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LevelBlue USM Anywhere vs. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    LevelBlue USM Anywhere

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AThe LevelBlue USM Anywhere XDR platform (replacing the former AlienVault USM) delivers threat detection, incident response, and compliance management.

    $1,075

    per month

    Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

    Score9.7 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is a service available on Microsoft's Azure, that provides insights into vulnerabilities, risks, and exposures for web-based resources. It defines an organization’s unique internet-exposed attack surface and discovers unknown resources to help users proactively manage security posture.

    $0.01

    per day per asset

    Pricing
    LevelBlue USM AnywhereMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Editions & Modules
    Essentials
    $1,075
    per month
    Standard
    $1,695
    per month
    Premium
    $2,595
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    LevelBlue USM AnywhereMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    LevelBlue USM AnywhereMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Considered Both Products
    LevelBlue
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    86%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    86%
    Implementation went as expected
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    LevelBlue USM AnywhereMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Threat Intelligence
    Comparison of Threat Intelligence features of LevelBlue USM Anywhere and Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Feature
    LevelBlue USM Anywhere
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    9.7
    1 Ratings
    18% above category average
    Network Analytics00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Threat Recognition00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Vulnerability Classification00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Automated Alerts and Reporting00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Threat Analysis00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Threat Intelligence Reporting00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Automated Threat Identification00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Vulnerability Management Tools
    Comparison of Vulnerability Management Tools features of LevelBlue USM Anywhere and Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Feature
    LevelBlue USM Anywhere
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    9.4
    1 Ratings
    12% above category average
    IT Asset Realization00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Authentication00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Configuration Monitoring00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Web Scanning00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Vulnerability Intelligence00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    LevelBlue USM AnywhereMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Small Businesses
    Microsoft Defender XDR
    Score8.7 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    InsightIDR
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Tenable Nessus
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Microsoft Defender XDR
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Tenable Vulnerability Management
    Score8.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    LevelBlue USM AnywhereMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.8
    (390 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.2
    (18 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    6.7
    (34 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    6.4
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.3
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.3
    (25 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.3
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.4
    (38 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    7.3
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    6.3
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    7.6
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.2
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    LevelBlue USM AnywhereMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Likelihood to Recommend
    LevelBlue
    At this point I'm saying a 4. While the marketing material make it appear to be easy to use and it was relatively easy to set up, as previously mentioned, each event description is based upon the individual asset making it nearly impossible for the administrator to be a SME for each asset. For example, if one of the assets reporting is a router, the administrator monitoring alerts would need to know what the various events are that can be triggered as an event for the particular router; however, if the asset is a workstation, the administrator would need to know the various events that are triggered for workstations.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is particularly well-suited for discovering, inventorying, and continuously monitoring the external attack surface, especially in environments with heavy Microsoft adoption. It is less suitable as a standalone solution for internal scanning, real-time attack detection, automated remediation, or advanced application testing. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management es especialmente adecuado para descubrir, inventariar y monitorear continuamente la superficie de ataque externa, sobre todo en entornos con fuerte adopción de Microsoft. Es menos adecuado como solución única para escaneo interno, detección de ataques en tiempo real, remediación automática o pruebas avanzadas de aplicaciones. Parts of this review were originally written in Spanish and have been translated into English using a third-party translation tool. While we strive for accuracy, some nuances or meanings may not be perfectly captured.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    LevelBlue
    • AlienVault USM is simple and easy to deploy. Sensors can be deployed in as little as 15 minutes through the setup wizard.
    • The USM UI is easy to understand. I've trained multiple analysts who are able to perform their duties on their first day, in part because of USM Anywhere's ease of use.
    • Top-notch built-in compliance templates and reporting features.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • Lack of visibility of external assets
    • Reduction of the risk of external attacks
    • Falta de visibilidad de activos externos
    • Reducción del riesgo de ataques externos
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    LevelBlue
    • Personally, I've wished I could purchase a service that would configure AV for my environment. I get a lot of traffic on a daily basis and I almost need to hire an analyst that just works on AV.
    • Some of the filters when looking for a specific alert aren't that easy to use.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • Asset Attribution and Ownership Clarity
    • Risk Prioritization and Business Context
    • Noise and False Positives
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    LevelBlue
    The centralized logging and retention for PCI compliance was our main driver, and it is meeting that need. Otherwise there has been enough frustration with the lack of documentation and the need to customize through the CLI that I would be open to alternatives.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    LevelBlue
    Once you are able to navigate the different panels, finding what you need is quite easily. Before getting used it it can be a bit of challenge . Each panel is quite well laid out and the filtering search capabilities are quite strong.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    We rate Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management’s overall usability as 10 out of 10 because it delivers a strong balance between depth of capability and ease of use, particularly within organizations already operating in the Microsoft security ecosystem.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    LevelBlue
    We do have issues with maintenance on the AlienVault USM as the disk fills up from time to time with other data sources. Sources for scanning logs and net flow data isn't calculated in regular disk maintenance and can easily fill up our disk if we do not keep an eye on it with some custom Nagios plugins. The system does properly trim logging data from logging sources properly.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    LevelBlue
    With the latest release of AlienVault USM overall performance has not been an issue. We have noticed single source events per second does not scale well with the overall system. 2,000eps on a vmware system with a single source produces delays of up to an hour for us. Pages, reporting and even raw log searches are rather quick though.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    LevelBlue
    The support we received from alienvault was excellent. They went above and beyond in making sure everything was working as it needed to be. They REALLY want their product implementation to be a success and our security goals be achieved. They are like a member of our security team.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    In-Person Training
    LevelBlue
    I did not have any experience with "in person" training directly. The free online classes offered for a half a day are based on the actual training offered. These little teasers are very good and well worth your time to learn a few quick and dirty ways of getting more information from your SIEM
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    LevelBlue
    It was very well organized and helpful in using the product to the fullest extent. The instructor allowed time for folks who were involved with managed services to receive tuning tips in order to better support their customers. In addition, the course materials were automatically updated when the new version came out.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    LevelBlue
    AlienVault USM was a very simple to implement and get up and running. We started with a trial version and had that up and going within an hour of receiving email instructions from the sales engineer. We never had to contact support to get the system up and going. It was extremely easy to convert over to a full license once we started with a paid version.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    LevelBlue
    Splunk's ES is a paid add-on on top of an already pricey product. Finding a MSSP that supports Splunk and isn't a 6 figure annual commitment seems unlikely. LogRhythm did not have a cloud-based solution when we were considering SIEMs. Fantastic product though and have a good MSSP base. Devo did not have a MSSP partner base when we looked. Their product is fantastic too. AlienVault USM has good partners to choose from as well as an affordable cloud model, that's why we chose it.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    Because Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is part of the broader Microsoft Defender family (including Defender XDR, Entra ID, Azure Security, Sentinel, etc.), it:
    Shares identity, endpoint, and threat context across tools
    Reduces the need for custom integrations or connectors
    Works in a “single pane of glass” experience for SOC analysts
    Why it matters:
    Organizations already invested in Microsoft security tools gain greater contextual insight and lower operational overhead.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    LevelBlue
    The AlienVault USM is not very scalable. Some scalability can be achieved by installing additional sensors, but this only offers 500eps per sensor and is still overall limited by the installation type of VM or physical. We have also noticed the EPS (events per second) is rated overall and not towards a single source. A single source on a very healthy VMware partition tops out at 2,000eps for us, no matter how we configure it. Maybe this is a problem of the 5.2 release?
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    LevelBlue
    • Once you hit the 150 asset mark, you have to jump to their unlimited license. There is no middle ground. We were only 10 or so assets above the 150 so we had to chose to either not monitor those assets or pay the price of the upgrade.
    • AlienVault brings all the information to one place which makes it much quicker to track down problems.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • Reduced Business Risk from Unknown External Assets
    • Operational Efficiency and Cost Avoidance
    • Faster Risk Identification During Change Events
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots