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Gurucul UEBA vs Microsoft Defender for Identity 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

Gurucul UEBA
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (7th)
Microsoft Defender for Iden...
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (8th), Microsoft Security Suite (4th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Gurucul UEBA is designed for User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) and holds a mindshare of 3.2%, up 3.1% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender for Identity, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR), holds 10.4% mindshare, down 18.1% since last year.
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Gurucul UEBA3.2%
Exabeam8.3%
IBM Security QRadar6.5%
Other82.0%
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity10.4%
CrowdStrike Falcon12.8%
Microsoft Entra ID Protection6.6%
Other70.19999999999999%
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2506872 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Specialist - UEBA SIEM Admin at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Smooth and fast search capabilities with customizable dashboards enhance user experience
For improvement, I have requested three enhancement tickets, which are already lodged with the Gurucul support team. The first request is to add a visualization option in reports for charts or graphs. I have also requested new dashboard features. In the query box, there's a bug where taking an attribute at the end does not return data, but placing it elsewhere does. The support system could be more equipped.
RK
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Protect on-premises and hybrid environments with advanced threat detection and seamless integration
Our Active Directory implementation is a hybrid one. The advanced threat protection is one of the strengths of Microsoft Defender for Identity, as it utilizes user and entity analytics and can detect indicative attacks. It identifies lateral movements, privilege escalations, and alerts on potential attacks. The tool is also used for security posture assessment. The seamless integration with other Microsoft solutions within our Microsoft-centric environment is also a major advantage.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The reporting feature was the key differentiator. I also liked the ability to create dynamic rules in the environment."
"The most valuable feature of Gurucul is the ability to customize and it is on the Hadoop platform that has a lot of flexibility."
"I appreciate the comprehensive categorization of devices based on their intended use, such as those for DNS."
"If you are genuinely looking for a UEBA solution, you should choose Gurucul confidently if your need is strictly UEBA."
"I recommend Microsoft Defender for Identity because it is easy to implement."
"It is easy to set up. Based on the number of devices you would like to set up, you can use scripts, Group Policy, etc. It takes five minutes to set up."
"This solution has advanced a lot over the last few years."
"Defender for Identity has not affected the end-user experience."
"We use AD Connect to sync on-premises AD to Azure AD, and so far, it has been effective."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Defender for Identity are the simulations; whenever something happens, it provides complete step-by-step process details, including the hierarchy, how it happens in the environment, and the lateral movement, which is amazing."
"The most valuable aspect is its connection to Microsoft Sentinel and Defender for Endpoint, and giving exact timelines for incidents and when certain events occured during an incident."
"In the security portfolio that we manage, Microsoft Defender for Identity is very important because it is the professional service that we sell the most."
 

Cons

"Regarding the prioritization of threats, Gurucul UEBA needs to enhance its alert severity assignment process within the system."
"Technical support is good but can improve. I would rate it six to seven out of ten. The main issue is response time, which can take three to four hours even for simple queries."
"Gurucul can improve on the online documentation. They should educate the end users more to allow them to do everything themselves."
"It could be more stable."
"One improvement I would recommend is the integration of an admin application within Teams, allowing easy access to attack information on a mobile platform to promptly alert affected users and their friends."
"Defender for Identity gives us visibility, but we often get false positives from Azure that take us down the garden path. We go through 30 incidents each day and most of those are false positives or benign positive alerts. Occasionally, we get true positive alerts."
"One potential area for improvement could be exploring flexibility in the installation of Microsoft Defender for Identity agents."
"When the data leaves the cloud, there are security issues."
"Fixing the solution isn't very seamless."
"Microsoft Defender for Identity does not save me time, but I think it is the way that I secure the data."
"I can't say that I've seen a return on investment since we have Microsoft Defender for Identity because we also have another security solution in place."
"The solution could be better at using group-managed access and they could replace it with broad-based access controls."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is fair. In fact, I believe it was on the cheaper side when compared to the competition."
"The price of Gurucul is competitive."
"You won't be able to change your tenants from where you deploy them. For example, if you select Canada, they will charge you based on Canadian pricing. If you are also in London, when you deploy in Canada, the pound is higher than Canadian dollars, but your platform resources are billable in Canadian dollars. Using your pounds to pay for any of these things will be cheaper. Or, if you deploy in London, they will charge you based on your local currency."
"It is very affordable considering that other SIEM solutions are much more expensive and have many more licensing restrictions and fees."
"The product is costly, and we had multiple discussions with accounting to receive a discounted rate. However, on the open market, the tool is expensive."
"Microsoft Defender for Identity comes as part of the Microsoft E5 licensing stack."
"Defender for Identity is a little more expensive than other Microsoft products. Identity and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are both a bit costly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
13%
Photography Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Gurucul?
For improvement, I have requested three enhancement tickets, which are already lodged with the Gurucul support team. The first request is to add a visualization option in reports for charts or grap...
What is your primary use case for Gurucul?
Regarding the use cases, I have created many use cases in Gurucul UEBA. It's easy to create use cases based on behaviors.
What advice do you have for others considering Gurucul?
If you are genuinely looking for a UEBA solution, you should choose Gurucul confidently if your need is strictly UEBA. If you're looking for both theme and UEBA, you might consider other vendors. F...
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

No data available
Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Global semi-conductor company
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 Exabeam, IBM, Varonis and others in User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA). Updated: January 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.