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Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Microsoft Entra ID Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.4
Users found Microsoft Defender for Office 365 cost-effective, citing improved protection, time efficiency, and savings in security management.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Entra ID Protection achieved ROI in three years, enhancing efficiency and user satisfaction despite higher costs.
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
There is a return on investment in terms of time-saving, control, and ease of manageability of the environment.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers knowledgeable support, though escalation delays and outdated documentation can affect resolution speed.
Sentiment score
6.1
Entra ID Protection support receives mixed reviews; while responsive for some, others report delays, reliance on documentation, and inconsistent ticket handling.
Customer service and support have been fantastic.
Tickets often bounce from person to person, requiring the sharing of information multiple times.
They often refer to internal blogs, which doesn't offer much new information and can limit our capabilities in troubleshooting.
My teammates have had good communication with Microsoft.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is scalable, adaptable, and integrates seamlessly, supporting medium to large enterprises efficiently.
Sentiment score
8.6
Microsoft Entra ID Protection offers scalable, adaptable solutions with high performance, praised for flexibility and cloud-native capabilities across industries.
Since it is a cloud computing product, it can accommodate a range of company sizes, from a few users to large businesses.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is highly rated for stability, featuring strong performance and rare minor network issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Entra ID Protection and Azure AD are generally stable, reliable, and perform well, with minor and infrequent issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 requires improvements in antivirus, scalability, integration, interface, threat intelligence, and licensing transparency.
Microsoft Entra ID Protection needs better management, integration, scalability, and simplified user interface, with key improvements for Mac support.
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
I would reduce the cost.
Microsoft has not offered control over how they calculate high or low-risk scenarios.
There is no write-back feature from the cloud to local, which would allow me to use my own credentials from the cloud tenant securely.
There is room for improvement in the ability for Entra ID Protection to inherit roles and configurations from whatever solution I am migrating from.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 pricing varies; often costly for SMBs but competitive for enterprises, with added licensing complexities.
Microsoft Entra ID Protection's pricing is seen as competitive, yet sometimes perceived as complex or expensive by enterprise buyers.
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
Entra ID Protection is not badly priced, but some clients, especially in medium to smaller scale companies in third-world countries, find it quite expensive.
The pricing for Microsoft Entra ID protection is not expensive.
Microsoft Entra ID requires additional licensing components.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides comprehensive email protection with seamless Microsoft integration, enhancing threat management and data security.
Microsoft Entra ID Protection integrates seamlessly, enhancing security with multifactor authentication, conditional access, and scalable user management.
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is now part of a centralized tenant for my entire group.
Having a single sign-on feature with Entra ID ensures seamless access to various applications, even those with significant security constraints.
These features ease the job of security analysts, providing a better vision of user activities and potential risks.
The valuable features of Entra ID Protection include providing me visibility of my entire estate, managing access, and having a level of control.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (1st)
Microsoft Entra ID Protection
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (8th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 2.3%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID Protection is 4.6%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

Tolu Omolaja - PeerSpot reviewer
Great URL scanning and attachment scanning, but I would like more proactive threat analysis
The two main features that prove most beneficial for us are URL scanning and attachment scanning. URL scanning involves an automatic scan of links and emails. When a user clicks on a link within an email, the system promptly checks the link's safety. If the link is deemed safe, access is granted automatically. However, if it is flagged as unsafe, we receive feedback and notification to caution us about the potentially harmful link. At this point, we are presented with the option to proceed or return. I have personally witnessed the system identify a few unsafe links, making this the primary advantage of using the solution. The second crucial aspect is the scanning of attachments. When an email containing an attachment arrives, we receive a notification of the new email, along with information that the attachment is being scanned for threats. This additional layer of security provides peace of mind for our organization. While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers numerous features, these two stand out as particularly impressive and valuable to us.
Mahender Nirwan - PeerSpot reviewer
Access to other software is just one click away and suitable for big organizations
Currently, we have limited use of Microsoft AD. We only use it to see if user blocks are available. If they are, we unblock the account and get access accordingly. AD has paid access control features. We can add access control over AD. For example, for documentation, we use an Outline tool. It's open source, and we add our company's knowledge base to it. It's an alternative to Confluence. We don't want everyone to have access to all documentation. If I create documentation for my team, only my team should have access, not support or sales. We can add these scopes or access controls over AD. Once integrated, the person will get the appropriate access control features upon logging in. Role-based access control is a great feature of Active Directory.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the indi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
I don't have detailed specifics on pricing, setup cost, or licensing.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
I am generally satisfied with how it currently is. If I could improve anything, I would reduce the cost.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
The pricing for Microsoft Entra ID protection is not expensive. It varies based on the company's size and quality.
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
I have set up my Active Directory locally for the same domain. However, Entra ID lacks a function to synchronize from the cloud to the local directory. This is a significant issue since there is no...
 

Also Known As

MS Defender for Office 365
Azure Active Directory Identity Protection, Azure AD Identity Protection
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Microsoft Entra ID Protection and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
847,646 professionals have used our research since 2012.