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Microsoft Defender for Identity vs NetMon 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 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 (5th)
NetMon
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
14th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (55th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender for Identity is 10.3%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetMon is 1.7%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity10.3%
NetMon1.7%
Other88.0%
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
 

Featured Reviews

OA
CyberSecurity Engineer | Information Security Management at Self Employed
Automation and threat intelligence streamline threat response and user management
In Microsoft Defender for Identity, I would appreciate improvements in providing information on conditional access. They have added more control that can be put in place, which was not present years ago. They have also integrated Azure Information Protection where policies can be configured. The Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) allows users to reset their passwords, which is a valuable tool for remote workers. They have added more features into conditional access that integrate with other components, including SSPR and Identity Information Protection, trusted IPs, and locations. These configurations in trusted IP addresses are integrated into conditional access and control the applications I want to secure. Regarding impossible travel scenarios, I can either block the user or grant access while requesting multi-factor authentication. They should improve the automation for impossible travel detection. When connected to Wi-Fi and then to VPN, the system sometimes interprets the IP address change as impossible travel. 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.
SR
Pan India IT Infrastructure Management / End-user Services at Tata Group
Has supported real-time event detection and reporting accuracy while database integration has required extra effort
Sometimes it may be difficult to incorporate new additional databases in NetMon, and we faced some challenges at that time. However, currently, it is not giving many challenges.It is difficult to integrate NetMon with other databases. We can customize NetMon's monitoring views, but it is done by the team who handles it, as it is outsourced.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"One of our users had the same password for every personal and company account. That was a problem because she started receiving phishing emails that could compromise all of her accounts. Defender told us that the user was not changing their password."
"I recommend Microsoft Defender for Identity because it is easy to implement."
"The solution offers excellent visibility into threats."
"It automates routine testing and helps automate the finding of high-value alerts."
"I think that for a defensive view, it can give most administrators absolutely amazing insight into what's happening in the network that they probably never had before."
"We do not see any issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Identity. I can say it is 100% stable."
"All the integration it has with different Microsoft packages, like Teams and Office, is good."
"LogRhythm NetMon's most impressive feature is that it's a bundled package, so you're not just relying on monthly data; you get a six-month view for more comprehensive indicators of compromise. This dual approach is precious. We implement LogRhythm NetMon in our cybersecurity strategy mainly for compliance and correlation of network, user, and decision activities, particularly for network firewalls and access control."
"In general, this is a good product."
"We were sold on the product based on the fairly narrow use cases that the sales reps gave us, and what we're seeing during our usage is that we can get there, and we're very excited about the potential."
"We are using NetMon's real-time traffic analysis regularly with a team of four members who effectively monitor all alerts and events, which has helped them identify whether there could be a severe incident."
"The protocols with which you see the traffic for a particular website that a client has in their environment, for example, are valuable. We can monitor whether the traffic is up to the mark or whether they need to add more bandwidth. Also, we can see if we're able to get real-time environment data as well. The customization dashboard is really good. LogRhythm NetMon has its own in-built dashboards which are helpful in guiding customization."
"Compared to many other products in the market, I think LogRhythm has the highest cost to performance ratio in terms of its value."
"The most valuable feature is the log, which can be analyzed by our SIEM solution."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
 

Cons

"I would like to be able to do remediation from the platform because it is just a scanner right now. If you onboard a device, it shows you what is happening, but you can't use it to fix things. You need to go into the system to fix it instead."
"There is no option to remedy an issue directly from the console. If we see an alert, we can't fix it from the console. Instead, we must depend on other Microsoft products, such as MDE. That is a significant drawback. It simply works as a scanner, which can sometimes put enough load on the sensors. Immediate actions should be possible from the dashboard because. It can prevent issues from spreading further."
"The impact of the sensors on the domain controllers can be quite high depending on your loads. I don't know if there's any room for improvement there, but that's one of the things that might be improved."
"An area for improvement is the administrative interface. It's basic compared to other administrative centers. They could make it more user-friendly and easier to navigate."
"The solution should provide more detailed data regarding anomaly detections."
"One area that needs improvement is the number of alerts generated, leading to alert fatigue."
"The impact of the sensors on the domain controllers can be quite high depending on your loads."
"The solution could improve how it handles on-premises Android-related attacks."
"Could use a topology diagram which would help get an exact visual."
"Some of the automated tasks we can perform on QRadar cannot be performed on LogRhythm because the solution has limitations."
"I would like to see better integration with multiple products. Integration is not something that is readily available for most of the products."
"The platform's integration features often need to be improved."
"LogRhythm's support team isn't responsive enough - it's common to wait a day or two for someone to deal with a case."
"The training for this product is not very good and needs to be improved."
"The training for this product is not very good and needs to be improved."
"Sometimes it's hard to find the network devices' self-audit logs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is costly, and we had multiple discussions with accounting to receive a discounted rate. However, on the open market, the tool is expensive."
"Microsoft Defender for Identity comes as part of the Microsoft E5 licensing stack."
"You won't be able to change your tenants from where you deploy them. For example, if you select Canada, they will charge you based on Canadian pricing. If you are also in London, when you deploy in Canada, the pound is higher than Canadian dollars, but your platform resources are billable in Canadian dollars. Using your pounds to pay for any of these things will be cheaper. Or, if you deploy in London, they will charge you based on your local currency."
"It is very affordable considering that other SIEM solutions are much more expensive and have many more licensing restrictions and fees."
"Defender for Identity is a little more expensive than other Microsoft products. Identity and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are both a bit costly."
"LogRhythm's licensing part is something that depends on the license you want since they offer it on a perpetual and subscription basis."
"I don't have visibility into the pricing of LogRhythm NetMon as it's handled through our commercial partnerships."
"The product is expensive for smaller companies."
"NetMon's licensing costs about $85k per year, with some extra costs for support."
"The price of this solution is too high, so it should be made more practical and more valuable for the customer."
"Pricing is okay. There were some competitors that were extremely expensive and there were some which were really inexpensive but LogRhythm stayed in the middle of them."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) solutions are best for your needs.
886,719 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Transportation Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Construction Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for LogRhythm NetMon?
I don't have visibility into the pricing of LogRhythm NetMon as it's handled through our commercial partnerships.
What needs improvement with LogRhythm NetMon?
Sometimes it may be difficult to incorporate new additional databases in NetMon, and we faced some challenges at that time. However, currently, it is not giving many challenges.It is difficult to i...
What is your primary use case for LogRhythm NetMon?
We have outsourced our SIEM solutions at the moment, and we are using it.We have been using LogRhythm in our organization as a SaaS offering. We have outsourced it as part of the actual scope where...
 

Also Known As

Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity
LogRhythm Network Monitor
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.
Sera-Brynn
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. NetMon and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
886,719 professionals have used our research since 2012.