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Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs Microsoft Purview Data Governance 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 External...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
33rd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Attack Surface Management (ASM) (16th)
Microsoft Purview Data Gove...
Ranking in Microsoft Security Suite
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Data Governance (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Microsoft Security Suite category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is 1.3%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Data Governance is 4.6%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Microsoft Security Suite Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Purview Data Governance4.6%
Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management1.3%
Other94.1%
Microsoft Security Suite
 

Featured Reviews

AndyChan3 - PeerSpot reviewer
General manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Enhanced visibility and exposes vulnerabilities but needs more integration
I am currently in the pilot stage of implementing Microsoft External Attack Surface Management (EASM). My organization is transitioning to a comprehensive track of Microsoft solutions, and we will move to full-scale production in another year, maybe Microsoft External Attack Surface Management…
AS
Tech lead at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Automated data discovery has streamlined management while configuration remains complex
Compared to Big-ID, Microsoft Purview Data Governance looks complicated to me. I do not feel it has a good user-level UI. The interface feels a little complicated compared to Big-ID. I did not appreciate the configuration part. It felt complex, whereas when I went for a Big-ID demo, the interface looked better and was easier to understand for any user.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It seems to be better at protecting from cyberattacks."
"Microsoft External Attack Surface Management helps improve the visibility of my exposed vulnerabilities and provides an overview of my security posture across the globe."
"The availability of pre-designed policies tailored to specific geolocations and customer requirements is a valuable feature."
"The data protection feature is vital as it controls who can access data when it moves out of our protected boundary."
"Overall, Purview is a fantastic tool for staying on top of compliance, knowing where your data is and what data you hold."
"Purview helped us automate and control our data without having to rely on people to manually tag documents with specific retention periods."
"Purview helps mitigate risk and allows us to govern the information being shared among apps and devices."
"It is very easy to learn the interface, and it is very user-friendly."
"The data lineage feature stands out. It tracks where the data comes from and any changes made."
"The reporting is excellent. Limiting what people can see is also valuable, especially when tagging documents."
 

Cons

"The integration is not as seamless compared to competitors like Palo Alto."
"Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement."
"With Microsoft, support is always crazy, it's not easy to get support."
"We've had a few issues with the scanner. It runs perfectly one day, and on another day, it will run the whole night. It's probably related to the rules. If I set some compliance rules and apply the rules to any column, I can't delete it. I have to disable it and reactivate it."
"Auto-tagging should be available at lower levels of licensing. Right now, a high level of licensing is needed for auto-tagging, and this feature should be made available at a lower license level."
"The Microsoft Purview data connector platform, which supports ingestion from non-Microsoft data sources, can be somewhat complex."
"Data quality has been a highly requested feature among customers."
"The API needs some improvement when connecting to non-Microsoft API sources. This is a limiting factor."
"The custom data classification for the African region needs to be improved."
"In terms of the competence of the tools with the Microsoft ecosystem, the product can do better."
"It supports only a limited number of tools and technologies that pertain to Microsoft products. If you want to leverage other solutions such as Workday or Oracle Fusion, features will be coming up, but as of now, it is for the Microsoft suite."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Microsoft Purview is the best option I have encountered when it comes to price. Maybe some of my information is outdated, but Microsoft offered it so that you could use it almost without paying."
"The price is reasonable considering its value."
"Microsoft Purview is priced in the middle. It isn't the cheapest, but it isn't the most expensive. It's affordable compared to other public cloud services."
"There is some competition out there, but the other solutions are quite expensive. They are enterprise tools that are a bit more mature but the license costs $100,000 for some of them. Purview is pay-per-use and a lot of companies are interested in that."
"It's not cheap. I'm not exactly sure how much our license costs, but it is very expensive."
"I consider it cost-efficient because of the metrics it provides."
"Microsoft Purview is expensive."
"Purview's price is pretty high when you factor in storage costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise33
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?
Further integration across different Microsoft products would be an improvement. Introduction of more AI automation into the products would also be beneficial. The integration is not as seamless co...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?
I am currently in the pilot stage of implementing Microsoft External Attack Surface Management (EASM). My organization is transitioning to a comprehensive track of Microsoft solutions, and we will ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Purview?
Microsoft Purview Data Governance is quite affordable compared to other market solutions, which have high initial costs. It allows for a cost-effective start with negligible initial cost. However, ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Purview?
The features in the actual data governance could be improved, and I think there is room for improvement in the product. We haven't used role-based access control in a complex way; it's somehow embe...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Azure Purview?
We are currently working with Microsoft Purview Data Governance and other Microsoft products. We are using Microsoft Purview Data Governance.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Purview, MS Azure Purview
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs. Microsoft Purview Data Governance and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.