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Microsoft Defender XDR vs Vectra AI comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

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
6.9
Vectra AI enhances security efficiency, offers cost savings, improves incident response, and is valued despite challenges in quantifying ROI.
We can quarantine and isolate a device within minutes.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Defender XDR has saved me at least 50% of my time.
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.
Network Technician at T. Baker Smith, LLC
The payback period is roughly six months.
Strategic RAN Lead | Network Transformation & Optimization | Philippines & South Africa at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

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
8.0
Users highly praise Vectra AI's customer service for its knowledgeable, responsive, and proactive support, with effective issue resolution.
You get stuck in low-level support for way longer than you should, instead of them escalating the issue up the chain.
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.
Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group
Once issues are escalated to the second or third layer, the support is much better.
Cyber Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
The support is quite reliable depending on the service engineer assigned.
Cyber Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
When I create tickets, the response is fast, and issues are solved promptly.
Planning& Performance Analyst at National Information Center, Ministry of Interior, Saudi Arabia
Customer support receives a rating of nine out of ten due to being very supportive and responding quite efficiently.
Strategic RAN Lead | Network Transformation & Optimization | Philippines & South Africa at a tech vendor 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
Vectra AI efficiently scales across large networks with planning, handling vast data traffic and numerous endpoints smoothly with proper infrastructure.
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.
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.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
Vectra AI is scalable because it can work through different kinds of solutions and is compatible with all kinds of cloud solutions.
Strategic RAN Lead | Network Transformation & Optimization | Philippines & South Africa at a tech vendor with 10,001+ 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
8.0
Vectra AI is stable with rare downtime, quick bug fixes, and easy monitoring despite occasional throughput-related slowness.
The service has remained consistently online, with any issues isolated to specific components, suggesting a well-designed and modular architecture.
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.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender XDR requires enhancements in speed, integration, automation, AI, ease-of-use, and industry-specific threat intelligence.
Vectra AI should improve integration, reporting, orchestration, reduce false positives, enhance accuracy, flexibility, and refine pricing and documentation.
The licensing process needs improvement and clarification.
Owner at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Improvements are needed in automated response capabilities.
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.
Infrastructure engineer at Cetera Financial Group
ExtraHop's ability to decrypt encrypted data is a feature that Vectra AI lacks.
Planning& Performance Analyst at National Information Center, Ministry of Interior, Saudi Arabia
You need to have a Linux server, and from the Linux server, you must perform AI tasks, and there is a lot to be handled in the back end.
Owner at Fortibits
All threats, including hacking attempts, should be comprehensively addressed.
Consultant at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender XDR pricing is seen as complex but fair, with high costs alleviated in bundled Microsoft 365 packages.
Vectra AI pricing is seen as high but justified by its robust features, though expensive for some, like schools.
There are certainly savings when using Microsoft Defender XDR, which can range from 30%, 40%, and even up to 50%.
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.
Security manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft purposefully obfuscates this through marketing ploys to hide costs.
Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Vectra is cheaper in terms of pricing and features compared to Darktrace.
Cyber Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is very acceptable when you compare it with Darktrace, for example.
Owner at Fortibits
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender XDR integrates tools for comprehensive security, offering threat detection, automation, identity protection, and enhanced efficiency.
Vectra AI excels in AI-driven threat detection, risk scoring, and seamless integration while enhancing visibility and handling high-risk behaviors.
With Microsoft threat intelligence information, it detects various types of threats, including insider attacks, malicious content, and data exfiltration.
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.
Works at Hometrack
Once we have it on the security dashboard, we can see a real-time storyline.
Information Security Analyst at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
Our company used Vectra AI to detect the malicious threats and viruses before they could cause more damage, and we successfully stopped the threats.
Consultant at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
Alert noise was dramatically reduced by nearly 80%, allowing SOC analysts to focus more on true threats, which made them more productive and resulted in higher operational efficiency.
Strategic RAN Lead | Network Transformation & Optimization | Philippines & South Africa at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
There are extensive out-of-box detection capabilities.
Owner at Fortibits
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender XDR
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (7th), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)
Vectra AI
Ranking in Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
16th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (5th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (2nd), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (11th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Extended Detection and Response (XDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender XDR is 4.9%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Vectra AI is 3.0%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR4.9%
Vectra AI3.0%
Other92.1%
Extended Detection and Response (XDR)
 

Featured Reviews

KO
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.
RR
Consultant at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
Threat detection has improved and malicious emails are now identified quickly
Vectra AI offers artificial intelligence capabilities with visibility that can be integrated into our day-to-day operations and other tools, including malware detection tools and cyber threat tools. Vectra AI has positively impacted my organization. Last year while using it, we received many malicious email threats and virus incidents, including a trojan virus that had reportedly been deployed by someone. Our company used Vectra AI to detect the malicious threats and viruses before they could cause more damage, and we successfully stopped the threats. Using Vectra AI, I notice that server downtime has decreased significantly. We now experience only two to three hours of downtime, whereas without Vectra AI and other tools, our downtime would exceed 48 to 72 hours.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Extended Detection and Response (XDR) solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise29
 

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 the biggest difference between Corelight and Vectra AI?
The two platforms take a fundamentally different approach to NDR. Corelight is limited to use cases that require the eventual forwarding of events and parsed data logs to a security team’s SIEM or ...
What do you like most about Vectra AI?
The solution is currently used as a central threat detection and response system.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Vectra AI?
It is very acceptable when you compare it with Darktrace, for example.
 

Also Known As

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender
Vectra Networks, Vectra AI NDR
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.
Tribune Media Group, Barry University, Aruba Networks, Good Technology, Riverbed, Santa Clara University, Securities Exchange, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Vectra AI and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.