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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Entra ID Protection 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
6.9
Organizations report financial and operational benefits from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, including improved security, automation, and cost reduction.
Sentiment score
4.9
Microsoft Entra ID Protection offers cost-effective multi-factor authentication and SSO, achieving quick ROI with enhanced efficiency and manageability.
Without detection and protection measures, organizations would face substantial payments and reputational damage, including the necessity to inform customers about data breaches, potentially leading to loss of business.
Consultant at ACT4SERVICES
We have seen a return on investment when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, as it saves labor by reducing the need for staff to focus on it.
IT CONSULTANT at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
The biggest return on investment for me when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is the time saving.
Lead security engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Microsoft Entra ID Protection has out-of-the-box capabilities such as multi-factor authentication and SSO for a wide range of applications.
Enterprise Security Architect at PRS for Music
There is a return on investment in terms of time-saving, control, and ease of manageability of the environment.
Software Solutions Account Manager at First Distribution
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft support is praised for responsiveness and knowledge, but varies in quality; documentation and complex issue resolution need improvement.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Entra ID Protection support is mixed; paid support is consistent, while non-contract users face delays and inefficiencies.
The Microsoft agent, who did not actually work for Microsoft, is one of the vendors that Microsoft uses for support, said, 'Just to set expectations, my lunch break is in an hour and I am going to go away then.'
Security Analyst III at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The level-one support seems disconnected from subject matter experts.
Office 365 Subject Expert at a government with 10,001+ employees
I rate Microsoft support 10 out of 10.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
We classified it as a critical problem, and they accepted our classification and helped us quickly.
Founder at AiALL
They often refer to internal blogs, which doesn't offer much new information and can limit our capabilities in troubleshooting.
AI Solution Architect at Bitscape Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
Tickets often bounce from person to person, requiring the sharing of information multiple times.
Software Solutions Account Manager at First Distribution
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is scalable, seamlessly accommodating large environments with flexible deployment and integration with Microsoft's ecosystem.
Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Entra ID Protection offers scalable adaptability for businesses of all sizes, efficiently adjusting to fluctuating user demands.
We managed to scale it out in a short amount of time, with two months of planning and three months of implementation on 10,000 computers.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is scalable enough to handle various devices across environments, whether they are laptops, Android devices, or operating in hybrid environments.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
Compatibility is its main feature.
IT CONSULTANT at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Since it is a cloud computing product, it can accommodate a range of company sizes, from a few users to large businesses.
Security Analyst at UPCI
There are no issues with scalability up to your license limitations.
Senior Solution Architect Data Center & Cloud at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We haven't experienced problems with Microsoft Entra ID Protection.
Founder at AiALL
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is reliable and efficient, with minor update issues, praised for integration and performance.
Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Entra ID Protection is reliable with occasional integration issues and rare authentication delays, generally stable for large organizations.
I haven't seen any outages with Microsoft.
IT Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I rate Defender 10 out of 10 for stability.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Defender for Endpoint is extremely stable.
Systems engineers at Delta Dental of Colorado
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender users seek better AI integration, customer support, UI, security, customization, visibility, threat response, and simpler pricing.
Microsoft Entra ID Protection needs enhanced integration, licensing transparency, better UI, and improved scalability for optimal hybrid environment use.
Repeated interactions are necessary due to Level One's lack of tools and knowledge, hindering efficient problem-solving and negatively impacting our experience with Microsoft support.
Office 365 Subject Expert at a government with 10,001+ employees
In contrast, competing products offer reduced pricing for long-term commitments, which makes it difficult for us in that environment.
Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
We use Microsoft partners to help govern the platform, and as part of an alliance, we want to gather data from each tenant and combine them for a complete view.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
If there was some level of backup mechanism available with quick restore functionality, that would be beneficial.
Senior Solution Architect Data Center & Cloud at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Occasionally, when we are trying to do something different in terms of integrating into a new vendor or platform, especially with some of the new SaaS platforms, there are not many out-of-the-box solutions available, so we have to build custom solutions.
Enterprise Security Architect at PRS for Music
Microsoft has not offered control over how they calculate high or low-risk scenarios.
AI Solution Architect at Bitscape Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers flexible licensing, integrating with Microsoft 365, providing cost-effective, feature-rich enterprise security solutions.
Enterprise clients find Microsoft Entra ID Protection costly, complex, and seek simpler, affordable licensing options for smaller businesses.
That has been the trend we have seen with Microsoft lately—it is just getting more and more expensive.
Assistant Director, Hybrid Infrastructure & Operations at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
Given our extensive Microsoft licensing, transitioning to Defender for Endpoint did not affect licensing costs.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
It costs $15 per VM for the P2 plan, which is seen as affordable for customers.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
Entra ID Protection is not badly priced, but some clients, especially in medium to smaller scale companies in third-world countries, find it quite expensive.
Software Solutions Account Manager at First Distribution
Microsoft Entra ID requires additional licensing components.
AI Solution Architect at Bitscape Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
The pricing for Microsoft Entra ID protection is not expensive.
Security Analyst at UPCI
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers seamless integration and advanced threat protection with centralized management and low resource usage for enterprises.
Microsoft Entra ID Protection offers granular control, anomaly detection, and seamless integration for enhanced security and identity threat remediation.
Defender for Endpoint's coverage across different platforms in our environment is pretty good. We have devices running Linux, Mac OS, Windows, iOS, and Android. It covers all of them.
Team manager of it department at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides a unified management interface allowing customers to manage their on-premises and hybrid infrastructures from a single pane.
Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra
One of the best features of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is its database for identifying zero-day attacks or malware attacks.
Consultant at ACT4SERVICES
Having a single sign-on feature with Entra ID ensures seamless access to various applications, even those with significant security constraints.
AI Solution Architect at Bitscape Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
These features ease the job of security analysts, providing a better vision of user activities and potential risks.
Security Operations Team Leader at Yalla Security Srl
We use automated remediation for logon purposes and error purposes. It remediates issues and provides just-in-time access when applicable.
Senior Solution Architect Data Center & Cloud at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Endp...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
212
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (1st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (5th), Anti-Malware Tools (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (3rd)
Microsoft Entra ID Protection
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
11th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Identity Management (IM) (7th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is 6.8%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Entra ID Protection is 2.3%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint6.8%
Microsoft Entra ID Protection2.3%
Other90.9%
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

Robert Arbuckle - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Analyst III at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Automatically isolates threats and integrates with logging to reduce response time
Overall, I would evaluate the Microsoft support level that I receive at probably about a seven, but that depends on the day. It has been spotty. We have had issues where the urgency level of the Microsoft support is not as high as ours, especially during a data breach or potential data breach situation. We have had issues with some of the offshore support being lackluster. One specific thing that comes to mind is we were on a support call with our CISO on the call, and the Microsoft agent, who did not actually work for Microsoft, is one of the vendors that Microsoft uses for support, said, "Just to set expectations, my lunch break is in an hour and I am going to go away then." For us, it was already ten o'clock at night and we had been working on this for a couple of hours, trying to get a security engineer on with us. For him to tell us that he was going to go away and have lunch, it was, "Okay, but go find somebody else if you need to." It was just the lackluster approach, and it seemed like he did not really care. We seem to get a lot of this when we get non-Microsoft support. I can identify areas for improvement with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, as it is kind of a convoluted mess to try to take care of false positives. Especially when they have been identified as false positives but they keep going off over and over again. It is great for my pocketbook because it generates a lot of on-call action, but I would really prefer more sleep at two o'clock in the morning than dealing with false positives. I would say that the unified portal for managing Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is suitable for both teams as they are all in there. It would be great if they would stop moving things around and renaming things, which makes sense. The new XDR portal is pretty nice. Being able to have it central again inside of the regular Security Center without having to open up two windows is helpful. Overall, I think it is pretty good. There is always going to be something that could be improved, such as alerting and the ability to modify alerts would be a little bit helpful to have. Being able to add more data into the alerts and turn off alerts that are not as useful would be beneficial. It is hard to say what the quantitative impact the security exposure management feature has had on our company's security, because a lot of it is kind of subjective. I think we are sitting at around a fifty percent score still, and a lot of it is just kind of unusual circumstances that we cannot really implement without breaking the organization.
MohammedTalukdar1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Security Architect at PRS for Music
Identity protection has unified access control and delivers faster, risk-based threat response
The licensing for Microsoft Entra ID Protection is somewhat complex depending on whether you have an E5 or E3 licensing model, so improving the licensing models would make it a lot easier to use. The cost could always be lower; at the moment, I would say it is reasonable, but to get the full suite, you need to go for at least an E5 license, which can be very expensive. Occasionally, when we are trying to do something different in terms of integrating into a new vendor or platform, especially with some of the new SaaS platforms, there are not many out-of-the-box solutions available, so we have to build custom solutions.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business82
Midsize Enterprise45
Large Enterprise96
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

How is Cortex XDR compared with Microsoft Defender?
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface, applies behavioral-based endpoint protection and response, and includes risk-ba...
Which offers better endpoint security - Symantec or Microsoft Defender?
We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior solution. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security s...
How does Microsoft Defender for Endpoint compare with Crowdstrike Falcon?
The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never push your machine hardware to "test", you don't have the usual "scan now" feature ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
The cost could always be lower; at the moment, I would say it is reasonable, but to get the full suite, you need to go for at least an E5 license, which can be very expensive.
What needs improvement with Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
The licensing for Microsoft Entra ID Protection is somewhat complex depending on whether you have an E5 or E3 licensing model, so improving the licensing models would make it a lot easier to use. T...
What is your primary use case for Azure Active Directory Identity Protection?
I primarily use Microsoft Entra ID Protection as an Identity and Access Management platform. The primary use case for Microsoft Entra ID Protection is Identity Management, although there are numero...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
Azure Active Directory Identity Protection, Azure AD Identity Protection
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs. Microsoft Entra ID Protection and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.