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Microsoft Purview Information Protection vs Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Purview Informati...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Data Governance (4th), Data Privacy Management Software (1st)
Microsoft Purview Insider R...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
30th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Insider Risk Management (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Purview Information Protection is 1.1%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

Heidi Hasting - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides an essential audit trail that helps prevent accidental exposure of sensitive data, but the changing product names are confusing
One of the key features of Microsoft Purview Information Protection is the auto-classification functionalities, although I have found them to be less effective in complex scenarios. The policy toggle, demanding justification for downgrading labels, provides an essential audit trail that helps prevent accidental exposure of sensitive data. The security tools integrate well. I like that you can scan several data or informational assets, such as your SharePoint list, Teams, etc., and bring them into Purview as a central repository. Partnering with other products, like Sentinel, for logging capability and inventory provides a service across the board. It's essential that Purview automatically prevents highly sensitive corporate secrets and data from being ingested into generative AI models, but the reality is that AI is a tool. It's problematic if consumers rely on a tool to protect them because they must be educated first. Regardless of the education, the employee might share the information anyway, so the AI shouldn't be the first point of failure. It should be a human making good decisions.
DC
The solution's graphing is highly specific and useful
Implementing policies in the solution isn't easy, and it takes time. For example, you need to use some secrets in Windows or Mac to execute your policies, and you can assign these policies with Microsoft Intune. However, when you execute a policy, you still need to wait up to two days to see alerts. Some of our customers aren't happy because they didn't expect it to take so long. They're satisfied once it starts working because they see the alerts and graphs. The user interface also isn't user-friendly. When we introduce Insider Risk Management to our clients, they often find it difficult to understand. There is too much information, and the UI is not scalable. Also, entry-level IT technicians are not always interested in learning something new. It should be clearer and easier to understand. Microsoft is still working on machine learning and AI components. They're constantly updating the product. However, from my experience, most of my customers are not ready or able to use the AI solution. They are creating some project plans and specific policies. They don't want to see dozens of alerts when they use Microsoft's recommendations or the AI-based solution.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use the solution for our customers' services. It helps identify and protect sensitive data in documents, PDFs, emails, and Teams chats to prevent data leakage. It can detect and block emails containing credit card information sent outside the organization."
"We can restrict access or specify who can see sensitivity labels, which can be based on the classification level. We can encrypt restricted content and limit who can see that from an internal view, too, so Purview is a powerful tool."
"The scalability of Microsoft Purview Information Protection is excellent."
"I think Purview is incredibly stable."
"Before using it, we had a lot of unlabeled data, and the tool helped us quickly and accurately label a large number of documents."
"Incorporating data loss prevention capabilities built into the Microsoft platform to endpoints, such as Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers, can also help prevent data loss and is highly advantageous."
"The reporting capabilities of Microsoft Purview are crucial. They provide insights into potentially non-compliant situations and suggest ways to rectify them. The solution helps to automate many tasks, allowing human operators to focus on areas where they offer the most value."
"I created training materials for end users on applying different labels, explaining their purposes, and providing examples. This was crucial since end users would apply the labels in different protection scenarios. The implementation helped the organization in several ways."
"Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management was helpful in performing investigations after alerts were received."
"Insider Risk Management's graphing is highly specific and useful. You can see the last six months of data for the Microsoft tenant. You can easily find what you need. For example, you can filter for alerts about devices, emails, etc."
"The best thing about Purview is that it's easy to integrate with our day-to-day environment. We have Active Directory, and Word and Excel. Using a third-party vendor and trying to integrate with our existing environment would be much more challenging."
 

Cons

"Microsoft can improve the affordability of Purview Information Protection by offering it at a lower cost."
"There is room for improvement with the policy tips feature."
"I would like the time it takes to update a DLP policy on an endpoint to be reduced."
"I wouldn't recommend Microsoft Purview Information Protection for petabytes of documents as performance might be affected."
"I had experience with previous versions of Microsoft Purview Information Protection as well. The new version doesn't have all the features that were present in the previous native clients and functionalities. For example, the ability to track documents - knowing where your document is, who is accessing it, when and where. You could even revoke access to a particular document if needed, which was a cool feature. These aren't available right now, although Microsoft is working on bringing them back, which might take some time."
"Purview could better integrate with third-party tools, but I don't have a specific use case for that because It's currently integrated into the managed services we offer to Microsoft customers using E5 licenses."
"Scalability is affected by the time it takes to update policies."
"My experience with the customer service and support of Microsoft is around five out of ten. The response time is slow, and they take multiple sessions for diagnosing issues."
"The reporting capabilities sometimes leave a little to be desired. It could be improved in terms of producing reports to provide information to the C-suite or others."
"For certain things, you need to install an agent. I understand it's for integrity, but if there could be a clientless solution for certain aspects, it would make life easier."
"The user interface also isn't user-friendly. When we introduce Insider Risk Management to our clients, they often find it difficult to understand. There is too much information, and the UI is not scalable. Also, entry-level IT technicians are not always interested in learning something new. It should be clearer and easier to understand."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is affordable, and our clients agree. Sensitivity labels come with the MIP license at an additional $2 a month per user, an excellent deal for auto-labeling capabilities."
"Initially, Purview's cost seemed quite high because it was for personal use. I was scanning a tiny tenant and thinking, "If I extrapolate this to an enterprise-scale tenant, it will be quite costly." However, I talked to people who had compared it to other products on the market, and they're spending five figures to get started. At least, Purview has a free trial, so you can try some of the features early on."
"The pricing and setup costs are transferred to my clients, who find it affordable and are satisfied with what they receive."
"The tool's pricing is fairly low, less than 100,000 for a year."
"The price is determined by the enterprise licensing, either the E3 or E5 licensing or the EMS plus security and other feature licensing."
"The tool's pricing is not a problem for customers because they often purchase it as part of a bundle. With an E5 license, for example, users get access to the entire functionality. This is one of the main reasons why many customers are choosing Microsoft."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
13%
Retailer
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
29%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Purview Information Protection?
It ensures that sensitive data is automatically safeguarded, even for email attachments, regardless of the user or device.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Information Protection?
The pricing is not very high and is considered fine. Microsoft offers different licensing options. AIP Plan 2 is used for critical users. The AIP is included in the business standard license for cl...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Information Protection?
The most difficult part in the labeling solution is the lack of direct PDF support on Macs, whereas on Windows, a Purview agent can label PDFs. This should be improved to support PDF protection on ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management?
The reporting capabilities sometimes leave a little to be desired. It could be improved in terms of producing reports to provide information to the C-suite or others.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management?
The primary use case for Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management was data loss prevention. This was my main objective.
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management?
I would recommend Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management to others. I would rate the overall solution as a nine.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Information Protection
Microsoft Insider Risk Management
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Purview Information Protection vs. Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
847,625 professionals have used our research since 2012.