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Microsoft Entra ID Protection vs Varonis Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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 Entra ID Protection
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (8th), Microsoft Security Suite (9th)
Varonis Platform
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (12th), Data Governance (7th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (5th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (8th), Compliance Management (8th), Ransomware Protection (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID Protection is 19.2%, down from 33.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Varonis Platform is 5.6%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Frederic  Delos - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers the ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data
The most effective feature for me is its ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data, provided you have access, to determine whether it's a false positive or a true positive. That's the best thing for me, out of all of it. It's got everything, like other ones, but I like to be able to look at something if I'm doing forensics on the alert and say, "Okay, do I really need to do something with this?" For example, we don't want sensitive data in our OneDrive. So it identifies the sensitive data that's possibly in the OneDrive. And what I can do is look at it and identify whether it's actually sensitive data in Datalert or whether it looks like sensitive data, but I know it's a false positive. If it is a false positive, I can basically say ignore this pattern based on X, Y, and Z, you know, whether it's Redjax or keyword proximity. So I like that. With other tools, I gotta go through a whole process because it's a little bit more complex. Here, I can tag it and bag it in one shot. And the next good time I scan, it slips over it. So it helps in that.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The valuable features include multifactor authentication, accessory capabilities, and conditional access for specific applications."
"The most valuable features are the API apps, which I use to connect to my cloud Protection."
"These features ease the job of security analysts, providing a better vision of user activities and potential risks."
"The features we find most effective for identity security include access reviews, two-factor authentication, and modification."
"As an end-user, I find the experience to be quite seamless. My main advantage is that I only need to manage one login and one two-factor authentication method to access all the necessary tools. I don't have to set up separate logins and authentication for each application."
"I find the most valuable feature to be conditional access."
"The tool is simple and you can find a lot of tutorials, and videos on YouTube that can help you."
"The multifactor authentication feature is effective, providing an additional layer of security."
"The telemetry to capture everything and the reports are very easy to configure without having a developer degree."
"The most important feature is remediation. In remediation support, there is no group permission. We'll go ahead and remediate the access from the Dell folder to the parent folder."
"Varonis offers robust data access governance, allowing us to understand which sensitive data exists and who has access to it."
"It can easily identify unusual behavior or access patterns that may pose a potential threat, while operating as a unified reporting system."
"The solution ensures that users have not accidentally shared sensitive information with the wrong people or too many people."
"I also appreciate the reporting feature, which allows for the extraction of various reports based on specific needs. These reports can be used for audit purposes, such as tracking changes in file locations or deletions."
"There's also a 90-day policy where if a user is not using the warehouse, it will automatically delete that username."
"That alerting and reporting service is great."
 

Cons

"Identity labeling and sensitivity needs improvement."
"The platform's pricing and scalability need improvement."
"The product's initial setup phase is not easy."
"The recent CrowdStrike issue affected most systems."
"Azure AD could improve by enhancing the availability of specialized courses for security, such as NETSCOUT security or other relevant certifications. It would be beneficial to have specific courses for security, to provide in-depth knowledge and skills related to Azure AD. While there are micro-learning resources available for various concepts, many people in the IT industry may not have the time to go through all the courses to properly configure and utilize Azure Active Directory. Simplifying the implementation process and making it easier for individuals to join a company with Azure AD could also be considered areas for improvement."
"Microsoft has not offered control over how they calculate high or low-risk scenarios."
"The pricing could be improved."
"Microsoft has not offered control over how they calculate high or low-risk scenarios. While they mention if a low risk is found by Microsoft, the triggered policy isn't customizable."
"I'd like to see automatic updates for this solution. Currently, it's a manual process to update all the keywords"
"I would like it to have cloud integration."
"For unstructured data monitoring, it's one of the top ones, if not the top one, due to its usability."
"Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety."
"The solution's interface is a little complicated with regard to setting up filters and reports."
"We have Microsoft Office 365. I just saw an article today which says that they're actually getting integrated with Microsoft Office 365, which would be a useful feature. For user-based reports, log on activity, and stuff like that, it doesn't seem to really be present like Log360. That could just be my inexperience with it. I've been dealing with it for only about two and a half months."
"There is one thing that if I add something manually, I get so many alerts. That's the biggest bad thing."
"The remediation process can be improved. There will be no existing permission group for the McAfee channel domains. We can create a new permissions group for the required folder."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product cost is on the expensive side."
"The price of Azure AD is not expensive."
"The pricing is competitive in the SMA segment and runs $5-$6 per user."
"Azure Active Directory Identity Protection is not very expensive."
"From one to ten, if one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the tool a seven out of ten."
"The platform is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."
"You could do a subscription, where you pay yearly, or you could purchase it outright. The licensing cost is based on the number of users on the system that you are monitoring."
"It's expensive, kind of, really expensive."
"The pricing is good. It neither expensive nor cheap. It is average."
"Varonis Platform wasn't certainly the cheapest solution."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."
"Licensing is on an annual basis. Maintenance and renewal fees are separate. Varonis Datalert is quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
Microsoft Entra ID requires additional licensing components, particularly for Entra ID governance as an add-on for those with P1 or P2 licenses.
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
Microsoft has not offered control over how they calculate high or low-risk scenarios. While they mention if a low risk is found by Microsoft, the triggered policy isn't customizable. Enhanced confi...
What do you like most about Varonis Platform?
The solution has significantly improved data security and compliance posture by allowing us to track and monitor activities. We can see who accesses data and when files are created and understand w...
What needs improvement with Varonis Platform?
The solution's areas of improvement are the interface and the dependency on on-premises deployment for some components. The interface has improved with the move to a SaaS model, but aspects could s...
What is your primary use case for Varonis Platform?
Customers use the product to identify sensitive information, correlate it with access permissions, and utilize its automation engine for remediation. It includes fixing broken permissions and manag...
 

Also Known As

Azure Active Directory Identity Protection, Azure AD Identity Protection
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Nottingham Building Society
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Entra ID Protection vs. Varonis Platform and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.