Microsoft Defender for Identity vs Saviynt Identity Cloud comparison

The compared Microsoft and Saviynt solutions aren't in the same category. Microsoft is ranked #3 in ITDR , with an average rating of 8.7, and holds a 11.4% mindshare in the category. Saviynt is ranked #4 in IGA , with an average rating of 7.6, and holds a 19.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Saviynt users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Defender for Iden...

Read 28 Microsoft Defender for Identity reviews

6,602 Views
3,301 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Saviynt Identity Cloud

Read 27 Saviynt Identity Cloud reviews

7,433 Views
2,750 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender for Iden...

Saviynt Identity Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

Saviynt and Microsoft Defender for Identity compete in identity management and threat protection. Microsoft Defender for Identity has a slight edge due to its comprehensive integration within the Microsoft ecosystem, appealing to enterprises utilizing Microsoft technology.

Features: Saviynt includes robust identity governance, customizable access controls, and strong audit functionalities. Microsoft Defender for Identity provides advanced threat detection, seamless integration with Microsoft security products, and comprehensive threat response capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Saviynt could simplify its deployment process, enhance user-friendliness, and improve scalability. Microsoft Defender for Identity could improve its user interface, enhance third-party integration options, and reduce false positives in alerts.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Saviynt is complex to deploy but offers comprehensive customer support. Microsoft Defender for Identity benefits from straightforward deployment within the Microsoft ecosystem and robust support infrastructure.

Pricing and ROI: Saviynt may have higher initial setup costs but delivers strong ROI for compliance-focused organizations. Microsoft Defender for Identity offers competitive pricing, particularly for businesses leveraging multiple Microsoft solutions, leading to better ROI through bundled pricing.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Saviynt Identity Cloud Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Saviynt Identity Cloud

December 2025

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Helped 884,933 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

Microsoft Defender for Iden...

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (8th), Microsoft Security Suite (5th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (3rd)

Saviynt Identity Cloud

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Privileged Access Management (PAM) (11th), Identity and Access Management (2nd), Non-Human Identity Management (NHIM) (7th), Identity Security and Posture Management (ISPM) (1st), Identity Governance Administration (IGA) (4th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft Defender for Identity is designed for Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) and holds a mindshare of 11.4%, down 18.8% compared to last year.
Saviynt Identity Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Governance Administration (IGA), holds 19.5% mindshare, down 20.5% since last year.

Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity	11.4%
CrowdStrike Falcon	14.0%
Microsoft Entra ID Protection	7.1%
Other	67.5%

Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)

Identity Governance Administration (IGA) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Saviynt Identity Cloud	19.5%
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud	32.6%
Omada Identity	12.1%
Other	35.8%

Identity Governance Administration (IGA)

Featured Reviews

Oluwa Adetunji

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.

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reviewer2774067

Software Engineer at a tech consulting company with 11-50 employees

Has reduced manual work and shortened project timelines through faster deployment and intuitive workflows

One of the challenges regarding Saviynt is the lack of material available on the web, as searching on Google or YouTube often yields little information. Advertising Saviynt is necessary because I was not aware of it a couple of months ago, and it is a very helpful product for many organizations. In India, IGA solutions are not widely recognized, and Saviynt can utilize this point by promoting itself in the cybersecurity field. A significant challenge is the lack of people discussing Saviynt in the open market, as the forums provide slower responses compared to platforms like Reddit. Advancements related to AI would be very helpful. Saviynt should provide pricing for their university certifications, which is currently not publicly available. Information about enrolling requires an ID that is not easily obtained, as it can only be acquired through an organization. Some small wishlist features are related to APIs. As I work on projects, I find certain features to be much needed, but at a glance, they may not seem necessary. As I continue working with Saviynt, these small API-related features become apparent and would greatly enhance the experience.

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

"All the integration it has with different Microsoft packages, like Teams and Office, is good."

"It automates routine testing and helps automate the finding of high-value alerts."

"Microsoft Defender for Identity provides excellent visibility into threats by leveraging real-time analytics and data intelligence."

"The feature I like the most about Defender for Identity is the entity tags. They give you the ability to identify sensitive accounts, devices, and groups. You also have honeytoken entities, which are devices that are identified as "bait" for fraudulent actors."

"The solution’s alerting is fairly efficient."

"The basic security monitoring at its core feature is the most valuable aspect. But also the investigative parts, the historical logging of events over the network are extremely interesting because it gives an in-depth insight into the history of account activity that is really easy to read, easy to follow, and easy to export."

"The most valuable feature is its hybrid artificial intelligence, which gathers forensic data to track and counteract security threats, much like the CSI series in effect."

"Defender for Identity has not affected the end-user experience."

More Microsoft Defender for Identity pros

"Saviynt has positively impacted my organization by significantly reducing the time for a project where we previously used a spreadsheet for manual work to keep the data, and helped reduce that time from around two weeks to two to three days or even less."

"The product's initial setup phase is simple."

"The most valuable aspect of Saviynt is its market acceptance."

"Some of the self-service capabilities are quite powerful."

"The most valuable features of Saviynt are database utility and report generation. These two features have a major impact, particularly when you are trying to create a report because, in other systems, you need to use a third-party utility such as a BI tool or any other reporting tool to fetch the data and send out the report to a third party team. In Saviynt, it's a system within a system, so you don't have to use any third-party tool because you can directly do your query and write that code on Saviynt and then send that report to the team."

"The dedicated Freshdesk platform is a user community and a step in the right direction for offering learning resources."

"Saviynt risk-based access requests and intelligent access controls have made a significant impact on our company."

"It is very easy to use. It addresses most of the trends in identity governance and risk management."

More Saviynt Identity Cloud pros

Cons

"Microsoft Defender for Identity does not save me time, but I think it is the way that I secure the data."

"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 technical support needs significant improvement. Documentation for more minor issues in the form of guides or walkthroughs could help to resolve this issue. The number of tickets raised would decrease, removing some pressure from the support team and making it easier to clear the remaining tickets."

"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."

"Fixing the solution isn't very seamless."

"One area that needs improvement is the number of alerts generated, leading to alert fatigue."

"I can't say that I've seen a return on investment since we have Microsoft Defender for Identity because we also have another security solution in place."

"Defender for Identity gives us visibility, but we often get false positives from Azure that take us down the garden path. We go through 30 incidents each day and most of those are false positives or benign positive alerts. Occasionally, we get true positive alerts."

More Microsoft Defender for Identity cons

"One of the challenges regarding Saviynt is the lack of material available on the web, as searching on Google or YouTube often yields little information."

"We sometimes experience performance issues when the solution fails to process the data between two different applications."

"The custom application integration is a little complex, and this tool doesn't provide so many plugins or additional applications."

"The solution is hosted on AWS cloud, and there is some dependency that affects our bottom line."

"One of the challenges regarding Saviynt is the lack of material available on the web, as searching on Google or YouTube often yields little information."

"The UI doesn’t enhance the user experience."

"The biggest drawback is that for every change you want to make, you have to go back to them and ask for it."

"The configuration process at the beginning can be difficult, depending on the complexity of the company."

More Saviynt Identity Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Defender for Identity is a little more expensive than other Microsoft products. Identity and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are both a bit costly."

"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."

"Microsoft Defender for Identity comes as part of the Microsoft E5 licensing stack."

"It is very affordable considering that other SIEM solutions are much more expensive and have many more licensing restrictions and fees."

"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."

"The product is less expensive than one of the competitors."

"If you are investing in securing your data and avoiding any non-compliance issues, then yes, it is certainly recommended. To put it plainly, if you're willing to pay fines and aren't concerned about the misuse of data, then there might not be a problem. However, if you intend to safeguard the data of your employees, vendors, and customers, it becomes crucial. In this context, managing data security requires preventive and detective measures, such as enforcing segregation of duties and regularly reviewing permissions. Throughout an individual's life cycle within an organization or customer life cycle, various access permissions are granted. Without taking action on these permissions, there is a risk of exposure later on. If individuals retain access after leaving the organization, it poses a serious security threat. Implementing solutions like Saviynt can address these challenges, ensuring continuous access review, generating reports, alerts, and identifying potential risks."

"The solution has a pay-as-you-go licensing model, and you can subscribe monthly or yearly."

"Saviynt's pricing is reasonable."

"The price of the license for this product is quite expensive."

"We are not into the licensing part. The clients take care of the licensing part."

"Saviynt has a competitive price."

"The pricing is comparable to Azure Entra ID. Kind of the same"

More Saviynt Identity Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	15

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...

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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...

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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...

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What do you like most about Saviynt?

It is very easy to use. It addresses most of the trends in identity governance and risk management.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Saviynt?

Saviynt is very affordable compared to its competitors. It is cloud-based, making it significantly cheaper than on-premises solutions. This cost-effectiveness aligns well with the Saudi market, whe...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Saviynt?

See all answers

Comparisons

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID Protection vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 7% of the time

BloodHound Enterprise vs Microsoft Defender for Identity

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Defender for Identity Competitors

SailPoint Identity Security Cloud vs Saviynt Identity Cloud

Compared 22% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Saviynt Identity Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

Okta Platform vs Saviynt Identity Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

Omada Identity vs Saviynt Identity Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Saviynt Identity Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

More Saviynt Identity Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity

March 2026

Download Microsoft Defender for Identity product report

Buyer's Guide

Saviynt Identity Cloud

February 2026

Download Saviynt Identity Cloud product report

Also Known As

Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Defender for Identity offers real-time threat detection and protection for hybrid Active Directory environments. It integrates with Microsoft 365 components for seamless security and monitors advanced behaviors, enhancing identity protection across cloud and on-premises environments.

Microsoft Defender for Identity provides detailed threat insights and user behavior analytics to detect unauthorized access and notify anomalies. It allows setting custom detection rules, enhancing threat response automation. While it needs improvements in cloud security, SIEM integration, and access controls, users leverage its ability to mitigate identity threats like suspicious logins and ransomware. Enhanced integration with Microsoft security products ensures a coordinated threat response for identity control and privilege management.

What are the key features of Microsoft Defender for Identity?

Active Directory Federation: Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft 365 for comprehensive security.
Real-time Security Monitoring: Provides immediate insights into advanced user behaviors and potential threats.
Threat Insights: Delivers detailed analysis of threats with the ability to customize detection rules.
User Behavior Analytics: Analyzes user activities to detect anomalies and potential risks.
Identity Protection: Offers comprehensive protection in both cloud and on-premises environments.

What benefits should users expect from reviews of Microsoft Defender for Identity?

Unauthorized Access Prevention: Identifies potential unauthorized activities with advanced detection mechanisms.
Anomaly Notification: Alerts users to unexpected activities within their environments.
Threat Response Automation: Facilitates rapid response to threats with automated solutions.
Enhanced Cloud Security: Strengthens identity management across hybrid and cloud frameworks.

In specific industries, organizations implement Microsoft Defender for Identity to secure on-premises and hybrid Active Directory environments through user and entity behavior analytics, malicious activity detection, and integration with Microsoft security tools. This approach enhances security posture assessment and helps mitigate identity threats like identity harvesting and unauthorized access.

Microsoft

Saviynt Identity Cloud provides effective identity management with seamless enterprise integration, simplifying self-service requests, workflows, and access management tasks.

Saviynt Identity Cloud is renowned for its robust identity governance and lifecycle management capabilities, facilitating user authentication, access provisioning, and certification. Its intuitive design supports integration within enterprise workflows, aiding reporting, attestation, and auditing processes. This cloud platform enhances risk management through an analytics-driven approach, offering flexibility and scalability to serve industries such as finance and healthcare. Despite its strengths, it requires enhancements in interface customization, training resources, and better-performing high-volume tasks.

What key features does Saviynt Identity Cloud offer?

Identity Management: Centralized control over identities and access privileges.
Seamless Integration: Compatible with enterprise systems, ensuring smooth deployment.
Role-Based Models: Simplifies assignment and management of user roles.
Risk Management: AI-driven analytics to enhance security measures.
Customization: Supports diverse business needs through flexible configuration.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Cost-Effectiveness: Optimizes investment with flexible pricing plans.
Scalability: Accommodates growing business demands without additional complexity.
Efficiency: Streamlines processes for user onboarding and offboarding.
Comprehensive Reporting: Detailed insights for improved decision-making.

Industries such as government, finance, and education implement Saviynt Identity Cloud for identity management across enterprise applications. Its flexibility allows handling external identities and managing workflows, particularly for sectors needing robust security and compliance. Larger enterprises benefit from its ability to integrate well into existing systems, ensuring seamless onboarding and offboarding processes.

Saviynt

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.

Shell, McKesson, Kimberly-Clark, Ingram Micro, Intermountain Health Care, Forterra, CoreLogic

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Saviynt Identity Cloud

December 2025

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