CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Exaforce vs Microsoft

Exaforce sells a platform built on a unified data layer and real-time knowledge graph, with agents that help security teams detect, triage, investigate, and respond to threats. Microsoft Defender offers threat prevention, detection and response capabilities. CISO Tribune files both under SIEM. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Exaforce
  • Microsoft
Exaforce vs Microsoft: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
ExaforceExaforce sells a platform built on a unified data layer and real-time knowledge graph, with agents that help security teams detect, triage, investigate, and respond to threats.exaforce.comMicrosoftMicrosoft Defender offers threat prevention, detection and response capabilities.microsoft.com
What it sells
  • Exabot Triage[1][4]Investigates security alerts and classifies them.
  • Exabot Investigate[1][6]Supports natural language search and visual exploration for investigations.
  • Exabot Respond[1][7]Executes response across endpoint, identity, IaaS, SaaS, and email.
  • Microsoft Defender[1][11][12][23][25]Threat protection that prevents, detects and responds to attacks across devices, identities, applications, email, data, workloads and cloud environments.
  • Microsoft Sentinel[1][23]A cloud-native SIEM built for AI.
  • Microsoft Purview[1][14][23][24][25]Unified information protection, governance and compliance products.
  • Microsoft Entra[1][15][23][25]Identity and access products that verify every identity and access request across clouds, platforms and devices.
  • Microsoft Intune[1][16][23][25]Endpoint management products for device security and hybrid work.
  • Microsoft Defender Suite[12]Threat protection and detection and response across endpoints, identities, email and SaaS apps.
  • Microsoft Entra Suite[15]An extension to Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 for secure workforce use of apps and AI.
  • Microsoft Purview Suite[14]A suite that provides advanced data security and compliance capabilities.
Categories
Headquarters
Not stated on its pagesRedmond, United States[3]
Founded
Not stated on its pages1975[2]
Ownership and funding
Privately heldPublic (NASDAQ: MSFT)[4][10][22]
Named customers
Not stated on its pages
  • Best Buy[5]
  • Danfoss[6]
  • Oregon State University[7]
Recent news
Not stated on its pages
  • July 29, 2026Microsoft reported revenue of $90.0 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, up 18% year over year.[8]
  • July 27, 2026Microsoft introduced Project Perception, an agentic security system that uses AI to turn signals into real-time protections.[21]
  • May 1, 2026Microsoft announced general availability of Microsoft 365 E7 and Microsoft Agent 365 on May 1, 2026.[28]
  • April 29, 2026Microsoft reported revenue of $82.9 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, up 18% from a year earlier.[9]
  • December 22, 2025Microsoft announced the Defender Experts suite, an expert-led security offering for resellers and scale solution providers, generally available from January 1, 2026.[20]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[10]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
Not written yetFrom its own pages, Microsoft sells security products for businesses of any size. Microsoft 365 Business Premium is aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, and Microsoft Defender is designed to protect individuals, businesses and enterprises. Microsoft refers to enterprise and government cloud customers, and Providence Care, a healthcare organization, uses Microsoft 365 E5 for healthcare security.
Last verified
November 6, 2026November 2, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Exaforce and Microsoft are both filed under SIEM.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Exaforce's primary category is AI SOC analysts; Microsoft's is EDR and XDR.
  • Exaforce is also filed under MDR and managed SOC and AI model and agent security. Microsoft is also filed under Workforce IAM and SSO and Endpoint management and application control.
  • Exaforce lists Exabot Triage, Exabot Investigate and Exabot Respond. Microsoft lists Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Intune and 3 more.
  • Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, United States.
  • Microsoft was founded in 1975.
  • Exaforce is privately held. Microsoft is a public company listed on NASDAQ as MSFT.
  • Microsoft publicly names Best Buy, Danfoss and Oregon State University.

What it sells: Exaforce

What Exabot Triage does[1][4]
Exabot Triage investigates security alerts across SIEM, EDR, phishing tools, and Exaforce detections. Exabot Triage classifies alerts as False Positive, Benign, or Needs Investigation.
What Exabot Investigate does[1][6]
Exabot Investigate supports natural language search, visual exploration, and simplified queries across data sources. Exabot Investigate operates independently of any SIEM. Query Builder in Exabot Investigate combines behavioral events and configuration context into a single query.
What Exabot Respond does[1][7]
Exabot Respond executes response across endpoint, identity, IaaS, SaaS, and email, with out-of-the-box playbooks for common scenarios. Customers can build custom workflows in a visual drag-and-drop builder using nodes for conditions, actions, approvals, AI reasoning, loops, and branching. Automation Agents can run workflows autonomously or with human approvals.

What it sells: Microsoft

What Microsoft Defender does[1][11][12][23][25]
Microsoft Defender is a threat protection solution designed to protect individuals, businesses and enterprises from malicious cyberthreats. Microsoft Defender coordinates protection across endpoints, identity, email, apps and cloud.
What Microsoft Purview does[1][14][23][24][25]
Microsoft Purview offers a unified approach to help organizations secure and govern data across their heterogenous data estate. Microsoft Purview covers on-premises, multicloud and SaaS environments, and structured and unstructured data. Microsoft Purview features are purchased through different licenses or on a pay-as-you-go basis.
What Microsoft Entra does[1][15][23][25]
Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) was renamed Microsoft Entra ID in 2023. Purchase starts with Microsoft Entra ID P1 or P2 license subscriptions, which can also be purchased as part of a Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 license.
What Microsoft Intune does[1][16][23][25]
Microsoft Intune offers advanced endpoint management and security capabilities available as standalone add-ons or as part of the Intune Suite. Microsoft Intune Plan 1 is the endpoint management solution included in most Microsoft 365 enterprise licenses. Plan 1 covers cross-platform device management, built-in security, mobile application management and endpoint analytics.
What Microsoft Defender Suite does[12]
Microsoft Defender Suite focuses on threat protection and detection and response across endpoints, identities, email and SaaS apps. The integrated security operations center (ISOC) is included in the Defender Suite.
What Microsoft Entra Suite does[15]
Microsoft Entra Suite extends Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 to enable secure workforce use of apps and AI with continuous, adaptive identity and network access controls across employees, apps and networks. Microsoft Entra Suite requires a subscription to Microsoft Entra ID P1 or a package that includes Microsoft Entra ID P1.

Questions about Exaforce and Microsoft

What do Exaforce and Microsoft sell?
Exaforce sells Exabot Triage, Exabot Investigate and Exabot Respond. Microsoft sells Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Intune and 3 more.
Are Exaforce and Microsoft in the same category?
They share SIEM. Exaforce's primary category is AI SOC analysts and Microsoft's is EDR and XDR.
Where are Exaforce and Microsoft headquartered?
Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, United States.
When were Exaforce and Microsoft founded?
Microsoft was founded in 1975.
Who owns Exaforce and Microsoft?
Exaforce is privately held. Microsoft is a public company listed on NASDAQ as MSFT.
Which customers do Exaforce and Microsoft name?
Microsoft publicly names Best Buy, Danfoss and Oregon State University.
Who are Exaforce and Microsoft sold to?
From its own pages, Microsoft sells security products for businesses of any size.
What have Exaforce and Microsoft announced recently?
July 29, 2026: Microsoft reported revenue of $90.0 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, up 18% year over year.

About Exaforce

Exaforce sells a platform built on a unified data layer and real-time knowledge graph, with agents that help security teams detect, triage, investigate, and respond to threats. Four Exabots cover detection, triage, investigation, and response on a unified, real-time view of the customer environment. Exaforce lets customers run the platform with an in-house team, or have Exaforce run it with its analysts and Exabots working as an extended SOC.[1][3][4][5]

Exaforce pairs its agentic AI with a global team of experts to deliver MDR. The global Exaforce SOC pairs responders with agentic AI to deliver hands-on monitoring, investigation, and containment around the clock.[5]

Exaforce builds on a dedicated data layer that ingests logs and configuration across identity, cloud, endpoint, code, and SaaS. Exaforce ingests logs, alerts, and telemetry from over 100 sources, including GitHub and Google Workspace, and normalizes them into a single security data layer. Exaforce stores all raw data in real time, then normalizes and enriches telemetry. Exaforce's data platform uses storage tiering to keep hot data accessible while retaining full history for audits. Exaforce connects through agentless, API-based connectors that pull telemetry from cloud, identity, SaaS, endpoint, and code platforms. Exaforce has prebuilt integrations for AWS, Google Cloud, Okta, GitHub, Microsoft 365, CrowdStrike, Wiz, and more, each mapped to a common schema. Exaforce reads from where customer data lives, so customers can start without re-routing pipelines.[3][4]

At the core of Exaforce is a Multi-Model AI engine that combines data semantics, behavioral baselining, machine learning, and large language models. Exaforce's Multi-Model AI separates data relationships, anomaly detection, and expert reasoning into dedicated models. In the Exaforce platform, the Semantic Model transforms raw data into actionable intelligence, and the Behavioral Model separates real threats from normal activity.[3][4]

Exabot Detect monitors IaaS and SaaS environments with the Multi-Model AI engine to identify breaches that evade traditional rules and UEBA. Exabot Detect correlates behavioral baselines and contextual intelligence to surface attacks across environments like AWS, Okta, OpenAI, and GitHub. Exabot Triage investigates security alerts across SIEM, EDR, phishing tools, and Exaforce detections. Exabot Triage classifies alerts as False Positive, Benign, or Needs Investigation. Exabot Investigate supports natural language search, visual exploration, and simplified queries across data sources. Exabot Investigate operates independently of any SIEM. Exabot Respond executes response across endpoint, identity, IaaS, SaaS, and email, with out-of-the-box playbooks for common scenarios. Exabot Respond can isolate cloud instances, quarantine or delete malicious emails, block IPs, disable endpoints, reset MFA or passwords, suspend users, and revoke sessions.[1][4][5][6][7]

Exaforce provides an inventory of human, non-human, AI agent, and third-party identities, with their effective permissions, credentials, and actions. Exaforce monitors collaboration, version control systems, and other apps with ML-based detections. Exaforce detects threats in Google Workspace without manual rule creation. For insider threats, Exaforce combines cloud logs, permissions, and HR data into one insider threat narrative. For phishing, Exaforce supports triage and investigation of phishing incidents across the email ecosystem.[8][9][10][11]

Exaforce can either be a customer's primary SOC tech stack or augment an existing SOC investment. Many teams deploy Exabots alongside their current SIEM, EDR, and security stack to handle high-volume tier-1 triage and tier-2 investigation. Exaforce ingests alerts from existing tools, enriches them with unified context, and delivers investigated findings with recommendations. Exaforce is audited and certified by third party standards.[1][2][4][6][7][12][13]

Exaforce on the record

Sources

Exaforce full record

  1. [1]exaforce.comExaforce · exaforce.com · undated page, accessed November 6, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Exaforce unveils 75 million in series a funding to revolutionize security and operations with agentic aiExaforce · exaforce.com · published April 17, 2025 · Tier A
  3. [3]Exaforce — Agentic SOC and MDRExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Agentic AI SOC Platform Overview | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Find an MDR Partner | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Exabot Investigate | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Exabot Respond | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Identity Attack Surface | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]SaaS Attack Surface | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Insider Attack Surface | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Agentic AI SOC Platform & MDR Solutions | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Exaforce MCP Connector for ClaudeExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]AI for SOC | ExaforceExaforce · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

Microsoft full record

  1. [1]Cloud Security Solutions | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]AboutMicrosoft · news.microsoft.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Msft 20240630Microsoft Corporation via SEC EDGAR · sec.gov · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]7c96b326 33bc 4b84 8abb 7afd7a517ea3Microsoft Corporation · microsoft.gcs-web.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]25053 best buy microsoft sentinelMicrosoft · microsoft.com · published August 25, 2025 · Tier A
  6. [6]22786 danfoss microsoft sentinelMicrosoft · microsoft.com · published March 7, 2025 · Tier A
  7. [7]1747330384796486050 oregon state university microsoft security copilot higher education en united statesMicrosoft · microsoft.com · published March 14, 2024 · Tier A
  8. [8]Microsoft cloud and ai strength fuels fourth quarter results 4Microsoft · news.microsoft.com · published July 29, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Microsoft cloud and ai strength fuels third quarter resultsMicrosoft · news.microsoft.com · published April 29, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Microsoft 365 Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 26, 2026 · Tier C
  11. [11]Microsoft Defender—Cybersecurity Solutions | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Microsoft Defender Suite | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Microsoft Purview Suite | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Microsoft Purview Pricing | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Microsoft Entra Pricing | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Microsoft Intune Pricing | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Cybersecurity for small and medium business | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Security Copilot agents in Microsoft 365 E5 | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]Microsoft Defender Pricing | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]December 2025 announcements - Partner Center announcementsMicrosoft Learn · published December 22, 2025 · Tier A
  21. [21]Rethinking security for the age of AIThe Official Microsoft Blog · published July 27, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Microsoft Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier C
  23. [23]Microsoft 365 Security Enterprise Plans| Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  24. [24]Microsoft Purview: Data Security and Governance | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  25. [25]CybersecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  26. [26]Microsoft Defender Suite for Microsoft 365 Business Premium | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  27. [27]Microsoft Mobile Phone Authenticator | Microsoft SecurityMicrosoft · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  28. [28]Leading Frontier Firm transformation with Microsoft 365 E7: The partner opportunityMicrosoft · published May 1, 2026 · Tier A

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