Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery comparison

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

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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 External...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

33rd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Attack Surface Management (ASM) (9th)

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

22nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

eDiscovery (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is 1.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is 1.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery	1.8%
Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management	1.2%
Other	97.0%

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

AndyChan3

General manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Enhanced visibility and exposes vulnerabilities but needs more integration

I am currently in the pilot stage of implementing Microsoft External Attack Surface Management (EASM). My organization is transitioning to a comprehensive track of Microsoft solutions, and we will move to full-scale production in another year, maybe Microsoft External Attack Surface Management…

Read full review

Frank Radeck

Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees

Tasks that took an entire day before we implemented the solution now take just 30 minutes.

The most valuable feature of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is its ability to search across various platforms, including Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive. It enables a streamlined, unified process for searching across these platforms. It is critical for Purview to be able to connect to iOS, Mac, and Android devices and data in other SaaS apps. From a support perspective, I can do things while I'm eating lunch or something else. It's more dynamic and responsive. I think everybody appreciates it. We're not tied to one device. Purview's multi-cloud capabilities are also essential for the same reasons. Keeping everything under one umbrella further increases the time savings. Purview accounts for critical regulations from around the world. This is crucial because we hold ourselves accountable to standards and need to align with them. Working at a law firm, we have clients who dictate to us what standards they expect. The visibility is excellent. As we move more things into the cloud, more opportunities exist to put everything under one umbrella.

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

"It seems to be better at protecting from cyberattacks."

"Microsoft External Attack Surface Management helps improve the visibility of my exposed vulnerabilities and provides an overview of my security posture across the globe."

"The ability to query everything that's in Microsoft and send links or add people, like managers, to review the documents is valuable. It's easy as I don't have to download and email anything. I just add them as a reviewer, and they can access it from there."

"The return on investment is saving the equivalent of one or two full-time IT department employees and a few hours per week for legal staff."

"Our legal team benefits from using Microsoft Purview eDiscovery."

"Tasks that took an entire day before we implemented Purview now take just 30 minutes."

"Microsoft Purview eDiscovery has saved me personally a lot of time because I can query it, and it touches everything we have as a full Microsoft shop."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is its ability to search across various platforms, including Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive. It enables a streamlined, unified process for searching across these platforms."

"Purview eDiscovery has made it significantly easier to handle rare litigation requests."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is the content search. We can use it to find the data we need by searching for keywords, phrases, or the sender or recipient. It helps us gather information from current employees or ones who have left the company."

More Microsoft Purview eDiscovery pros

Cons

"The integration is not as seamless compared to competitors like Palo Alto."

"With Microsoft, support is always crazy, it's not easy to get support."

"Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement."

"I see two significant challenges with many of my clients. One is that there are some functionality gaps compared to specialized tools in the legal industry, like a legal hold tool or a document review tool. They have features that Purview eDiscovery lacks. Those gaps create a situation where I almost have to do things twice. I need to collect all my data in eDiscovery and ship it to another platform to complete the review."

"Purview Data Loss Protection for remediating policy violations needs refinement, for example, in defining what constitutes a credit card because that is where I get the most false positives."

"Microsoft Purview eDiscovery should be cheaper."

"Purview eDiscovery works, but it's not entirely perfect. There were times when search results would get hung up or error codes would be presented and we'd have to contact Microsoft to get that sorted out."

"The sorting and filtering of the result data need improvement, and the interface for writing queries is not user-friendly for business users. We still need all the backend stuff. We have to use Graph API to interface with everything and create custom interfaces on the front end to make it easier for the end users, which is costly. The reporting, sorting, and filtering capabilities that other products have aren't available natively in Purview."

"I would suggest adding more platforms. Currently, it's compatible with OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint, and Exchange. Adding more features, as Microsoft continues to expand their cloud offerings, would be beneficial. Exploring options like Azure Files might be an avenue for improvement."

"I would suggest adding more platforms."

"The sorting and filtering of the result data need improvement, and the interface for writing queries is not user-friendly for business users."

More Microsoft Purview eDiscovery cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The costs associated with E5 licensing are currently expensive for us, so we use the E3 license, which comes with fewer features and functionalities."

"Microsoft Purview eDiscovery comes as part of Microsoft 365 licenses."

"The pricing and licensing with Microsoft can be complex, and licensing is known to be a challenge because it changes frequently. While the licensing for Purview is not as tricky as other Microsoft products, navigating licenses since the shift to E3 and E5 plans has been a task, as individual licenses must now be purchased separately."

"In the positions that I've had through contracting over the years, I've heard talk of it being overpriced and underperforming compared to its competitors."

"With the full bundle, pricing is not a significant concern. As an M3, I find the Purview pricing of 1250 per user worthwhile."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Outsourcing Company

Government

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

I rate the pricing of the solution as eight out of ten.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement. Introduction of more AI automation into the products would also be beneficial. The integration is not as seamless co...

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

The setup process was very straightforward. We acquired pricing through our reseller in NASDAQ, eliminating the need to search for prices ourselves.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

The query language can be time-consuming to figure out if you don't know it initially. While there are options with dropdowns to select criteria, having a natural language feature would be benefici...

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

I sometimes use it for legal holds or to find lost items, and to determine what is going on. However, most of the time, my use case is legal-related.

TrendAI Vision One – Cloud Security vs Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Varonis Platform vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Compared 6% of the time

Exterro vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Compared 6% of the time

Smarsh Enterprise Platform vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Attack Surface Management (ASM)

Download Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management product report

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management report

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Download Microsoft Purview eDiscovery product report

Overview

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management detects security risks by providing visibility into external assets. It helps teams understand exposure and tackle potential threats effectively.

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management caters to those seeking comprehensive monitoring of external-facing systems. By continuously mapping and assessing internet-connected assets, it identifies potential vulnerabilities. This tool aids in proactive risk management by alerting security teams to new and evolving threats, ensuring that external attack surfaces are minimized and guarded against potential breaches.

What are the essential features of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?

Continuous Discovery: Constant scanning to identify unauthorized and outdated assets.
Vulnerability Assessment: Detailed examination to uncover potential weaknesses.
Risk Prioritization: Helps prioritize threats based on severity and impact.
Alert System: Immediate alerts for newly identified risks.

What benefits and ROI should customers evaluate?

Enhanced Security: Improved protection against external threats.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces costs by preventing potential breaches and downtime.
Improved Risk Management: Better preparedness and response capabilities.

In financial services, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is leveraged to secure sensitive data across open networks, whereas healthcare organizations use it to protect confidential patient information from potential cyber threats. Its adaptability ensures that critical assets remain protected regardless of the industry.

Microsoft

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery offers rapid search capabilities across multiple Microsoft platforms, supporting compliance with global regulations and improving data management efficiency for organizations.

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery empowers organizations to perform rapid content searches across Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, and mobile devices. It enables keyword-based searches and automates content logging and tagging, ensuring privacy law adherence. This tool is designed to enhance visibility and legal compliance, featuring extensive data protection, native integration with Microsoft's ecosystem, and ensuring efficiency for collecting electronically stored information.

What are the key features of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

Rapid Content Search: Enables efficient keyword-based searches across multiple Microsoft platforms.
Data Connectivity: Ensures seamless integration within the Microsoft ecosystem.
Compliance Support: Provides features vital for adhering to global privacy regulations.
Automated Content Logging: Streamlines tagging processes to adhere to privacy laws.
Extensive Data Protection: Offers robust protection for sensitive information.

What benefits should users expect from Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

Increased Efficiency: Speeds up data retrieval and legal processing tasks.
Enhanced Compliance: Supports adherence to international regulations.
Improved Data Management: Streamlines the management of electronically stored information.
Time Savings: Reduces time spent on manual data searches and tagging.
Cost-effectiveness: Potential to lower overall compliance and data management costs.

Industries like legal services employ Microsoft Purview eDiscovery extensively for handling litigation requests and managing legal holds. This tool facilitates the retrieval and management of historical data, particularly during workforce transformations or information governance challenges, making it crucial for efficient eDiscovery workflows.

Microsoft

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery