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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
7.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (8th), Microsoft Security Suite (9th)
Varonis Platform
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (9th), Data Governance (6th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (5th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (8th), Compliance Management (8th), Ransomware Protection (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID Protection is 16.7%, down from 31.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Varonis Platform is 5.7%, up from 5.6% 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 multifactor authentication feature is effective, providing an additional layer of security."
"The primary and most valuable aspect of Azure AD identity is its ability to function seamlessly on both on-premise and cloud infrastructure, eliminating the need for extensive updates. However, this dual solution can pose vulnerabilities that require substantial support and security measures in the on-premise environment. Despite the challenges, it is currently not feasible to completely abandon AD, especially for companies in the sales and energy sectors. The integration with Microsoft Defender is crucial for enhancing security, making identity and security the primary focus and purpose of Azure AD."
"For me, automatization is most valuable."
"The deployment process is straightforward. It takes a few hours to complete."
"I find the most valuable feature to be conditional access. It allows for comprehensive security controls, network security, and application label security."
"For me, automatization is most valuable."
"I recommend this product overall."
"Varonis Platform is transparent and captures everything in the environment without impacting the performance. The tool helps us unify data feeds into a single reporting system."
"Technical support from Varonis is rated as nine out of ten."
"The solution ensures that users have not accidentally shared sensitive information with the wrong people or too many people."
"That alerting and reporting service is great."
"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 what's happening in our environment."
"There's also a 90-day policy where if a user is not using the warehouse, it will automatically delete that username."
"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."
"Varonis offers robust data access governance, allowing us to understand which sensitive data exists and who has access to it."
 

Cons

"Identity labeling and sensitivity needs improvement."
"Entra ID lacks a function to synchronize from the cloud to the local directory. This is a significant issue since 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."
"Entra ID lacks a function to synchronize from the cloud to the local directory. This is a significant issue since 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."
"I did have some trouble finding specific documentation, particularly for troubleshooting."
"Microsoft has not offered control over how they calculate high or low-risk scenarios."
"The pricing could be improved."
"There is room for improvement in the ability for Entra ID Protection to inherit roles and configurations from whatever solution I am migrating from, so that these don't have to be built from the ground up during the implementation process."
"The product's initial setup phase is not easy."
"I'd like to see automatic updates for this solution. Currently, it's a manual process to update all the keywords"
"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."
"The GUI should be more functional. There should be a process for connecting through Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc."
"The product is very complicated."
"I would like it to have cloud integration."
"Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety."
"One area for improvement is the calculation engine. When applying rules in Varonis, especially for large datasets (terabytes of data), the calculations can be slow and require time to process. Speeding up this process would be beneficial."
"There is one thing that if I add something manually, I get so many alerts. That's the biggest bad thing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Active Directory Identity Protection is not very expensive."
"The product cost is on the expensive side."
"The pricing is competitive in the SMA segment and runs $5-$6 per user."
"The price of Azure AD is not expensive."
"From one to ten, if one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the tool a seven out of ten."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."
"The platform is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."
"Licensing is on an annual basis. Maintenance and renewal fees are separate. Varonis Datalert is quite expensive."
"The pricing is good. It neither expensive nor cheap. It is average."
"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."
"Varonis Platform wasn't certainly the cheapest solution."
"It's expensive, kind of, really 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?
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...
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?
Varonis started as an on-premises solution and is transitioning to cloud. It hasn't fully moved yet, which is an area for improvement. Varonis requires more access permissions for its core function...
What is your primary use case for Varonis Platform?
The primary use case for Varonis Platform is data discovery, specifically for discovering sensitive data in our organization to protect it. We are looking for a solution that can scan our repositor...
 

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: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.