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Microsoft Defender XDR vs Wazuh comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

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
7.0
Microsoft Defender XDR offers cost savings, enhanced security, and efficiency by consolidating measures, reducing cyberattack losses, and streamlining processes.
Sentiment score
3.5
Wazuh offers rapid threat detection and response, high ROI, cost-effective security, and requires personnel investment for maximum benefit.
Ever since we turned on the M5 feature set back in June, we have seen a reduced number of potentially malicious clicks and faster alerting when incidents occur.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Defender XDR support varies; larger organizations benefit more, with issues in responsiveness and knowledge sharing for smaller companies.
Sentiment score
4.3
Wazuh's support receives mixed reviews, with some users praising forums and documentation, while others face response delays.
You get stuck in low-level support for way longer than you should, instead of them escalating the issue up the chain.
It's critical to escalate SEV B issues immediately to a domestic engineer.
The technical support from Microsoft Defender XDR has been disappointingly slow.
There is no dedicated technical support for Wazuh as it is open source.
The documentation is good and provides clear instructions, though it's targeted at those with technical backgrounds.
We use the open-source version of Wazuh, which does not provide paid support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender XDR offers scalable solutions for diverse organizations, with strengths in cloud setups and dashboard management despite some challenges.
Sentiment score
7.4
Wazuh is scalable but complex, with varying ratings based on deployment ease and infrastructure alignment across environments like Kubernetes.
Microsoft Defender XDR shows tremendous scalability, much more so than on-premises solutions.
It is suitable for enterprise-level deployment but has room for improvement.
It can accommodate thousands of endpoints on one instance, and multiple instances can run for different clients.
Scalability depends on the configuration and the infrastructure resources like compute and memory we allocate.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender XDR is praised for stability and reliability, with minor issues quickly resolved and high user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.0
Wazuh is stable with frequent updates, reliable for small to mid-level businesses, despite occasional glitches and configuration challenges.
The services within our ecosystem have been reliable, meeting their SLAs.
The service has remained consistently online, with any issues isolated to specific components, suggesting a well-designed and modular architecture.
The stability of Wazuh is largely dependent on maintenance.
The stability of Wazuh is strong, with no issues stemming from the solution itself.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender XDR needs faster scanning, better integration, simpler licensing, and improved automation for user-friendly threat management.
Wazuh needs user interface, threat intelligence, scalability, and integration improvements to compete with more user-friendly solutions like Splunk.
Improvements are needed in automated response capabilities.
The licensing process needs improvement and clarification.
Microsoft could improve on threat hunting and build more on threat detection and handling.
The integration modules are insufficiently developed, necessitating the creation of custom integration solutions using tools like Logstash and PubSub.
There is room for improvement by integrating more AI into Wazuh.
An issue I noticed is with tag values in certain rules not functioning properly.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender XDR is cost-effective with an E5 bundle but costly separately, influenced by complex licensing and geographic factors.
Wazuh offers cost-effective security without licensing fees, with support starting at $1,000 and infrastructure costs ranging from $20,000-$30,000.
Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs.
I would rate the pricing as eight out of ten, indicating it is a reasonable cost for the product.
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.
Totaling around two lakh Indian rupees per month.
Since Wazuh is open source, the pricing for support could be applicable to medium-sized companies without much issue.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender XDR offers seamless integration, advanced threat hunting, and AI protection, streamlining operations and reducing costs.
Wazuh offers robust integration, security features, and scalability, excelling in compliance management and investigative support with customizable dashboards.
With Microsoft threat intelligence information, it detects various types of threats, including insider attacks, malicious content, and data exfiltration.
The email protection feature is the most valuable because our risks primarily lie there, and it seems to be the most popular target.
Vulnerability assessment and just-in-time access are some valuable features of Defender for server plans.
The fact that it is open source means it is always being expanded, which is beneficial for customizing solutions for individual client requests.
Wazuh's most valuable features include file monitoring and compliance reporting, which do not require excessive costs.
We found the MITRE framework mapping and the agent enrollment service to be the most valuable features of Wazuh.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender XDR
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
96
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (5th), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd)
Wazuh
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
3rd
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (1st), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Extended Detection and Response (XDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 7.3%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Wazuh is 12.8%, up from 10.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
 

Featured Reviews

Gabor Nyerd - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Sandip_Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
Evaluating robust file monitoring with insights for community support improvements
Wazuh's most valuable features include file monitoring and compliance reporting, which do not require excessive costs. These aspects are vital as they provide alerts for changes and facilitate the monitoring of compliance. The platform is also relatively easy to set up and operate. Reports are straightforward to extract and prove useful for compliance requirements.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
7%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
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.
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...
What do you like most about Wazuh?
Integrates with various open-source and paid products, allowing for flexibility in customization based on use cases.
What needs improvement with Wazuh?
I am investigating more about the community support for Wazuh. I can't provide a definitive answer yet. An issue I noticed is with tag values in certain rules not functioning properly. It's unclear...
What is your primary use case for Wazuh?
I am currently evaluating and using Wazuh for file monitoring and compliance reporting. We are in the process of conducting a POC to understand how the rules work. I lead this effort to explore and...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Wazuh and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
841,004 professionals have used our research since 2012.