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Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting vs Sophos MDR comparison

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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 Experts ...
Ranking in Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
19th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sophos MDR
Ranking in Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Managed Detection and Response (MDR) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is 1.3%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sophos MDR is 2.7%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sophos MDR2.7%
Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting1.3%
Other96.0%
Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
 

Featured Reviews

Joe Cicero - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Marketing Officer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Proactive threat hunting has strengthened our defenses and provides expert support for incidents
Proactive threat hunting as well as the Ask an Expert feature, which is a button inside of the XDR portal that becomes available when the customer owns Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting, are the best features it offers. If a customer or one of our analysts needs extra support or has a question about a Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting notification, they can click on that button and chat directly with a Microsoft security analyst to get more information or fill in any gaps regarding the Ask an Expert feature. Improved detection rates are one of the specific outcomes that show the positive impact because Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is a second set of eyes or a second team looking for emerging threats within a shared customer's environment. For us, the proactive approach that Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is always running is valuable, and we see those alerts pop up inside of our incident queues in Microsoft Sentinel and we respond and acknowledge them. In many cases, Microsoft might see an alert from a zero-day that we aren't even aware of yet or the industry isn't aware of yet and we see that tagged within our incident queue, which allows us to follow up with it much sooner than had we had to search and detect for it ourselves. Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting helps my customers detect or prevent emerging threats that are not yet published but Microsoft has visibility into. Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting's reporting and analytics are clear and actionable, and the fact that it's tied to the MITRE framework puts it all in a common language. Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting helps my customers comply with industry regulations or standards, though I am unsure how, but many have requirements for threat hunting and this checks that box. Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting helps my team respond to incidents by providing a backstop, which does speed up the process and improve outcomes.
Yati Gharat - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer at Litmus
Integrated analytics have improved threat visibility and reduced manual monitoring effort
One of the areas for improvement in Sophos MDR is the amount of traffic and the VPN because when we have that much load, the hardware gets a little bit heated. So they need to look into the capacity of the hardware. Functionality-wise and features-wise for Sophos MDR, we are somewhat satisfied, but there are a lot of things we don't use even. However, the critical part is there, which we use, while most other functionalities we don't require because the more complicated the configuration we do in a security fabric, the more difficult it is to handle those types of data and readings and analytics. We have enabled only the features and functions needed, leaving the rest disabled.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best feature of this solution is that it is an integrated and comprehensive solution for the entire Microsoft ecosystem."
"Easy to use is what my customers say is the biggest benefit of Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting for them."
"What really stands out about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is that it's easy to use, the cost is clear, and the pricing is transparent, with straightforward onboarding in hybrid, cloud, or on-premise environments."
"Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting helps my customers detect or prevent emerging threats that are not yet published but Microsoft has visibility into."
"The solution helps to detect some suspicious items for us and our clients."
"The solution provides the best security features."
"It is a scalable solution."
"It is stable and scalable. It has good technical support."
"The solution is stable."
"The tool's ability to work with security threats is competitive. The best part is monitoring and the way we receive automated emails and updates. When an issue arises, a ticket automatically gets raised, clearly outlining the necessary actions to be taken from our end."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to integrate multiple functions into a single dashboard regardless of the vendors being integrated."
"We receive multiple benefits from Sophos MDR, including cloud monitoring integrated, which means it's not necessary that we need to connect to the device."
 

Cons

"We tried the proactive threat hunting feature, but it was not a good experience with Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting. It created more trouble than expected with false positives and non-expected answers."
"The price of the solution is costly, which I find significant."
"As a partner, Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting could be improved by getting earlier threat detection signals so we could proactively research on our own end and help support a campaign to raise awareness as well as proactive response."
"There is a lot of change in a small period. This might not be helpful for IT administrators and users."
"The solution’s user interface could be improved."
"Endpoint protection is very slow."
"Sophos MDR’s pricing is the biggest factor that needs improvement per customers and technical professionals."
"Maybe the reporting needs improvement."
"There could be improvement in features like more detailed reporting for the end customer."
"Multitenancy features of Sophos Managed Threat Response should be improved. You cannot use the solution for multiple clients."
"Some users have mentioned that Sophos MDR can be quite resource-intensive, which might affect the system."
"Sophos MDR could offer more integration packs and more vendor flexibility."
"Once in a great while, an update fails."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"MDR is a complete enterprise solution, and compared to other OEMs, it is one of the cheapest."
"The tool is too expensive for small companies."
"Compared to other tools, Sophos has a pretty good price."
"Sophos MDR is a cheap solution."
"Sophos MDR could be more affordable."
"The solution is expensive."
"The price falls somewhere in the middle range."
"I would rate the price of Sophos MDR as a nine out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting?
As a partner, Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting could be improved by getting earlier threat detection signals so we could proactively research on our own end and help support a campaign to rai...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting?
As a working security partner, my main use case for Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is that many of our customers also have Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting and really find a lot of va...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting?
As a partner, there can be some concern that Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is taking away some of our business because they're providing a solution that we also provide. However, the team ...
What needs improvement with Sophos MDR?
I think Sophos MDR can be improved, but as of now, it is good, very useful and reliable. They could improve it by adding another solution such as CrowdStrike or Trend Micro. If they integrate those...
What advice do you have for others considering Sophos MDR?
My advice to others looking into using Sophos MDR is to purchase it because it is a very good and reliable solution. I give this review a rating of ten out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Managed Threat Response?
The pricing of Sophos MDR is reasonable and competitive, scoring about nine out of ten. When compared to other products like Trend Micro, Bitdefender, or Kaspersky, its pricing holds up well.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sophos Managed Threat Response
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting vs. Sophos MDR and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.