Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Defender for Business comparison

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2,985 views|1,900 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
Microsoft Logo
8,462 views|6,332 comparisons
97% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender for Business and Microsoft Defender XDR based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Microsoft Security Suite solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for Business Report (Updated: March 2024).
771,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It is scalable.""A few things are valuable. One is the alerting we see when any kind of intrusion is happening, any kind of malware is being deployed across the endpoints, or any kind of suspicious activity is going on. We have a footprint across all of North America, Canada, and Mexico, so we want to make sure that all our endpoints are protected and we are able to look for any anomalous activity.""If you're an Intune user, you can bring in certain capabilities like system-hardening policies, which further enhances the security.""The interface is quite user-friendly.""Microsoft Defender for Business is good for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers solid security flexibility and integration with tools like Microsoft Lighthouse and some other software. It takes some of the features of Defender for Endpoint EDR and provides those services for small and medium-sized business environments."

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"Defender is easy to use. It has a nice console, and everything is all in one place.""The ability to hunt that IM data set or the identity data set at the same time is valuable. As incident response professionals, we are very used to EDRs and having device process registry telemetry, but a lot of times, we do not have that identity data right there with us, so we have to go search for it in some other silo. Being able to cross-correlate via both datasets at the same time is something that we can only do in Def""The most valuable features are spam filtering, attachment filtering, and antivirus protection.""It has been great for us. Previously, we didn't have a solution to protect us, especially from malware, whereas now, we are getting protection up front, especially from the malware attacks coming through emails or endpoints.""The most valuable feature is probably the aggregation and correlation of the different telemetry points with Defender for Identity, Defender for Endpoint, and Defender for Cloud Apps. All of these various things are part of that portal. We've wanted that single pane of glass for years.""Microsoft Defender XDR is scalable.""We can use Defender to block and monitor for security purposes without needing multiple other products to do different tasks.""Among the most valuable features are the alert timeline, the alert story, which is pretty detailed. It gives us complete insight into what exactly happened on the endpoint. It doesn't just say, "Malware detected." It tells us what caused that malware to be detected and how it was detected. It gives us a complete timeline from beginning to end."

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Cons
"We faced some issues while running some applications on Mac.""Defender's threat protection should be fine-tuned to reduce false positives. It could be more targeted, reflecting a continuous evolution in detecting. Also, it could be easier to integrate into other environments.""Defender's reporting is rather scattered, and its URL filtering mechanism doesn't really work.""The security could always be improved.""The biggest one is that Defender needs to be more proactive to the emerging threats. There can be tighter integration with email, especially how it integrates with our email system, which is the Microsoft Outlook suite. There should be the ability to react a lot quicker to emerging threats because sometimes, it takes a few days before some of these new threats are fully identified, and we need that to be a few hours."

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"The mobile app support for Android and iOS is difficult and needs improvement.""Microsoft 365 Defender does not have a unique package with emerging endpoint security technologies, such as EDR and XDR.""At times, when we have an incident email and we click on the link for that incident, it opens a pop-up, but there is nothing. It has happened a couple of times.""Improving scalability, especially for very large tenants, could be beneficial for Microsoft Defender XDR.""The advanced threat-hunting capabilities are phenomenal, and the security copilot enhances that, but some data elements could be better or have more context inside of the advanced tables themselves. The schemas feel a little limited to what they're building into the product. It's probably just a maturity thing. I imagine we'll see the features I want in the next year.""The only issue I've had is, when it comes to deployment, the steps I must take around policy setup. That is challenging.""The documentation on their website is somewhat outdated and doesn't show properly. I wanted to try a query in Microsoft Defender 365. When I opened the related documentation from the security blog on the Microsoft website, the figures were not showing. It was difficult to understand the article without having the figures. The figures were there in the article, but they were not getting loaded, which made the article obsolete.""In the future, it would be beneficial for Microsoft to consider making the product more user-friendly or simplified for those who are interested in using it. Currently, it requires a high level of technical expertise, making it challenging for beginners or less experienced individuals."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Defender for Business is included by default with an Office 365 premium subscription."
  • "It has to get more competitive because we are starting to see some of the competitors providing better pricing, and some of it, of course, is to gain market share. The Defender product pricing is probably a little higher than the competitors."
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  • "The solutions price is fair for what they offer."
  • "The price could be better. Normally, the costs depend on the country you're located in for the license. When we were in the initial stage, we went with the E5 license they call premium standard. It cost us around $5.20 per month for four users."
  • "The price of the solution is high compared to others and we have lost some customers because of it."
  • "Microsoft is not competitive with the pricing of the solution. The competitors are able to offer lower discounts. The price of the solution is higher."
  • "We have a lot of problems in Latin America regarding the price of Microsoft 365 Defender, because the relationship between dollars and the money of the different countries, it's is a lot. Many customers that have small businesses say that they would like the solution but it is too expensive. However, large companies do not find the cost an issue."
  • "The most valuable licensing option is expensive, so pricing could be improved. Licensing options for this solution also need to be consolidated, because they frequently change."
  • "Microsoft should provide lower-level licensing options. They should do it in such a way that even an individual could purchase a license, and it should be entirely flexible."
  • "They have moved from a licensing model to pay-per-use... The question is: What happens if, for any reason, there's not enough budget to accept this model? That could be a great problem."
  • More Microsoft Defender XDR Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:A few things are valuable. One is the alerting we see when any kind of intrusion is happening, any kind of malware is being deployed across the endpoints, or any kind of suspicious activity is going… more »
    Top Answer:It has to get more competitive because we are starting to see some of the competitors providing better pricing, and some of it, of course, is to gain market share. The Defender product pricing is… more »
    Top Answer:The biggest one is that Defender needs to be more proactive to the emerging threats. There can be tighter integration with email, especially how it integrates with our email system, which is the… more »
    Top Answer:The integration, visibility, vulnerability management, and device identification are valuable.
    Top Answer:There is the cost of the license, and there is the cost of implementation services. Only by enabling a license for your user, all the features are not going to be enabled and the policies are not… more »
    Top Answer:The web filtering solution needs to be improved because currently, it is very simple. It is very important. Integrations with Linux should be done in a better way. With the AI world and the security… more »
    Ranking
    20th
    Views
    2,985
    Comparisons
    1,900
    Reviews
    4
    Average Words per Review
    453
    Rating
    8.0
    1st
    Views
    8,462
    Comparisons
    6,332
    Reviews
    60
    Average Words per Review
    1,181
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Defender for Business is a new endpoint security solution that was designed especially for the small and medium-sized business (up to 300 employees). With this endpoint security solution, your company's devices are better protected from ransomware, malware, phishing, and other threats.

    Microsoft Defender XDR is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect against threats in the Microsoft 365 environment. 

    It offers robust security measures, comprehensive threat detection capabilities, and an efficient incident response system. With seamless integration with other Microsoft products and a user-friendly interface, it simplifies security management tasks. 

    Users have found it effective in detecting and preventing various types of attacks, such as phishing attempts, malware infections, and data breaches.

    Watch the Microsoft demo video here: Microsoft Defender XDR demo video.

    Sample Customers
    Information Not Available
    Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Retailer6%
    Government6%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company18%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Government10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Company Size
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise41%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business41%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise35%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise57%
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for Business
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for Business and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    771,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Microsoft Defender for Business is ranked 20th in Microsoft Security Suite with 5 reviews while Microsoft Defender XDR is ranked 1st in Microsoft Security Suite with 78 reviews. Microsoft Defender for Business is rated 8.0, while Microsoft Defender XDR is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Business writes "Quicker response time, improved security posture, and reduced alerts". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Defender XDR writes "Includes four services and four products, which can help organizations a lot". Microsoft Defender for Business is most compared with HP Wolf Security, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Avast Business Hub, whereas Microsoft Defender XDR is most compared with CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager, Wazuh and Trend Vision One. See our Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Defender for Business report.

    See our list of best Microsoft Security Suite vendors.

    We monitor all Microsoft Security Suite reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.