Microsoft Defender XDR vs Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention comparison

Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention

December 2025

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

7.1

Microsoft Defender XDR provides high ROI by consolidating security tools, streamlining operations, and enhancing security, despite licensing costs.

Sentiment score

6.3

Users benefit from Microsoft Purview DLP due to seamless integration, cost savings, productivity boosts, and enhanced security without extra expenses.

We can quarantine and isolate a device within minutes.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees

Microsoft Defender XDR has saved me at least 50% of my time.

Kunle Oluwadiya

House security operator at Cypress Creek Renewables

It helped stop multiple intrusion points where we would have had millions in lost revenue if the attackers got in.

Joshua Hart

Network Technician at T. Baker Smith, LLC

We save a lot of time for legal by using Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention when searching data for legal and HR and employee issues.

Anand Venkatachalapathy

Staff Systems Administrator at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

In these days of data breaches and data leakages that result in huge regulatory fines, we have not had any data breaches that could result in such fines.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention report

Head of Geographies; Data Protection Officer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

The fact that we are not being fined is crucial.

Scott Priddy

Cloud Architecture Lead at bolder inc

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.1

Microsoft Defender XDR's support is timely and responsive, yet smaller organizations experience slower, less effective assistance than larger ones.

Sentiment score

5.9

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention support experiences vary, with praised documentation but mixed reviews on response time and effectiveness.

You get stuck in low-level support for way longer than you should, instead of them escalating the issue up the chain.

Darrell Carr

Enterprise Application Engineer at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

It's critical to escalate SEV B issues immediately to a domestic engineer.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group

Once issues are escalated to the second or third layer, the support is much better.

Ankit-Joshi

Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees

I rate it a ten because they are very quick to respond and very quick to escalate if needed.

Scott Priddy

Cloud Architecture Lead at bolder inc

Once we got to the Microsoft engineers, the experience was great.

ChrisVinding

Director of Cyber Security

In terms of support, it's top-notch and always available to help us with any support issues we raise.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention report

Head of Geographies; Data Protection Officer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

6.9

Microsoft Defender XDR scales well for various organizations, efficiently supporting growth and flexibility despite some network deployment challenges.

Sentiment score

7.3

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention is scalable for medium to large organizations but faces integration challenges with non-Microsoft systems.

My concern is about the scale of events and alerts being generated, and the product is doing a very good job of only surfacing the important items for us.

reviewer2315544

Vice President, Information Technology at a construction company with 201-500 employees

Microsoft Defender XDR shows tremendous scalability, much more so than on-premises solutions.

Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group

Microsoft Defender XDR scales pretty well.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees

The policy working and detection technology need enhancements.

reviewer2262372

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention scales well with the growing needs of our organization.

Head of Geographies; Data Protection Officer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention scales effectively.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention report

Director, IT Infrastructure at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.1

Microsoft Defender XDR is praised for high stability, reliable performance, minimal issues, frequent updates, and prompt issue resolution.

Sentiment score

7.7

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention is stable and reliable, with minor configuration issues but overall positive user feedback.

The service has remained consistently online, with any issues isolated to specific components, suggesting a well-designed and modular architecture.

reviewer2595618

Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees

The services within our ecosystem have been reliable, meeting their SLAs.

Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group

It provides high-fidelity signals.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees

I would assess the stability and reliability of Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention as high.

Brian Ricks

Co-Owner and Principal Consultant at BriComp Computers

The stability and reliability of Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention is great.

ClayHampton

Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

I assess the stability and reliability of Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention as quite good because I don't think it's ever gone down, unlike other parts of Azure.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention report

Director, IT Infrastructure at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender XDR requires enhancements in speed, integration, automation, AI, ease-of-use, and industry-specific threat intelligence.

Microsoft Purview DLP requires improvements in integration, stability, AI, licensing, language support, documentation, compatibility, and OCR features.

The licensing process needs improvement and clarification.

reviewer2595324

Owner at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Improvements are needed in automated response capabilities.

Soumitra_Chakraborty

Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Some inconsistencies exist between blades, which could be improved for a more seamless user and UI experience.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group

Business Premium users can get the data loss prevention features of E5, which is fantastic.

ClayHampton

Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Implementing a degree of severity ranking is essential.

ChrisVinding

Director of Cyber Security

More guides, more examples, and more compliance frameworks such as NIST or even PCI compliance would be great.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention report

Director, IT Infrastructure at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender XDR pricing is seen as complex but fair, with high costs alleviated in bundled Microsoft 365 packages.

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention in E5 licenses offers competitive pricing and value with bundled security features and flexible options.

There are certainly savings when using Microsoft Defender XDR, which can range from 30%, 40%, and even up to 50%.

Clay Bowlin

Director, Sales at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees

I would rate the pricing as eight out of ten, indicating it is a reasonable cost for the product.

Soumitra_Chakraborty

Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs.

reviewer2595618

Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

In terms of pricing, I would say it's unlimited value because it's bundled in our A5 and E5 licensing situation.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention report

Director, IT Infrastructure at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

The pricing for Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention is generally set; E5 is required, but it comes with all other products, so I would say it is fine.

Iohann Gessenay

Security Engineer at baseVISION

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is very straightforward because we are all using E5 licenses, so we are covered.

Scott Priddy

Cloud Architecture Lead at bolder inc

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender XDR integrates tools for comprehensive security, offering threat detection, automation, identity protection, and enhanced efficiency.

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention excels in data protection, compliance, and productivity through integration and machine learning capabilities.

With Microsoft threat intelligence information, it detects various types of threats, including insider attacks, malicious content, and data exfiltration.

Soumitra_Chakraborty

Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

This allows us to secure our systems in advance and proactively improve security, rather than waiting for incidents to occur.

A Roy

Works at Hometrack

Once we have it on the security dashboard, we can see a real-time storyline.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Defender XDR report

Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention prevents users from sharing sensitive information outside the organization based on the configurations that we've implemented.

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention report

Head of Geographies; Data Protection Officer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Microsoft Purview has helped improve our organization's ability to discover sensitive data significantly as we use eDiscovery Purview, which is incredibly helpful.

Anand Venkatachalapathy

Staff Systems Administrator at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention usually performs well, except for endpoint Data Loss Prevention, which may need improvements.

reviewer2262372

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender XDR

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

106

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (7th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (3rd)

Microsoft Purview Data Loss...

Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 6.3%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention is 2.6%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Microsoft Security Suite Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR	6.3%
Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention	2.6%
Other	91.1%

Microsoft Security Suite

Featured Reviews

Kunle Oluwadiya

House security operator at Cypress Creek Renewables

Advanced threat hunting saves significant time in tracking and responding to incidents

Microsoft Defender XDR could be improved with a lower price. My main suggestion would essentially be what Copilot is providing, which is a single pane of glass, so I don't have to go to different windows. That's just a workflow consideration for me. It would be great to have all the information centralized into one particular data app. If I need to open up extra ones, I can, however, I would appreciate a future where everything I need is right there on one single pane of glass. Beyond that, there's really nothing else I see that I would want Microsoft to improve.

Read full review

ClayHampton

Senior Infrastructure Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Protects sensitive data across devices and helps address client compliance needs proactively

The reporting in Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention is a little easier than most Microsoft portals. I understand the licensing cost, especially if you're a Business Premium or in the SMB world, and a lot of clients run with a Business Premium. That comes with data loss prevention in a manual process, whereas E5 gives automation. Microsoft has said, 'Okay, here's your Microsoft 365 E5 compliance add-on that can go on the Business Premium.' So Business Premium users can get the data loss prevention features of E5, which is fantastic. That was the big point that they were missing, and I'm glad that they actually have an add-on now that makes it possible. So truly, I don't think there's a downside. Maybe more reporting, but that's it.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	47
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	38

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	15

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Defender?

Microsoft Defender XDR provides strong identity protection with comprehensive insights into risky user behavior and potential indicators of compromise.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?

My experience with pricing, setup, costs, and licensing of Microsoft Defender XDR is tied to our E5 subscription, which is very straightforward for us. We also purchase the uplift for our mobile us...

What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?

I am not aware of a mobile app that would be available for my team. With a single analyst, if she is ever away, it would be beneficial to have easier access. While she can use the web portal, the e...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention?

The pricing of Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention is acceptable for us.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention?

I think that a feature on the side where you could click on something with a question mark, and then if you click on it, it would open up a new window and give you more information on that, almost ...

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention?

My main use case is to upload mailboxes. We're using Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention to upload mailboxes. The migration tool that's built into the Microsoft Hybrid isn't working on our domai...

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Product Reports

Download Microsoft Defender XDR product report

Microsoft Defender XDR

January 2026

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention

January 2026

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention report

Download Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention product report

Also Known As

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender

Microsoft Endpoint Data Loss Prevention, MS Endpoint DLP, Microsoft Endpoint DLP

Overview

Microsoft Defender XDR is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect against threats in the Microsoft 365 environment.

It offers robust security measures, comprehensive threat detection capabilities, and an efficient incident response system. With seamless integration with other Microsoft products and a user-friendly interface, it simplifies security management tasks.

Users have found it effective in detecting and preventing various types of attacks, such as phishing attempts, malware infections, and data breaches.

Watch the Microsoft demo video here: Microsoft Defender XDR demo video.

Microsoft

At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our mission is grounded in both the world in which we live and the future we strive to create. Today, we live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world, and the transformation we are driving across our businesses is designed to enable Microsoft and our customers to thrive in this world.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.

Information Not Available