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Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence [EOL] vs Microsoft Sentinel 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
8.2
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence enhances security, saves on budgets, and improves detection, offering significant ROI and value.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Sentinel enhances security and efficiency, reducing costs and manual work, with long-term benefits in risk management and compliance.
It's a value-for-money product.
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
If a customer is already using Microsoft’s ecosystem, the ROI can be positive due to seamless integration.
senior cyber security at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
We attribute our growth to Sentinel.
Chief Commercial Officer at defend
From a risk perspective, it's about mitigating risk, and as mentioned earlier, we haven't missed many things since we've had the offering in market—only a couple of minor incidents.
Chief Operating Officer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Defender support is rated very good, with knowledgeable level two assistance, competent partners, and a helpful community platform.
Sentiment score
6.5
Microsoft Sentinel support is responsive and efficient, with premium tiers offering prompt assistance, although complex issues may face challenges.
Level two support is knowledgeable and knows how the product works, which is very good.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would give Microsoft an eight for their technical support.
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
Their solutions' integration simplifies resolving issues compared to those caused by third-party products.
IT Consultant at MAN Truck & Bus SE
Microsoft invests significantly in support, which is crucial for companies.
Director de Microsoft y Transformación Digital at Compucad
Working with a Sentinel engineer helped us tune settings effectively.
Systems Emgineer at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is highly scalable, adaptable for businesses of all sizes, and supports thousands of endpoints efficiently.
Sentiment score
7.7
Microsoft Sentinel's cloud architecture offers significant scalability and flexibility, easily adapting to organizational needs while accommodating extensive data.
If there were some customizations available, I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Office 365 and Exchange are running on it, covering about 35,000 users efficiently.
IT Consultant at MAN Truck & Bus SE
As our organization uses Microsoft Azure and Defender, everything grows together, and we can integrate various features seamlessly.
Systems Emgineer at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Being a SaaS solution, the scalability of Microsoft Sentinel is robust.
senior cyber security at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is seen as stable and secure, with high reliability and effective phishing prevention despite occasional outages.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Sentinel is highly stable and reliable, with minimal downtime and efficient data integration, surpassing alternatives like LogRhythm.
It provides a high level of security and avoids phishing and scam emails.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
So far, we have not experienced any issues, and it has been stable from the beginning.
IT Consultant at MAN Truck & Bus SE
In the past two years, our team hasn't encountered any issues with the stability of Microsoft Sentinel from an operations perspective.
Project Executive at synergyc
I need to be aware of deprecated connectors as they may disconnect, but the data continues to be sent with a need for quick adaptation.
senior cyber security at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender needs price adjustments, improved integration, better accuracy, enhanced AI, and smoother user experience for evolving cybersecurity.
Microsoft Sentinel requires better third-party integration, improved UI, enhanced documentation, simpler pricing, and stronger threat intelligence capabilities.
Providing code customization would help keep pace with new vulnerabilities and threats.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The main area of improvement for Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is related to how information is conveyed.
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
From the telemetry data standpoint, I would prefer Defender data to be more open in future updates.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
We have some tools, such as our off-site Meraki firewalls, that have not fully integrated with Sentinel.
Systems Emgineer at a non-profit with 1-10 employees
Currently, we are happy to have a way in the middle with not so much cost, but it would be nice to have the ability to enhance the automation of workflows based on learned incidents.
IT Consultant at MAN Truck & Bus SE
There are complexities in calculating the right pricing tier for different customers, which makes it difficult for me as a consultant during upfront pricing.
senior cyber security at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is cost-effective in bundles, but SMEs face challenges with standalone pricing and evolving licensing.
Microsoft Sentinel's pricing is complex and costly, yet beneficial for Microsoft stack users with insider knowledge for optimization.
It has been beneficial that Microsoft Sentinel is included as part of the Microsoft package, making it more cost-effective.
Senior System Administrator at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Microsoft Sentinel offers more capabilities than Bastion, with a more intuitive experience.
Project Executive at synergyc
Setting up the right cost model for customers is intricate, requiring careful consideration of various components and licensing tiers.
senior cyber security at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence excels in integration, threat detection, user interface, data retention, real-time protection, and analytics.
Microsoft Sentinel excels in integration, scalability, AI, and automation, enhancing threat detection and response with improved efficiency.
If it wasn't for that real-time threat detection on the vulnerability, I think we would not have survived the attack.
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
One of the best features is that it provides a certain level of customization, allowing us to set our spam confidence levels.
Cloud Solution architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Our threat detection is enhanced due to the AI agents in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence, which helps in detecting automatically.
Consultant at Dell Technologies
Microsoft Sentinel's ability to correlate data from multiple sources and its detection capabilities are essential.
Cost Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Sentinel has improved cost efficiency, which is one of the key areas we're able to win business against the ability to have threat intelligence.
Chief Commercial Officer at defend
Microsoft Sentinel's ability to correlate data from multiple sources enhances our threat detection capabilities beyond what is a simple data lake solution by filtering out the noise and consolidating the signal down to a meaningful level that is easier to investigate and see.
Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender Threat I...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Sentinel
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
103
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (4th), Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (6th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

Charles Mokoena - PeerSpot reviewer
Mobility & IT Project Manager at Voicevine Pty Ltd
Has strengthened our ability to detect threats in real time and improved internal security decision-making
The features that I find most valuable in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence include the Sentinel part of it. There are several features we've looked at, including Sentinel as well as extended Defender, which is XDR. I've used those two, and that's what I've found quite useful for us, especially in the hardening and analysis part of the whole threat analysis. We use the real-time threat detection features in Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. If it wasn't for that real-time threat detection on the vulnerability, I think we would not have survived the attack. The integration capabilities of Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence with other Microsoft security tools have benefited our organization's threat management process by initially being quite a challenge, especially coming from other security tools such as Fortinet and Check Point. However, once you've gotten used to it, it's quite easy and user-friendly. The dashboard, especially the threat analysis dashboard, is quite detailed in terms of providing a view of which areas in our environment need attention, making it quite useful.
RW
Solutions Architect at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Creates value with advanced investigation capabilities while seeking improved integration with varied platforms
My primary improvement request would be for auxiliary logs, as they represent our biggest need. While we have automated deployments now, Microsoft Sentinel is fairly easy to deploy, although we face challenges with integrations related to AWS and GCP, particularly with Google. The integration challenges arise from both sides; Google tends to be noisy, and we find only ten analytic rules out of the box, necessitating the use of Defender for Cloud for alerts, which indicates a need for better documentation during deployment. The story between UEBA and Defender for Identity and Intra needs to be further explored and defined. There's some confusion on what is happening from a user and entity behavior.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Educational Organization
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise44
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
It just runs in the background. I don't have to worry about, making sure it's Intelligence. So, you know, this kind of makes it very easy, have to worry about installing. It is easy to use.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
From the telemetry data standpoint, I would prefer Defender data to be more open in future updates.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence?
We have tried Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. I have expertise with Microsoft Defender products. I am not familiar with Microsoft Defender for IoT because we did not use that in our environ...
Is there a common threat intelligence tool that aggregates multiple threat intelligence sources?
Yes, Azure Sentinel is a SIEM on the Cloud. Multiple data sources can be uploaded and analyzed with Azure Sentinel and its Threat Hunting functionality with AI available as templates or customized ...
What is a better choice, Splunk or Azure Sentinel?
It would really depend on (1) which logs you need to ingest and (2) what are your use cases Splunk is easy for ingestion of anything, but the charge per GB/Day Indexed and it gets expensive as log ...
Which is better - Azure Sentinel or AWS Security Hub?
We like that Azure Sentinel does not require as much maintenance as legacy SIEMs that are on-premises. Azure Sentinel is auto-scaling - you will not have to worry about performance impact, you will...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure Sentinel
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Microsoft Sentinel is trusted by companies of all sizes including ABM, ASOS, Uniper, First West Credit Union, Avanade, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft and others in Microsoft Security Suite. Updated: December 2025.
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