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Fortinet FortiSandbox vs Microsoft Defender for Identity comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

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
7.8
Fortinet FortiSandbox ensures high ROI by preventing cyber threats, saving costs, and securing data, rated nine out of ten.
Sentiment score
4.8
Microsoft Defender for Identity enhances threat detection, reduces efforts, minimizes risks, and optimizes costs despite varied ROI assessments.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Fortinet FortiSandbox generally offers friendly, informed support, but users face delays and need better handling of complex issues.
Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Defender for Identity offers knowledgeable support, yet response times can vary, especially with complex issues or initial contacts.
Sometimes the technical engineer is very good and helpful, and sometimes we go through many processes until it gets escalated to a higher level or to another advanced technical engineer.
Security Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
The people I normally use for support are very knowledgeable, especially when they help remote in and get to where I need to go and show me much faster and help me understand what I should be doing.
Technology Coordinator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
The quality of support is very good, but troubleshooting can take time due to complex setups and the need to provide many logs.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Generally, the support is more effective than other providers like Oracle.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiSandbox is scalable and adaptable, though experiences vary with cloud licenses and hardware requirements.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Defender for Identity is highly scalable and adaptable, excelling in large enterprises with efficient cloud-based processing.
In a Microsoft-centric organization, especially with Azure infrastructure and Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Identity is scalable.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Fortinet FortiSandbox is generally rated as stable and reliable, with users giving stability ratings between eight and nine.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Defender for Identity is highly stable, reliable, with minimal downtime; occasional issues require support for agent redeployment.
Fortinet FortiSandbox works fine, is easy to manage, and functions well.
Security Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Microsoft Defender for Identity is quite robust and built on Azure hyperscale infrastructure, with a 99% availability.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We do not see any issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Identity.
Deputy Manager at Servion Global Solutions
Having recently started using it, reliability is affirmed, but manual investigation is often performed to verify if alerts identified by auto-remediation are accurate.
Instrumentation Engineer at Toyo Engineering Corp
 

Room For Improvement

Fortinet FortiSandbox needs better vendor integration, enhanced features, improved usability, and faster, more automated security analysis capabilities.
Microsoft Defender for Identity needs improvements in alert accuracy, UI/UX, asset integration, automation, anomaly detection, and third-party integration.
I think Fortinet FortiSandbox could introduce more automation tools and AI tools.
Security Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
If Microsoft could develop a feature that indicates when impossible travel is caused by VPN connections, it would prevent unnecessary password resets and session disruptions, especially for VIP users in organizations.
CyberSecurity Engineer | Information Security Management at Self Employed
Microsoft Defender for Identity needs to be able to plug into third-party applications that are not Microsoft.
Security Engineer at Fidelity Bank Plc
Reducing false positives is something we've been working on with Microsoft.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Fortinet FortiSandbox is priced mid-range, with options for cloud and on-prem, plus potential support license costs.
Microsoft Defender for Identity pricing aligns with E5 licenses, offering value in hybrid setups but can be costly at scale.
The cost is in the mid-range.
Security Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
If they can reduce the costs, organizations will be happy, and it will compensate for using the Azure environment, which is more expensive on the infrastructure as a service side.
CyberSecurity Engineer | Information Security Management at Self Employed
the Microsoft Defender Suite is quite expensive, especially when integrated into Sentinel.
CTO at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
From an organization perspective, using E5 licenses is value for money, especially if Azure and Office 365 are already in use.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Fortinet FortiSandbox delivers excellent threat detection, seamless integration, fast performance, ease of use, and robust customization options.
Microsoft Defender for Identity enhances threat detection and security integration, offering streamlined investigation with automated alerts and behavioral analytics.
The smooth integrations between Fortinet FortiSandbox and other Fortinet solutions such as FortiWeb and FortiFirewall and with other Fortinet environments are what I really appreciate.
Security Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
We receive an advance report of risky users, allowing us to take preemptive action before an attack causes damage to organization details.
Instrumentation Engineer at Toyo Engineering Corp
The most valuable feature is its hybrid artificial intelligence, which gathers forensic data to track and counteract security threats, much like the CSI series in effect.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
Microsoft Defender for Identity definitely helps decrease the time of detection and response.
Technology Coordinator at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiSandbox
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Threat Deception Platforms (4th)
Microsoft Defender for Iden...
Ranking in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
8th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (5th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiSandbox is 4.8%, down from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Identity is 3.6%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiSandbox4.8%
Microsoft Defender for Identity3.6%
Other91.6%
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
 

Featured Reviews

AN
Security Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Advanced sandboxing has protected users from zero-day threats and has simplified secure file scanning
The smooth integrations between Fortinet FortiSandbox and other Fortinet solutions such as FortiWeb and FortiFirewall and with other Fortinet environments are what I really appreciate. We have minimum false positives during threat detection. Our clients have not given negative feedback from detection. As you know, it still needs some tuning after implementation. However, we never receive negative feedback for many false positives during implementation.
Peter Arabomen - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Engineer at Fidelity Bank Plc
Has supported hybrid identity management while integrating well with cloud directory services
The only challenge I have with Microsoft Defender for Identity is the latency. I may not put that entirely on Microsoft, because latency could be network related. At times when trying to authenticate, the prompt is delayed. We tried implementing passwordless authentication, especially for on-premises workloads, but we haven't been able to achieve that. Passwordless authentication is part of the identity functionalities, particularly when it comes to enforcing passwordless for on-premises workloads. In terms of improvements, you can't create OUs on Azure AD. Regarding giving users privileges on what they can do across different OUs, I haven't seen that feature on Microsoft Defender for Identity. Microsoft Defender for Identity needs to be able to plug into third-party applications that are not Microsoft. For instance, with a human resource application used to manage users and leave requests, when staff leaves the organization, they are first exited from that application before AD. Integration between Azure AD and third-party applications would allow automatic syncing when removing staff. The initial setup of Microsoft Defender for Identity is not hard. However, setup is one thing, and getting value from the application end-to-end is another. It can be set up and running from the first day but not functioning optimally. Initially, when we did the setup, it wasn't optimal. Over time, with continuous improvement, which we're still doing, we've gotten to a comfortable level, but there's still room for improvement.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSandbox?
The cost is in the mid-range. It is not low and it is not high.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiSandbox?
I think Fortinet FortiSandbox could introduce more automation tools and AI tools.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiSandbox?
Clients primarily ask us to integrate Fortinet FortiSandbox either with FortiMail or with firewalls to scan downloadable files and ensure that client access browsing is secure with no harmful files...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Identity?
I really would have to sit down to think about how Microsoft Defender for Identity can be improved. I didn't take stock in what needs to be improved because I appreciated having the tools right the...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Identity?
My main use cases for Microsoft Defender for Identity include Conditional Access, checking risky users, remediating risky users, and user sign-ins. I can easily remediate or determine what the user...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Defender for Identity?
I don't really use Microsoft Defender for Identity a lot because my new role doesn't allow me to take time to do so. I don't really use the threat intelligence feature of Microsoft Defender for Ide...
 

Also Known As

FortiSandbox
Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lush, Barnabas Health, Options, Riverside Healthcare, Hillsbourough County Schools, Columbia Public Schools, Schiller AG
Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiSandbox vs. Microsoft Defender for Identity and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,510 professionals have used our research since 2012.