Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for IoT comparison

Microsoft Defender for IoT and Microsoft Defender XDR are both solutions in the Microsoft Security Suite category. Microsoft Defender for IoT is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.5, while Microsoft Defender XDR is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.4. Microsoft Defender for IoT holds a 0.3% mindshare in Microsoft Security Suite, compared to Microsoft Defender XDR’s 5.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft Defender for IoT users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Microsoft Defender XDR users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender for IoT

Read 2 Microsoft Defender for IoT reviews

136 Views
101 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender XDR

Read 97 Microsoft Defender XDR reviews

4,870 Views
3,779 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for IoT

Microsoft Defender XDR

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender for IoT and Microsoft Defender XDR 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 XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for IoT Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for IoT

March 2025

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Helped 847,625 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 IoT

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

28th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IoT Security (5th), Operational Technology (OT) Security (6th)

Microsoft Defender XDR

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (5th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for IoT is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 5.6%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

William Tuleja

Senior Endpoint Engineer at a university with 501-1,000 employees

Integration with existing tools boosts management efficiency

The only improvement I see is that some detection explanations are vaguely provided by Microsoft, resulting in generic IoT detections that alert me to an issue yet don't specify what's wrong. Often, it just links back to a generic KB article without additional information. When it happens, it requires extra detective work. This issue doesn't occur often but can be annoying.

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Gabor Nyerd

Enterprise mobility and security evangelist at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Includes four services and four products, which can help organizations a lot

We found that sometimes integrations work, but testing them can take some time. Sometimes, configurations take much longer than expected. We have a configuration in place that needs to be synchronized with another server. However, the servers are four hours apart, so this can cause delays. In general, I believe that the time it takes to configure and test a service should be shorter. Sometimes, it can take a couple of hours to test a single configuration setting. Other times, it is only ten or fifteen minutes, which is normal. However, sometimes, even immediate actions can be triggered by configuration changes, and some settings can take up to eight hours to complete. I believe that this time can be improved. Microsoft is making a lot of improvements to its services in a short period of time. This is a good thing, as it means that the services are constantly being updated and improved. However, it can be challenging for customers to keep up with the changes. For example, a customer may read about an update, understand it, and share it with their colleagues and boss. However, it may take days or weeks to test the update and get the necessary approvals. This can be especially challenging for large customers with many users or machines. In some cases, Microsoft may change a service before the customer has had a chance to implement the previous update. This can be frustrating for customers, as it means that they have to constantly learn new things and adjust their workflows. On the one hand, it is important for Microsoft to keep updating and improving its services. This helps to ensure that the services are meeting the customers' needs and that they are staying ahead of the competition. Microsoft should also be mindful of the challenges that these changes can create for customers. One way to address this challenge is to provide customers with more time to implement changes. Microsoft could also provide more information about upcoming changes so that customers can plan ahead. Ultimately, Microsoft needs to strike a balance between keeping its services up-to-date and providing customers with a smooth transition to new features.

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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

"I believe it is best suited for cloud services and is unmatched by other cloud security solutions."

"I find Microsoft Defender very effective in vulnerability management and it provides good attack reduction, making it a next-generation protection solution."

"Mainly, it is manageable and integrates with other Microsoft products, which is crucial for me."

"It is manageable and integrates with other Microsoft products, which is crucial for me."

"It's a very scalable tool that can be used in a very small environment or in a very large environment. Everything can be managed from a simple dashboard and can be scaled up or down depending on the customer's environment."

"You can configure the product very easily."

"One of the most valuable features of Microsoft Defender XDR is its ability to provide preemptive reports regarding excessive privileged access."

"Having a single pane of glass for all Microsoft security services makes everything much easier. A security analyst can go to a single portal and see everything in one view. The integration of everything into one portal is a huge benefit."

"A crucial aspect for our team is the inclusion of identity and access management tools from the vendor."

"In our company,we have faced multiple attacks over the last few months, but none of them have been successful, and I think Microsoft Defender XDR has played a major role in it."

"Defender XDR has a feature called the timeline that lets you track all activities. It helps a lot with investigations."

"In Microsoft 365 vendor products, monitoring and connectivity across all Microsoft and third-party connectors enable viewing of all activity within those environments."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pros

Cons

"The only improvement I see is that some detection explanations are vaguely provided by Microsoft, resulting in generic IoT detections that alert me to an issue yet don't specify what's wrong."

"The primary area that needs improvement is compatibility with the latest IoT technologies."

"Customer service and support from Microsoft are costly. The execution by engineers is expensive, and the service is neither free nor toll-free, making it less accessible for customers."

"The only improvement I see is that some detection explanations are vaguely provided by Microsoft, resulting in generic IoT detections that alert me to an issue yet don't specify what's wrong."

"It would be helpful if the solution could scan faster when it comes to scanning attachments to emails."

"The only problem I find is that the use cases are built-in. There is no template available that you can modify according to your organization's standards. What they give is very generic, the market standard, but that might not be applicable to every organization."

"There are a few technical issues with Defender XDR that can be improved. Sometimes, the endpoint devices are not reporting properly to the Defender 365 portal. When you're getting all the information from the Microsoft portal, the devices are sometimes not in sync. We have hundreds of endpoint devices, some needing to be onboarded again."

"The message trace feature for investigating mail flow issues should add more detailed information to the summary report... if they could extend the summary report a little bit, make it more descriptive, ordinary administrators could understand what happened and that the emails failed at this or that point. That way they would know the location to go to try to correct it and to prevent it from occurring again."

"The solution could improve by having better machine learning and AI. Additionally, the interface, documentation, and integration could be better."

"It would be beneficial to have a more seamless experience with everything consolidated in one place, particularly when dealing with aspects related to the Exchange console."

"Stability could be improved by avoiding frequent changes to the interface."

"The tool gives inconsistent answers and crashes a lot."

More Microsoft Defender XDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"I believe the pricing is fair and acceptable. I consider it to be reasonable and satisfactory."

"I believe that the pricing of the licensing is fair."

"The license cost for a year is approximately forty-four thousand, and this annual saving is a significant factor in our decision to switch."

"Microsoft Defender XDR's licensing is complicated."

"I find the pricing to be quite competitive, especially considering its inclusion in our E5 subscription, which provides a comprehensive set of functionalities."

"All I can say again is the E5 gives you all the capabilities that it offers. It also gives Office 365 and one terabyte of storage. All in all, the E5 license model makes sense. There are some people who say it's quite costly, but rather than paying different vendors, it makes sense to go all in with Microsoft if you've got that licensing. From that perspective, it's cost-effective, but I can't comment much on that."

"With the little idea I have about the costs, I can say that XDR tools tend to be a bit expensive. If you are using Microsoft Defender XDR, then you need to go for a subscription-based pricing model."

"365 Defender can get expensive because you pay per gigabyte of data ingested. On the other hand, much of the data available in the other Microsoft security solutions are made available relatively cheaply—sometimes at cost or for free. Integrating only a limited set of third-party solutions with Sentinel would be cost-effective. It's much more affordable if companies only have Microsoft stuff."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Energy/Utilities Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

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 for IoT?

The solution is relatively expensive with licensing being based on each device. The cost per license might not be affordable for every organization, and I would rate it around six out of ten on a s...

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for IoT?

The primary area that needs improvement is compatibility with the latest IoT technologies. Microsoft needs flexibility to ensure good compatibility with new IoT solutions, which frequently introduc...

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

My primary use case for Microsoft Defender for IoT is security. It helps with vulnerability management and provides significant attack reduction. It functions as a next-generation protection soluti...

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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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?

Licensing is somewhat confusing, particularly when presenting our pitch decks to stakeholders and leveraging key features in premium SKUs, but we managed with some assistance from Microsoft.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?

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...

See all answers

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Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IoT Security

April 2025

Download Microsoft Defender for IoT product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender XDR

March 2025

Download Microsoft Defender XDR product report

Also Known As

Azure Defender for IoT

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender

Overview

Microsoft Defender for IoT offers advanced security designed to protect IoT environments from sophisticated threats. Its deep integration with Azure reinforces security across devices and networks.

Microsoft Defender for IoT provides scalable threat detection and security intelligence tailored for IoT devices. Leveraging cloud-powered analytics, it ensures protection against emerging threats while supporting diverse device landscapes. The platform's compatibility with Azure Sentinel offers robust security operations and management capabilities.

What are the core features of Microsoft Defender for IoT?

Threat Intelligence: Provides real-time insights and threat detection using cloud-powered analytics.
Device Management: Simplifies the monitoring and management of IoT devices across networks.
Integrated Security: Seamlessly integrates with Azure Sentinel for comprehensive security operations.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Improved Security Posture: Strengthens the protection of IoT ecosystems against cyber threats.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces the complexities and costs associated with managing IoT security.
Scalability: Supports growth and adaptation to expanding IoT networks.

In manufacturing, Microsoft Defender for IoT aids in maintaining operational efficiency by preventing unauthorized access to industrial control systems. Healthcare providers utilize it to protect sensitive patient data transmitted through connected devices. Retailers benefit from secure management of inventory systems and customer data across smart devices.

Microsoft

Microsoft Defender XDR is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect against threats in the Microsoft 365 environment.

It offers robust security measures, comprehensive threat detection capabilities, and an efficient incident response system. With seamless integration with other Microsoft products and a user-friendly interface, it simplifies security management tasks.

Users have found it effective in detecting and preventing various types of attacks, such as phishing attempts, malware infections, and data breaches.

Watch the Microsoft demo video here: Microsoft Defender XDR demo video.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for IoT

March 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for IoT

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for IoT and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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