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Microsoft Purview Information Protection vs Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management 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 Purview Informati...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Data Governance (7th), Data Privacy Management Software (3rd)
Microsoft Purview Insider R...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
28th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Insider Risk Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Purview Information Protection is 1.8%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management is 2.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Purview Information Protection1.8%
Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management2.4%
Other95.8%
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

Abhi T - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Director at LTI - Larsen & Toubro Infotech
Achieve comprehensive data protection with reliable performance and room for enhanced discovery accuracy
The product is still in a growing phase. I could see that many use cases in their product are not capable enough in terms of detecting or protecting. Compared to other products, they are in the middle of bringing their solution up to the mark, so it is not a full-grown solution. They have to get more accurate results in terms of data discovery and classification. The second thing is their support; support from Microsoft takes a lot of time to get a response from their support team. The third thing is their OCR capability is not that great in terms of identifying the documents. We would love to see response times of less than 24 hours. Additionally, there is no way to check the policy's current status in terms of whether it got synced or not. You have to wait and test the use cases after 24 hours or after 48 hours, and once it starts working, then it appears the policy got implemented.
Karthik Ekambaram - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at Scybers
Have consistently built secure internal environments while implementing compliance tools for diverse customer needs
The customizable alerts system needs improvement. The detection rules are not extensive enough. There should be more possibilities for creating alerts based on additional criteria. While rules can be customized, the available criteria for creating detection rules should be expanded. Microsoft's pricing is very expensive. The Business Premium offering should be extended to enterprise customers, as it's currently limited to 300 users. There should be a tier below E5 that includes Microsoft Purview and other features. Currently, E5 licensing costs approximately 6,000 INR per user per month including taxes. Competitive solutions offer similar functionality at about 50% of Microsoft's cost. Email DLP is included in Business Premium or P1 licenses, while P2 licenses cover endpoint DLP and additional channels. Microsoft should introduce an intermediate tier below E5 that covers all P1 licenses, as customers often need coverage across the entire M365 suite.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Microsoft Purview Information Protection supports data classification, sensitivity labels, and data loss prevention."
"We can restrict access or specify who can see sensitivity labels, which can be based on the classification level. We can encrypt restricted content and limit who can see that from an internal view, too, so Purview is a powerful tool."
"Purview is about auditing and discoverability. We need to ensure people aren't releasing information that they shouldn't and that they're doing multi-factor authentication or accessing it from the correct devices. It aids in reducing silos within organizations, enabling staff to easily find documents and contacts without exhausting human resources."
"Incorporating data loss prevention capabilities built into the Microsoft platform to endpoints, such as Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers, can also help prevent data loss and is highly advantageous."
"It is one of the advantages of the Microsoft solution that it provides a holistic way to manage the platforms and tools, so I do not have to use multiple information protection solutions."
"The feature I prefer the most is the automated controls around it, such as automated labeling, which is effective."
"The features I like the most about Microsoft Purview Information Protection include the ability to set different retention policies, which have benefited my organization by being crucial in maintaining taxpayer anonymity when communicating with government employees."
"I recommend Microsoft Purview Information Protection for organizations using the Microsoft ecosystem."
"The best thing about Purview is that it's easy to integrate with our day-to-day environment. We have Active Directory, and Word and Excel. Using a third-party vendor and trying to integrate with our existing environment would be much more challenging."
"The scoring mechanism is exceptional because it eliminates the need to reinvent criteria for identifying risks, misconfigurations, or vulnerabilities."
"Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management was helpful in performing investigations after alerts were received."
"An example of how these features from Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management have benefited my organization is that we recently discovered a foreign actor, someone from North Korea took a job at our company and was pretending to be an employee, and with Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management, they notified us of that problem and we were able to remediate the fact that we had a North Korean spy working for us."
"Insider Risk Management's graphing is highly specific and useful. You can see the last six months of data for the Microsoft tenant. You can easily find what you need. For example, you can filter for alerts about devices, emails, etc."
 

Cons

"We don't trust Microsoft Purview Information Protection yet."
"Purview could better integrate with third-party tools, but I don't have a specific use case for that because It's currently integrated into the managed services we offer to Microsoft customers using E5 licenses."
"The most concerning thing is that most of the capabilities they mention are not working as expected."
"Our primary concern is third-party application visibility. Many people choose other DLP tools, as they can search the Office 365 suite and detect sensitive information across thousands of other apps. The product is weak compared to the competitors on the DLP front, but the classification is good; the tool needs a bit more maturation."
"Microsoft can improve the affordability of Purview Information Protection by offering it at a lower cost."
"Microsoft customer service is hit or miss. Sometimes, I get a fast and knowledgeable response, while other times, I've experienced delays and received no resolution."
"During the initial setup, I found the lack of policy segregation at the sub-site level for DLP policies to be a challenge."
"I see many options such as SharePoint Advanced Management for customers, but that requires a high investment from the customer's end in order to access the premium features of Purview, so it is not easy."
"The user interface also isn't user-friendly. When we introduce Insider Risk Management to our clients, they often find it difficult to understand. There is too much information, and the UI is not scalable. Also, entry-level IT technicians are not always interested in learning something new. It should be clearer and easier to understand."
"Microsoft's pricing is very expensive. The Business Premium offering should be extended to enterprise customers, as it's currently limited to 300 users."
"My experience with the deployment of Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management was a fifty-fifty situation because we have a very diverse network, and not all of it is on Microsoft products."
"For certain things, you need to install an agent. I understand it's for integrity, but if there could be a clientless solution for certain aspects, it would make life easier."
"The reporting capabilities sometimes leave a little to be desired. It could be improved in terms of producing reports to provide information to the C-suite or others."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is determined by the enterprise licensing, either the E3 or E5 licensing or the EMS plus security and other feature licensing."
"Initially, Purview's cost seemed quite high because it was for personal use. I was scanning a tiny tenant and thinking, "If I extrapolate this to an enterprise-scale tenant, it will be quite costly." However, I talked to people who had compared it to other products on the market, and they're spending five figures to get started. At least, Purview has a free trial, so you can try some of the features early on."
"The product is affordable, and our clients agree. Sensitivity labels come with the MIP license at an additional $2 a month per user, an excellent deal for auto-labeling capabilities."
"The tool's pricing is not a problem for customers because they often purchase it as part of a bundle. With an E5 license, for example, users get access to the entire functionality. This is one of the main reasons why many customers are choosing Microsoft."
"The pricing and setup costs are transferred to my clients, who find it affordable and are satisfied with what they receive."
"The tool's pricing is fairly low, less than 100,000 for a year."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise12
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Information Protection?
In my experience with Microsoft Purview Information Protection, the experience of pricing, setup costs, and licensing is confusing, especially knowing what I have to do for add-ons with buying SCUs...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Information Protection?
I think the role of sensitivity labels in guiding AI interaction with Microsoft Purview Information Protection is pretty good, but for us, it's too general. It says, "Here's a dataset" and because ...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Information Protection?
My main use case for Microsoft Purview Information Protection is sensitivity labeling, as I use it for exposing labeling for inside Teams and outside Teams.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management?
I feel Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management can be improved by being able to identify patterns and practices of users to determine whether or not they fit the normal use case of a developer, a...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management?
My main use cases involve identifying issues related to problems with the current software deployments and whether or not it is being utilized correctly.
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management?
My advice to another organization that is considering using Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management is to make sure they plan out their deployment very carefully because the biggest sticking poin...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Information Protection
Microsoft Insider Risk Management
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Purview Information Protection vs. Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.