is ranked #21 in SIEM , with an average rating of 7.8, 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 28 Microsoft Defender for Identity reviews

6,602 Views
3,301 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Read 32 Rapid7 InsightIDR reviews

7,072 Views
3,395 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Iden...

Rapid7 InsightIDR

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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

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Helped 883,760 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) (21st), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (10th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (34th), Threat Deception Platforms (8th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (20th)

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 11.4%, down 18.8% compared to last year.
Rapid7 InsightIDR, on the other hand, focuses on Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), holds 2.1% mindshare, down 2.6% since last year.

Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity	11.4%
CrowdStrike Falcon	14.0%
Microsoft Entra ID Protection	7.1%
Other	67.5%

Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Rapid7 InsightIDR	2.1%
Splunk Enterprise Security	7.2%
Wazuh	5.8%
Other	84.9%

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Featured Reviews

Oluwa Adetunji

CyberSecurity Engineer | Information Security Management at Self Employed

Automation and threat intelligence streamline threat response and user management

In Microsoft Defender for Identity, I would appreciate improvements in providing information on conditional access. They have added more control that can be put in place, which was not present years ago. They have also integrated Azure Information Protection where policies can be configured. The Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) allows users to reset their passwords, which is a valuable tool for remote workers. They have added more features into conditional access that integrate with other components, including SSPR and Identity Information Protection, trusted IPs, and locations. These configurations in trusted IP addresses are integrated into conditional access and control the applications I want to secure. Regarding impossible travel scenarios, I can either block the user or grant access while requesting multi-factor authentication. 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. If Microsoft could develop a feature that indicates when impossible travel is caused by VPN connections, it would prevent unnecessary password resets and session disruptions, especially for VIP users in organizations.

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

"The most valuable feature is its hybrid artificial intelligence, which gathers forensic data to track and counteract security threats, much like the CSI series in effect."

"Auto-remediation is a valuable feature applied to Microsoft Defender for Identity, reducing the burden of investigating false positives."

"The most valuable aspect is its connection to Microsoft Sentinel and Defender for Endpoint, and giving exact timelines for incidents and when certain events occured during an incident."

"Microsoft Defender for Identity helps me automate routine tasks and find alerts that I set up to receive, so it helps me get where I'm trying to go easier and faster."

"One of our users had the same password for every personal and company account. That was a problem because she started receiving phishing emails that could compromise all of her accounts. Defender told us that the user was not changing their password."

"It is easy to set up. Based on the number of devices you would like to set up, you can use scripts, Group Policy, etc. It takes five minutes to set up."

"I recommend Microsoft Defender for Identity because it is easy to implement."

More Microsoft Defender for Identity pros

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

"The product works well. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The UI is very good."

"Simple configuration and automatically syncs to the cloud platform."

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

"If you were on other solutions, you would notice that they use agents from third-party, from open-source, from a native OS, or from other tools. Here, however, it is an agent from Rapid7 itself. This adds to the solution's overall capabilities."

"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."

"The biggest reason why we chose Rapid7 was to gain value in a really quick time. Its deployment doesn't take months. It just takes a few days."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR pros

Cons

"I can't say that I've seen a return on investment since we have Microsoft Defender for Identity because we also have another security solution in place."

"Feedback on sync issues with the Microsoft portal highlighted its slow nature, with syncs sometimes taking eight hours."

"The tracking instance needs to be configured appropriately."

"The documentation provided by Microsoft is often seen as a waste of time."

"The solution could improve how it handles on-premises Android-related attacks."

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

"And when you are working in a priority IP address, Identity is not able to know that those IPs are from the company. It sees that the IPs are from Taiwan or from Hong Kong or from India, even though they are internal IPs, resulting in a lot of false positives."

"One area that needs improvement is the number of alerts generated, leading to alert fatigue."

More Microsoft Defender for Identity cons

"One thing that springs to mind is easier API integration with ITSMs. We are evaluating a new ITSM and I would like to have InsightIDR create a ticket when an attack is identified, and the ticket would be closed in InsightIDR when the ITSM resolution is completed. This would take out the "single point of failure" we currently have, if the email recipient is somehow absent, in recording the risk appetite for the incident and the actions taken to mitigate or not."

"They should add more configuration and security features to it."

"Currently, it lacks the functionalities provided by Rapid7's User Behavior Analytics (UBA)."

"It takes time for the product's support team to resolve issues, making it an area of concern where improvements are required."

"I would like to see more development in InsightIDR towards building their SIEM solution and converting it to XDR."

"The dashboard is an area that could be simplified."

"Lacks a mobile 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."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

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

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

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

"It is a reasonably priced solution."

"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."

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

"The pricing and licensing are competitive."

"Rapid7 InsightIDR's pricing is reasonable but we have challenges with the Minimum Order Quantity. It is not reasonable for customers who have less than one hundred devices. If they can reduce Minimum Order Quantity, it is good. You have to pay around 5000-6000 dollars per year for the product. The pricing includes maintenance and support costs."

"The pricing of the solution depends on the user. But there is a yearly licensing cost."

More Rapid7 InsightIDR pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
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...

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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...

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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...

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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 do you like most about Rapid7 InsightIDR?

During simulations or demonstrations, the tool generates alerts, providing details such as the specific application, its origin, and potential threats. For instance, it can identify if an applicati...

See all answers

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

The product pricing is very cheap.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 10% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 7% of the time

BloodHound Enterprise vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Identity Competitors

Microsoft Sentinel vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 5% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 5% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 5% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 4% of the time

Darktrace vs Rapid7 InsightIDR

Compared 3% of the time

More Rapid7 InsightIDR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity

February 2026

Download Microsoft Defender for Identity product report

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 InsightIDR

February 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

Parsing hundreds of trivial alerts. Managing a mountain of data. Manually forwarding info from your endpoints. Forget that. InsightIDR instantly arms you with the insight you need to make better decisions across the incident detection and response lifecycle, faster.

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.

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