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Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting vs Sophos MDR 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

Microsoft Defender Experts ...
Ranking in Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sophos MDR
Ranking in Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Managed Detection and Response (MDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is 1.6%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos MDR is 5.9%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Sophos MDR5.9%
Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting1.6%
Other92.5%
Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
 

Featured Reviews

Mondher-Smii - PeerSpot reviewer
Has supported clients in managing incidents through clear pricing and hybrid deployment options
What really stands out about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is that it's easy to use. The cost is clear, and the pricing is transparent. The onboarding of the product on the customer's environment is straightforward. We can use it in a hybrid environment, in the cloud, or on-premise environment. This is the main advantage regarding this product. If it's configured correctly, everything will be good, resilient, and secure, which supports threat mitigation efforts depending on the configuration on the tenant and the parameters on Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting. Threat intelligence updates have some impact on our overall security posture. They give us external eyes regarding threat actors, which is good. It's very helpful to enrich the SIEM, which is Microsoft Sentinel. It's a good feature that we can include threat intel on the product.
Shaun Gordon - PeerSpot reviewer
Extensive data lake, ease of use is great and you can really get started very quickly
Sophos MDR is a service. MDR is managed detection and response. It's a managed security service. So instead of having an anti-malware, which in Sophos' case would be Intercept X, with MDR, they add human-led threat hunting. It's a managed service. So it's not a product that you sell the client per se. You're selling them a service, which is almost like an SLA, and that includes Cloud MDR. MDR is not a product. It's a service. The reality is that when it comes to the likes of SentinelOne, McAfee, CrowdStrike, ESET, and all the other players out there, they're single-product security companies. CrowdStrike is an anti-malware. That's one thing. ESET, same thing. But if you look at the other vendors, within the appliances, you're looking at Fortinet, Palo Alto, and Checkpoint. They only sell firewalls. That's all they do. When you deal with Sophos, they are the entire product suite. They sell firewalls. They sell Intercept X, which is their anti-malware, Intercept X for Server with anti-malware, email protection with ties into Office 365, and Sophos Plus encryption. All of these security products pull telemetry. So every time somebody hits a firewall, it's called, for argument's sake, that goes into their central data lake. All the firewalls around the world add that information to a data lake. Now, when you're dealing with Sophos, because of their exposure, because they've got so many different products, their data lake is a lot more extensive than competing vendors because they're not relying on one threat factor. They're not relying on one area of expertise. They're a global company. So, I can't compare their telemetry, for instance, to the likes of CrowdStrike. If CrowdStrike has probably started doing appliances, then the users will get that benefit as well. Sophos is the only vendor that does do that. It's like hiring a security team. Sophos do things differently in that they've got more telemetry and more insight into a network because they offer a variety of products. The other part about it is Sophos MDR; the service, unlike other vendors like CrowdStrike, is not limited to their products. If you are running CrowdStrike in your company, for instance, you can get their integration packs, in which case Sophos will manage your CrowdStrike system for you. Whereas with CrowdStrike, it's only CrowdStrike. You are locked into that vendor. So Sophos offers that flexibility. It's a multi-vendor service as opposed to SentinelOne or CrowdStrike, which is a single-vendor service. For instance, if I'm running Sophos, I would like to go with CrowdStrike MDR. I would have to remove my entire security investment, in this case, Sophos, and reinstall CrowdStrike in order to use their service. Sophos doesn't have that problem. If you've got CrowdStrike and you've already invested in CrowdStrike, cool. You stay on CrowdStrike. They will still manage it for you.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What really stands out about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is that it's easy to use, the cost is clear, and the pricing is transparent, with straightforward onboarding in hybrid, cloud, or on-premise environments."
"The solution helps to detect some suspicious items for us and our clients."
"What really stands out about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is that it's easy to use, the cost is clear, and the pricing is transparent, with straightforward onboarding in hybrid, cloud, or on-premise environments."
"There is a feature called XDR Central. With this, Sophos can connect to third-party security solutions."
"The automated threat hunting feature and integration capabilities are valuable."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The user doesn't need a technician; it offers 24/7 support to identify and manage your infrastructure and take complete care of any technological incidents."
"The most valuable feature is threat hunting."
"The most valuable aspect of this solution is the ability to interact with the firewall and workstations seamlessly to shut down the threats. Additionally, you are able to control the workstations remotely."
"The product’s most valuable features are integration and endpoint protection."
"I like Sophos MDR's inbuilt feature for DLP (Data Loss Prevention)."
 

Cons

"There is a lot of change in a small period. This might not be helpful for IT administrators and users."
"There is a lot of change in a small period. This might not be helpful for IT administrators and users."
"We tried the proactive threat hunting feature, but it was not a good experience with Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting. It created more trouble than expected with false positives and non-expected answers."
"The solution’s user interface could be improved."
"It is a bit expensive. It could be cheaper. There are many competitive products in the market, like Kaspersky, McAfee Antivirus, and more."
"One of the limitations that we have found is with communications and the languages in different countries."
"The product's stability needs improvement."
"The product must provide zero trust security."
"Sophos MDR's support and basic training of their devices could be improved."
"Sophos MDR lacks integration with MDM solutions."
"The integration with third-party solutions as an area for slight improvement"
"I have contacted Sophos MDR support, and their support is average. They are sometimes slow and don't always understand requests immediately."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The product is reasonably priced considering the cybersecurity features."
"The solution has subscription-based pricing plans."
"MDR is a complete enterprise solution, and compared to other OEMs, it is one of the cheapest."
"I would rate the price of Sophos MDR as a nine out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."
"The cost of the solution is based on how many users use it."
"The tool is too expensive for small companies."
"The price falls somewhere in the middle range."
"The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
6%
Comms Service Provider
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting?
The solution helps to detect some suspicious items for us and our clients.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting?
The areas of the solution that have room for improvement in Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting include the locking mechanism, which is not tough in terms of the cost. The price of the solution ...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting?
We work on the cybersecurity solutions with Microsoft tools. We work with Azure Sentinel and we work with Defender, specifically focusing on Microsoft cybersecurity tools. For the cybersecurity tea...
What do you like most about Sophos MDR?
The user doesn't need a technician; it offers 24/7 support to identify and manage your infrastructure and take complete care of any technological incidents.
What needs improvement with Sophos MDR?
I don't have many suggestions for improvement in Sophos MDR as it performs quite well. It would be beneficial to have the ability to pull a report of all incident responses within a tenant, with ca...
What advice do you have for others considering Sophos MDR?
I believe Sophos MDR pricing is reasonable for my customers. I would recommend those planning to use Sophos MDR to consider what financial impact a compromise could have on their organization and c...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sophos Managed Threat Response
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting vs. Sophos MDR and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.