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Azure Bastion vs Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comparison

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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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.3
Organizations achieved 20% cost savings and faster admin tasks with Azure Bastion, streamlining infrastructure and supporting more environments.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 boosts efficiency, cuts phishing, integrates security, reduces tool costs, and mitigates risk.
We have noticed savings of approximately twenty percent by using Azure Bastion compared to VM pricing.
Lead Software Engineer at Glastechnische Industrie Peter LISEC GmbH
It has also decreased our time to detection and response by about 15 to 20 percent.
Technology support manager at Alfred State College
Overall, cost of owning and operating our system goes down.
Designation Chief Consultant at Avtow
It's hard to quantify the return on investment we've seen from Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Azure Bastion customer service is efficient and knowledgeable, with high satisfaction but some data transfer concerns.
Sentiment score
5.7
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 support is reliable but varies with subscription level and complexity of issues.
We usually get backup within two hours.
Lead Software Engineer at Glastechnische Industrie Peter LISEC GmbH
Support is satisfactory but with room for improvement, primarily concerning data transfer issues.
IT Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Over the past two years, there have been no critical problems.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
we opened tickets, and they typically resolve them quickly.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
With a subscription for Microsoft Defender for Office 365, it is an eight. Without it, it is a six.
Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
Azure Bastion offers scalable enterprise solutions, though customization limits and concurrent user restrictions affect some user experiences.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 efficiently scales with cloud-native design, ensuring reliable performance and seamless integration for diverse organizations.
It is designed to provide access over a private network without hitting the internet.
IT Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales transparently for us, as we grew from 1,000 users to 3,000 users, and we didn't notice much difference.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scales with the growing needs of my company well.
Senior Client Director and Advisory Service Leader at Crossfuze
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
<p>Azure Bastion is stable and reliable, with few issues reported, benefiting from Microsoft's strong R&amp;D support.</p>
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers consistently reliable performance with minimal downtime, high user ratings, and manageable minor issues.
Azure Bastion is stable.
IT Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as 10 over 10 because it's highly available, it works, and it does the job it is meant to do.
Cloud Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues because of Defender.
Technology Associate at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Bastion needs browser updates, better AI for connectivity, and improvements in file transfer, monitoring, and networking.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 needs improvements in usability, false positive reduction, phishing detection, scalability, and reporting capabilities.
I would like to see integrated AI features with Azure Bastion, especially for connectivity issues.
Lead Software Engineer at Glastechnische Industrie Peter LISEC GmbH
A storage solution must be created to transfer data, and this requires additional permissions like ACL or NFS.
IT Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It would be nice to have the capability to cut and paste across desktops, similar to old-fashioned Remote Desktop emulation.
Owner at BNS
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process.
Infrastructure and Security Lead at Vedanta
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
There is a different console for different things; I just want one consolidated console.
Senior Director, Security Architecture & Engineering at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Azure Bastion pricing is debated, balancing affordability and security with varied opinions compared to AWS and GCP costs.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is cost-effective with E5, costly standalone, requiring careful planning for subscription-based licensing.
Microsoft's pricing is on the higher side and could be more competitive.
IT Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The price is not necessarily cheaper, but it is acceptable.
Lead Software Engineer at Glastechnische Industrie Peter LISEC GmbH
We've likely saved 30% of costs.
Designation Chief Consultant at Avtow
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro.
Infrastructure and Security Lead at Vedanta
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
 

Valuable Features

Azure Bastion ensures secure, efficient VM access with centralized control, eliminating public IP exposure and enhancing network integration.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enhances security with AI-driven phishing detection and robust protection across Microsoft 365 services.
The most valuable feature of Azure Bastion is its security, which I find to be the best part.
Lead Software Engineer at Glastechnische Industrie Peter LISEC GmbH
The security is the main reason we use Azure Bastion because it is integrated with Azure Active Directory, ensuring that access is secure.
Owner at BNS
Azure Bastion eliminates the need for a jump server by providing secure access to servers without hitting the public network.
IT Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It ranks the threats and allows us to prioritize those hitting us the hardest, such as email threats.
Technology support manager at Alfred State College
It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
The value of the DLP feature is significant to us because we have internal data, sometimes sensitive, and the users may not always be aware of security and privacy, which might lead them to send out information mistakenly to external parties.
Chief Architect at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Bastion
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
25th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (52nd), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (12th)
Microsoft Defender for Offi...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (1st), Email Security (2nd), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (3rd), Secure Email Gateway (SEG) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Azure Bastion is 2.1%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is 3.7%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Office 3653.7%
Azure Bastion2.1%
Other94.2%
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

AB
Lead Software Engineer at Glastechnische Industrie Peter LISEC GmbH
Have improved security with role segregation and accessibility
The most valuable feature of Azure Bastion is its security, which I find to be the best part. We use Azure AD integration to specify who has access and what they can do. We can segregate roles, allowing some to execute commands while others cannot. Additionally, we are using it internally to connect to our secured AKS Cluster.
Emeka Ndulu - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Improves threat visibility and response while reducing manual tasks and training users against phishing
I appreciate the attack simulation feature whereby I get to train users and educate them on how to identify phishing emails and spam emails, as well as the anti-spam protection. It gives me visibility into my threat environment and threat landscape to ensure that I am one step ahead of any likelihood of threats within my environment. I get to detect it and respond, so the threat intelligence is very effective. Microsoft security solutions save my time. It saves money because once I protect my environment, I don't lose money. It has decreased my detection time and my time to respond.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Bastion?
Microsoft's pricing is on the higher side and could be more competitive. Startups and small organizations often prefer AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ) or GCP due to their lower costs, while la...
What needs improvement with Azure Bastion?
Azure Bastion could be improved with more granular session monitoring, rich audit capabilities, and deeper integration with security operation workflows. We would also appreciate enhanced reporting...
What is your primary use case for Azure Bastion?
Azure Bastion serves as our primary solution for providing secure administrative access to Azure VPNs and VMs without exposing RDP or SSH ports to the internet. From a cybersecurity perspective, it...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My experience with pricing, setup, and licensing is that it's actually quite reasonable even on the licensing side as a standalone product. It's very competitive compared to what competitors are ch...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
I think Microsoft Defender for Office 365 can be improved by creating more educational pieces about not just looking for malware. We are seeing a lot more malware-less emails that Defender for Offi...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Office 365?
My main use cases for Microsoft Defender for Office 365 include email hygiene.
 

Also Known As

No data available
MS Defender for Office 365
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Bastion vs. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.