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Huntress Managed ITDR 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.7
Huntress Managed ITDR enhances security and efficiency, offering cost-effective protection and commercial growth with minimal maintenance requirements.
Sentiment score
4.4
Microsoft Defender for Identity is cost-effective and efficient, offering incident prevention and resolution without complex hardware setups.
I really value how Huntress does most of the heavy lifting and monitoring for the identities.
President / Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech company with 1-10 employees
You will not be able to beat Huntress Managed ITDR on pricing, and that is considering the capabilities Huntress Managed ITDR provides at their price level.
SOC Analyst L2 at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
In terms of a return on investment for our security posture, it's absolutely paying for itself to ensure that we are better secure compared to what we were without it.
Head of IT at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.1
Huntress Managed ITDR receives high praise for exceptional support, responsiveness, and clarity, with minimal technical assistance needed.
Sentiment score
6.9
Opinions on Microsoft Defender for Identity support vary, highlighting responsiveness, but issues include delays, contact challenges, and false positives.
They are quick to respond and help us explain why Huntress marked an identity in a certain way.
Cyber Security Analyst at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
They primarily handle ITDR communications through chat, they made an exception and provided a call for a critical situation to walk me through the remediation process.
Business Owner at Royal IT
They've been very responsive when we have had to use them.
Head of IT at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Generally, the support is more effective than other providers like Oracle.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
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
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
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Huntress Managed ITDR offers scalable, seamless integration with Microsoft tenants, featuring user-friendly multi-tenant dashboards and flexible licensing for enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.2
Microsoft Defender for Identity efficiently integrates and scales globally, supporting diverse organizational needs within Microsoft’s ecosystem effectively.
I've never had limitations on scaling or performance issues.
CTO at Accent Consulting
Huntress Managed ITDR is protecting about 120 users. In terms of the people that log into it, it's two or three IT admins, but we've got 120 licenses, so it's protecting 120 Microsoft accounts.
Head of IT at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Whether there are ten users or three hundred, it attaches to the Microsoft tenant, making it effortless to scale.
Business Owner at Royal IT
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
9.2
Huntress Managed ITDR is praised for its stability, with users experiencing reliable performance, efficient monitoring, and minimal downtime.
Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Defender for Identity is highly reliable, with minimal incidents, seamless operation, and consistent ratings between seven and nine.
I would rate the stability of Huntress Managed ITDR as a ten, as I have not really experienced any downtime, bugs, or glitches.
Security Administrator at Charles IT
In terms of stability, the solution is very stable, and the cloud platform itself is reliable.
President / Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech company with 1-10 employees
Once it is deployed, it updates automatically and takes care of itself.
SOC Analyst L2 at a computer software company with 51-200 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

Huntress Managed ITDR needs UI maturity, better reporting, speed improvements, and enhanced integrations for a refined user experience.
Microsoft Defender for Identity users seek improved cloud integration, user-friendly features, better support, and streamlined processes for enhanced threat management.
There's a confusing aspect with the escalation options; applying conditions to a specific identity is not immediately visible and requires using a three-dot menu.
Business Owner at Royal IT
It's a very simple and easy-to-use interface in terms of recommendations and feedback.
Head of IT at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I still see many issues indicating that devices are not compliant due to policy conflicts, and it has been almost a month trying to figure out how to make all devices compliant.
Cyber Security Analyst at a manufacturing company with 51-200 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
One improvement I would recommend is the integration of an admin application within Teams, allowing easy access to attack information on a mobile platform.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
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

Huntress Managed ITDR offers competitive pricing and value, with positive reviews for affordability and comprehensive security services.
Microsoft Defender for Identity is cost-effective with E5 licenses despite complex pricing and competitive against other security solutions.
Compared to other companies, Huntress keeps costs reasonable, offering 24/7 vigilance without price gouging.
Business Owner at Royal IT
I think it was two or three dollars a user a month.
Head of IT at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The licensing cost, again, is a good price point that allows me to add it on to clients and it becomes a no-brainer for them to add it because the price of the service makes sense.
Director at Cloud4 Technology Limited
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
Ensuring a fair price according to market standards.
Owner at Alopex ONE UG
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

Huntress Managed ITDR offers comprehensive security with endpoint protection, real-time monitoring, and customizable alerts, enhancing IT efficiency.
Microsoft Defender for Identity integrates with Azure to offer comprehensive threat detection, identity protection, and advanced real-time security insights.
It provides protection against M365 identity compromises, like admin account breaches.
Business Owner at Royal IT
The best features of the solution are the fact that there are real people behind it who watch the alerts and then escalate as required, and the fact that there is an immediate support team or SOC team behind it if we have any questions.
Head of IT at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The best feature is the lack of false positives; when we receive an alert from Huntress Managed ITDR, the majority of the time they are true positives that are actionable, unlike some other tools which generate a lot of noise.
Security Administrator at Charles IT
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
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.
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Huntress Managed ITDR
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Defender for Iden...
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
3rd
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)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) category, the mindshare of Huntress Managed ITDR is 5.2%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Identity is 10.4%, down from 18.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity10.4%
Huntress Managed ITDR5.2%
Other84.4%
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
 

Featured Reviews

Jeremy Harlan - PeerSpot reviewer
SOC Analyst L2 at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Managed detection has stopped account takeovers and has strengthened our incident response playbooks
Their threat analytics and process insights are exceptional. When Huntress Managed ITDR finds malware, a virus, or a phishing email, their analytics have improved significantly over time. I remember when they were not very detailed, but now they provide comprehensive information down to the specific type of dependency affected on a host machine. They show us exactly where all the infected files are located on the computer, which makes cleanup straightforward and invaluable. I know they partner with Microsoft, and if you have Huntress Managed ITDR and Microsoft Defender, it is truly near real-time as stated. That is a very accurate claim.
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.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) solutions are best for your needs.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Insurance Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
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
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Huntress Managed ITDR?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been pretty good; we got a good rate and continue to receive declining buy prices. We're generally kept up to date by the account managers...
What needs improvement with Huntress Managed ITDR?
There are two things regarding Huntress Managed ITDR. If we have a client that only has M365 Business Standard, all of the MFA details just show as unknown. I think it's actually a Microsoft licens...
What is your primary use case for Huntress Managed ITDR?
The vast majority of our customers use M365 services, and ID theft is becoming a really prevalent threat. You can start protecting against that with conditional access policies, or take a solution ...
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

Information Not Available
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 Huntress Managed ITDR vs. Microsoft Defender for Identity and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.