Lumu vs Microsoft Defender XDR comparison

Lumu Technologies and Microsoft are both solutions in the Extended Detection and Response (XDR) category. Lumu Technologies is ranked #17 with an average rating of 9.0, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.4. Lumu Technologies holds a 1.3% mindshare in XDR, compared to Microsoft’s 4.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Lumu Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Lumu

Read 8 Lumu reviews

1,896 Views
1,289 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender XDR

Read 106 Microsoft Defender XDR reviews

10,762 Views
6,027 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Lumu

Microsoft Defender XDR

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Microsoft Defender XDR and Lumu compete in the cybersecurity domain. Lumu stands out due to its innovative features, giving it an edge in providing confidence to users about its investment value.

Features: Microsoft Defender XDR is praised for advanced threat detection, integration with other Microsoft services, and cloud-based capabilities. Lumu offers a unique approach to threat detection, providing detailed network visibility and actionable insights. Lumu's proactive threat intelligence seems to surpass Microsoft's integrated platform approach for some users.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Defender XDR requires more enhanced customization and intuitive alert management. Lumu needs improved scalability and more comprehensive documentation. While Microsoft has customization needs, Lumu faces challenges in scaling operations according to user demands.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Defender XDR offers seamless integration within Microsoft ecosystems, supported by reliable customer service. Lumu, while quick to deploy with straightforward setup, occasionally faces support service limitations. Microsoft excels in ecosystem integration, but Lumu's deployment simplicity is frequently highlighted.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Defender XDR offers cost-effectiveness, delivering strong ROI in Microsoft-centric environments. Lumu, though potentially higher in setup costs, provides substantial long-term value with its focused threat detection capabilities. Microsoft's pricing aligns with existing ecosystems, while Lumu's specialized approach justifies its investment for enhanced security outcomes.

To learn more, read our detailed Lumu vs. Microsoft Defender XDR Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Lumu vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 881,733 peers since 2012

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

Lumu

Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

17th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (11th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (8th)

Microsoft Defender XDR

Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

106

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (7th), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Extended Detection and Response (XDR) category, the mindshare of Lumu is 1.3%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 4.8%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR	4.8%
Lumu	1.3%
Other	93.9%

Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

Featured Reviews

Jeremiah Johnson

Director, Information Technology at a educational organization with 201-500 employees

Constant monitoring and analysis boosts network security

There is always room for improvement. I am not giving it a perfect score because I am sure there is something that could be enhanced.Having some sort of certification or training, along with more periodic webinars might be helpful. Having a larger support network would be beneficial. Nobody I know has heard of Lumu, so they are in the same space as Darktrace or CrowdStrike, but people give blank stares. As the community grows for Lumu then that will improve, but that is not really a criticism of Lumu, they simply have not been around that long.

Read full review

Kunle Oluwadiya

House security operator at Cypress Creek Renewables

Advanced threat hunting saves significant time in tracking and responding to incidents

Microsoft Defender XDR could be improved with a lower price. My main suggestion would essentially be what Copilot is providing, which is a single pane of glass, so I don't have to go to different windows. That's just a workflow consideration for me. It would be great to have all the information centralized into one particular data app. If I need to open up extra ones, I can, however, I would appreciate a future where everything I need is right there on one single pane of glass. Beyond that, there's really nothing else I see that I would want Microsoft to improve.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Lumu protects against threats immediately and handles them in time."

"The tool's support team helps partners resolve any problems with the product."

"You can access external links, playbooks, MITRE Matrix, and a lot of information."

"It's been helpful for overall extended network visibility."

"Most of it is automated, so I do not have to watch it to get alerts."

"I like Lumu's simple user interface. When we deployed it, we got full access, allowing us to identify IP addresses on the network and connect machine names to users. It helped us identify and block threats via the firewall. I also appreciate the chat support and ticket closure process. We're currently reviewing network detection solutions, and my recommendations include Lumu, Sentinel, and a few others. Regarding functionality and user-friendliness, I would recommend Lumu over the others."

"The automated response to incidents works effectively out of the box, and the number of interfaces and platforms it can work with is impressive."

"The context provided by the tool is very complete, it includes the miter matrix, playbooks, links, hashes, and much more."

"The most valuable feature is the DLP because that's where we can have an added data protection layer and extend it not just to emails but to the documents that users are working on. We can make sure that sensitive data is tagged and flagged if unauthorized parties are using it."

"The feature of Microsoft Defender XDR that I preferred the most traditionally was its focus on endpoint protection, but now identity is right up there with endpoint security. Identity is important because different compromises start at the identity level. This allows us to understand what actions are being taken, who is doing them, and whether it is actually them."

"The integration, visibility, vulnerability management, and device identification are valuable."

"The most valuable feature of all is the full integration with the rest of the software in the operating system and Office 365, as well as Microsoft SCCM. It is quite easy for us to work with the whole instance of Microsoft products. This integration improves the benefits of the whole suite of products."

"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 common and advanced security policies for threat hunting and blocking attacks are valuable."

"Microsoft Defender XDR provides strong identity protection with comprehensive insights into risky user behavior and potential indicators of compromise."

"Microsoft Defender XDR's capability to automatically disrupt advanced cyber attacks is very effective."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pros

Cons

"Lumu's ability to discover threats is an area of concern where improvements are needed."

"The free version is minimal compared to the full version."

"Nothing so far needs to be improved."

"Having a larger support network would be beneficial. Nobody I know has heard of Lumu, so they are in the same space as Darktrace or CrowdStrike, but people give blank stares."

"I am happy with the current features. However, one important one is to improve the reports."

"It would be good if we could access the physical logs."

"The reports need improvement."

"The integration with different vendors and endpoints could be improved."

"It would be beneficial to have a more seamless experience with everything consolidated in one place, particularly when dealing with aspects related to the Exchange console."

"The patching capability should be there. Patching is something that you cannot do even though you see the vulnerabilities present in your environment. For patching, you have to depend on another solution."

"The only problem I find is that the use cases are built-in. There is no template available that you can modify according to your organization's standards. What they give is very generic, the market standard, but that might not be applicable to every organization."

"Support is hit or miss. Microsoft wants you to buy premium support contracts. Though they call themselves professional support, it's almost like throwing questions into a black hole. You get an answer, but it's never helpful."

"Troubleshooting in Microsoft 365 Defender can be inefficient."

"For Microsoft Defender XDR, there is currently no ability to reset passwords for on-premises accounts, which is a key challenge."

"The abundance of sub-dashboards and sub-areas within the main dashboard can be confusing, even if it all technically makes sense."

"Correctly updated records are the most significant area for improvement. There have been times when we were notified of a required fix; we would carry out the fix and confirm it but still get the same notification a week later. This seems to be a delay in records being updated and leads to false reporting, which is something that needs to be fixed."

More Microsoft Defender XDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared to Lumu, other solutions are more expensive. SentinelOne was a bit cheaper, and another provider's price structure is unclear, but Lumu fit our budget nicely. SentinelOne's cost depends on the number of devices, and it might be similar to Lumu's, depending on deployment."

"It is the cheapest solution we found."

"The tool is available at a good price. The tool offers a good and competitive price for customers."

"Its licensing and pricing are handled by someone else. My role is limited to incidents or issues with the portal, but you get what you pay for. It is worth the cost."

"The functionality is fantastic, but for medium and small-sized companies it's overpriced. It would be better if it were a little bit cheaper."

"Microsoft Defender XDR's licensing is complicated."

"With the little idea I have about the costs, I can say that XDR tools tend to be a bit expensive. If you are using Microsoft Defender XDR, then you need to go for a subscription-based pricing model."

"Microsoft 365 Defender offers competitive pricing."

"Defender plan 1 is tenant-wise, and Defender plan 2 is per-user, which makes it more expensive. To have certain features, you would need to purchase the E5 license. For all of the capabilities that the tool provides, the price, though it can be high, is fair."

"The product is fairly priced for what we get from it."

"365 Defender can get expensive because you pay per gigabyte of data ingested. On the other hand, much of the data available in the other Microsoft security solutions are made available relatively cheaply—sometimes at cost or for free. Integrating only a limited set of third-party solutions with Sentinel would be cost-effective. It's much more affordable if companies only have Microsoft stuff."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

Insurance Company

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	47
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	38

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Lumu?

Lumu protects against threats immediately and handles them in time.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lumu?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Lumu?

We use it as our managed SOC instead of contracting with an MSP. It coordinates endpoint and gives us a single pane of glass for our security events.It fulfills the role of a SIEM, serving as our d...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Defender?

Microsoft Defender XDR provides strong identity protection with comprehensive insights into risky user behavior and potential indicators of compromise.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?

My experience with pricing, setup, costs, and licensing of Microsoft Defender XDR is tied to our E5 subscription, which is very straightforward for us. We also purchase the uplift for our mobile us...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?

I am not aware of a mobile app that would be available for my team. With a single analyst, if she is ever away, it would be beneficial to have easier access. While she can use the web portal, the e...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Wazuh vs Lumu

Compared 12% of the time

Stellar Cyber Open XDR vs Lumu

Compared 10% of the time

Vectra AI vs Lumu

Compared 6% of the time

TrendAI Vision One vs Lumu

Compared 6% of the time

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CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 11% of the time

Wazuh vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

TrendAI Vision One vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender XDR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Lumu

January 2026

Download Lumu product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender XDR

January 2026

Download Microsoft Defender XDR product report

Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender

Overview

Lumu Technologies is a cyber-security company that illuminates threats, attacks, and adversaries affecting enterprises worldwide. Using actionable intelligence, Lumu provides a radical way to secure networks by enhancing and augmenting existing defense capabilities established over the past 25 years.

Lumu Technologies

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.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.

Buyer's Guide

Lumu vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

December 2025

Free Report: Lumu vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

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